SOFT TOP TSB BEING RELEASED!, CHECK HERE NOW!

TheLoons12 Posted on May 21 2009, 07:23 PM
Fellow CO's! Please cascade this information to your communities!

Several owners and myself have tried calling Honda for resolution without vail. Well, several random phone calls later and we have hope. As of 5pm Pacific time 5/21 Honda NA has issued a TSB for 2005-2009 model years. This is for some year/vin specific cars but pertains to the tears in our tops.

While not posted online yet (should be in the next few days) the TSB #09-033 can be used to take your cars into a local dealership and repairs will be performed to prevent the tearing of your tops. The bulletin should be posted online in the next several days.

The choice of cars outside of warranty to have their tops replaced will be left up to local service managers and RDM. Those that are under warranty it should be under a case by case basis.

I got this information from Albert Chen, Regional Manager over So. Cal Parts and Service Operations. Best of luck and for those that dont have 05-09 keep calling into customer service. Honda needs to recognize they have a problem!!!

STANDING OVATION!!!!

I am also working with Russ (our local SR) to let Metro members go to their respective dealers and get the cars sent to Billman or whomever they please.

Billman is GENUINE HONDA APPROVED

Weird how they started at '05, plenty of these problems prior to those models.

My '04 has a tear that's 2"-3" long in the same spot. (not all the way through yet)
to honda for not covering all years of production.

Any insight as to why that is, Phill?

how about my 02 thats developing a tear.. whack

none whatsoever. I am still worthless. thanks for checking.


honestly, dunno. even 03's had this problem... maybe not enough "noise" was made about it back then. Raymac's 02' had the same deal. not sure why they would choose to cover the 05's and up.

I don't put my top up and down often, I've done it maybe about fifteen times over the year, and I noticed my top starting to rip...I'm going to sand it down, and put a patch. My car is an 07. I ran my finger along the place that needs to be sanded and I got scratches on my fingertip. Interestingly, the left side of the frame in the same spot is smooth.

Does this TSB allow my top to be replaced? Or should I not even bother since it is not ripped all the way through yet?

You have a better chance at repair if its been noted before ripping would be my $.02. Still under warranty? If so and you note it and they chose not to replace the top you have a solid beef to get Honda to do so later if it does rip through.

does your car need to be covered under warranty to get repaired??

Finally Honda acknowledges this problem!

To the best of my knowledge Philly had this recognized and addressed way back when I had my 05 Berlina..

CR's don't have to worry about this

or my MY00 that has about a 1" tear on both sides

so would they do this TSB on cars without rips as a precation ?

Does a letter from Honda need to be mailed out to us before going to the dealer for the preventative fix? Or can we just show up?

My top was replaced late last year due to a rip covered under warranty, but if preventative action by Honda is offered, I'm down to dropping it off.

Andre

just print up the tsb and go over there.

What about ap1's ? they all have the same issue. I know my 02 has it on both sides and wore through on the passenger.

Had my top replaced this week on my 07 with JUST under 36k on the clock. New top looks great and they sanded down the edges of the metal that caused the tears in the first place. Got it done at Millenium Honda in Garden City ... the service advisor I spoke with was Eric and he was, surprisingly, very helpful. So if anyone else around Nassau is looking into this, maybe give them a shot. They didn't even second guess me, plus I got a loaner for 3 days, no charge for anything.

are you still under warranty?

JUSt under, dropped the car off with 35, 562 miles.

Oh, and for the record, I went to Millenium because I needed to get his done soon ... otherwise, it should go without saying, that of course I'd go to Phill @ Babylon Honda.

Royal run-around?

Ok, so I have a tear developing on the soft-top, just above the right rear hinge, light showing through. Under 3 years and < 24K miles, so still under warranty... The wear is much more pronounced on the interior, suggesting abrasion from the inside, and not penetration from the outside.

I call Honda for information -- they will tell me nothing, other than the TSB is only meant for
internal distribution, and that I must take it to a dealer to see if replacement will be covered under warranty.

I print out the TSB, and take it to Tarrytown Honda, with photos...
The photo shows a *clean* area on the roof where the tear is developing.

Service rep says he needs to talk to his manager. Then he says he needs to look at the car.
He looks at the car, then says, the regional representative must look
at the car to make a determination, but he doesn't know when the rep will
be in next, and the person who knows, is on out today, and not back 'til Tuesday.
He says that I should call back next week to talk to the guy that is out to find out when the regional rep will be in next.

I decide to go to White Plains Honda to see what they say.
Repeatedly, they ask where I bought the car, and why I am not bringing it there...
They look at the TSB and the car.

The TSB clearly states "The convertible top is torn at...the right rear area....there is a rough surface on...the right rear frame hinge." The tear is clearly positioned above the right rear frame
hinge.

The service rep says, the tear looks like it is from an impact, and it is not located over the area of the hinge that causes the problem, and a regional rep will need to look at the car to make a determination. He says he doesn't know when the regional rep will be in next, and I should call back in about two weeks to see when.

I tell them they can do better, and push for a more satisfactory resolution. The service rep says he won't talk to me anymore and walks away.

Frustrated, I leave, but look at the tear area on the roof again. Now, it has some kind of debris rubbed around the tear -- it looks like sand or something. I take a photo, and compare it to the photo I took earlier in the day. The first picture, completely clean. The second photo, some foreign colored grains around the area.

Am I imagining things, or did one of these service reps rub something on the tear so they could claim it was an impact?

Any suggestions on where to go, who to talk to, and what to say to get my roof replaced under warranty without all the evasive BS?

Thanks!

Either talk to Phill @ Babylon Honda -h is people are well aware of the issue (and with him in your corner they likely will NOT give you BS). As far as I know the regional rep DOES have to look at it to approve the fix - and the tend to 'float around' dealerships- so it's not always a guarantee you'll catch them, but the dealers should know when they are going to be in, I believe visits are scheduled (or at least should be).

If that falls through - check in with Millenium Honda in Garden City, Long Island - read my posts above for all the info. Surprisingly they were very helpful and gave me zero BS about it. New top looks great and they shaved down the abrasive edges as the TSB stated to do. So, with fingers crossed, I'm hoping not to have any more top troubles going fwd. Check into those two and give an update! Good luck, sounds like you're under warranty - so in theory you should be taken care of.

My ONLY disappointment was that I had a tinted backwindow before - and now it's new glass and clear as day.

Thank you for the recs!

hey rob, where ya been? You should come to the humpday meets

Been hidin' out -- I'll try to drop by next meet before it gets too cold...

Top Replacement Update:

The short: I have new top and latches replaced under warranty.

The long:

I probably should have hit Babylon or Millenium as recommended, but I already had an upcoming appointment at Friendly Honda in Poughkeepsie, so I gave them a shot...

Since they agreed to replace the top and latches under warranty as per TSB after a look with no BS, I decided to go ahead. No inspection required by a "regional rep". After some minor negotiation, they also agreed to provide a loaner vehicle free of charge, but I had to wait a few weeks before one was available.

They needed about 1 1/2 days to finish up, and wanted to remove the seats--I didn't have my seatlock key, so it required another trip, and oops, they managed to scuff the center console anyway, probably with the passenger seat rails.

The roof looks pretty good, and now tucks much lower when retracted (the elastic straps must have been stretched out on the old roof). The new latches are much tighter than before, and the rattle that developed in the old ones is gone!

I did a car wash test, and with medium pressure spray on the top and windows, a few drips are coming in on both the driver and passenger sides. I'll have to do a heavy rain test, to see if any water comes through under natural conditions...

Aside from the center console scuffing, a few other minor issues:
-one push-pin clip missing from rear tray
-a spare tire cover clip was also missing, but I found it loose in the trunk
-One corner rear tray panel is scuffed up, but you'll never see it unless you contort
your head around the seat backs
-Side panels beneath the convertible rail don't appear to be fully seated inside the rail, with perhaps a centimeter gap. There is no rattling, but to get this completely right at this point would probably require significant disassembly, and result in more scuffing...

So, after 4 round trips to Friendly Honda, I am happy to have a new roof and latches replaced under warranty, and it should be okay if it passes the rain test, but I really wish more care was taken in protecting and re-assembling interior panels.

Despite good customer service, I don't think any dealer will exercise the care that I would when working on the car!