Marc Smith

my 2013 is also very quiet... even under real hard braking...

Its not a matter IF hackers will find a way in. just a matter of when. No system connected to the airwaves/internet is hacker proof. All the IT guys do is try to stay a step a head of the hackers, and there are probably more hackers trying to get into a system than there are IT guys trying to protect it... SLP you are correct, in that there are much more pressing matters that affect our daily lives. and for a hacker to hack an individual vehicle at random would be a low priority. The high priority for a hacker would to hack the ford system and cause all the cars connected to the system to go wonky. But taking control of one car is just the first step. so not cause for us to run around like chickens with our heads cut off, but it warrants us keeping abreast of the situation

Verbalk I have a 2013 as well. Iive down in Vienna VA and Work in Dc. If you want the cargo cover I could be tempted to part with it...

I posted to Hondas Facebook page...I got one troll to jerk me around but no Honda rep....

a car is an appliance. some appliance are more fun more expensive or more practical than others... been down the minivan route. it was nice vehicle and it did what we needed it to do...

7 seats. in the c-max. 1 adult 6 kids..and I would not want to be the middle seat in the middle row... on a folding "jump seat"

neat. I only counted 6 seats... 2+2+2 in the video at least

Vance. Yes it would potentially throw a wrench in the works...but it also may get their proverbial asses in gear... Call it leverage... Tell ford lemon law, buy yours back so you can buy a new one. I do believe that once a car is branded a lemon it is titled accordingly, it looses significant value so ford would not like to be stuck with a car that is worth significantly less as a result of it have a lemon title so its in their best interest to either...get your car back to you or buy yours back voluntarily before being forced to buy it back through arbitration or courts. I think as a consumer you've been very accommodating. As others have said there are always options, salvage yard, vehicles onthe lot, ect.... Heck would a cluster from the UK work??? Its frustrating when the customer service people won't think outside the box to...well....Service the Customer... I say drop the Lemon Ball in their court and see what happens. Not like it can get much worse. Its been a month with 3 more on the horizon...

Kelly, Nothing is off the table... Just need to whittle the story down and cut out the drama.. I will copy all the current service invoices and draft up a letter (snail mail) to honda. The Service manager was quick to respond to my first email., about 30 minutes. My second email....Its been about 5 hours now....

I will write a letter to honda in my MILs defense. and include the correspondence from the Service manager... Other honda dealerships wanted about $180. but were consistent no where near $400. 180 is still robbery on $40 worth of parts and 30 minutes of labor... But I also understand that a dealership has a lot of overhead and expenses are spread out amongst all the work... the reviews on google are largely very solid... only a few bad ones... https://www.google.com/search?q=honda+of+tysons+corner%2C+reviews&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8#lrd=0x89b64a5fc9c45c3f:0x1e6f7d627e712eb8,1

So... now I dig in a bit... I'm not trying to be an a$$hole, and I really don't like being an a$$hole. but I'm sure thats how the letter will be read...and I provide him with the vehicle vin so he can look up the service history... ********************* Here's a bit more detail 2004 Honda Civic with 27K miles. vin ***************** In your shop on 7/24/15 4/18/13, 1/31/12 Owner ***************** The line on the ticket directly after recall work the service ticket clearly states that ******************************************************* No interval Due *Vehicle History Indicates no Maintenance Interval Due Recommended work Hoses and T-stat $498 Timing Belt $1133 Power Steering Flush $141 Replace Spark Plugs $431 Coolant Exchange $168 Trans Fluid Exchange $222 Hoses and T-stat- 1.8 hours to replace. The t-stat works or it doesn't no real reason to replace it unless it fails. The hoses are not stiff, no cracks or evidence of any rot or bulging/swelling Timing Belt- (honda's kit also includes water pump) over due for time not mileage 3.5 hours, 2.7 of which is to remove and replace the timing belt, the rest is for water pump. Power steering flush was done January 2012(by your shop), and the power steering flush has no maintenance interval per Honda owners manual or other than check and add fluid as needed. with a time of .5 hours to Flush. Spark Plugs- Service interval 110K no time limit. .5 Hours Coolant Exchange Work Done January 2012 (by your shop) 120K miles or 10 years. .8 hours Trans fluid Exchange 120K or 6 years, then 90K or 5 years Done April 2013 at your shop. .6 Hours Plus at your shop brake fluid flush was done in April 2013 and Fuel Induction service in January 2012 I'm so glad the my in-laws hold on to records like this and that they question stuff and ask for guidance when they are in doubt. I am by no means a certified ASE mechanic . I have, however done my share of work around a car. I used to race SCCA I took a GM class on rebuilding the 4L60E auto trans that i would swap after road racing, track days and Solo events, several engine swaps and build up on the lower end, head work and cams, OBD2 Tuning, ect... I'm appalled that your shop would have the audacity to recommend some of this work, given the vehicles recent service history and current state (garage kept in pristine shape, the proverbial car driven by a little old lady). I also realize that ALLDATA (yes I have access and it where I got my allotted hours) is not the "bible" when it comes to Pricing car work, but its almost always in line with Manufacturer guidelines. $400 to replace 4 spark plugs in 30 minutes... If I could do one of those every day for a year I'd quit my day job... Coolant Exchange, you were going to charge for this work, when doing the hoses and t-stat and Timing belt (water pump) each involve draining and refilling of the cooling system as part of the service??? It just really seems like your service tech and advisor may have been trying to drum up business and unneeded work on a potentially uninformed/unsuspecting consumer, or your Tech and Advisor are not consulting Past Service History and maintenance guidelines provided by Honda. In the first case its just being greedy, in the latter case its just being incompetent....Not sure what is worse.

Ok so here is my first email to the service manager... ********************************* Ryan, Hope all is well. Two weeks ago, my mother-in-law and father-in-law brought in their Honda Civic for recall work. The recall work was for the airbag inflator, TSB 15-040. Prior to leaving they were given quite an extensive list of recommended work to be done. Nearly $3000 in fact. I was wondering, when a vehicle comes in for service, What factors are used to determine what work to recommend? Is the owners manual consulted for service intervals, Does the technician or service advisor consult the dealership data base to see what work has been recently done, or is some sort of inspection done? ***************************** His response ************************** Marc, We do use all of the above. First we perform a visual inspection of the car then we look at any work already performed here if possible and we will also go over any recommendations from Honda. Some stuff could be more important now and some stuff could be preventive maintenance items.

Adrian... You are correct on your last statement.....I did paint with a pretty broad brush.... And I hate jump on the dealership hate bandwagon. I have had a fe bad experiences at dealerships, (high pressure sales, ect when coming in for recall or warranty work) and my uncle owned a a few gm franchises before the bankruptcy. And he was cheating sob. The apple fell very from grandads tree... It just amazes me though that in today's age of information that a mechanic and/or service manager would do something like this... Sheesh how hard is it to pull a vehicles history and check. Before recommending services to see what has been done in the past....it makes the dealership look pretty imo....if you can't run a simple vin history, what else can't you do?

Robert I work for a university an am on really great (golfing buddy) terms with the manger if the fleet/garage. So getting work done will be easy and painless for the timing belt. The whole situation with the dealership really "grinds me gears" though... I do plan on writing a letter. As I know my mother in law probably would not as she's not one to rock th boat... Good call on sending the letter to Honda as well and not just the dealership

So mom-in-law. Get the Honda killer airbag recall. Like the good girl she is, she takes the car in. 2004 Honda Civic. With 27000 miles on it. Yes 27k. Garage kept. In other words. Cherry... So the service tech does the recall work... And has a list of "recommended" services Now mind you right on the invoice for the recall work it clearly states "no interval due. Vehicle history states no maintenace due" Replace hoses and t-stat. 498 Replace timing belt 1133 Power steering flush 141 Replace spark plug 431 Coolant flush 168 Trans flush 222 $2600. On a car worth 5700 They ask me to come over. And I take look. Hoses all look great, no rot, fluids look like they just came out of the containers Thank fully they did not get any work done. I pulled the owners manual to check service intervals. No service interval for t-stat or hoses Timing belt is 120000 miles or 7 years whichever comes first Power steering flush. No service requirement Spark plugs 110000 Coolant flush 120000 or every 10 years Trans flush 120000 no time restraint But wait..it gets better... At the exact same dealership, same car, same vin. She had the power steering flush done in 1/12. Spark plugs done 1/12, coolant flush done 1/12, trans flush in 4/13, fuel induction service 1/12, brake fluid flush 4/13, and a fuel filter 4/13 So yes the timing belt needs to be done, and while in there it makes sense for the water pump(not listed) and t-stat. But everything else is, in my opinion, is trying to take advantage of a little old lady. I could maybe understand if she had gone to a different dealership, one that's she.s never been to. But it's the dealership she's had all the other work done. So the records of the work are easily available. It's crap like this that really piss me off with some humans.... Am I off base????

Vance....bummer about the car....lemon laws in va state that three times to make the repair or a continued down time of thirty consecutive days would qualify the car for lemon law buyback proceedings. You hate to go that route. But....three plus months with out your car and paying for more gas than you'd normally use is just salt in the wound, and you're maybe making payments on a car you can't use.... Michigan laws may be similar....may get ford to move a bit faster Just got back from a two week trip where my cmax sat garaged and unused. Started right up with no batty issue. I was a bit worried as I left my iPod plugged in for the entire time....

complex vehicles have problems.....

Hey folks, I'm the landscape and grounds manager at Georgetown U in DC. and while we are not going the battery route soon, we have been testing stuff... I have been doing a long term test of Dewalts tools http://www.dewalt.com/tool-categories/outdoorpe.aspx We have the string trimmer, shears and blower on a demo. I have been very impressed with the tools. the 6 amp 40v battery will run the string trimmer for a solid hour. I we have a cemetery on campus and I did a long run time test and trimmed all 400 headstones on a single charge with juice leftover. The blower and shears have been equally as impressive. My guys do complain that the the battery tools don't just have the same amount of "umph" as the gas tools, but imo if I had to give up gas it would not be the hardest swap. I also had the stihl rep down on Tuesday and we got to look at some of their tools. http://www.stihlusa.com/products/battery/ I'm working on getting a long term test on a few of their pieces as well. The voltages and Amps are not the same (lower) as the Dewalt but Stihl offers a wider range of tools. I have looked at the Echo Units. and while I'd love to Demo one, they aren't biting. but they seem to have a great "no questions asked" return policy within 90 days... I am looking at the units from a commercial use view. and one of the local universities bought this Meangreen but from a residential stand points it would be a bit of overkill but up clos e inperson and I had a chance to use it it was very impressive. one thing to look at when you buy mower/ string trimmers is the width of cut and run times. To boost the run times they make the cutting width narrow. less load on the engine. especially on the string trimmers

that's one of the things that I did not like either. its only a few inches... but as they say. the difference between Oh...and OOOOHHHH is a few inches. In hindsight. I probably could have gotten by with the energi on a daily basis and then used my wifes saturn Vue if I needed the extra space... and it bizarre since there appears to be plenty of space under the floor (Ie outside) were they could have modified the body to accommodate the batteries. But that would have taken a pretty major redesign of the structure. Maybe in future models..

it would be nice if it was just a software update that would allow the right side gauge to be more than the the efficiently leaves, audio, phone secondary displays on the older c-maxes...

Ls I use rain-ex religiously... so I try not to use my wipers if I can help it... if you've had a rain at night and going under tree's the next morning drops of water falling off the tree kicking the auto wipers on. its a neat function, but I thought it was gimmicky... maybe my sensor is just more sensitive than others... I can flick the wiper lever without taking my hands off the wheel or eyes off the road pull the lever towards you and it sprays and wipes, or push down and it cycles once...

Ford builds cars with turn signals. the turn signals don't work automatically it takes driver input to turn them on.. The cars can exceed the speed limit. it takes driver input to maintain the proper speed. if you live in a state where the law states if you wipers are on, then you must also turn on your lights. Driver input. Pretty simple. turn on the wipers, turn on the lights. Personally I hate the Auto Wiper feature. if the car in front of me on the highway cleans their window and I get a few drops on my window, Bam the wipers come on and smear the few drops around, so then I have to run the spritzer and clean the whole window, which I also don't like the washer cycle as it always wants to do one or two swipes more than needed and you end up with smears... IMO its almost to easy to drivers to drive cars anymore. it take no thought or skill as the cars are becoming more and more advanced and automatic. Which is why you see more and more people driving, eating reading books, doing makup, texting, ect... when all they should be doing is DRIVING...

welcome, you won't be upset. with the cmax or the hybrid aspects. be forewarned that in the winter your fuel milage will suffer with the winter blend fuels..

The mileage getting better I think is indicative of the summer fuels being better than winter gas. The ICE not having to run as much to keep the car cabin warm. Just did a 220 mile round trip form Dc to Richmond. Averaged 45 with the eco cruise set to 65. AC on auto 72*

I don't have the ford GPS, but my garmin usually would display the correct speed limit, Usually its correct. sometimes it woudl be wrong. IE display 65 in a 70, or 35 in a 25. I just chalked it up to software. I would imagine that the gps speed limits may not be 100% correct, juts like the roads my not be 100% correct. I can't imagine the leg work that must be involved to drive every single road and note the exact spot the speed limits change. but for it to display 74 as the speed limit all the time. is a bit odd