During my daughter's 5-hr drive to college in her 2010 Honda Civic (~ 3500 miles on it), the car's A/C abruptly quit working. After checking over the internal controls to make sure she didn't have a wrong setting, she took the vehicle to a Honda dealership for inspection and found that the condenser had a hole in it apparently from a foreign object (rock). Upon further internet research, I discovered this situation was not a rare occurrence. There are hundreds if not thousands of complaints listed on the internet of this exact same problem. I contacted both american Honda as well as the dealership where the car was purchased and was told that Honda would not cover this under warranty. The issue is design or material workmanship related, not an "act of god" or unlucky circumstance. The condenser is not well protected as in other competitive vehicles, so it is more prone to this issue. Other people discussing this issue on an internet "forum" are finding creative ways to protect the condenser with a wire "netting" because they know that just by replacing the condenser does not fix the root cause. Since this is not a safety issue, Honda is most likely not going to address this in a responsible manner. At this point, I'll have to ask my insurance to get involved and pay the deductible and potentially have my insurance rates increase if this re-occurs. We will have a "local" Honda dealership replace the condenser and associated parts. My objective here is to let more people know that Honda has an issue with this design/condenser material in the hopes that they will address it.

- Parkersburg, WV, USA

My 2008 Civic ex L condenser was damaged by a road side debris/stone. I took it to my Honda dealer and was informed this is not covered under warranty the to repair would be $725 or I could take it to my insurance company see if they will cover the cost. However, I called Honda Canada since they are so many complaints on the same issue [ design flaw ]. Honda Canada gave me same song and dance the dealer gave me and admitting it is a design flaw. This is our 7th Honda product but I will not go back to Honda any more. I am extremely disappointed with answers I got from the dealership and Honda Canada.

- Oakville Ontario Canada, 00, USA