Chris Hart said:
If I know Honda, (I've been racing their motocross bikes for nearly 20 years), they tend to stand by their products to the end.....
I have talked about my personal opinions on why the snap ring issue has been handled like it has over the years, and why Honda didn't step up to the plate and issue a recall off the bat.
Honda is a fiercely competitive Japanese business, which has for a long, long time been the number two automaker in that country behind Toyota. They have two brilliant ideas about the same time: to create a "luxury" brand for the North American market to compete with the Germans, and to produce a high-quality, ultra-reliable, relatively low cost supercar to compete with the Italians.
Acura is born. The NSX is introduced.
The NSX established Acura as a sports-brand, not just a luxury brand, and was bringing people into their showrooms during a time where the US auto market was in a real slump. The NSX was the pinnacle of Japanese engineering and craftsmanship.
Now you must understand a bit about Japanese culture to really see why there was never a recall that was issued. To have a major problem like this in the drivetrain of a high-visibility supercar would not only kill sales of the car, but also harm sales of other Honda/Acura branded vehicles and certaintly ANY high performance vehicle Honda brought out in the next couple of decades. The Japanese do not want to admit defeat and bring that level of shame or dishonor to the engineers that created this product. Simple fact. Sounds corny, but it's true.
So, a TSB was issued in the US which advised dealerships to "look for the problem, fix it if you find it". Once vehicles were out of warranty, and the problems kept cropping up, they quietly fixed the problem through goodwill parts and labor. Over time, this goodwill was decreased to the point where it was no longer offered. This is when a class action suit was brought, unfortunately it was dismissed without prejudice, as it simply failed to state a proper claim under the laws of the state where it was brought.
While I disagree with Honda/Acura's practice of no longer offering goodwill parts AND labor to repair these transmissions when they fail, I understand why they have acted the way they have. It was a brilliant strategy. Issuing a recall brings the issue to the forefront. They weren't required to do that, because the defect doesn't constitute a safety hazard. So, issue a TSB which aren't readily available to consumers/owners and quiety fix it. When the cars are out of warranty, provide goodwill to keep everyone happy and minimize the potential for bad media coverage which would bring the problem to the forefront.
Remember the problems Audi had with a transmission problem in the 5000? Look at what it has taken them to recover from it. And to this day, people still joke about the problems... wondering if an automatic transmission A4 is going to spontaneously run them into a brick wall. It took Audi convincing Porsche to stop professional racing and assist with the development of the R8 which dominated prototype racing as they introduced all new models of vehicles to finally bring Audi back into the fold as a competitive manufacturer. Honda avoided all these problems by handling things they way they did, whether we agree with it or not.
Don't get me wrong... I am a HUGE Honda/Acura fan... every car I have owned except has been a Honda product with the exception of my Porsche 996 (which is for sale... replacing it with an S2000). I currently drive a TSX... my wife drives an RL... I'm part owner of an NSX race car... BUT: I don't have to agree with how they handled it, even if I would have done the same thing if I were in their position.
EDR
