[Sameey192]

Hi guys I am having trouble in accepting that my family wasted money on buying the otherwise safe and reliable car

I have a 2014 Honda City SV Petrol variant. Color Urban titanium. The car was a very thoughtful purchase against the very appealing VW Vento diesel.

The booking date was in March got my delivery on 2nd may, from day 1 we never had a good feel about the car. The entire surface was so rough that even after showroom teflon the vehicle was not accepted in terms of finish. Raised the complaint to showroom for unsatisfactory vehicle. No response from them
A few more days of driving, the dynamics did not feel very comfortable. Till date never driven my car over 100kmph, the brakes and suspension did not give any confidence, the vehicle started to loose grip above 90.

Raised concern and complaint, no response again from dealer.

Three months down I observe cracks on touch AC panel, shown to dealer, the service "manager" rubs the surface with thinner to verify if it was crack or dust and in return I get the cracked AC panel along a burned surface coating. No resolution at all and later damn guy offers a local replacement from a crashed city with dead owners. Airbags did not open that car.

We refused to get the swap

In a few more days got the door rubber beading replacement due to existing door closure issues. Another replacement of same happened in a month.

After a year I get Alloys in anticipation to improve some grip, it did help however the dealer will now not do any alignment work for aftermarket Alloys and claims the warranty gets void on such installation

1 more year down the line the window glass won't come down. After trying 5-10 times it will get down
Dealer response: you don't use your car much!

Poor AC effectiveness, no resolution, the cooling starts when you accelerate the car. Standing condition please do not expect AC cooling at all

After All this we were still silent, I went away from home, parents used the vehicle sparingly and after just 2 years I notice door beading popping. I ignored, in my next visit I acknowledge the reason and found "Rusting in the most unexpected places".

Sharing images





I live in Faridabad Delhi NCR farthest to heavy rainfall or coastal region

After a lot of fights with dealership, no resolution came out that would be acceptable to anyone. Since by the time I had raised complaint to Honda customer relations mailbox my warranty was lapsed they took absolutely no interest in helping me out

Can anyone help me understand what can be done?

[ag408]

The Honda service seems to be become worse by the day. I had written earlier on the niggles that I faced with my City - (never once faced an issue with my earlier Hyundai)

Now no service goes without me having to call the workshop for jobs left unfinished. The latest ....

1. Gave my car for service - this was the 45k milestone service and they tried to force all sorts of add ons. AC servicing alone was 3.5k! They also mentioned brake pad erosion, some leakage in the fuel pipe etc. which I was unable to verify. Total cost around 13k!

2. Got my car back and I realized that the rubber padding in the rear left door was coming off - it was not fixed back properly post service.

3. HAd complianed about the rear seat not fitting back properly for at least 3 services before and they finally diagnosed the issue as a missing part - that too after I called them again. The part, they claim, costs 600 bucks pre tax.

4. The doors start squeaking after a few days. This is a problem I have been highlighting since I bought the car. They claim that this is due to the dirt that accumulates in the hinge that connects the door to the body. The technician further said that this is a common issue with City. I'm really surprised how this can be a common problem and not fixed by them! More so, I haven't heard of this issue from other friends owning a City!

Really frustrated with my Honda experience and would be going back to Hyundai for my next purchase.

[Nohonking]

Originally Posted by Sameey192

...from day 1 we never had a good feel about the car. The entire surface was so rough that even after showroom teflon the vehicle was not accepted in terms of finish. Raised the complaint to showroom for unsatisfactory vehicle. No response from them
A few more days of driving, the dynamics did not feel very comfortable.

Raised concern and complaint, no response again from dealer.

Originally Posted by Sameey192

Three months down I observe cracks on touch AC panel, shown to dealer, the service "manager" rubs the surface with thinner to verify if it was crack or dust and in return I get the cracked AC panel along a burned surface coating.

Originally Posted by Sameey192

In a few more days got the door rubber beading replacement due to existing door closure issues. Another replacement of same happened in a month.

Originally Posted by Sameey192

Poor AC effectiveness, no resolution, the cooling starts when you accelerate the car. Standing condition please do not expect AC cooling at all

Originally Posted by Sameey192

After All this we were still silent, I went away from home, parents used the vehicle sparingly and after just 2 years I notice door beading popping. I ignored, in my next visit I acknowledge the reason and found "Rusting in the most unexpected places".

Dear Sameey192,

Well it made me feel really sad reading all this. I have a March 2008 Honda City ZX which is still niggle free and an absolute gem to drive. And having bought a Jazz recently, I too have noticed a lot of issues which I will share later down here. But, would like to ask you a few things:

1. Did you do a PDI before buying your car?
2. Did you check the month and year of manufacturing? I doubt, may be the dealer gave you from the one lying for quite a while in his stock yard. Still I wonder the things like cracking and rusting.
3. While all this started to happen, why didn't you raise it with Honda121 right at the beginning and kept it only at the dealer's level?

Originally Posted by Sameey192

1 more year down the line the window glass won't come down. After trying 5-10 times it will get down
Dealer response: you don't use your car much!

Well, this is something I too have noticed in my recent Jazz(Oct 2015), wherein I'd have to struggle pressing down the power window buttons multiple times before the respective motors would respond. Since, the car is almost 99% driven with single occupancy(myself) and I prefer to keep a/c on at all the times, so barely there is a chance to roll down any window except the mine for paying parking and toll. As I figured out this issue that may be motors are jamming up, from past about 9-10 months, I ensure to at least once roll down all the 4 windows and this helped. Now all the windows are an easy touch.

Originally Posted by Sameey192

After a year I get Alloys in anticipation to improve some grip, it did help however the dealer will now not do any alignment work for aftermarket Alloys and claims the warranty gets void on such installation

Here, the dealer is correct. Honda doesn't touch or take responsibility of any damn thing which isn't a genuine Honda(including any non-Honda accessories). Also, god forbid if anything happens to the car's suspensions, there is no way you can claim warranty because of aftermarket alloy wheels.

Originally Posted by ag408

The Honda service seems to be become worse by the day. I had written earlier on the niggles that I faced with my City - (never once faced an issue with my earlier Hyundai)

Now no service goes without me having to call the workshop for jobs left unfinished.

Very much agree with you. Since last 4-5 years, for both my Honda cars, I have made a practice to go inside the workshop and stand beside my car. Why? Simple, lost trust. Besides a lot of mishandling and skidding your car tyres, let me share some of my observations which will put Honda to shame. For instance:

• Take out that air filter and bang it multiple times against the wall to let the dust shun away and fit it back. Wow!

• I requested for 0w20 synthetic engine oil. The car before me had 5w30 mineral oil poured in, which was still leftover (some 300 ml quantity) in that measurement can. Ok, without draining it back into the barrel (or maintaining two separate measurement cans for each type), the chap filled the can for my car, thus mixing the 2. Not to mention, in the bill I am paying for 0w20 whereas I get some 300 ml of 5w30.

• Last year, while servicing my City, I clearly had it mentioned on the job card for synthetic oil, but the chap at work overlooked it and went to fetch mineral based stuff. I noticed that he was churning out from the barrel labeled 5w30 and pouring it in my car. I remained silent to see what comes during billing and I was correct. Bill mentioned it as synthetic. Now I questioned my SA and asked him to call the chap from the workshop who poured it. Chap agreed it was a normal engine oil and SA had to say sorry to me while getting the bill corrected(not to mention, synthetic oil costs almost double than the mineral). Had I been sitting in the consumer lounge watching TV and eating wafers with some soft drink, won't I'd been duped?

• My SA had put a couple of things on the job card such as topping up of fluids(coolant, windshield washer, brake and clutch fluid) for which I will be billed irrespective of what was added or how much was added. Now while I was inside standing besides my car, I noticed that only the washer tank was filled with plain water as the level of all other fluids was good. Further, I asked the boffin to only to hear that it is rare that there'll be any need for topping them up.

• Last time when I was for my Jazz, the chap took out an almost clean a/c pollen filter and threw it away in a nasty garbage carton. Seeing this, I walked up there and collected it out to look at its condition only to find that it was almost white and looked clean. This made me go and ask this chap in a sarcastic manner "is it too dirty?" The chap looked up at me and said "No, its still good, we'll refit it back". By the way, in the manner it was thrown, it caught some greasy/oily stains from the already lying crap in the carton. Can't really help here. Had I kept numb or sitting in the customers lounge snacking and enjoying TV, I would have ended up paying for a replacement a/c filter.

Originally Posted by ag408

3. HAd complianed about the rear seat not fitting back properly for at least 3 services before and they finally diagnosed the issue as a missing part - that too after I called them again. The part, they claim, costs 600 bucks pre tax.

How did this part go missing? Did you have aftermarket seat covers installed that the accessories guy missed fitting it back? Or, was something missed by Honda ab-initio?

Well, that all said, while my City has been a great car, Jazz did let me down a bit. Why? Quality issues.

My new Jazz had some niggles coming from my door side right from the day I drove it out of showroom. The irritating music will play only if the road isn't so smooth. I tried to ignore it and cover it with other music from incar entertainment system. I had a fear that if reported, I will only let my car become an experiment lab and no point having factory fitment touched. Better live with it.

7 months past, it was a peak hot summer afternoon and my car was parked in the parking lot under the sun (outside temperature hovering upwards 47c). Came back and turned on the a/c on auto climate mode to hear a crack in the windshield starting from A pillar edge and run horizontally inwards. The result was a good almost 12 inches long line in front of my eyes. Reported it to Honda121, an appointment was booked with the dealership. I had to give a lot of explanations to prove that I was correct, many pictures were clicked, many people from dealership came to touch and feel it in order to ensure it wasn't a case of stone hit or hailstorm which coincidently occurred just 2 days before this appointment. Finally, it was agreed for a replacement under warranty.

Another 5 months or so, irritating quirking noise started coming from the dash. I couldn't bear this at all, since its high frequency would penetrate deep to touch my soul. But again, I couldn't trust on the dealership workforce. So, I again wrote to Honda121 asking them some experienced staff and ensuring that my Jazz won't end up in an experiment lab. To this, I was given an appointment by my dealership with a well experienced staff. I took him on a test drive and during the first 200m itself, he diagnosed 3 different noises as against 2 which I could hear. I must appreciate this true boffin at the dealership facility(These are the people we expect at Honda who would smell the problem instantaneously). The quirking noise was due to plastic cladding(housing the wiper blades) which would rub against the windshield. The Honda OEM foam lining was replaced with a 3M foam lining (which was a far better quality) and the issue resolved. The other niggle was from my door side (which I was living with since the very first day). This was an untucked cable running under the dashboard adjacent to my door. Tucked it properly and now my car was absolutely niggle free. I am sure, this was a miss by the technicians at Tapukara plant during manufacturing. Anyways, all was treated under warranty and no charges were levied on me.

Another 2 months, I noticed that many times when I would release down the parking brake, the tyres would still remain jammed resisting the car movement. I could clearly hear and feel when I would be forcing the car to run against this stopping force. I continued to drive and showed it at the dealership during the 4th service this Feb'17. It was identified that the right hand side parking cable was defective and jammed. Not available in spare, I had to wait for a couple of weeks for Honda to make it available against my car's VIN. A video was shot on how one tyre continues to stay locked at all the times and then replacement was made under warranty. No explanations were needed here since it was a live show. Yes, I had to take a leave from the office for this work. That's what I had to pay.

All these experiences, make me ascertain of the fact that quality control at Honda India, both in terms of OEM supply as well as the workmanship has downgraded significantly. My 2008 City ZX is still a live example of an early Honda character.

And finally, my 2 cents:

- Do not give your for car for pick and drop during servicing. Such facilities are meant to take the advantage of your ignorance.
- Do not sit and relax at the customer lounge. Keep a check on your car for the benefit of both.


Thanks,
Simmi

[skulls]

Dear Team BHPians and Honda City Owners,

I am posting this on behalf of my friend who recently bought a brand new Honda City, 2017 model. 2 months after the car was purchased AC stopped working and from there the sequence of nightmares started to unfold. To cut long story short, the service center has lifted up their hands stating they are unable to zero down on issue and has escalated the same to Honda and is waiting for a response. Iam listing down the sequence of events for fellow BHPians to analyze and help me identify the issue.

Make: Honda
Model : City 2017 VX CVT
Date of purchase: 22-Mar-2017


Sequence of Events

• 18th June, long drive from Palakkad to Ernakulam (150 Kms). AC worked fine

• 19th June, Ac stopped working. Only hot air was flowing out. Dropped the vehicle in Service centre (Vision Honda, Palarivattom)

• 20th June, SA delivered the vehicle stating all looks good and they have refilled the pressure also asking my friend to test on long drives

• Next few days as it was continuously raining temperature outside was cool and it seemed that the AC was working as expected

• On 25th June, drove to Munnar and on the way mist started forming on windshield and ac was not working at all. After stalling and restarting the car AC started working again. Glad he made his trip to Munnar as the same was a hill station and family didn’t have to face much of heat due to this nagging issue.

• 29th June, dropped the vehicle at Vision Honda and the initial feedback from SM was thermostat is not working and they don’t want to remove parts of a new car

• 30th June, car was in their custody and they drove the vehicle for 160kms and ended up replacing some relay (god knows what). They said they will keep the vehicle for two more days for trial runs. Dealer had raised the issue with Honda on 20 June itself but there was no response from Honda and when my friend asked for a copy of complaint the dealer refused to share (Not sure why) and consoled him stating they will change the whole unit if issue pops up again

Would like to know if there are any Honda owners who have face the similar issue in past. Requesting the experts to contribute their views which can lead to identify the root cause

[Mortis]

My brothers 2014 City VX has started leaking in the drivers footwell this monsoon. Is this a known issue and what is the solution ? He just took it today to the SC and they filled silicone sealant in somewhere under the door beading. Yet to confirm if this has fixed the leak.

[GTO]

It's not just India; Honda globally has made quality compromises. I've seen USA websites echo the same sentiments about American Hondas.

Now, Reuters has an article on how Honda lost its mojo:

Global automotive head Ito said he would review the design overnight, Horikoshi recalled. The next morning, Ito came back and told the team to make the car smaller and cheaper to produce, and complete the redesign by the end of that month.

“With one blow of a cost chopping knife, Ito basically told us to take our design back” to the first plan. “It’s just unheard of. It was unprecedented,” Horikoshi said.

To meet Ito’s specifications, Horikoshi used cheaper materials and made the car smaller, cutting its length by 45 millimeters and its width by 25 millimeters. He also reduced the wheelbase, the distance between the front and rear axle, by 30 millimeters.

A former leader of Honda’s R&D unit said the firm “lapsed deeper into a bunker mentality, and that translated into our products. It was cut, cut, cut, and it cheapened our cars.”

[avdhesh15]

My steering seems to harden up while driving. No warning lights what so ever.

Any inputs?

The car was standing in the open during monsoons but not driven much in floods.

[sumeethaldankar]

Originally Posted by skulls

Dear Team BHPians and Honda City Owners,

I am posting this on behalf of my friend who recently bought a brand new Honda City, 2017 model. 2 months...

After my Civic underwent a ac overhaul the ac would work intermittently. This was diagnosed to a faulty relay replacing which the ac is working just fine. In my case the car was 7 years old so such a problem can be expected but in your friend's case the car is brand new so such a thing should not happen. Maybe it was just a faulty relay switch off the assembly line which caused the issue for your friend and as long as the issue does not come again it should not be a problem again soon. Also I hope they replaced the relay for free.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by GTO

I've seen USA websites echo the same sentiments about American Hondas.

US JD Power Ratings for 2017 lists Honda (Even Acura) in USA well below the industry average. Toyota has barely managed to stay above average, but Lexus hasn't!

Looks like the Koreans are giving the toughest competition - improving quality while keeping the costs low, wheras the Japs are struggling to match them on costs without compromising on quality.

[Su-47]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

US JD Power Ratings for 2017 lists Honda (Even Acura) in USA well below the industry average.

Looks like Honda is delivering the same "world class quality" here.

Jokes apart, a close friend in the US had several issues with his Civic's suspension in the first year of purchase. And, all he was offered in return was an Extended Warranty to boost his confidence in the product.

I know it is not fair to generalize based on a single issue, but things seem to be going wrong at so many levels - First, a faulty product reaches a customer. Second, they try "trial and error" to fix the problem. Finally, and IMHO this is important - there is very little recognition of deficiency of service on their part.

[vinit.merchant]

Thanks to our forum, I was aware of the issues with the City while I was car shopping Q4 2016. And because of this knowledge, I completely ignored the Jazz for this (also due to its vintage dash + the music system shared with the Brio).

I settled for Elite i20. Did not even take a test drive of the jazz. On couple of occasions when I spot the Jazz on road, I think whether I was right in ignoring it for what it has to offer. Looking at how Honda is faring worldwide with its single minded focus on cost cutting, I can now completely put that thought to rest.

[sumeethaldankar]

Is the new face lifted City a safe buy or does it share the same niggles as the 2014 one?

[Prathiiik]

Originally Posted by sumeethaldankar

Is the new face lifted City a safe buy or does it share the same niggles as the 2014 one?

The 2017 City has it's fair share of niggles too, mainly from the dashboard, door pads and windows.

[OSH]

Originally Posted by sumeethaldankar

Is the new face lifted City a safe buy or does it share the same niggles as the 2014 one ?

I have covered a little over 21000 kms and it has been good for me till date, there are some things I would like to inform you :

• The Digipad AVN system had a few software issues in the initial batches and nearly everyone had complained about it, now there is a software update to take care of those issues and that update seems to work perfectly. The system has a lot of potential but the software lets it down.
  
• That faint rattle from the left side of the dashboard/glove box which is known in the 4th gen started at around 18000 kms in my car. I mentioned it during my 20000 kms/1 year service and the guys knew the exact place where the padding material needs to be put, it stopped rattling after that.

Apart from this, I had my rear mid-bass speaker changed under warranty after it just blew off one fine day. Honda is not making a fuss over warranty replacements so even if something stops working, you are assured a fix. Another BHPian was promised a new AVN which would be replaced at his home if the update does not solve his problems.

All other niggles mentioned in the OP have never come up for me or my friends.

[Aaron:)]

A friend of mine was one of the earliest buyers of the 2017 City, he has the V i-DTEC variant. His car has clocked around 15k kms.

- The I-DTEC is much improved as compared to the 2014 model. Still kinda noisy (similar to the Ciaz), but no longer a deal breaker.

- Panel gaps are all consistent, no parts falling off.

- Digipad has its share of on and off software glitches.

- Minor rattles from the dash (a bit disappointing, considering my 50k 3rd gen City has no rattles).

- Overall, it seems that most of the niggles have been ironed out, but its not flawless like the previous gen.