[ChiragM]

Thanks to Cherub Singla for sending this in. Heartfelt gratitude for sharing it with other enthusiasts via this Team-BHP share page!

Hello, I am writing to you about my experience with my Honda City, which could be helpful to others and might help save someone’s life.

I would like to highlight one of the (so-called) niggling problems that I observed in my Honda City - central locking system lock jam.

Once the car is locked through speed sensing auto lock or using central locking, manual unlocking for some/all the door locks requires extreme force or cannot be opened at all. This could prove fatal in case of an accident. As I understand, Honda does not have auto door unlock feature in case of a collision.

I thought one defective lock in my car was an exceptional case, but I recently observed the same problem in my friend’s car (I have the diesel (2014), his is the petrol (2015)).

This problem seems to occur in some locks when the manual unlocking feature is not used for a long time, the lock starts getting stuck. I personally rarely use manual door unlock, as may be the case with most owners. If you operate the lock manually a few times, it loosens up for sometime, but in my case, it just kept getting stuck again and again, until it became impossible to unlock.

Fortunately for me, only one lock gave me issues and I stopped sitting at that seat. It took me more than 18 months to convince Honda that there was a problem.

They refused to acknowledge the problem initially, passing it on like this is normal feature of the lock (fortunately I had two locks for comparison that worked perfectly), then they kept saying they had solved the problem through lubrication. When they finally opened the door pad for replacement (under warranty) of electronic door latch/lock system, it seemed like the door lock was never even inspected, the plastic cover on the lock was intact. There were some heated discussions involved in this whole process.

Honda’s falling quality is highlighted in the latest low JD power and dealer satisfaction scores. It is easy for many of us to be oblivious to these problems due to low road-time/mileage seen by most of our cars and most features of the car are rarely used, lack of time, lack of technical knowhow, etc.

After owning the Honda City, I have really come to appreciate my Maruti Ciaz’s stress free ownership experience and it feels like a much better road companion. Basic reliability is a very important safety feature on Indian Roads. My sister insisted on buying Honda City (she loved the styling), but was unable to drive it once the niggling issues started cropping up. List of my Honda City's niggling/quality problems in brief - Door Lock, AC, AC fumes (could be due to personal sensitivity), Gears hard to engage, Steering Lock, horn, seat belt, hard clutch, Dashboard Noise, Battery and wipers (spared from the steering, braking, suspension, etc. issues faced by other owners).

Although its disappointing to see that Maruti does not offer the level of safety in its Indian versions of cars, when it offers much higher safety in the same car in Japan. It seems Maruti has the resources and technical knowhow to offer much better products, but still doesn’t.

Regards,

Cherub Singla

[DrMishra]

I have faced the same issue in my City ivtec -v 2016 model. In my case the the door locked from inside driver side and did not open. Passenger side door could be opened. I exited that way. Taken to service center and the technician could not find any trouble. It did not repeated too. He serviced anyway.

[city.cruze]

Thank you for sharing this. I was able to refer this post when I initially was faced with this issue.

My December 2023 model year (final lot) of the Gen 4 City had same problem with doors. Only the driver could unlock the doors. Passenger door locks was stuck until the driver centrally unlocked the car.

At first, Honda said it was a 'safety feature'. I know the auto door lock feature in cars, but all of them allow the passengers to unlock the doors when the car gets back to stationary after driving. When I asked service centers to confirm it in writing and also point out where in the owners manual this safety feature is mentioned, I got no response. After multiple visits to the service center and countess phone calls with different service executives, finally I heard today that they have ordered the necessary parts to fix this.

Fingers crossed on getting the parts and fixing it soon. I will update this post again when i get it done by Honda.