[GTRdone]

My ridgeline has had a bunch of issues since day 1. It has been to the dealer 4 times to fix this door gap issue and you can see below it's still not correct. (2 pics below) . The hesitation issue happens daily with me and was duplicated but never resolved either. I opened a case with Honda of america AUGUST 5TH, missed one phone call AUGUST 10TH at the end of the day and immediately called her back to get voicemail. I've called every business day and keep getting voicemail. I called the front desk and they said she was there and even walked a hand written note to her desk to call me by end of day and she failed. It has been 2 weeks now without communication from honda of america. I have contacted my lemon law attorney and he said we're "good to go" Once I give them the "OK", they will send honda a demand letter and the ball is in their court. I wrote a long email to my salesmen and GM of the dealership trying to resolve this pre-lawsuit and it's been 3 days without response from them either. If you've wondered why my posts have been sour lately this is why. Sadly this may be my last honda. I've owned 23 cars, 9 hondas and their quality is going down hill fast. This is not acceptable.

*** Update 8/24, I was FINALLY able to get a hold of Honda of America and also spoke with the GSM of the dealership that stated it is what it is! Notes found here: http://www.ridgelineownersclub.com/forums/138-second-generation-2017/142561-honda-customer-service-dept-blowing-me-off-6.html#post2156361

*** Latest Update 8/26 met with Honda District Rep, he was extremely cold and offered no help, just wanted me to stop complaining. Also mentioned he didn't care about the issues on these forums! can't believe it! Link to post here: http://www.ridgelineownersclub.com/forums/138-second-generation-2017/142561-honda-customer-service-dept-blowing-me-off-9.html#post2161169

bad door:

good-ish door:

 

[jhofwa]

Do what ya gotta do. Each states Lemon Law has its own criteria. I went through that process a few years ago on a Dodge Dakota and it was not a buyer friendly program. Got tired of playing with Dodge so just traded it away - figured it cost me $100 but it was worth it as I did not want another Dodge product and it would have cost at least that much in vacation time to attend to all the junk they wanted done. Good luck. Maybe this is the kind of Honda related issues that Joe was talking about before he walked away (or was it a shove) from ROC...

 

[codda]

Can't speak to any of your physical truck issues but their lack of response and attention to rectify the situation is unacceptable. Honda's bullet proof reputation of reliability, service and excellence has deteriorated drastically in the last 5 - 7 years. The fanboys can chime in and say what they will. I've had my own issues with the 3 RLs I owned and each one was worse than the other incrementally ... including the communications with Honda. The gap between Japanese automakers ( especially Honda and Toyota ) and their competitors has closed dramatically.

 

[vpkb]

Sadly, many dealerships (various makes) are like this now.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

 

[zroger73]

That's the same response I got back around '07 or '08 when the sliding window in my '07 Ridgeline exploded without external cause. The dealer refused to cover it under warranty, although they did provide me with a loaner Accord to drive while waiting for a Honda "field engineer" to come take a look at it. After two weeks of no response from Honda or the field engineer to my phone calls and faxed letters (they didn't have email back then, either), I let my insurance company replace it under comprehensive. That put a claim on my record and I was out a $50 deductible, which Honda never reimbursed me for. I sent two, printed letters to corporate and never received so much as an acknowledgement. Totally ignored.

 

[TommyDeVito]

Lemon law. Attorney. Watch how quickly they respond then. Time to get a paid liar involved.

 

[lslick23]

The second you mention legal action they will definitely stop responding. Its sad it doesn't make them want to help more first before it gets to that.

 

[phineas]

Good luck getting it resolved, GTRdone. It's really a bad situation, I think you're right to take steps.

 

[geoNH]

Don't blame you at all for going to the Lemon Law. That's horrible customer service. Go for it.

 

[NSIDER]

My ridgeline has had a bunch of issues since day 1. It has been to the dealer 4 times to fix this door gap issue and you can see below it's still not correct. (2 pics below) . The hesitation issue happens daily with me and was duplicated but never resolved either. I opened a case with Honda of america AUGUST 5TH, missed one phone call AUGUST 10TH at the end of the day and immediately called her back to get voicemail. I've called every business day and keep getting voicemail. I called the front desk and they said she was there and even walked a hand written note to her desk to call me by end of day and she failed. It has been 2 weeks now without communication from honda of america. I have contacted my lemon law attorney and he said we're "good to go" Once I give them the "OK", they will send honda a demand letter and the ball is in their court. I wrote a long email to my salesmen and GM of the dealership trying to resolve this pre-lawsuit and it's been 3 days without response from them either. If you've wondered why my posts have been sour lately this is why. Sadly this may be my last honda. I've owned 23 cars, 9 hondas and their quality is going down hill fast. This is not acceptable.

bad door:

good-ish door:

The bad door appears to be a simple striker adjustment....hard to believe the dealer cannot handle this simple fix. The good'ish door appears to need the upper hinge -to -door bolts loosened (or replaced with smaller shoulder bolts) and push the top front of the door inward. Really not rocket science.

Pretty sad Honda has chosen to ignore you.

 

[GTRdone]

It started with the door being very difficult to close. so hard that when trying to close it from the inside, yanking on the inner door handle caused the door card to often snap loose and separate from the door itself. More often than not, after the door was fully shut I found myself pushing the handle back into the door until i heard the plastic trim tabs click back into place.

trip #1 to the dealer they attempted to adjust the striker and were unsuccessful.

trip #2 to the dealer resulted in another tech adjusting the striker so that it would close better. great, however the door gap still remained. was told at this point that the gap exceeded a 2mm tolerance and was a factory defect and should have never been sold.

trip #3 to the dealer they wanted me to drop my vehicle off the day prior so that it would be on site bright and early for the district rep to inspect it. they were also going to address the hesitation issue. the service manager rode with me and acknowledged there was a hesitation issue. vehicle was at honda for 3 days and i was given a rental. gap up front was fixed but shifted to the door handle area area (the pics in my first post) Door was now hard to close again but i needed the vehicle to go out of town.

trip #4 to the dealer, they attempted to fix the door again and were able to adjust the striker so that it would close better, but did not fix the gap, the tech that did the striker adjustment again was very helpful and noticed the new misaligned gap right away. he said the chrome trim will flex, but the door gap cannot exceed a 2mm tolerance. he also mentioned whomever adjusted the striker after him during trip #3 over torqued it and he almost stripped the torx screws. (he needed a large breaker bar!)

this has been going on since june when i first purchased the vehicle. it was easily overlooked by all, but the more you look at your vehicle the more you notice things, then they all don't sit well. it's bad when a HR-V, Fit, etc have perfect lines and my new $35k truck doesn't. At first I wanted them to buy it back and swap it for an RTL-E, and i would pay the difference. Now I just want this to be over like a bad dream. anyways, that's my .02 cents. Here's the original gap below:

 

[Dieselgate]

look, very closely under the hood for any signs of paint overspray...I once bought a 'new' 85 MR2 that developed a pull to one side..I was working for Goodyear at the time..had one of the mechanics look at it and he pointed out overspray in the engine compartment...How can a 'new car' have over spray?...It can't!...I called Toyota on it and denied it was in a wreck and had to be fixed/painted..My guess...something broke loose in transport and it got whacked..

Any body damage can lead to bad gaps/and or issues like had!

Best of luck in resolution

 

[NSIDER]

Yeah, based on that pic, a little more going on. Probably hinge-to-body issues, which are much harder to fix. That's typically all set by robot at the production line, for alignment.

You (or dealer) could try getting Fr door to Rr door gap good, then try to tweak the Fr fender, to get the door to fender gap in spec. Fr fenders have a little more "massageability", if you will.

Major door adjusting is a very tedious, maddening task. A skilled body shop might be a better alternative to a dealer tech. Your current dealer seems to be struggling with it.

Anyway, sorry to hear of all your RL troubles, hope it all works out in your favor in the end.

 

[ToadVine]

If you have a "consumer advocate" at one of your local TV stations, they can sometimes work miracles in cases like these when they show up with cameras at the dealership and begin recounting your story.

 

[speedlever]

Agree. I see no other option to obtain satisfaction. Or just live with it. That would not be acceptable to me.

How does this stuff make it through QC?

 

[TommyDeVito]

That should have never left the factory like that. That's a big quality control failure.

You have every right to be pissed. Look at all those dealer visits. No working person has time for that ****. On a brand new expensive vehicle? Hell no, piss poor customer service too. It's the back half of August, so what about two months now?

If it were me, I'd want them to buy the truck back for every dime I paid including tax. Or give them the chance to get you another truck, whatever trim you want, for a substantial discount from MSRP mind you for your trouble, he'll invoice. I'd get a hold of the district manager and give him that option. Once it's been there, what 3 times, to fix, and they can't fix it, game over man. I'd definitely contact some attorneys and be ready if that district manager won't play ball. If Honda reads this forum, well this is piss poor customer service and they have the option to do the right thing here.

Whatever you do, don't give up, or take some poor option just because you are tired of it. People get weak in these situations because they just want it over with. Instead be strong, stick to your guns, don't take no for an answer. They know it will cost them more if attorney fees get involved. And then there is the bad publicity here.

 

[GTRdone]

Wow, thank you for all of the support guys. everyone I have spoke with, friends, family, girlfriend, etc. that know me also say that they are with me 100% on this as well, and i'm glad that most of you are too! sometimes I can be a little fussy, particular, anal, etc... and sometimes I go overboard with higher expectations. Maybe i was spoiled from my past experiences with Hondas reliability and consistency of with their products over the past years.

now with that said, remember i wrote the dealership an email 3 days ago? I received a reply an hour ago stating the GM was in receipt of my letter and we're working on swapping this out for an RTL-E. I don't want to lose that loving feeling just yet, and as explained in my email i'd entertain the opportunity to make things right before jumping on board the attorney ship. I'm glad that there's a light at the end of the tunnel (hopefully they will be reasonable) and that the dealership is attempting to make things right. It's sad that corporate (Honda Customer Relations) just brushed me off. I was told i'd get more info tomorrow and will surely keep you guys in the loop.

 

[GTRdone]

Received a text at 7pm saying to come in tuesday to have my truck "appraised" and check availability on sourcing an RTL-E. This already doesnt sound good, but we'll see...

 

[TommyDeVito]

Received a text at 7pm saying to come in tuesday to have my truck "appraised" and check availability on sourcing an RTL-E. This already doesnt sound good, but we'll see...

It doesn't sound good. If they make you eat ANY depreciation, refuse. Sounds like they're going to get tactical. Have NONE of it, none. Good luck and don't be afraid to walk. Mr GM if the place needs to be in contact with Honda, in Torrance, CA, and get clearance to take care of you. If this is left to the dealership they'll try to stick it to you. Good luck, we are with you.

 

[ToadVine]

Once you are rid of this truck, post the VIN here.