Vent Honda Odyssey Vent - Liftgate Tailgate Failure

So - I have an 08 Odyssey. The struts that hold my tailgate up have gone on it already. I am guessing I have a whopping 20K miles on it. It is a major safety issue - the tailgate basically "free-falls" when you open it up. I am so thankful my kids were in the car when I discovered this problem - you could seriously get hurt if this thing caught you by surprise, as it did the first time I realized there was a problem.

So - Honda won't provide me a rental car, even though it is clearly a warranty claim. And - no local dealerships will transport me to and from work.

I have to do daycare drop-offs and pick-ups and cannot leave work during my lunch-hour, so I am really not sure how I am going to get this fixed.

I am irate. I bought a Honda because I believed it work. Period.

I was wrong.

Will the dealership provide you with a loaner car? (not a rental - maybe wording it different will help?) I have a gotten a loaner from our Chevy dealer both with warranty and non warranty things when it has to be in there for a while.

Nope - I specifically asked for a loaner (or a no-charge rental) and they won't. I called three dealerships in the area and the answer was the same. The repair has to be expected to take more than 4-5 hours. This cost is born by the dealer - not Honda.

I was told by Honda corporate that Honda provides no loaner cars even if repair is a warranty claim. Guy asked me - "didn't you read your warranty claims manual"...(sure in my spare time)...I didn't read it 'cause I did not expect to have warranty issues with a HONDA....

So, the dealers don't have a shuttle to take you to/from work? (usually a van and they take several people at once so takes a bit longer to get to work). That sucks if they don't offer that service.

Not sure if this would work for you, but how about:

1. drop kids off at daycare
2. drive van to Honda
3. take bus to work or taxi if there are time constraints
4. take taxi back to dealership at end of day (I am thinking bus won't work out at end of day due to daycare pick ups)
5. get van and head to daycare

Alternatively, do you have a co-worker that would be willing to meet you at Honda and take you back at the end of the day? That way, you could skip the slow bus/expensive taxi and buy co-worker coffee or lunch for thanks.

It sounds like it's a repair that only takes a couple hours, so I think you can see how it wouldn't be feasible to provide vehicles for the entire day for everyone that comes in for a couple hour repair. That would require the dealership to have a LOT of vehicles for loaners. I am quite surprised that they have no shuttle service though (as I commented on earlier). You might have to wait longer to get a Saturday appointment, but it would be worth the wait if going during the week just doesn't work for you (as waiting is better than not getting it fixed at all).

All the Honda/Acura dealers I've been to, offer service appointments on Saturdays, usually until noon. Call and check if your dealers offer this and make an appointment for a Saturday morning if you don't have daycare drop offs on Saturday. You can either wait for the vehicle (and hopefully they'll at least give you free coffee!) or maybe you can get a friend to meet you somewhere nearby for coffee, or to go shopping for a bit. And hopefully DH will be able to look after the kids. If not, it will be fun wait in the service waiting room with the kids!

The same thing happened to my Sienna too. They eventually recalled them, but mine went out before the recall while I was still under warranty. I had to bring it back another day because they needed to order the part, but it was a pretty quick repair. I can understand why they won't give you a rental.

You've gotten great ideas so far. I would think dropping the kids off and then taking it in and getting a shuttle would work if you can't just wait for it. I know DH can get the VW dealer to take him to work even though it's out of their "area". GL!

Thanks Techno.

All the dealerships have a shuttle service - but it only travels in a 5 mile radius and the closest dealership is 7 miles away (yep - an extra 2 miles ).

If they offered a loaner - I could have just taken the loaner for the window they had my car (an hour or so) - I just can't afford to sit there for an hour on top of the travel time to and from the dealership.

We ended up just arranging for my mom to help out the with the kids so we can get the car in this week. It is PITA, but I am worried about someone getting hurt and I end up going in and out of my tailgate pretty much daily.

Same thing happened to my Ody around 20K miles. I guess it's a common problem, and yes can be dangerous

I am trying to remember, but it seems like they fixed it while I waited.

And both of our Honda Dealerships have a shuttle service that will take you where you need to go.

I would call your Honda District manager and complain.

I will try to get in touch with the district manager - that is a good idea.

I filed a complaint with the NHSTA - it is not like the radio is broke, or something silly like that.

what? You mean you don't have half a day to miss work and sit around their dealership?

Our dealership annoyed me, when I got our car fixed, they offerred me a shuttle...to the MALL.
Really? With my 2 kids? thanks.

When you schedule and when you drop it off, make sure to tell them that you absolutely positively must have it back by X time. The dealerships I've dealt with have been really bad about not being done at the expected time if I haven't been super specific. Also, call the day before to make sure your part is in.

Maybe it's just my Honda dealership, but I have had them drive a loaner car to me and take my Honda to be fixed, only to return it hours later for the switch back - because that was more convienent for me than having to install three car seats. (The loaner was a "just in case of an emergency" while we waited at home.) And this WAS "just" for a broken CD player. So my guess WOULD be that it's your dealership - not Honda all together.

Is it an option to call another close Honda dealership?

Sorry you are having these issues - we love our Hondas and the kind of customer service we have received makes it even better to own one. If you can't get what you need, I would definitely play up the fact that other Honda owners LOVE their cars and become REPEAT customers when the customer service matches their reliability!!