Honda sucks!

I purchased a 2001 Honda Civic in April of last year (New York State). Since September, I have had nothing but problems with the vehicle. I will proceed to describe my difficulties in short phrases, because the problems are too extensive to describe otherwise.
- vehicle was leaking steering fluid, and idling was unsteady, had the vehicle checked. leak was identified, was told idle was normal.
- returned the vehicle to have steering rack replaced, still unhappy with idle, requested it to be looked at again. received vehicle back, was told idle was fine, steering rack was replaced but steering was misaligned.
- was required to take a half day from work to have steering re-aligned. received vehicle back, was now rattling underneath.
- again dropped vehicle off to have rattle looked at, and idle looked at again. returned at the end of the day, was told no problems were found. was forced to return the vehicle again to physically show a technician what the problems were. was insisted that problems were normal, without looking at the vehicle or running a diagnostic test - was basically denied warranty service.
- went to dealership customer service being unhappy with the responses i had received. their technicians easily identified and repaired the problems - rattle was a result of steering rack being installed improperly, idle problem was a short in the electrical system - both problems would have been easily repaired the first time had the technicians been competent and thorough. instead, i was exposed to undue stress, and potential damage to my reputation to my employer for having to repeatedly leave work early to have this taken care of.
- more mechanical problems - another electrical problem was subsequently identified and repaired, and the CV joint had to be replaced. at this point, in order to deal with more competent technicians, i was forced to take my vehicle to a dealership where I was required to pay for a rental for two days.

At no time had I received ANY compensation for the difficulties incurred. I expressed my concerns to Honda motors, requesting an extension of my warranty to provide a sense of security against having to pay for costly repairs once the warranty runs out. I was told that Honda has no obligation to provide any compensation (Not even so much as a free oil change for my inconvenience).

In short, I have experienced a great deal of stress over the situation, all because Honda's certified technicians couldn't do the job right the first several times. Moreover, the amount of personal time spent, money spent, and time taken from work far exceed what should occur after having just spent $16, 000 on a new car. I understand the milage on the car exceeds what would be applicable toward lemon law. However, do I have any legal recourse for the unnecessary lengths I have had to go through to have the problems repaired?

[rmcnellis]

not positive on this, and of course, all state lemon laws differ but i don't think mileage is limited unless you are beyond the factory warranty period. you are pretty much sol i think on getting reimbursed for time lost from work. i am not familier with honda, but i work for subaru and this is how it works with them: typically lemon laws limit the number of repair attempts for the same concern or non-conformity and/or the cumulative number of days a vehicle is out of service for all warranty repairs. as a penalty for exceeding the permitted number of warranty repair attempts and/or the permitted number of warranty repair days, a vehicle owner may be entitled to return his vehicle and obtain either a refund of the purchase price or a comparable replacement vehicle, but only if the warranty problem substantially impairs the use, safety or value of the vehicle. to me it sounds like repairs which normally would have been no big deal - had they been fixed right the first time - turned into a nightmare for you. and for that, i would hold the dealer responsible rather than the manufacturer, although you may be dealing with one in the same if honda coddles their dealers and implies no reprocussions for their poor service. with subaru, any dealer or ditributor that fails to carry out its responsibilities under the lemon law is held fully responsible for compensating vehicle owners for damages until their specific state lemon law. subaru dealers are required to notify the manufacturer in wiriting if a vehicle comes back for a second or subsequent attempt to correct the same problem, if the vehicle has been out of service for a total of 10 or more calendar days, or if parts unavailability or length of repair completeion time will put the vehicle out of service for more than 3 consecutive business days. if any of these applies to you, then you may have a potential lemon law case against the manufacturer and/or the dealer. i don't know if you legally can do this, but i'd go after the dealer for your personal damages if possible - they sound totally insubordinate. i hope you hung onto your repair orders if it is in fact the dealership at fault for your troubles, rather than the manufacturer, you may have a buyback situation - this occurs when a dealer has caused the repair attempt/downtime by physically damaging the vehicle or performing improper repairs (ie: installing the rack wrong). hopefully honda cares about quality as much as subaru. good luck