Day 2: Tweet Tweet

I contacted Honda Customer Service via twitter this morning @HondaCustSvc and had the following conversation (VIN is redacted):

@HondaCustSvc JHMGE8 36,800 miles. Airbag site sez no recalls, but generic 2012 FIT YES passenger airbag recall.

2h

2 hours ago

Sent

Hello and thank you for reaching out to us. Can you please provide the VIN so that we may verify any recalls associated with your vehicle? Thank you. ^RB

2h

2 hours ago

We apologize for the previous message. After review, we have found that the VIN provided (JHMGE8) does not have safety recalls at this time. Feel free to check your recalls at any time by visiting http://recalls.owners.honda.com/service-mainte …. We hope this helps. ^RB

2h

2 hours ago

2012 FIT YES passenger airbag recall. Are you saying my car will NOT be recalled for this issue?

45m

44 minutes ago

Sent

2012 FIT recalls: Passenger Airbag Inflator

Takata Driver Airbag Inflator

VSA NON-COMPLIANCE UPDATE

40m

39 minutes ago

Sent

We have confirmed that your passenger airbag has not been affected by the Takata Airbag recall. You may visit the previous link provided to confirm this information. ^RR

38m

37 minutes ago

Again, your previous link sez Passenger Airbag Inflator for 2012 FIT. I have a 2012 Fit.

35m

34 minutes ago

Sent

31m

30 minutes ago

Sent

Recalls are VIN specific and do not apply to every vehicle within that year and model. The link we provided you will show if your specific vehicle has been affected. ^RR

25m

24 minutes ago

until mine shows up on the list cuz every car of the model year eventually does. In the meantime, you're saying if I have a passenger and the airbag unexpectedly deploys, oops, our bad. Sorry. NOT GOOD ENOUGH!

8m

7 minutes ago

Sent

Please contact our Recalls Department at 1-800-999-1009 option #4 if you have any other questions. ^RR

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

I'm sure the lawyers have some formula for this, and maybe they're just trying to not get their dealer's service centers overwhelmed like what happened last year, but to pass it off as "your car isn't listed so don't worry about it" is just plain wrong. I get it, the chances are infinitesimal that my passenger airbag is going to blow unexpectedly, but there is a chance, and being put in this limbo is not inspiring my confidence in the Honda brand or its management.

Day 1: Deja Vu all over again, or Here we go again--aw crap!

February 27, 2017

Seeing as how the 2009 and 2010 have had their passenger front airbags recalled, I figured it was only a matter of time before my 2012 Fit would also get in on that action. And here it is:

Recall Result

Year: 2012

Make: Honda

Model: Fit

Last Updated: Feb 27, 2017

Number of Open Recalls: 3

Passenger Airbag Inflator

NHTSA RECALL NUMBER: 17V-030

MFR CAMPAIGN ID: KE1

CAMPAIGN DESCRIPTION: Passenger Airbag Inflator

RECALL DATE: 12/20/2016

RECALL STATUS: 17 Character VIN Required

SUMMARY:

AMERICAN HONDA MOTOR CO., INC. (HONDA) IS RECALLING CERTAIN MODEL YEAR 2008-2012 ACCORD, 2010-2012 ACCORD CROSSTOUR, 2006-2011 CIVIC, 2006-2011 CIVIC HYBRID, 2006-2011 CIVIC NGV, 2007-2011 CR-V, 2012 FCX CLARITY, 2009-2012 FIT, 2010-2012 INSIGHT, AND 2009-2012 PILOT VEHICLES. THE PASSENGER FRONTAL AIRBAG INFLATOR IN YOUR VEHICLE MAY RUPTURE WHEN DEPLOYING DURING A CRASH. THE POTENTIAL FOR SUCH RUPTURES MAY OCCUR IN SOME OF THE SUBJECT AIRBAG INFLATORS AFTER SEVERAL YEARS OF EXPOSURE TO PERSISTENT CONDITIONS OF HIGH ABSOLUTE HUMIDITY. HONDA SUGGESTS THAT YOU AVOID HAVING A PASSENGER SIT IN THE FRONT PASSENGER'S SEAT UNTIL THE RECALL REPAIR HAS BEEN PERFORMED.

SAFETY RISK:

IN THE EVENT OF A PASSENGER FRONTAL AIRBAG INFLATOR RUPTURE, METAL FRAGMENTS COULD PASS THROUGH THE AIRBAG CUSHION MATERIAL, POTENTIALLY RESULTING IN INJURY TO VEHICLE OCCUPANTS. THE RISK OF SUCH AN OCCURRENCE INCREASES OVER TIME. IT IS IMPERATIVE YOU SCHEDULE AN APPOINTMENT WITH AN AUTHORIZED HONDA DEALER NOW TO AVOID THIS CONDITION IN THE FUTURE.

REMEDY:

PLEASE CALL ANY AUTHORIZED HONDA DEALER AND MAKE AN APPOINTMENT TO HAVE YOUR VEHICLE REPAIRED. YOUR DEALER WILL REPLACE THE PASSENGER'S FRONT AIRBAG INFLATOR WITH AN INFLATOR OF A DIFFERENT DESIGN, FREE OF CHARGE. FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AND ASSISTANCE IN LOCATING A HONDA DEALER, PLEASE VISIT WWW.RECALLS.HONDA.COM OR CONTACT HONDA AUTOMOBILE CUSTOMER SERVICE AT 1-888-234-2138. HONDA'S CAMPAIGN NUMBER FOR THIS RECALL IS KE1.

The super crappy (and by super crappy I mean massively messed up) part of this oh-so-fun bag of hurt handed to me by Honda is that when I enter my car's VIN, it doesn't come up yet, so I'm not sure if that means they won't deal with the car cuz it's VIN isn't listed, making me drive around a car that in one place says is unsafe, and in another, says that I'm all good, nothing to see here folks.

Interestingly (or not) is that the 2013 Fit's passenger airbag is not up for recall yet. Oh, just you wait.

I'm trying to make an appointment now even though officially my VIN isn't up yet. Grrrrrrrr. That Chevy Bolt is looking mighty attractive about now.

And then for my own entertainment I had a conversation with a Honda ChatBot, Dave. Yes, I understand Dave said recalls are VIN specific, but this is just ridiculous.

Last thought: because one does not NEED to have a passenger in the front seat in order to drive the car, there's no loaner's for this recall. Looks like I get extra elbow room til this is resolved, and the internet gets to see my scribblings again. Hooray.

Another Day...

Another day, another recall, but this time my car is not involved...yet. It was announced last week that Honda is recalling 2007-2011 Honda Fits for the front passenger airbag inflator. This recall seems to be based on the age of the vehicle, and it's just a matter of time until the 2012 is recalled as well--my assumption--I have no actual inside knowledge of the future situation.

Further, I'm thinking that loaners will not be available for the front passenger airbag fix as one can operate the car without anybody in the passenger seat.

I'll be keeping my open for recall notice for the 2012, and for now I'm happy that I don't have to deal with this latest setback.

Day 58: Outside In

Having had my Fit back for the day, and driving around and parking in bright sunshine gave me a chance to assess what the past two months have been like for the car. What I can immediately tell is that the dirty pollenated outside parking got into the cars nooks and crannies. There are places I know were very clean when the car left me that are now caked with schmutz. I'll get into the cracks this weekend to clean them up. This car has lived in a garage for past 4 years, and was washed/waxed regularly so at least the buildup of polleny grime will come off easily. To their credit, the dealership did clean all the obvious outsides well, and even vacuumed the all season mats in the car--not so much under the mats, but that dirt wasn't their making.

Curiously, there was one small chip of safety glass in cargo area making me wonder whether there was a broken glass incident unreported by the dealer. The documents in the glove compartment were shuffled as well, but there really wasn't anything left in the car fit to steal. After thinking about for a while I'm guessing maybe a box or cooler that I previously loaded in the car from the street picked up the rogue piece of glass.

So far the car is right back to what I remember. Really nice handling and fun acceleration in the high revs. Just a really well made little car, especially coming from the poor imitation, the Nissan Versa Note, that we've been driving for the past month.

Happy to have the Fit home. I just hope the passenger side airbag doesn't need the same repair, as has happened in Accords.

Update: I clay-barred the Fit's roof, hood and fenders. It turned out to be relatively easy to do on such a small car, now those areas are buttery smooth after re-applying a coat of wax.

Day 57: Fin

Lynnwood Honda just called to let me know that they got an airbag inflator in, and installed it in my Fit. I'm leaving now to go pick up the car. Hopefully it didn't suffer too badly sitting around for the last two months. Oh boy, I'm very excited to get my Fit back.

Hooray!

Day 56: Act Accordingly

A friend of mine with a 1991 Accord with more miles that she's comfortable with and more to-do items on the car's repairs list that she wants to spend is looking for newer Accord. I shouldn't be shocked but late model Accords and Civics are really expensive. I knew when I bought the Fit that we were spending less than Accords, and depending on trim level and options, less than Civics. What I wasn't prepared for today was the retained value of those Accords and Civics. The frustrating thing for her is that the only 'affordable' Accord for her is a 2003--considerably newer with better safety options than her '91, but in terms of maintenance costs, it will probably get spendy pretty quickly. I was thinking she'd be able to afford an '09 Accord or Camry, but there's no way. They is just too high a premium on these cars if they've been reasonably taken care of and have minimal mileage. This really contrasts with the complete lack of love for the recent model off lease Nissan Leafs I've been seeing on the market (and been tempted by). 2012 Leafs with low mileage off lease are going for well under $9,000, and then your fuel costs are a fraction of an ICE, and maintenance costs are similarly low, as long as you don't need a new battery. The gorilla in the room is the 75 or so mile range on these cars--a problem somewhat mitigated if one has the quick charge port. But they will never be able to take intercity trips. We definitely are spoiled being able to fill a tank of gas in minutes, practically anywhere, anytime. If I needed a 2nd car, I wouldn't hesitate in getting one of these Leafs, but as a primary car, I just couldn't do it. I do have an idealist friend whose primary (only) car is a Leaf. He rents a car if he needs to go out of town, and ultimately is many dollars ahead.

More and more Fits are getting fixed. I'm expecting mine to be done any day now. My 30 day rental window is coming up again. I don't think I have to swap the car--last time it was just a verbal renewal over the phone. Here's hoping the rental will be over before May 4 when the agreement comes up.

Day 55: Still Waiting

There were at least a dozen reports from FitFreak,net yesterday and today of either notice to bring Fits into the Honda dealer repair shop for the airbag inflator repair, or the actual repair getting done. The repairs appear to be happening all over the country--not just in high humidity zones. More likely it looks like it is based on who has Honda-provided loaner or rental vehicles. This all leads me to believe that it will be a very short amount of time until I get my Fit back as well. I did contact the dealer yesterday about this and was told that they have no record of an imminent fix for my car, but I don't think they really know what is happening on the corporate distribution side. I could be wrong, but Honda hasn't shown itself to be that highly coordinated EXCEPT in the face of social media pressure. Remember, they (probably) had my Honda Airbag twitter account disabled within hours of it starting up, and they actually responded to this blog by the 8th day it was up. A miraculous event considering I still don't see it when doing google searches for Honda Airbag. Maybe Honda's search-monkeys have special powers of intuition that just tell when there is a dissatisfied Honda customer out there on the internet. Now, actually satisfying the dissatisfied customers unreasonable demands--that's a different story.

I want a pony.

I heard there would be punch and pie.

I want my Fit back.

One of these things will happen soon.