Well, After getting the recall and compression test done Thursday, the car had been sitting in its parking spot at my place where it usually rests. I went out to look at the car and start it up today, and noticed something hanging that should not have been.

When they were replacing the passengers side seatbelt rail, they snapped the plastic interior piece and broke it, rather than tell me about it they just decided to try and hide it with adhesive spray, which thanks to the florida sun didnt last, and now the panel is hanging loose.

Called the dealer, spoke to the service guy who checked the car in on Thursday, he mentioned to bring it in on monday, but that I should have gotten a disclaimer to sign saying they weren't responsible due to the car being that old (which I never got.)

So hooray, I get to go argue with the arrogant service manager who blatantly told me he hates rotary powered cars, this is going to be fun.





Not happy..

 

Look up the part # and see if its still available, if it isn't, get a rough idea on price new and make them cut a check

 

That would be the gameplan. I'm not planning on this going easily by any means. I'm pretty much assuming they are going to fight me every single step of the way. I hope its still available. The cars interior is damn near immaculate, that's why i'm so pissed

 

They fight ya, mention small claims court, or the BBB, will probably change their tune

 

I'm currently researching how to go about this. Should I call MNAO today and mention this? Or should I get to the dealer and see what the service manager says before I make that call? If push comes to shove I will take the legal route.

I'm pretty much betting they are going to hand me a line of "cars old it happens" or some other excuse to screw me over. But they had the car in for inspection last week to make sure it was in need of parts for said recall, and then they had it in on this Thursday for actual recall work. Those panels would not be removed for any other reason, So I hope they don't try pulling the "well it wasn't damaged when It left here" crap, or the "cars so old we aren't liable." line.

The work was sloppy all around, before I picked the car up they left one of the caps for the rims off of it as well, not that its that important, but just painting a picture of general sloppy work in some areas.

Anyone have any further suggestions?

 

i feel for both sides here, those ancient plastic parts are basically intact only by habit.

Were i a service tech, I wouldn't touch interior plastic parts without a release (which you were apparently supposed to sign but didn't).
I've removed the interior several times now and know pretty much where every screw/push pin is and even so, broke the passenger window trim into three pieces almost before I began. It just crumbled, I doubt it could've supported its own weight.

I can see you have grounds for some sort of claim but bear in mind that had you attempted to remove them before going to the dealer, chances are good they would have broken too.

On a more helpful note...
The interior is mostly ABS and responds well to real plastic glues (i use acetone and Weldon #17).
Looks like they tried superglue, which won't do at all.

 

somewhat redundantly, i agree with clokker. the plastic DOES glue very very well, i used acrylic glue last time, and its like magic.

 

You might very well be correct. It could have just been age, but at the same time the same tech pulled the panels off last week for the inspection and nothing broke, then this week, there it went. I'm not sure which played a part, maybe both, maybe it was just old, who knows.

 

It was probably a different tech

 

It was the same one both times, at least thats what the computer printout says for each visit. I did see the tech back there working on it, but I didn't see the entire operation, so I'm not sure if he was the only one that touched it both times.

 

Did you see the panels removed during the first visit?
You needn't remove anything to 'diagnose' a broken mousetrack.

Regardless of this particular outcome, continued ownership will demand future panel removal, if only to search for loose change and dead mice, so you might think beyond this specific incident.

You seem to visit the dealer a lot, do you work on the car yourself?
It'd be unrealistic to expect a tech to be intimately familiar with 25 year old interiors, nor would he/she be as obsessive/compulsive as you, the owner would be. Maybe learn to pre-remove potentially vulnerable pieces before a dealer visit.

At least that way when something breaks (there is no 'if" qualifier here), no third party is involved...just you and you.

 

The only times i've been to the dealer were for the inspection they told me I had to have done on the car before they would order the parts for the recall, and then this past Thursday for the recall itself.

I've went there to pickup parts a few times, but that's mostly it. I perform 90% of the work on my rx8 and the FC. Thats a good suggestion, if I ever find myself in that position again, removal pre visit would probably help.

And no, I didn't see everything going on the first time.

 

No criticism/judgement implied, just a question.
I'd happily pay to have **** done, were i able.

At least be thankful you don't have a FD...their panels (both plastic and metal) are about 60% as thick as ours and have the structural integrity of holograms.

 

I've had a 93 Base and 94 Touring. Luckily i've never had to take the gauge cluster surround off when I did own them. No thanks, haha. And no worries, I didn't take it as anything negative.