It was not. It was, rather, a classic example of the way Corporate America steps up-but-not-really these days. American Honda no doubt paid some PR wonk with a legal team a small fortune to come up with this hedge. You can read the letter for yourself below.
Let's review: Honda is extending the warranty on my 2008 Civic 'to ensure my confidence in their product.' <cool! feeling confident!> There is 'no action required on my part' <phew!> 'unless I experience a problem' <wait, what?>
Why would I experience a problem? Because my car is apparently prone to “leaking coolant from the engine block.”
So let me get this straight: if my car overheats on the highway, stranding me somewhere because of some acknowledged-but-undisclosed defect affecting the engines in my particular model/year combination, Honda will pay to repair or replace my engine block, even though the car is beyond its warranty period. But Honda is stopping short of a normal recall (bring your car in, so that we can proactively replace the {engine block or whatever,} which we know has some statistically significant likelihood of being defective.)
I am not going to find this reassuring when I’m stranded by the side of the road. Shame on you, Honda!
To be clear, I have long been a fan of Honda products. My wife and I own three of their vehicles. I'm even an $HMC stockholder. But as a consumer and loyal customer of many years, this is disappointing at best - and sadly, also typical of the way American corporations conduct themselves these days; every decision of this type consists of some combination of risk management, damage control, manipulation of public perception, and profit maximization. Rare is the company in which there is an over-arching imperative to Do the Right Thing for its customers.
Not that I would expect corporate misbehavior in Dearborn to be any less likely, my next car may nonetheless be a Ford. The Fusion is particularly appealing.
Here' the letter I received. How would you have reacted, if you had received this regarding your car?
