Monday, August 23, 2010

Jennifer - 1, Honda - 0

My car problems started last year.  In November, my car suddenly stalled in a parking lot.  I took it straight to the dealership but their service department found nothing wrong.
A month or so later, the dash board lit up like the Forth of July, then it stalled.  I took it in again.  They could find nothing wrong.
We repeated this a few times until July when it really stopped running.  I limped it into a local service station where they said the pistons weren't firing.  They replaced my spark plugs, removed buildup from the engine and charged me $800.
All seemed well and good.  Wednesday, I took it to the dealership for an oil change and the 135000 mile service.  I dropped another $300.
Then on Thursday, it stalled twice while I was driving on 29.  Thank heavens it wasn't rush hour or Caitlin and I would have been creamed.  As it was, Jeff had to leave work and pick up Gwen from her camp, about an hour late.  (Those wonderful camp counselors at the Howard County Nature Conservancy were so understanding.)
So, I did a little research on-line and found out that 1999 Honda Odysseys have a stalling problem related to the ignition switch.  I found multiple incidences of this so it sounds like a rather well known problem.  I don't think that the Honda service department ever checked the ignition switch.   This is where I get really mad.  I take it to the dealership because they should know Hondas backwards and forwards.  If there is a known problem with the ignition switch that should have been the first thing they checked and replaced last year.  So they have been sending me out in a dangerous vehicle for over half a year.
So, when I took it in today, I asked them to change the ignition switch and I convinced them that they were not going to charge me.  And they very kindly agreed.

1 comment:

DoctorSally said...

Nice. I wish I could have seen you convince them to "kindly agree" to not charging you. Hope the foot is doing better and the garden as well.