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Old 1st September 2008, 14:03   #1
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Problems with my new honda city

Hi BHPians,

I purchased a new Honda City GXI around a month back and have had a very bad experience till now. I would first describe my experiences:

First breakdown:

On a rainy night, my car suddenly stopped in the middle of the road and the headlights, power steering, wiper, stereo stopped working. The car could not be started after that. Honda's breakdown technician told me that the battery was totally drained. I parked the car in my office and went home.
Next day when i came to take the car, the car suddenly started functioning normally and the battery was apparently completely charged!
I took the car to the service center and I was told that water has gone into the alternator.
Guys, is this possible that water can get into the alternator in slight rain and minimal water logging?

After a thorough check (as told by the service manager), I was told that everything is fine and this problem should not happen again.

Second breakdown:

Justafter 3 days from the first breakdown, my car again started to show low battery and I sent it to the service center.
This time I was told that the fuse box and the wiring harness was faulty and it needs to be replaced.
After taking 10 days, honda has finally replaced the harness and the fuse box. Both of the parts were under warranty and I was not charged anything.

Now, my questions/problems are the following:
  1. By the symptoms i have told above, do you people think that the resolution is adequate or there may be some other problem in the car?
  2. Do you think that i must take this to the consumer court, claiming damages? After all, I have been without the car for 10 days and there was a lot of mental trauma i suffered with my wife late in the night during the breakdown.
  3. Do you think I must ask honda for a written letter of assurance that this will not happen again. More importantly, do you think honda will respond to such a demand?
Also, does someone has contact numbers of higher authorities in Honda. I want to escalate this to as higher officials as possible.

Thanks,
Nitesh

Note from mod: Thread moved, please use correct section while posting

Last edited by tsk1979 : 1st September 2008 at 14:10.
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Old 1st September 2008, 14:28   #2
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Not a big issue what happened. But it is agaonising with a brand new car.

Anyway nothing serious has happened. Stereo, headlights, starter etc. going down suddenly and car getting normal again in morning! hmmm Your battery was not deep discarged either.

It is a simple case of some cable earthing with body or fusible link being faulty. Difficult to locate but very simple to rectify this type of fault.

honda technician cant describe battery drained without disconnectting & testing with a multimeter, i am surprised how someone can declare battery drained with visual inspection.

I hope they located the correct location of fault in a wiring harness. It shouldnot happen again.

dont worry and enjoy your new car.
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Old 1st September 2008, 14:44   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by niteshkant View Post
Hi BHPians,

Guys, is this possible that water can get into the alternator in slight rain and minimal water logging?
First of all, sorry to hear about your problems. Coming to the water getting into the alternator. Yes, it is a problem and it does happen.

Here is my experience: I love to splash water when ever it rains and I once did this with my Matiz (drove for about 1 km splashing water on the left hand side) and the engine died on me. It took me about 30 mins before I could start the car and I immediately rushed to the workshop, where I got the alternator sealed off properly. From then on, I am really careful while splashing water.

On my recent long drive in NHC Gxi, I did drive through rains for most of the duration and there was absolutely no problem with the car.

As arunforu1 said, it's a problem that can be fixed.

Last edited by muralisk : 1st September 2008 at 14:47.
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Old 1st September 2008, 15:28   #4
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Hey Arun,
Thanks for the reply.

Quote:
Originally Posted by arunforu1 View Post
honda technician cant describe battery drained without disconnectting & testing with a multimeter, i am surprised how someone can declare battery drained with visual inspection.
Oops, no no he did not declare it drained with visual inspection. He did test it with a meter.

So, there is no point in escalating the matter with Honda?
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Old 1st September 2008, 15:33   #5
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Sorry to hear about this, do one thing launch complaint about your dealer in Honda One-O-one, you might be having number or get it from Site. Once your complaint, just wait, dealer will call you back and see the drama .

On the lighter side call your battery manufacturere, most of the time exide guys, they will come and check your battery and replace it with new one if faulty. I had similar problem when I used to have NHC, it stops and refuse to start. I have to call Honda guys and they indeed called up Battery Operator and send some mechanic. He checked it and found one of the cell was damanged. So replaced with new one. So better call them and get it checked too.
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Old 1st September 2008, 16:19   #6
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Quote:
Guys, is this possible that water can get into the alternator in slight rain and minimal water logging?
Minimal is a relative word. If you drove through floods, then Honda really can't be blamed. Modern cars hate water and are incredibly vulnerable to floods. You ought to be glad that the repairs were carried out under warranty.

Quote:
By the symptoms i have told above, do you people think that the resolution is adequate or there may be some other problem in the car?
Do you think that i must take this to the consumer court, claiming damages? After all, I have been without the car for 10 days and there was a lot of mental trauma i suffered with my wife late in the night during the breakdown.
Don't sweat. As long as they have performed a satisfactory job on the car, and it is functioning well, you should be all set. This is not a case for the consumer court at all.

What I'd recommend you to do is extended warranty coverage. Take the 4 year option.
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Old 1st September 2008, 16:19   #7
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Thanks guys for the prompt replies.

Sam,

Yeah i have called the honda one2one and i am following up with them asking for a letter of assurance. Let me see what happens. Will keep you posted.

About the battery, the service center ppl told me that they have checked it and refilled the sulphuric acid, etc. I have no other option to believe them
Anyways, i will call the battery manufactures also.

Murali,

Your experience (driving in rains with NHC) gives me comfort and fear at the same time!
Comfort: What happened to me may be a one off case but generally NHC is safe to drive in extreme conditions.
Fear: If it happened only to me, is it so that I have a faulty piece :((

Thanks again everyone
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Old 1st September 2008, 17:49   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GTO View Post
Minimal is a relative word. If you drove through floods, then Honda really can't be blamed. Modern cars hate water and are incredibly vulnerable to floods. You ought to be glad that the repairs were carried out under warranty.
Well, it was raining heavily but it was not flooded. Maximum there was 2 inch of water at some places.
I have driven my alto in places with much more water than that. So, I was just shocked to see NHC behave that way in rains.

Quote:
Originally Posted by GTO View Post
This is not a case for the consumer court at all.
This is what i wanted to know. Thanks for that

Quote:
Originally Posted by GTO View Post
What I'd recommend you to do is extended warranty coverage. Take the 4 year option.
Oh yeah, i have that. Actually, since last month onwards, Honda is giving 4 years extended warranty and 2 years roadside assistance free of cost.

Thanks for your input
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Old 6th September 2010, 16:26   #9
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guys...My sisters NHC driver side lock refuses to open and the car has to be opened from the passenger side door.Car was taken to Hallmark and they said that all 4 door locks will have to be changed as single lock is not available.Rs 9000 was quoted for the same as they said that locks are not included under extended warrenty.Can anyone shed some light on this
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Old 6th September 2010, 19:19   #10
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Check the fine print in the EW booklet . It should list exclusions - i.e. stuff *not* covered under warranty.
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Old 6th September 2010, 20:44   #11
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in NHC, as in most cars, the driver side central lock mechanism controls the other 3. I think, in ford, the driver and passenger locks control the rear ones. So i guess that the whole set has to be changed.
No idea about warranty.
Cheaper option would be to use this as an opportunity to get a security system. The autocop starts from Rs.3800/-
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Old 7th September 2010, 08:41   #12
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Thanx a lot sdp1975 and wildsdi5530.
I guess opting for an autocop should be the way to go.
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