Cracked dashboard in '04 TL
 

I just purchased a certified preowned TL in May. Only had 16,500 miles. Too good to be true. Last week my dash cracked in 3 places - passenger side, middle and driver side. The dealer won't cover under the "bumper-to-bumper" warranty that they pitched as a benefit of buying a certified TL as opposed to buying from an individual. Has anyone else been through this? Any suggestions?

Ummm...bumper to bumper usually means everything on the car. What was their reasoning for not wanting to replace/fix the problem? Don't take no for an answer.

I agree. They consider it normal wear and tear. I've never had a 4 year old car get a cracked dash, ever, from any manufacturer. I guess I'll have to find someone up the ladder to address this issue. The dealer won't help.

I would talk to the manager to see if honda would good will it and replace it. It shouldn't be cracking this early...

Thanks. I'll give it a try. The customer service person called the next day to do the usual follow-up feedback and I explained my dissatisfaction with their response. She said she would tell the service manager and ask him to call. He didn't bother. I'll try calling him.

That is a bunch of BS!

Call that service manager and talk to him/her about it. If they do not help you call Acura directly. Good Luck!

I will. I have it in today for the recall on the power steering pump. I'll talk to him when I pick it up. I'm still fired up over their response.

I would call acura corporate and complain. Then I would file a law suit to have it replaced. Then I would start looking for a used TL dash...

I believe that calling corporate is probably the only way I'll get anything done. I'm heading over there now to pick it up. I'll give their service manager a chance to be human and do the right thing.

Pardon me.. but buying a used 1992 hyundai and having the dash crack would be acceptable, however buying a 4 year old luxury car with such little miles and having the same happen is complete bullshit, especially with the low mileage on the car. It sounds like it's been exposed to a bit of heat over it's life, and in four years it has not been driven a ton, but still - you didn't buy it in that condition, so the certified warranty should cover it.

From Acura:

"The Acura Certified Pre-Owned Vehicle Limited Warraty extends the new car non-powertrain coverage by 1 year/12,000 miles from 4 years/50,000 miles to 5 years/62,000 miles".

"If purchased after the new vehicle coverage expires, 1 year/12,000 miles will be covered from the date of purchase".

So even if the factory warranty is expired - which mileage wise you're ok, but you might be a few months past 4 years - the CPO warranty should cover you for 1 year / 12,000 miles.

I use uh... what's it called.. X-303 aerospace protectant on the inside of my car; it's got SPF protection and gives it a nice mild shine.. I use it on pretty much everything except my nav screen!

Am I missing something here? The car is still under warranty right (assuming it hasn't been 4 years from the in service date)? If so, it should be fixed/replaced with no questions asked. Did your dealer ever hear of a goodwill repair?

Ok, I'll say it. :pics:

Get this - I just got back from the dealer and told him about a few people that had the same problem and the dealer "goodwilled" it for them, no questions asked. I expained to the service manager that I've only had the car since May and the cracks just happened last week. He told me that CPO preempts goodwill! What's up with that? He's saying if I had not bought a certified car, I'd be better off! That is screwed up. I told him to get me the name of the district manager and he offered to call and plead the case for me. Hopefully I'll get some sanity from that guy.

By the way, where do you get X-303 aerospace protectant? I don't work for NASA. Is that found at the local auto parts store?

that's ridiculous! so there's no benefit on buying a CPO car?

that's what they are telling me!

that's BS man... Go bring it up to corporate directly... Have you tried a different dealership?

I havent had much luck finding it at my local auto parts stores...however the first marine supply store that I went into had it. Good luck with your fight! I wonder if raising a stink to the sales manager in the showroom about the car you just bought 4 months ago would help any?

CPO is a garbage selling point. My view on CPO should be cars that came in off lease that they have records on. But they can actually buy a beat car from an auction and clean it up and slap the CPO sticker on it.

I think Chris Farley summed it up best in Tommy Boy "I can shit in a box and label it guaranteed if you want" "All it means is youre getting a guaranteed piece of shit!"

We only have one acura dealership in town. I'll try Charlotte if I don't get anywhere here. Hopefully the district guy will do the right thing.

The service manager sent me an e-mail stating that he sent the message to the district manager. NOW he thinks it won't be a problem to fix it. Just needs approval from district. Sounds like he didn't want to do the work, but didn't want me taking it to the district guy myself. I should know tomorrow whether or not they take care of it.

I own an '04 tl that had a cracked dashboard, I had it replaced under "customer goodwill." The service advisor that worked with me told me that he see's at least four cases a month. My car was out of warranty, 64,000 to be exact. He also told me that Acura was aware of premature dashboard cracking. Keep on it, a four year old car should not have a ten year old problem.

I may have better luck with upper management if they are aware of the problem. Thanks for letting me know. I'll keep pushing.

Wow...I just recently picked up my 05 AM TL, and reading this kinda worries me! Good luck with the fight...Hopefully it will be taken care of!

Based on the feedback I'm getting from everyone on this forum, I'm feeling good about my odds. I think this particular dealer just didn't want to do the work. I should hear back from the service manager today.

This is the stupidest argument I have ever heard. His argument is flat out offensive in that he hoped you would listen. I hope corporate overturns this loser and apologizes to you. It makes me angry just to hear this type of stupidity and I so, so want to sue this dealership for you.

But I do think that CPO is for suckers...you pay more for that in your marked up price than you do for the actual service costs. I mean, you could afford a new transmission, dash and navigation system for what I assume it cost you in extra fees for the CPO.

I think the CPO ends up only being about 1k more....you would still be better off buying a 1 owner car private party thats obviously been cared for and then buying an extended warranty

CPO gets you the latest service requirements done and new tires. My car only had 16,500 miles on it and they still put new tires on.

they put new tires on but only if they are below a certain amount

That's right.

I had the same situation:
http://i524.photobucket.com/albums/c...8/CIMG0326.jpg
Covered under guarantee (cosmetic damage, they said). The dash should be received in the next few days, hopefully next week. They should do the same to you!!

I bought an 04' tl with 35,000 miles from an auction that deals with honda leases, without any kind of warranty, and the dash looked exactly like chapu08's ^^^ , both on the near the passenger airbag, above the radio, and above the instrument cluster... brought it into Acura of Memphis to have the power steering pump/wiper recalls done and asked them if there was anything they could do since it was technically 2 months out of warranty, they said they had never seen it before but decided to "goodwill" it anyway, gave me a loaner and had it fixed within a couple days... 16500 miles, there's no excuse for the dash to be cracking already...

Christopher Means - did you exceed 12,000 miles since May??? You're obviously under a year for the CPO Warranty, but you havent told us if you've exceed 12k miles yet. If you did, then what the dealer is telling you is correct, the car is out of warranty, if you're UNDER 12k then that's complete BS as the CPO warranty applies to the car, not just the powertrain.


RE: The X-303 [or whatever its called] my friend works @ Toyota and they have it in stock in their parts dept.

I get 303 space age protectant at Cabela's in the boat section. That stuff rocks, unless you like the "soul glow" look of Armor All. :ugh:

christopher, chapu08,
Did the dealers express any concern that a crack on top of the airbag hatch might affect the deployment of the airbag.

In my case, not a bit of concern by Acura. Never thought about that. I might need to ask.

sagreba, something wrong?

Sorry about the spanish. Chapu: Did the guys from the Acura service center in Guaynabo gave you any problems or was it a no-questions asked fix? I called last week and explained my problem, which it is the same as yours, the crack is in the exact same place in the dashboard and they told me that probably the warranty wouldn't cover it because it was a cosmetic issue. What did you told them? thanks.

I had to make an appointment with an employee that works with cosmetic claims/guarantee (I had to wait about two weeks for the appointment, and wasted a whole afternoon). This gentleman just checked the dash and told me that they have to hurry with the dash order to make everything under warranty (47K miles), no problem at all. BTW, I'm still waiting for the dash to arrive so I can take the car to the serv center, I’m keeping my fingers crossed. I really don't understand why Acura Serv centers handle these claims different from place to place.

Hope they do their job by replacing your dash.
No problema Sagreba : ) just kidding, Peace and good luck!!

Hey Fleshy, CHAPU08 and JMANN:

My dash is exactly like your description. Cracked above the instrument cluster, middle of the dash and right edge of air bag on passenger side.

I've only put 5,000 miles on the car since I got it in May. I still haven't heard back from the service manager. I was supposed to hear from him on Friday. This is good advice from all of you and should help. Thanks for the tip on the X-303 protectant. I don't have a Cabela's anywhere near here, but will try the car dealers and other marine shops.