Honda has finally issued a TSB on the third gear issue that's been plaguing everything from the Civic Si to the Acura TL. According to affected owners, when the manual transmission was in third gear, it would occasionally pop into neutral and occasionally grind into place. Honda originally didn't recognize the problem and still isn't issuing a recall, but they have put out a TSB and are offering to correct the problem free of charge to owners who take their vehicle into a dealership. The documentation for Honda and Acura is now available (PDF warning) and you can hit the jump to see which vehicles are included in the TSB.
Click above for more pics of the Scion xB post-fire damage
An auto dealer service center is a lot like a doctor's office for your car. When something is wrong or your ride needs a check-up, a technician can set things right. Of course sometimes doctors make mistakes like taking off your left foot when they're supposed to amputate the right one, and things don't always go as planned in the hands of a trained tech. One Scion xB owner took his modified baby to the dealer for a Technical Service Bulletin, and it ended up engulfed in flames. The fire completely destroyed the little xB, but the good news is that the dealer has taken full responsibility for the problem and is giving the owner a new ride for his troubles.
We had auto shop in high school, but we can't seem to remember any reason a car should blow up when being worked on. We don't know what Scion xB TSB was being done, but if trying to fix it could blow up your car, that's probably not good. Check out the gruesome pics in the gallery below
Problems with older vehicles have helped recalls jump 25% from 2006 to 2007, with over 14 million owners receiving the dreaded notice this year. Topping this year's list with 5.5 million recalls is Ford Motor Company, due mostly to a cruise control problem. Volkswagen also saw a rise in recalls, with over 1.5 million notices. That number looks much larger when considering the relatively small U.S. sales numbers for the German automaker.
The silver lining in the up-tick in recalls is that most of the vehicles effected were older models, meaning newer vehicles are for now staying somewhat out of the headlines. Ford spokesman Dan Jarvis pointed out to the Detroit News that most of its 3.6 million cruise control switch recalls were for vehicles over 10 years old. GM, Honda, Toyota, Nissan, and Chrysler all saw a drop in recalls in 2007, though the Pentastar still had a hefty 2.1 million notices spanning 21 campaigns.
Our good buddy Mike Levine over at Pickuptruck.com has updated his report on the story surrounding the failure of 20 camshaft in the 2007 Toyota Tundra's 5.7L V8 engine. Levine noticed that Toyota has already posted on two internet forums expressing regret to Tundra owners over the incident. Though the author's name was not provided, identical posts were published by "TMSUSA" on ToyotaNation.com and TundraSolutions.com that address customer concerns and provide this expression of remorse: "Although the number of affected Tundras is very small, we very much regret that even one of our trucks was manufactured with a camshaft processing flaw and certainly any inconvenience caused to our customers."
Meanwhile, Levine also tracked down a consultant who confirms the estimate we originally reported that it will cost $5,000 to swap out each engine that experiences a failed camshaft. Toyota will certainly pay the estimated $100,000 to repair the 20 trucks already known to have experienced a camshaft failure, but the looming question that's yet to be answered is how many more trucks might need to have their engine replaced? Toyota Spokesperson Bill Kwong told Levine, "Our dealers have approximately 1,600 new Tundras nationwide for disposal as a loaner vehicle while a customer's truck is being repaired, and that doesn't include older Tundras and Tacomas." While meant more as an assurance that the company will do whatever it can to help out customers who find themselves with an affected engine, that statement also implies Toyota is at least prepared for the number to grow.
Ah, the joys of owning an exotic. This time it's an issue with the half-shafts on the Ford GT separating and causing a loss of power. Fortunately, for both Ford and GT owners, this has only occurred on four vehicles and isn't as widespread as the 60 some incidents of broken shaft bolts that Ford issued a TSB on last year.
According to SVT's chief engineer, Jamal Hameedi, the problem has only occurred during acceleration and not while traveling at a constant speed. It seems that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) isn't too concerned about the matter, as they haven't decided to conduct an investigation.
If you're the owner of certain Toyota products built with the 2.2L I4 or 3.0L V6 between 1997 and 2002, you may soon be receiving notification from the automaker concerning its recent settlement in a class-action lawsuit. Filed as the result of damage caused by sludged oil (which ultimately can destroy an engine by clogging lubrication passages), the suit claimed that affected customers suffered from failures despite following Toyota's maintenance recommendations. As a result, Toyota will be extending the warranty of up to 7.5 million vehicles to 8 years and 120 days from the original purchase date (without regard for mileage), and will pay for damage incurred as a result of oil sludge - also referred to as oil gel.
In 2002, Toyota offered an extended warranty to some owners who were affected by the sludging problem, but many customers claim to have been accused of improper maintenance and were forced to pay for their own repairs.
Sludging is the result of several factors, some of which included longer drain intervals, tighter engine tolerances, and the typically higher operating temperatures of new engines. Several other manufacturers have also faced allegations of oil sludging problems and have responded in a variety of ways.
As a consumer, the best defensive measure is, of course, a regular oil change (following the "severe service" schedule if required) with a name-brand oil that meets the manufacturer's recommendations for viscosity and API service rating. Some manufacturers recommend different viscosities for operation in extremely hot or cold climates; as always, the owner's manual is an outstanding source of information on matters like these.
[Source: Consumer Affairs; a hat tip to AB readers Drew and Ryan]
Toyota's 'youth' division seems to be suffering the same recall woes as its parent company, which now includes 30,000 Scion tC coupes. It seems that when the key is in the 'ON' position or was removed within a minute and half, and the door is slammed shut, the side airbags may deploy.
The recall includes models sold between March of 2004 and March of 2006. At this point, only 17 vehicles have suffered from this anomaly.
Per usual, owners of the affected vehicles will be sent a notice in the mail and the cost of the repairs will be covered by Toyota.
The full TSB can be viewed after the jump. Thanks for the tip, Yvo.
In yet another installment of the Mazda RX-8 customer satisfaction drama, we can confirm that the manufacturer will announce a voluntary recall on 2004, 2005 and some 2006 model year RX-8s. Mazda has confirmed to us that owners will be receiving notices in the next month or so, as the company is doing a staggered roll-out across the country.
Mazda has also told us that the repairs needed for each RX-8 will vary based on tests performed by each dealer. Automotive News is reporting that each car will receivea vacu um test to check for oil leaks, and those vehicles suffering from sealing problems will receive new Renesis side-port rotary engines. Robert Davis, head of product development and quality at Mazda, told Automotive News that the company does not want dealers tearing into the engines, and instead will send the defective motors to its remanufacturing plant in North Carolina. Each vehicle will also receive a check of its starting system, as that supposedly has been problematic. Davis described the campaign as "white-glove treatment".
Mazda claims that the problem is brought on by hot climates or the usage of synthetic oil. If the oil is allowed into the combustion chamber, it eventually reaches the catalytic converter and causes a malfunction of that emissions-control device.
Owners of some 2003 and 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokees can be expecting a recall letter sometime in July; that is, if they haven't already experienced charred backsides urging them to return to their dealers. DaimlerChrysler will be performing a campaign on the vehicles to address an issue with the vehicle's heated seats, which can malfunction and lead to a fire. The problem is said to be related to the company's use of a "thin film" carbon resistive element, which replaced the traditional wirewound heating elements.
Approximately 111,000 vehicles are said to be affected, and there have been 32 instances of fire reports so far, with "a few" injuries.
Talk about looking for silver linings. Matt Vella of BusinessWeek takes Toyota's one million vehicle recall and turns it on its ear. Public relations expert Mark Hass of Hass MS&L points out that recalls don't carry the stigmas they once did. According to Hass, unless automakers attempt to hide pertinent information or defects from a recall, they stand to benefit from good PR by actually being open about problems and dealing with them promptly. A company's promise to service all affected vehicles, for example, can reflect one of its strengths. States Joe Barkai, a program director of IDC, a manufacturing insight group, "Toyota is better structured to fix these types of problems. They're very good at executing decisions, everybody falls in line. For domestic manufacturers, it still takes a long time to learn those lessons."
Other factors including as the 2000 - 2001 Explorer rollover recall "deflating" future public outcries over recalls and Toyota's kaizen philosophy, are detailed at the link. Also worth noting are comments by BW readers who had a quite different take on the matter (read: accusations of media bias).
Problems with older vehicles have helped recalls jump 25% from 2006 to 2007, with over 14 million owners receiving the dreaded notice this year. Topping this year's list with 5.5 million recalls is Ford Motor Company, due mostly to a 
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