Shocking Honda service!!

[deepakvrao]

My dad has an Accord - 15 months old WITH an extended warranty - the car is currently under warranty. Last month I took the car to Chennai and I found a shuddering while applying the breaks at speeds above 80 kmph.

Showed it to Honda Service at Dakshin Honda and they said that the break pads and disc pads have to be changed and that they will NOT be covered under warranty. Cost is estimated to be above 10K.

The car has done not even 10,000 km, is just a year and three months old. What kind of quality is Honda dishing out if pads dont even last 10K km? And this car is rarely driven on highway - only my Chennai trip in fact, and mostly only in Indiranagar area Bangalore.

My Lancer which is 10 years old is better than this and required mandatory pad changes only at 50k km. We have had Hyundais, Skodas, GM cars and none have required pad changes so early.

Can anyone help me out with some tel numbers/e-mails of someone in Honda who may be able to receive this complaint?

[Rehaan]

deepak,

"the brake pads and discs have to be changed" is the easy way out and shotgun style solution for a problem like this. Did the people at honda check your car? Did they actually remove and measure the discs for any warpage?

I would suggest you pinpoint the problem first. If the discs are warped - maybe it could be considered a "manufacturing defect" - (since its at 10k). Is it one disc or both discs that is warped? That will tell us something too.

Could it be some issue in the steering system that is actually causing this - a cracked or worn bushing etc?

How bad was the shuddering?

I guess what i am saying is get a thorough diagnosis and pinpoint the cause of the problem first, then figure out how to fix it and deal with honda.

cya
R

[hondadude]

Originally Posted by deepakvrao

Showed it to Honda Service at Dakshin Honda and they said that the break pads and disc pads have to be changed and that they will NOT be covered under warranty. Cost is estimated to be above 10K.

Try Whitefield Honda, you might get lucky with the service folks there.

[lohithrao]

I think "Whitefield honda" is better...contact the service advisor by name "Srinivas". This guy is good , i make sure he is incharge of my car every time i leave it for service...you can ref my name to him...

[Sahil]

Accords especially automatics are notorious on brake pads...mine wore out every 20,000kms and i felt that was too early, but 10k is ridiculous !

Is you car manual?

[ajmat]

Welcome back Doc

10k is too soon unless one has been driving around hills at high speeds. Let us be specific, have they told you that the pads are of a minimum thickness ? Have they actually checked the discs for trueness. If you pads are worn at 10k, your wheels should be black with brake dust. Take a pic of the caliper through the wheel, we might be able to tell!

Now the embarassing elimination question!
Did you do a panic brake on loose surface or steer when braking? you might have tripped the ABS. The accord being very nose heavy loads all its weight on the front end under hard braking causing the wheels to potentially lock up, kicking the ABS in

If no to above

I would first start with rebalancing your wheels and lthen looking at your suspension for wear

[vinayvtec]

This is just the beginning, when I come to Honda spears are bit expensive. But I don’t think break pad would wear out for 10,000Kms. If you are sure that, break pad have not gone bad because of cosmetic or physical damage you can definitely question Honda one 2 one. They would inspect the car and is it’s a manufacturing defect or some other issue from there end, then they might give you some options because one of my family friend when he had escalated the issue Honda guys did contacted him back and they embarrassed some part of money.

You can call Honda one 2 one on 1800 113 121 or 011 – 39898918. Before calling them check what is the warranty on the break pad’s and also make sure that there is no fault from your end. It’s a Honda technology and it’s not that easy to fail, but if it has then they need to stand with there product and get it fixed.

[WhiteKnight]

Originally Posted by deepakvrao

Last month I took the car to Chennai and I found a shuddering while applying the breaks at speeds above 80 kmph.

A quick question. Did you do a service prior to the Chennai trip?

[GTO]

It is very rare for brake pads to wear out at 10K. However, the symptoms you describe are almost certainly caused by an uneven brake disc. I think its a case of faulty brake pads and / or brake discs.

You should push for warranty replacement. If not, it will be cheaper to skim the brake discs rather than change them altogether.

[DKG]

Even if we are to assume that the ABS working has caused it I think you can expect Honda to sort this out under warranty. Take it up with the regional representative and you should find a solution.

[vid6639]

You will notice uneven brake discs only during highway driving, which is what you did for the first time to Chennai. Unless it's a very severe uneven disc which you can notice in slow speeds as well.

Push for warranty replacement by writing to Honda.

[suman]

Originally Posted by GTO

If not, it will be cheaper to skim the brake discs rather than change them altogether.

Would an authorized service centre be willing to skim the discs?

[GTO]

Originally Posted by suman

Would an authorized service centre be willing to skim the discs?

Sure will. Linkway Honda skimmed my OHC's brake discs at the last major service in January. However, it must be added, they didn't agree to do so initially. It was only after a little persuasion.

[humyum]

Try Balancing your front wheels first before trying out anything.

[Jaggu]

Get a second opinion before you go spending 10k on brake pads.