Seat Recall Gone Wrong?

[s2kdriver80]

There are highly skilled and competent Honda technicians out there so I don't want to make generalizations, but I'm not all that surprised by what's happening, especially with the Honda brand. As @007 stated, this is quite common and I've had many less than desirable dealership service experiences over the years. I'm now very intentional with how I engage with service departments and take more time to look over the car before I depart the dealership. It shouldn't have to be this way but it is, so you act accordingly.

Yea unfortunately. This is why I'll be going to the dealer only for warranty work or if it's an emergency. I have another shop in my area I go to for all other stuff. I had a go-to tech I used and always requested him when I went to my preferred dealer in the past. He left, but he recommended and vouched for two techs at that dealer, so will request either of them to work on the car if I have to use that dealer in the future. I always try to pre-tip before the work lol.

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[Rad Ray]

Technicians tend to have a bad rep for these things done by the ones who know they're underpaid and are expected to service many vehicles as fast as possible with no incentive on performance.

From my experience, technicians tend to be... angry or miserable about how their performance and quickness in servicing cars is not incentivised with an already bad salary for the workload.

It's disappointing but doesn't justify a shitty job. I hate to sound snobby but you'd think they'd take care of what is known as the most expensive "Honda" badged car. Goes to show how everything is covered as well, some of them have tenure and just don't care anymore.

Any dealer employees on this forum want to chime in on this thread?

I concur with your general assessment, but there are a lot of competent vehicle mechanics around, including at some Honda dealerships. I've also had idiots work on my Hondas including loose oil drainage bolts, greasy stains on the upholstery, missing lug nuts, and exterior scratches from their auto car washes. The worst was a 22-mile joy ride in my AP2 complete with cigarette burns in the carpet. As a result (unless it's a warranty or recall issue), I prefer to take my vehicles to a private garage where I've earned a reputation as a long-time and grateful customer. When it's a major job, I give gift cards or send pizzas. Even then, there have been mishaps, but they always owned up to it and started the repair process before I returned. There's only one mechanic ("Master Tech") at my Honda dealership that I will allow to work on my FL5. He has 20+ years of experience and treats every customer with genuine respect and professionalism. The last time I called for an appointment, the Service Advisor told me that he wasn't available. I simply said, "OK, I'll take my car to another garage." After a pause, the dude said, "Oh wait. He CAN see you then. Can I set it up for you?" Every profession has its share of incompetents and it's sad that the bad apples aren't culled before they do damage. You have to be your own best advocate or you might get the least experienced and unprofessional clown available.

 

[mbaapk]

Should have taped it crazy style. There are so many examples of scratches that Im surprised more dont do this - yes as insane as it seems.

 

[CTRifecta]

Wish there were special dedicated techs for ppl who cared about their cars like we do. I'd gladly pay an extra $20 just to avoid this shit

 

[tezzasaurusrex]

Ex-Honda Tech here. And Ex-Foreman, Advisor, and Service Manager. So I've been through the ranks. Around 12-13 years total working in various dealerships.

The dealer gets paid by Honda HQ themselves to carry out the recall - usually the warranty labour rate is about 10-20% lower than the retail labour rate - but say if Honda Japan/America determines that the job should take 3.2 hours the dealer will get 3.2 hours of labour paid plus the parts are obviously free for the dealer (or 0.01 dollars for accounting/record keeping reasons). From experience - the warranty labour time is usually quite generous, with the best tech's able to do the recalls well within the allotted time frame. This makes warranty work a very good business prospect - the other benefit is that you as the dealer are given the opportunity to win back customers you have lost along the way by providing them with a positive experience (this unfortunately doesn't always happen)

For sure - the job of the seat removal is a difficult one. The seat itself is around 20kg - plus its large, unevenly weighted, hugely awkward to carry, and has sharp edges protruding on each corner of the seat rail assembly. You need to lift it high enough that the seat rails clear the sill, but not so high that the headrest hits the roof lining, and then also go past between the door trim and the door jamb (near the door latch). So these are for sure the areas on the vehicle to check after the job is complete. But the difficulty of the job mixed in with the high pressure environment of the dealership are the perfect ingredients for something to go wrong..

Best practice is to cover everything up - including the sill, the back of the seat (Type R logo), the door trims, the steering wheel, and the centre console.
Absolute best practice for the technician is to unbolt the seat rail (4 bolts on each corner) and slip baby socks or similar over the sharp ends of each seat rail and cable tie it to secure it - that way if the seat rails come into contact with anything its a much less likely chance of damaging anything.
Does Honda require this in their recall procedure? 100% No.
Are the technicians doing this to ensure the quality of their work? Unlikely...
Is it a bit of a shitty situation? Yes.

Needless to say - I only ever take my car to the dealer if absolutely neccessary. Trust me when I say that I've seen it all. To our friends who have recieved the recall notices - do your best to maximise your chances of a successful job - and that means speaking with the service manager, the foreman, even the tech if possible, asking for the most experienced tech to work on the most expensive Honda on the market today. And cover things up as best as possible. Good luck all.

 

[mbaapk]

Ex-Honda Tech here. And Ex-Foreman, Advisor, and Service Manager. So I've been through the ranks Around 12-13 years total working in various dealerships.

The dealer gets paid by Honda HQ themselves to carry out the recall - usually the warranty labour rate is about 10-20% lower than the retail labour rate - but say if Honda Japan/America determines that the job should take 3.2 hours the dealer will get 3.2 hours of labour paid plus the parts are obviously free for the dealer (or 0.01 dollars for accounting/record keeping reasons). From experience - the warranty labour time is usually quite generous, with the best tech's able to do the recalls well within the allotted time frame. This makes warranty work a very good business prospect - not to mention the older vehicles being serviced outside the dealer you are given to opportunity to win them back into the dealer network.

For sure - the job of the seat removal is a difficult one. The seat itself is around 20kg - plus its large, unevenly weighted, hugely awkward to carry, and has sharp edges protruding on each corner of the seat rail assembly. You need to lift it high enough that the seat rails clear the sill, but not so high that the headrest hits the roof lining, and then also go past between the door trim and the door jamb (near the door latch). So these are for sure the areas on the vehicle to check after the job is complete. But the difficulty of the job mixed in with the high pressure environment of the dealership are the perfect ingredients for something to go wrong..

Best practice is to cover everything up - including the sill, the back of the seat (Type R logo), the door trims, the steering wheel, and the centre console.
Absolute best practice for the technician is to unbolt the seat rail (4 bolts on each corner) and slip baby socks or similar over the sharp ends of each seat rail and cable tie it to secure it - that way if the seat rails come into contact with anything its a much less likely chance of damaging anything.
Does Honda require this in their recall procedure? 100% No.
Are the technicians doing this to ensure the quality of their work? Unlikely...
Is it a bit of a shitty situation? Yes.

Needless to say - I only ever take my car to the dealer if absolutely neccessary. Trust me when I say that I've seen it all. But for our friends who have recieved the recall notices - do your best to maximise your chances of a successful job - and that means speaking with the service manager, the foreman, even the tech if possible, asking for the most experienced tech to work on the most expensive Honda on the market today. And cover things up as best as possible. Good luck all.

You forgot the $50 gift card to Chilis

 

[Xchax3]

Ex-Honda Tech here. And Ex-Foreman, Advisor, and Service Manager. So I've been through the ranks Around 12-13 years total working in various dealerships.

The dealer gets paid by Honda HQ themselves to carry out the recall - usually the warranty labour rate is about 10-20% lower than the retail labour rate - but say if Honda Japan/America determines that the job should take 3.2 hours the dealer will get 3.2 hours of labour paid plus the parts are obviously free for the dealer (or 0.01 dollars for accounting/record keeping reasons). From experience - the warranty labour time is usually quite generous, with the best tech's able to do the recalls well within the allotted time frame. This makes warranty work a very good business prospect - not to mention the older vehicles being serviced outside the dealer you are given to opportunity to win them back into the dealer network.

For sure - the job of the seat removal is a difficult one. The seat itself is around 20kg - plus its large, unevenly weighted, hugely awkward to carry, and has sharp edges protruding on each corner of the seat rail assembly. You need to lift it high enough that the seat rails clear the sill, but not so high that the headrest hits the roof lining, and then also go past between the door trim and the door jamb (near the door latch). So these are for sure the areas on the vehicle to check after the job is complete. But the difficulty of the job mixed in with the high pressure environment of the dealership are the perfect ingredients for something to go wrong..

Best practice is to cover everything up - including the sill, the back of the seat (Type R logo), the door trims, the steering wheel, and the centre console.
Absolute best practice for the technician is to unbolt the seat rail (4 bolts on each corner) and slip baby socks or similar over the sharp ends of each seat rail and cable tie it to secure it - that way if the seat rails come into contact with anything its a much less likely chance of damaging anything.
Does Honda require this in their recall procedure? 100% No.
Are the technicians doing this to ensure the quality of their work? Unlikely...
Is it a bit of a shitty situation? Yes.

Needless to say - I only ever take my car to the dealer if absolutely neccessary. Trust me when I say that I've seen it all. But for our friends who have recieved the recall notices - do your best to maximise your chances of a successful job - and that means speaking with the service manager, the foreman, even the tech if possible, asking for the most experienced tech to work on the most expensive Honda on the market today. And cover things up as best as possible. Good luck all.

Thank you for your input from prior and current knowledge. I'll take this advice of doing my best to cover up what I know could get damaged. I realize my previous post could be seen as more of a generalization and I apologize for that. Unfortunately, I've worked alongside technicians when I was one as well and I should specify that it's based on that experience.

They're definitely underappreciated and continue to be on the engineering side of things as well. I learn more from technicians than my colleagues in many ways due to having that right in front of you as opposed to thinking of things theoretically.

 

[tezzasaurusrex]

You forgot the $50 gift card to Chilis

Don't be a tightass and make it $100

Thank you for your input from prior and current knowledge. I'll take this advice of doing my best to cover up what I know could get damaged. I realize my previous post could be seen as more of a generalization and I apologize for that. Unfortunately, I've worked alongside technicians when I was one as well and I should specify that it's based on that experience.

They're definitely underappreciated and continue to be on the engineering side of things as well. I learn more from technicians than my colleagues in many ways due to having that right in front of you as opposed to thinking of things theoretically.

Yes, unfortunately good help is hard to find. And the good ones are rarely rewarded for their efforts.
The job is highly demanding and grossly underpaid. Also with cars getting more and more complex over the past 10 or so years you really need to have your head screwed on right to get the job done properly. For better or for worse its just the way the industry is..

 

[madbikes]

That sucks. Interested to know how the fix goes, though. Keep us posted.

The trim came pretty fast. I drove my car back to the dealer to have it replaced.

 

[Tuxedo Mask]

Both of those cars were not on the recall

Little late to the party, but just wanted to drop by and say that my car was indeed part of the recall. I got the letter a few weeks ago. Taking it in tomorrow morning to get it taken care of.

 

[madbikes]

As long as you get the car back without any scuffs to any interior trim, you are good.

 

[Estoril4]

I'm assuming these recalls are now being performed at the factory for this inbound wave of vehicles?

 

[Xchax3]

Happy Fathers Day to all the dads! Just got the time to do this in preparation for tomorrow. I'd rather look crazy and be safe. It's just that accidents happen. Let's see how tomorrow goes.

 

[mbaapk]

Happy Fathers Day to all the dads! Just got the time to do this in preparation for tomorrow. I'd rather look crazy and be safe. It's just that accidents happen. Let's see how tomorrow goes.

That’s how its done!

 

[Xchax3]

Recall gone right! Thankfully, to Mr. Rivera at Honda of Bayamon who did the job, it was done the right way. I was the first car in today. I'm not sure how that factors anything at all. They had offered to schedule it for last Friday but I decided maybe I want to be the first car worked on in the week and took the Monday earliest option. No scratches, no separation, no creaking, and it'll stay in place, which is most important. Stay safe and bring it in with the precautions everyone.

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