[amit]

The Civic's suspension bottoming out issue has been discussed here for many weeks and now it's official. Seems like Mid-Day tried to find out details on the Civic global recall and stumbled upon frustrated Civic owners in Mumbai who say they have been facing the problem of the suspension bottoming out for weeks now. Most of the owners they quoted said they were frustrated by the attitude of Honda India over this problem. Whats more Mid-Day spoke to all Honda Authorised service centers in Mumbai and they all confirmed that compliants over the suspension bottoming out when the car has a full load have been recieved by them. The final whammy of course came from the Honda spokesman who said the company has NOT recieved any compliants on the Civic suspension issue so far! Question is who is lying? If the dealers have recieved these compliants they must have forwarded it to the company. Mid-Day isnt lying, we have owners here who report on the same issues. Why is Honda being so shifty about this?

And this also brings into focus our auto mags who have been raving over the Civic. Both OD and ACI have a long term Civic in their fleet, OD drove the Civic over 6000 kms on the GQ but none of them have reported this issue in their magazines. I don't know if BSM has done the same. I think what we need is a mainstream newspaper or auto magazine doing a front page article on this. Maybe Honda will then swing into action. Mid-Day had this article on the right side top corner in one of it's inside pages.

[mclaren1885]

The Civic suspension does have problems IMO. I did mention about this concern in one of my travelogues. Not only that it felt quite scary when taking sharp turns at moderate speeds (compared to Palio, baleno, OHC, elantra on the same stretch) but even a slight climb in the road (additional layers of tar/speedbump etc) lead to pretty bad bottoming out. A friend whose car I was driving did lodge a complaint to Whitefield Honda and they came back saying there was no problem with the suspension. He then decided to get some aftermarket suspension from abroad. Since he is into circuit racing, it was easy for him to realize when I mentioned this issue to him (it was the first stint for the car on the highway). Company folks denied it saying it was due to height of the bumps etc.

[theMAG]

Honda, or for that matter, any other company in India, will only swing into action thru a class action lawsuit. Its humiliating to Honda owners to be treated this way esp when all of them lust after the Honda brand name.

[planet_rocker]

IIRC - OD reported the rear suspension bottoming out when fully loaded (blue civic) and has provided pics.

its too bad on honda's part to treat the customers like this.

can you provide a link to the article?

[rohan_fonseca]

Recently there was a civic that toppled due to rear tyre burst. Could it be attributed to suspension issues?

[GTO]

Remember, the Civic suspension issue was "Reported 1st on Team-BHP!"

The final whammy of course came from the Honda spokesman who said the company has NOT recieved any compliants on the Civic suspension issue so far!

Honda India's attitude is nasty and that has had a serious rub-down effect on its dealerships. As a Honda owner, I can tell you that the company's support and the dealership after-sales are at the bottom of the pile. Heck, I get better service on my Tata & Mahindra than at Honda authorised dealerships.

A year plus and still no solution from Honda India on the Civic suspension problems?

[manaa45]

Originally Posted by GTO

Honda India's attitude is nasty and that has had a serious rub-down effect on its dealerships. As a Honda owner, I can tell you that the company's support and the dealership after-sales are at the bottom of the pile.

sorry for going off topic but

I agree with you as far as the sales, after sales service is concerned. they are not bothered at all as to how they deal with the customers.

i have had issues with them right from the day one till date.

the main problem with them is that they do not want to accept their mistakes at all, leave alone solving them.

imagine how stupid of not to check the rc book while giving the delivery of the car, they have entered the same no for chassis no and engine no.

i was more stupid not to check it myself, i got to know only when my insurance agent told me so when renewing the policy. now it is more than a month that i have given them the rc book for rectification but they have returned it back to me.

the dealer is hallmark honda.

Mansi

[Mpower]

Honda is having a history of suspension problems. Even with the NHC, the came out with a series of modifications to the suspension when the ZX came out.

[gemithomas]

so sorry but what do you mean by this "bottoming out" of the suspension.

[VMG]

Is it OK to buy civic now or wait for some time to fix this supension problem?

[sriramv.iyer]

Is it OK to buy civic now or wait for some time to fix this supension problem?

Despite problems being reported, we still buy a lot of Civics. I understand it is a great car, but that doesnt mean Indians should be treated shabbily the way the are being treated now.

Maruti had to do an SX4 to force Honda to add ABS/Airbags in Honda City. That too only in the VTEC version. (I have read numerous complaints on braking / lockup on this version). In all their ads Honda now shamelessly mention "Extra Safety", in all their ads, not indicating that it is not available with the popular iDSI models. As soon as ACI reported it in their mag, some GM from Honda India wrote to ACI denying the report (so that gullible customers will keep buying the older version not knowing the new one is round the corner) - Is it possible to sue this guy?

Let us keep picking the 1.4 Million INR car, keep their sales ticking despite the way they treat us and Honda will keep telling "Kiss my A**". Read Honda Civic reviews in MouthShut and you'll see many complaints about the dealers, after sales nightmares than you'd find reviews.

I find that this is a universal phenomenon in India - I have been to many shops that treat customers shabbily and even when I protest loud, the boss/manager doesnt seem to care. Huge volumes of customers that keep coming despite shabby treatments are the only cause.

Sometimes I think we do deserve such a treatment for being part of such an insensitive lot of customers.

I realized that I was being taken for a ride when I was about to book a Chevy Optra 3 years ago (went to the showroom to book the car with my parents and a checkbook), and I withdrew - I went and bought a Ford instead - Decided it over a cup of coffee after the Optra debacle -The dealership in Chennai was extremely good with their followups - Then, Honda gave a customary backup call and that was it (I was recently checking out the Civic in Bangalore a couple of months ago with the intention of picking it up and was appalled by zero follow up calls) - I am more or less decided on the Cedia now (Dealer Lathangi's people in Bangalore are real good and are worth their weight in gold - Plan to pick it up when I am done with my travel)

Change starts from the self - I have decided not to take things lying down, *however* good they are, for it insults my soul and spirit. I cannot change the way people shop, but I can change mine.

Karman Eva Adhikaraste.

[mithun]

Honda's service attitude is pretty bad. I'm now scary of speedbreakers on Civic.

[himanshugoswami]

unfortunately, the Indian mentality is still that if it is Phoren, it is good.

For years now, Honda and skoda's A.S.S. has been amongst the WORST with no improvement at all. still, people follow the herd mentality and buy their cars in droves.

on the other hand, people continupsly lament about Tata motors, whereas the plain fact is that not only has tata been continuously improving their products, but has taken huge strides in improving customer service. sure they still have miles to go, but at least they have acknowledged the problem and are doing something about it, unlike these high and mighty phirangs!!

time to boycott these foreign car makers, till they realise that indian cannot be taken for a ride (pardon the pun!)

cheers

himanshu

[alankarm@sancha]

Originally Posted by amit

The Civic's suspension bottoming out issue has been discussed here for many weeks and now it's official. Seems like Mid-Day tried to find out details on the Civic global recall and stumbled upon frustrated Civic owners in Mumbai who say they have been facing the problem of the suspension bottoming out for weeks now. Most of the owners they quoted said they were frustrated by the attitude of Honda India over this problem. Whats more Mid-Day spoke to all Honda Authorised service centers in Mumbai and they all confirmed that compliants over the suspension bottoming out when the car has a full load have been recieved by them. The final whammy of course came from the Honda spokesman who said the company has NOT recieved any compliants on the Civic suspension issue so far! Question is who is lying? If the dealers have recieved these compliants they must have forwarded it to the company. Mid-Day isnt lying, we have owners here who report on the same issues. Why is Honda being so shifty about this?

And this also brings into focus our auto mags who have been raving over the Civic. Both OD and ACI have a long term Civic in their fleet, OD drove the Civic over 6000 kms on the GQ but none of them have reported this issue in their magazines. I don't know if BSM has done the same. I think what we need is a mainstream newspaper or auto magazine doing a front page article on this. Maybe Honda will then swing into action. Mid-Day had this article on the right side top corner in one of it's inside pages.

Sir!! I have been reporting the issue to your and other forums for a long time now. This is my personal experience with my own Civic with over 22000 km till date, delivery in Sept.2006.

I HAVE TAKEN UP THE ISSUE WITH THE CO, (HONDA SIEL) MANY TIMES, BUT NO RESULT. They say that there is no problem. For my detailed reports you can check my earlier posts to other threads too. WHAT DO I DO?

[carboy]

Originally Posted by alankarm@sancha

I HAVE TAKEN UP THE ISSUE WITH THE CO, (HONDA SIEL) MANY TIMES, BUT NO RESULT. They say that there is no problem. For my detailed reports you can check my earlier posts to other threads too. WHAT DO I DO?

Sell it off before people become aware of the problem.
Buy another car, this time from a company which cares more than
Honda (in that range, maybe an Hyundai Elantra)