Bought a new car a couple of weeks ago and noticed gaps on the hood and hatch. Dealer had their body shop person take measurements and opine on how it can be fixed… The body shop person said that the hatch can be fixed but he is not sure the hood alignment will have the best results because the panel adjustments on the hood will have effects on the fender, door etc. It seems the hood and hatch gaps will still be there (!), but the body shop will only try to make the gaps even on both sides,,.
The gaps look very wide compared to our previous 2012 CRV (which we traded in). Both the hood and the hatch on driver side is worser than the passenger side. What can be done?
Bought a new car a couple of weeks ago and noticed gaps on the hood and hatch. Dealer had their body shop person take measurements and opine on how it can be fixed… The body shop person said that the hatch can be fixed but he is not sure the hood alignment will have the best results because the panel adjustments on the hood will have effects on the fender, door etc. It seems the hood and hatch gaps will still be there (!), but the body shop will only try to make the gaps even on both sides,,.
The gaps look very wide compared to our previous 2012 CRV (which we traded in). Both the hood and the hatch on driver side is worser than the passenger side. What can be done?
I think you are going to find that gaps in the Gen 5 CRV are pretty wide and very common. I going to guess here but my gut tells me that the dealership did not inform you of any gap problems because it looked normal to them. Maybe you can talk a walk around some other new CRV's and see that gaps appear to be on all the vehicles. Your gaps may be larger than usual, can't tell by the photos. I'm sure the dealership will take care of the situation.
Those look like normal gaps to me, for the 5th gen at least. I still have my 2013 and comparing it to my 2022 the new one has bigger gaps. My coworker just bought a 2022 about 5 months after I bought mine and his gaps are the same too.
There was a discussion when the Gen 5s came out about this. They seem to have larger panel gaps than previous CRVs but they still drive down the road nicely!
Dealers vary, but I would be surprised if they noticed that and if they did that they would point it out. Maybe I'm wrong. I think a high percentage of buyers would never notice it and a high percentage wouldn't care.
Looks normal to me too. Wider gaps appear to be the norm in modern car manufacture and it’s apparent that the CRV falls into this category. Look around the car park and see how many other models have large gaps and I’m talking about some premium cars here. As previously said just go and enjoy driving your new car.
The gaps look very wide compared to our previous 2012 CRV (which we traded in). Both the hood and the hatch on driver side is worser than the passenger side. What can be done?
Your dealer will certainly work with you to resolve any real issue. But context is important here as well. Honestly though, what I see in your photos is in the normal range of variation, and not just for Hondas.
Context:
Manufacturers have indeed in most cases increased the gaps between doors, hoods, hatches, etc and the main body quarter panels. This is deliberate, and a normal evolution in motor vehicle design for assembly. It is also an artifact outcome of some of the body styling used now days (where the vehicle body design now commonly have wrap around surfaces before reaching the edge of the hood or door). We can accept this reality, or complain and lament about it, but it is the trend in the industry, and that includes all the big Japanese brands who in the 80s and 90s designed for narrow tolerances on otherwise thicker and flatter body panels in general, while the rest of the industry were producing bodies that still required the old 2x4 adjustment from Nick or John at the end of the body assembly line.
If you take a walk through a large parking lot full of motor vehicles you will observe this is in fact the trend in the latest generation motor vehicles, pretty much across the industry (save for the luxury tier of vehicles).
Why would they do this, you ask? Simple really... to reduce manufacturing costs and speed assembly time. The tighter you design those gaps, the less tolerance you have on the assembly lines, but more importantly the more vehicles that have to be pulled off the line to "refine the seam alignments". And you are seeing this in your photos.. where the gaps are robust enough that they are tolerant of more play in the final assembly alignment.
Your concern though exemplifies why it is very important for a new owner to do a careful walk around inspection of a vehicle before signing the purchase documents.
If you take a look at this video, you will see the gap in on the back side looks just about the same as your photo around the 0.55 mark i think the back is fine but the front may have a larger than normal gap this video doesn’t zoom close enough.
I think that's normal for the CRV and that for tighter gaps, Honda did that in the Acura's. You can see the difference in this pic. I noticed that as soon as I parked them next to each other. You will get used to it after a while and forget about it. My hood was slightly off-center I noticed the gap differences and the dealer fixed it without any issues.
I think what it boils down to is this:
If the panel gaps on a specific panel vary from one side to the other, it can and should be resolved by the dealer. Other than that, the gaps are what Honda (and any other manufacturer) specified when designing the vehicle.
My 2017 touring (traded in) and 2022 Hybrid also 22 Civic Sport have the same the same uneven gap too. My 22 Corolla Hybrid made in Japan perfect finish except the filter made in China.
I have a 2014 CR-V, LX trim and noticed the same kind of gaps when I was cleaning my headlights. I was astonished to find this and it was on the left side of the hood down to the headlights as you look at the vehicle.
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