Honda Hype Vs. Reality

Honda cars have got to be the most overrated cars ever built. It seems that anyone who owns a Honda becomes a brainwashed Lemming, buying into the delusion that Hondas are defect free, never break down, and have better performance than any other make of car, especially those "unreliable American gas guzzlers". The automotive press consistently praise Honda products while overlooking their flaws, and do exactly the opposite to any domestic vehicles.

There are about three times as many American cars on the road as there are Japanese cars. This means if the quality is the same, there will be three times as many complaints about American cars.

While Hondas can be very good cars, they are far from perfect. Honda has had their share of product recalls. They are machines designed by humans. However, their owners like to overlook any quality or design problems. These problems are never mentioned when they are comparing their perfect Honda products to an "inferior domestic", but are well known by Honda owners. Check out any of the big WWW sites for Hondas and you will find pages devoted to complaints Honda & Acura owners have about their cars but will only admit when they are in a "Honda friendly" atmosphere. Below are some examples:
REC.AUTOS.MAKERS.HONDA
See messages posted to USENET about problems with Hondas (Deja News). Many Honda lovers say,"There are hardly any posts in the honda newsgroups about problems unlike those other inferior cars." Find out for yourself here.

Honda Civic Complaints Page(from the Civic Homepage)
Read the complaints that Honda owners have made about their cars. Complaints like squeaks and rattles, poor quality,and noise, which are all the things that the "inferior, poor quality" American vehicles are supposed to suffer from. But..But...I thought Hondas were defect-free! Everbody says so!

Acura Integra Problems & Repairs(from the Honda/Acura Integra "Performance" Page)
On this page you can learn about the quality problems that Integras have with poorly machined engine blocks, faulty distributors (The "secret" recall), exhaust noise problems, etc.

Honda Hub Problems, Complaints & Solutions Message Board
Read what problems Honda owners talk about amongst themselves.(site currently broken)
Here some other links that show that the "Honda quality" reputation is just hype:

An American Honda Employee's thoughts on Honda Quality
 Read an American Honda Quality Assurance Engineers statements on Honda quality. What he has to say may suprise you.

Letter from an Disatisfied Honda Owner
Read a letter sent to me by a reader of this page who is disatisfied with his Honda car and the customer service he recieved when dealing with his less than perfect Honda Accord Coupe.

Search the NHTSA Recall Database for Honda/Acura Recalls
 The US National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration records of auto manufacturer recalls. The majority of people never hear about a Honda or Acura recall, but when a domestic automaker has a recall, it is usually the top story on the 11 o'clock TV news. The only thing most people have been brainwashed to "know" is that Acuras and Hondas are "quality" cars.

Search the NHTSA Defect Complaints Database for Honda/Acura complaints
So nobody complains about Hondas because they always leave the assembly line defect-free? WRONG! Here you can see the complaints Honda owners have made to the NHTSA.

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