Bogsye

Thought I would post my recent experience of the hood.

My car is an '06 and had suffered the hood frame chaffing through the cloth, so under warranty I had a complete new roof and frame fitted. All was well - or so I thought.

Wind on 20 months or so, and with the car out of the original warranty by about 13 months, the windscreen to roof clamp on the near side wore it's way through the cloth.


S2000 hood wear ns internal

On investigation it seemed to be that the clamps rub on the cloth when the hood is folded down. Unsurprisingly the near side clamp was also on it's way through the hood.


S2000 hood wear os

So, that was the second roof ruined. (Incidentaly the roof clamps were the originals)

I took the car into Phoenix Hyndland Honda for inspection.

The result was that Honda would pay for a new roof, but I would have to pay the labour of about £720, plus any consumable items. I asked them if it was a reasonable expectation for a £26,000 car to require a new roof on average every couple of years? I also passed along the US Service bulletin relating to hood warranty issues.

At this point the offer could not be improved and I was referred to Honda (UK). From my point of view this wasn't appropriate. My contract is with the dealership, so ultimately it is for them to remedy the situation. I decided to email the dealership and explain that the roof did not meet the reasonable expectation of the Sale of Goods act, in respect to longevity, durability or fitness for purpose. My expectation was quite simple - A new roof at no cost to myself.

At this stage the offer was improved to £624. After a few weeks of getting nowhere fast the £624 was still being maintained at the best offer. At this point I relented and called HUK to see what they could do. Normally at this stage I would have thoughtwe might have started to make in-roads. How wrong was I? Without going to town on HUK, I would agree with many posts on here - HUK are really pretty ineffective.

From my call with HUK I did establish that I could quote the warranty reference at any Honda dealership and they would honour repair at £624.

I then updated my dealership on the conversation with HUK, expressed my disappointment in the outcome, and indicated that I would have the car booked in with an alternative dealership to have the work carried out, and I would subsequently recover all my costs through the small claims court system from them (the original dealership).

This seemed to elevate the case with the dealership, as I anticipated. A meeting was arranged with promises of the costs likely being zero. As a result the car was booked in. This was an error on my part.

The roof was replaced and a bill of about £320 was presented. I was not happy. To me it seemed somewhat dishonest. In the end I managed to get it to £217 including 1 year of AA membership.

Overall am I happy? Not really very sure.

HUK I agree are quite useless, but it's the 'good cop/bad cop' routine between HUK and the dealership that is annoying. It's also been quite hard going to get any form of reasonable outcome, and leaves me wondering if the dealership is being let down by HUK or is dealership playing the game too.

Had this been the original hood then I would have been up the creek without a paddle, and would have likely fityted a new cloth and lateches myself.

I'll consider myself lucky that I'm not on the receiving end of engine failures, but a roof that can turn itself scrap in a relatively short time, is not particularly confidence inspiring. Long term I am going to make some 'socks' to put on the latches.

On the plus side I have to say the roof seems to have been fitted nicely and have new latches that don't rattle. Shape is good, and the fit at the winscreen header is also good.

Just need to get the geo done now - taking bets for number of siezed bushes

Sin_Chase

Another wear point? Sigh.

Just had a new roof supplied/fitted at a cost of £100 to me (Out of warranty) on my 2006.

Going to have to check the latches and perhaps reinforce just in-case when I get home.

Owen_1987

That hasn't happened on mine and my roof is over 10 years old (and still original). I haven't heard of this happening to anyone else either so I don't think it's common (although I could be wrong).

That's not very good Honda customer service IMO and I wouldn't of been happy unless there wasn't a bill, especially as that is the 2nd one being replaced

GREGSTERWIZ

Seems like the main purpose of Honda UK customer services is to keep Honda's costs down and bat people off

Not to deal with issues and complaints

This should have been sorted without the need for the hassle

I think you would have had a good case if you had needed to go to court

Glad you got it sorted

Bogsye

I need to have a rake around and see what other hoods look like in the folded down position and see if mine is not sitting correctly?

Off to see if I can get some neoprene/wet suit material to help cushion the latches.

Greg - I totally agree HUK are on a very defensive mode of operation. Hard times call for action to prevent them bleeding lots of cash, but they don't seem to handle things very well. I got accused of not operating the hood correctly and it not being folded down in one operation. It made it clear that they really did have a clue at what they were looking at.

My gut feel is that the dealerships are taking the brunt of it, and stuck in the middle. If HUK want to see the future of what they are creating they should buy an Alfa-Romeo and try to get warranty work done - I've been there with a company car!

Honsta

My roof catches are starting to rattle. Is it simply tightening something or could it be something more serious?

eSeM

The problem where the roof catches pierce the fabric are usually a result of the roof elastic, between the roof bars, needing to be replaced.

Not too bad a result in the end.

Bogsye

A few days (Friday 13th to be exact) before the car went in for the new roof to be fitted I had an experience that left me speechless and frankly ready to sell the car...

Setting off for work I lowered the roof, but it jammed about 3/4 way to open. I released the switch brought it forward and then tried again. It went back, but at the point where it had jammed it jolted and went to the fully open position.

When I got to the office I raised the roof, but the jolt had released both latches. Next thing I know the os latch tears and L-shaped hole into the cloth! A major WTF moment. I was literally in shock.

Oddly this was the fault that Ben at HUK was alluding to, which wasn't the case on the os. Overall this didn't affect the claim which was underway, but left me in no doubt how easy it is to wreck a hood.

On the plus side (always look at the positives!) I did a splendid sewing repair to the new damage - even the dealership was quite impressed. In fact if I ever have any issues again, I know I can actually stich it back together. Not ideal, but the cloth had sufficient strength to withstand it.

Must admit, My S' looks good with it's new roof

Ste_Nova

it looks even better with it down

Bogsye

Looking for some advice folks.

My new roof has been on a few weeks and I've noticed that on each side the knuckles of the frame joints seem to be protruding a bit into the cloth.

Now, I may have simply not noticed this before on the previous roof, but it doesn't seem quite correct.

Anyway, here's a photo...



Is everyone's hood like this?