2007 Honda Odyssey: Hole in Condenser : No Warranty

My A/C stopped wo6king, and it's been only 7months since I bought it and around 8k miles.

Dealer says the condenser has a small hole now as it may been hit by a stone and it's not covered by warranty, quoted almost 1000 bucks.

Any advise on how to deal with the dealer to convince him would help!!!
Thanks

I don't know that if will sway him, but You could show him these forum thread with total almost 100,000 views. After the repair you could also purse a Mr. Grille, which should prevent this issue, uhum...design flaw.

http://www.odyclub.com/forums/showthread.php...

http://www.odyclub.com/forums/showthread.php...

http://www.odyclub.com/forums/showthread.php...

I have had this exact same issue. The repair cost $900. I only had the car for 3 weeks before the problem. I live in Sydney.

My dealer informed me two weeks ago after my a/c stopped working that a stone must have hit the condenser as well. The dealer suggested I contact my auto insurance provider which I did and the a/c condenser was covered since this was considered a non-fault road accident.

Although the dealer quoted a cost of $1000, I was able to get the repair done for $600.

I just received my Mr. Grille and ran out and put in on my Odyssey. It looks sporty and hopefully will prevent any future issues with rocks hitting the condenser.

http://mrgrille.com/MrGrille-Honda-Oddyssey-P...

I also filed a complaint at www.nhtsa.dot.gov/ for this issue which is something I highly recommend all Honda owners do that have ran across this defect. This will only help to reinforce the need for a recall which is pass due! Good luck.

I lost battle today with American Honda - they refuse to cover any part of this repair. I'm also filing a complaint with NHTSA and I'm filing a small claims court action for whatever portion my insurance company will not cover. Also found out today that Progressive Insurance Company will not pay for an original Honda condensor to be installed by the dealer. I paid for an extended warranty and I pay auto insurance and I'm getting screwed both ways!

I feel your pain. I didn't purchase an extended warranty - began to regret this fact - and was then informed by the local Honda dealer manager that it wouldn't have mattered since the Extended Warranty doesn't cover this repair item.

How then does a person protect themselves? I'm sorry but the comment I've read on several other posts that "It's like a rock hitting your windshield" just doesn't fly with me.

Please remember that it will take a lot more to damage a windshield then it does for the condenser. Hmm...Isn't a windshield a lot less to replace than a condenser as well? That being said...Honda should do the right thing and put a recall in place to resolve this faulty design.

test

Sep 2007 - the AC went on our 2005 Odyssey and the dealer used the ' must have been a rock or road debris hit the condenser'. Honda will not replace it and it will cost over $800 to fix. Obvious that this is a design flaw that Honda should recall and at least install a guard.
I plan to complain to Honda but don't expect much.

I started an email so maybe all of you can copy this and forward to everyone you know so they can forward to everyone they know, its worth a shot.

This is my story..........

I have a 2005 Honda Odyssey and just recently my air conditioner stopped working so I brought it to my local dealership to have it checked out. The service department told me it would be $100 to diagnose the problem but if it is a warranty issue you won't be charged. Wouldn't you think it would be a warranty issue, I sure did.

About an hour later the service man came to me to tell me that a rock has hit my AC condenser and it would cost $647.00 to fix it because it is not covered under warranty. The impression that I was given was this is a FREAK thing that has happened. I declined the repair and was very upset because I ended up paying the $100 diagnostic fee.

I decide to google my AC condenser and to my surprise pops up this forum with hundreds of people with the same story. One man stated in his post that the service man told him he should play the lottery meanwhile another man in service told him he gets about 5 of these a week. Sounds like a rehearsed story "a rock has hit your AC condenser putting a hole in it" What did honda do hold seminars for all of the service centers in the country and teach them to say the same thing. After reading other people's stories, what they have stated is that this is a manufacturer defect, the grill has to much space in between by the license plate so debris is able to get in.

So I contact Honda Customer Relations and explain to them my story, I was told someone would get back to me. I then called the service center and asked why wasn't I told before hand that this was a common occurrence, the man didn't reply to that but told me that sometimes Honda will repair as a good will and sometimes they won't. I also filed a complaint with the NHTSA.

I am sure this is going to be a lengthy battle for me, but in the meantime maybe my story could help you or someone you know or someone you know knows... you know what I mean :-) I have also read that a grill cover will prevent this from happening so if I ever get my AC fixed I will definitely get one of those.

This is the link to the posts that I found if you want check it out:
http://www.topix.net/forum/autos/honda-odysse...

As you can see I don't have that many contacts so please forward this to everyone you know it is not going to bring you good luck or bad but maybe will help someone, I wish I would have known.

PS - This is my 3rd and last Honda if they don't do the right thing.

Thanks,
Kathy

chikusri wrote:

My A/C stopped wo6king, and it's been only 7months since I bought it and around 8k miles.
Dealer says the condenser has a small hole now as it may been hit by a stone and it's not covered by warranty, quoted almost 1000 bucks.
Any advise on how to deal with the dealer to convince him would help!!!
Thanks

Go to Ebay Odyssey Mesh grille it protects your condenser. Cheap

I believe the 2008 model now has a grill in the Condenser area to help prevent this issue.

What a shame! it cost me $911 to get mine (2005 Ody.) fixed recently and the dealership is not helping by insisting that when it was hit by rocks, nothing will cover it, including the extended warranty. He even insisted that "it is not a HONDA problem!".

Well, we will see about that! I am working with Honda right now on this. Honda needs to get their acts together to take responsibilities for this outright design flaw.
I kinda feel bad for the insurance companies if they have to foot the bill for Honda.

Just had this happen to me. $716 later it's been repaired. The mechanic at the dealership even admitted that it's a design flaw but Honda and Honda Care both refused to pay. I wish there was something more to be done but 1 person doesn't have much pull with the big auto companies.

My husband and I purchased a brand new Odessey Van in June 2006. Absolutely love the van. We have had no problems until we realized our air conditioner wasn’t working recently in May 2008. Our van only has 24,000 miles on it. I called Fairfield Performance Honda service and was told if it is a rock that damaged the condenser it is not covered. I said a rock and she replied yes rocks can damage the condenser. My husband and I never heard such thing. Without Honda even looking at my van they already knew exactly what was wrong. So that day I got a phone call from service and sure enough they said a rock has damaged your condenser and it would not be covered because that is consider road debris and it will cost you 800.00. The service person said they see this every week and then he said I mean once a month so I was curious and got on the internet to see if anybody else have had the same problem and sure enough hundreds complaints with the same problem.
I contacted Honda America Corp and they said sorry it is not covered because it is road debris damage. It’s not my fault and thousands of other consumers fault that they poorly designed the Honda Odysseys and Honda Accords. I noticed on the new 2008 Vans and cars they have a protection on the front now. But that’s not fair for all the people who have purchased a van or car 2007 or earlier.
I think that they should have a recall on this matter and fix the problem. I didn’t pay $30,000.00 for a van to have this problem. They need to put some kind of protection on the van so it doesn’t happen again.
I just want to let all other consumers beware of this so they don’t make the same mistake we did.
I am contacting the Consumer report, Better Business Bureau all news media and papers until this problem is taking care of.
One local TV station is taking the story on and is trying to get this solved.He said, that we all need to do a class action suit against Honda.If anybody would like to jump on board please contact me at marcummarketing@fuse.net.I'm contacting an lawyer today.
Thanks,
Lisa

Hello all: the same thing has just happened to us here in Connecticut.

We own a 2006 Honda Civic Hybrid with 25,000 miles on it ... a/c stopped working, we took it to the dealer and they said there was a hole in the condenser, which must have been caused by a stone. Cost to fix:$772. They told us to contact our insurance company because it's not covered by the Honda warranty.

Right away, thought this was ridiculous, so I googled and found this page. We intend to file complaints with American Honda, CT state attorney general, and the NHTSA. There is no way we should have to pay for an obvious design flaw which should have been fixed by a recall to install the protective grille.

Just happened to my wifes new 2007 odyssey have not got it fixed yet. I went to the dealer to make sure they had the part in before I made an appointment to get it fixed ( warranty of course )
Let me back up for a sec, I already new what the problem was because I heard and found the pinhole leak in the condensor.
Now, back at the dealer, the first words out of the {Condesending, I know it all} service guy was, it was hit by a rock and would not be covered that I needed to go through the insurance company. I let him know that I there was no sign og rock or any debris damage. It was a bad condensor that blew out a pinhole. He went on to say that he has never seen a bad one, only ones that were hit by something and they would not cover it. Mind you now he has not even seen the vehicle. This stinks. what to do? They are supposed to call me today when they get the part in to set up an appoitment. But after reading all this I'm not sure what to do? If anyone has any suggestions PLEASE E-mail me. Netspecialties@aol.com.
I'm in Chattanooga Tn. Dealing with Economy Honda.

Same exact problem just happened to my 2007 Odyssey. Just got a call an hour ago that my van would cost me $670.00 to have the condenser fixed. Exact same explanation as all of the others, a rock or pebble hit it and it would not be covered under warranty. Lucky me the dealer has the part in stock but after reading all of this I do not think that I am going to allow them to replace and bill me. This is obviously an issue with Honda and there needs to be a recall. Any suggestions??
donnajohn2@yahoo.com

Well although it ended up costing me about $390.00 I appreciate the writer above that suggested to call Honda Customer Care. They gave me a reference#. I took the car to the dealer they said it was caused by debris and not under warranty.I had them to double check the records cause Honda was supposed to have contacted them.They talked with Seth from Anerican Honda and then Seth called me to explain that they would work with me on this problem only out of good will and we kept the vehicle maintained properly at a Honda dealer, so instead of $790. it ended up being $390. Still would like to be part of a complaint initiative to have this problem fixed, like they did on the 08 models.
If anyone has something like that going on and could forard me the info please do. I have to do something because it WILL happen again and Honda said it was a one time help out

Today I can be added to the faulty design of the Honda Odyssey. My a/c stopped working and when I took the van back I got the same response a rock must have hit the condensor. The dealership said they would help by offerring me a 10% discount. I also think it should be a recall to fix this problem. The quote they gave me was 687.00 and tried to charge me for bringing the van in for service.

Upendra Samaratunge wrote:

I have had this exact same issue. The repair cost $900. I only had the car for 3 weeks before the problem. I live in Sydney.

By the way how much is a Odessy in Australia