SmittysS2000 posted this link in another thread

http://kdka.com/StoryFolder/story_1345502044_html

It shows the S2000 as number 7 on the 2002 lemon list.

This just can't be right. The have a number after the car model that is the "complaint index ratio" but never explain what that is. I would assume it is the number of complaints VS the number of that model sold. Since the S2000 sales numbers are very low, then a few complaints make the ratio higher?

That said, if you go to the NHTSA web page and search the complaints you will not see many.

http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/problems/com...chTopic=Vehicle

2003 S2000 - 0 complaints shown

2002 S2000 - 0

2001 S2000 - 1 complaint (got car used, has 1-2 grind, dealer says due to abuse by driver and will not warranty - mentions s2ki.com!)

2000 S2000 - 20 complaints shown - several are obvious duplicates, mostly out the plastic rear window complaints.

If you read through the complaints - not just on the S2000 but on any car you will see that anyone can (and does) complain about anything. I saw one that sick rolling down the back windows on their SUV at speed caused a loud noise that was painful and made them sick ?

If you check the safety investigations section (also on the NHTSA page) there are 0 on any year S2000.

In the recall section, 2 on the MY2000 car (seat belts) and 0 for other years.

In the TSB section, 0 for 2003, 9 for 2002, 24 for 2001, 41 for 2000 - these make interesting reading and a lot of them have PDF scans of the Honda documents.

I still don't know what kinda crack KDKA was smoking or where they got the list - but 21 complaints (counting dupes) over 4 model years does not sound like the makings for lemonaide.

I did a little searching and found "The complaint index is based on a ratio of the number of complaints for each vehicle to the sales of that vehicle".

This is BOGUS - these "lemon numbers" are posted a bunch of places on the web - the S2000 is #7 based on 21 complaints in 4 model years? A lot of the complaints are dupes?

When you figure anyone can call or go to the web site and complain about anything with their cars (real or not) you gotta wonder about these "lemon law lawyers" that are making up these lists.

Anyway, NHTSA makes interesting reading. If you have a problem with a vehicle, see if they have a TSB for it. I have helped several folks get their cars fixed (dealer says "they all do that") by having them take in the TSB number and making the dealer look it up. sure enough, the manufacturer knows of the problem and has a fix - the dealer didn't know (even though they HAD the TSB on file). On my 'vette, I could not get the brakes fixed ("can't duplicate problem") until I got the actual GM TSB copy from NHSTA and gave it to the dealer along with my car keys - result a new vacuum booster and no more brake problems.

Dennis

 

Man you did your homework. I feel much better about my near future S2K purchase. Thanks DWynne.