[yanks1]

So far, my wife and I like our new AWD-EX-L CRV picked up last Saturday. I only have 2 issues, 1st one being 190 HP is still under-powered for a vehicle this size & weight. But my bigger issue is the size of panel gaps on our hood & hatch. I have read a few others on this forum comment on same issue so I am starting this thread. What is up with Honda quality??

Our prior 2014 CRV was also white and the panel gaps were fine, this one is 2-3x expected gap; our CRV was built in Canada.. is this a Canada issue or also at the US Plants?? please let us know & thanks.

I am going contact Honda Corp tomorrow and also email them these picture. In my view these gaps are way beyond acceptable quality standards in 2017!! These gaps remind me of GM quality issues back in the 70's and 80's... yes, they are THAT bad!

 

[S2k_Dude]

I don't think the gaps are an assembly issue, if it were, I believe there would be more misalignment with the other body panels. To me the gap is not great but given how the gap moves along the fender on an angle, Honda may have felt that is the gap they wanted. Same with the rear hatch, again probably more of a design issue than a manufacturing problem. I've also noticed the gaps appear worse on the white paint color since the color accentuates the gaps. The gap between the hood and the fenders look the same on ours as you show in your pictures.

My bigger issue is the alignment of the hood on my vehicle, it's off by a few millimeters and could be adjusted, just not sure if the dealer would make it worse if I were to let them try to improve the alignment. My issue might be something that's better handled by a body shop.

 

[osbornk]

The gaps look even and the same from side to side, as they should be. I hope they can keep a straight face when they see your complaint.

 

[hans471+]

It should be clear that the white color exaggerates any sense of the width of the gap. I spent my working career in the automotive industry looking at cars with a critical eye and for me, I notice nothing special about the gaps on my (dark colored) 2017 CR-V. Its gaps are not any different than what I see here. But, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

I can also state, without a ounce of doubt, that based on working with hundreds, if not thousands of people over the years that once you perceive there is an issue with your car, the more you look the worse it will appear to be. Based on years of experience looking at production vehicles that when I see these pictures I see no big issue. The gaps are even and normal. I spent some years working as a technical representative to a state Lemon Law board and saw both some very bad cars and some people who complained more than they should have about some cars that were not so bad. I am not judging anyone here as all are free to have their own opinions but I can say that if the pictured car was brought into the board for evaluation we would not see an issue. We might ask the buyer if they had inspected the vehicle before accepting it. I do recall a discussion with one man, a Ford Mustang owner, who complained about a paint issue with his car. We could see nothing unusual about if for a mass produced car. I mentioned that had he bought a hand made $350,000 Rolls-Royce that had 15 coats of hand sanded and rubbed paint we might have considered his concerns. But to be quite honest, his Mustang, and this CR-V, are NOT hand made cars. Its a massed produced vehicle and to be fair, a CR-V while not cheap by any measure it is not considered "high end". My next door neighbor's Lexus cost nearly double what my CR-V did and I really don't see it being built much better. (It is a little quieter and has a V-6 however).

After all my years in the automotive field I am still so impressed that we can mass produce the cars we have today and keep the prices so affordable. Every time I look at my beautifully built CR-V (or our Fit) I appreciate the great engineering that delivers such cars at the price they sell for.

BTW: Early in my automotive career I did in fact work at a Rolls dealership. Those were some very well built cars!

 

[DIY Guy]

Not sure what is acceptable in reference to the horse power. I have no issues. I didn't buy it for speed, or towing.

 

[hans471+]

I only have 2 issues, 1st one being 190 HP is still under-powered for a vehicle this size & weight. !

This "under-powered car" Is about 13% faster 0-60 than your previous CR-V while getting better gas mileage. If you test drove it and found it under powered you could have gone with something more suitable to your expectations like either the V-6 Acura or perhaps the Lexus. Of course you would have spent $10,000-$20,000 more money for that slight increase in power. And who knows, maybe their body gaps might have been a little tighter also?

 

[yanks1]

thanks for replies & comments

But let me repeat.. our 2014 CRV was white also and the panel gaps were tight.. see attached 2 pix day we turned in vehicle 1 week ago. Our hood gap on passenger side I can almost drop a pencil through, totally unacceptable

 

[hans471+]

Not sure what is acceptable in reference to the horse power. I have no issues. I didn't buy it for speed, or towing.

Amen. I find the engine power to be quite acceptable. I also notice its actually faster than it feels as the new engine's powerflow is different than my 2012's 2.4. I have to watch my speed at times! With the increased lower speed torque the engine has a lot more umph at lower speed and just smoothly accelerates the vehicle. The 0-60 times I see in tests are one second or so faster than the previous model. I also find this thing goes up hills effortlessly. The turbo engine does what it is suppose to do, deliver more torque at lower speeds.

 

[ulieq]

Yes, it's huge and ugly. I see it from my window everyday and wonder why they made the gap so huge. I'm thinking they were either trying to save money or some idiot measured incorrectly. At leastthe gap is even all around.

 

[mrgoody]

Yes agree gap is wide- Not good. Infact when I got it- I thought hood was not closed properly

 

[Bandito]

It's all about weight savings nowadays. Wider gaps mean they're using less metal, which means that they are saving weight, so that you'll get improved fuel economy. Be happy!

<Removes tongue from cheek>

 

[beachpassport]

The gaps in my rear hatch are quite a bit wide -- I can stick my index finger in quite a bit. The hood isn't so bad -- it seems about the same as around my driver's door. Actually, since reading these posts, I'm a little relieved that it's an issue of design rather than a flaw in my vehicle.

 

[osbornk]

I don't understand. The seams and gaps were present for you and the whole world to see before you bought the car. Surely, you were smart enough to look at the car before you signed the papers. If the seams and gaps were OK then, why are you complaining now? You don't buy something and later get buyers remorse and complain about something that was there to be seen before you bought it. Put on your big boy pants, suck it up and get on with it.

 

[beachpassport]

I don't understand. The seams and gaps were present for you and the whole world to see before you bought the car. Surely, you were smart enough to look at the car before you signed the papers. If the seams and gaps were OK then, why are you complaining now? You don't buy something and later get buyers remorse and complain about something that was there to be seen before you bought it. Put on your big boy pants, suck it up and get on with it.

Yep! Saw the hatch area gaps when I purchased it and although I was curious about the design element, it didn't overly concern me. Still doesn't bother me, but I am glad to see through other posts that this is normal.

I really love this car and would buy it again in a minute. It's attractive; comfortable; operates flawlessly and is fun to drive. Others may not agree with my opinion but I'm bewildered by some of the unrealistic nitpicking in different posts.

 

[yanks1]

thanks for additional replies, yes overall we like the new CRV.

But since we leased it for 3 years we didn't inspect close enough to discover the wide gaps. I gave our new CRV 2 coats of Zaino polish before our 680 mile drive from NJ to our 2nd home on the southern part of the Grand Strand of coastal SC for 2+ weeks. Thats when i noticed the wide panel gaps... shame on me for not discovering on our pick-up day.

But let me repeat, we have owned 3 German built BMWs, two 3 series Coupes and one X-3. All 3 the gaps were tight as a drum and the vehicles felt & rode rock solid. This CRV does ride more solid than our prior 3 CRVs, but the exterior build quality is the worse of all three. Perhaps my standards our high due to our 3 German built BMWs. I was too busy to contact Honda Corp today, but plan to tomorrow and share pix with them. My lovely wife could care less, but my standards are much higher. Not the end of the world, but still bothers me

 

[garoto]

Yep! Saw the hatch area gaps when I purchased it and although I was curious about the design element, it didn't overly concern me. Still doesn't bother me, but I am glad to see through other posts that this is normal.

I really love this car and would buy it again in a minute. It's attractive; comfortable; operates flawlessly and is fun to drive. Others may not agree with my opinion but I'm bewildered by some of the unrealistic nitpicking in different posts.

Operates flawlessly is false and that's a fact. I love my CR-V with it's flaws and all but I won't pretend they don't exist and that they aren't a problem. I find comfort in knowing that Honda is a company who is interested in quality and that WILL correct the flaws eventually. But again, a consumer should help the company understand these flaws, not pretend they don't exist. When the car's novelty wears off let's see how many people here will be okay with a car that doesn't operate as intended.

 

[bubbaken]

Gaps are a non-issue for me.

 

[billyrule]

Yanks, What is the first 5 of your VIN # mine is 2HKRW and my edges fit and look fine? I was wondering if yours was built somewhere else?

So far, my wife and I like our new AWD-EX-L CRV picked up last Saturday. I only have 2 issues, 1st one being 190 HP is still under-powered for a vehicle this size & weight. But my bigger issue is the size of panel gaps on our hood & hatch. I have read a few others on this forum comment on same issue so I am starting this thread. What is up with Honda quality??

Our prior 2014 CRV was also white and the panel gaps were fine, this one is 2-3x expected gap; our CRV was built in Canada.. is this a Canada issue or also at the US Plants?? please let us know & thanks.

I am going contact Honda Corp tomorrow and also email them these picture. In my view these gaps are way beyond acceptable quality standards in 2017!! These gaps remind me of GM quality issues back in the 70's and 80's... yes, they are THAT bad!

 

[beachpassport]

Operates flawlessly is false and that's a fact. I love my CR-V with it's flaws and all but I won't pretend they don't exist and that they aren't a problem. I find comfort in knowing that Honda is a company who is interested in quality and that WILL correct the flaws eventually. But again, a consumer should help the company understand these flaws, not pretend they don't exist. When the car's novelty wears off let's see how many people here will be okay with a car that doesn't operate as intended.

I'm certainly not finding all these flaws. This may be because I'm not an expert on newer automotive technologies. The gaps may be an odd design element, or a specific manufacturing plant problem. It's too early to tell but I certainly agree that concerned consumers should address it with Honda to find out if there is, in fact, a problem.

Mechanical problems discovered after purchase should certainly warrant some outrage, but visual flaws that must have been prominent prior to purchase?

 

[sirwired]

My money's on "odd design element". Unless somebody didn't use a ruler when designing the dies, the gaps are a design decision, not a manufacturing error. If the hood were mounted much "tighter" (gaps usually refer to mounting imprecision), it wouldn't actually fit any more. And the gaps for the trunk are dead-even on both sides; couldn't fill them in without the stamping being wider.

(P.S. I'm not buying this being some strange sheet-metal saving measure; car parts rarely take the entire width of the roll they stamped from; increasing their sheet-metal scrap output by 0.1% ain't exactly a gold-mine of cost savings.)