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Follow-up letter to Dealer

I did not receive a response from Honda with regard to my September 6, 2001 letter to Mr. Blank. Therefore I placed a call to Honda Customer Service and followed up with this letter to my dealer.

Alan Leduc

1343 Q Avenue, New Castle, IN 47362

  October 23, 2001

Home Telephone:                                                                                                     
Business Telephone:
GL1800 VIN: 00469

Phil, I am writing to confirm my appointment for next Thursday, November 1, to get the rear tire inspected. Per our conversation, I will leave it for the day since you will have to remove the tire to do the inspection. 

I made a call to Honda Customer Service (310-532-9811, Bill) this morning to follow-up on a letter that I had sent back with my Survey regarding the overheating problem and discussed some other things with them: 

1. I told them that you were unable to get the parts to do the Kill Switch Recall and they said that both the Kill Switch and Pulse Rotor had been done at the factory on May 29, 2001. I guess we can quit worrying about that one.

2. I asked them about the cupping problem with the front tire which started at 5000 miles and is now to the point that I get a front end wobble. I was told that they were aware of cupping problems but this was attributed to the fact that the GL1800 is a sport bike. This is B.S., but obviously, they are not going to do anything about it. If the rear tire is defective, I will order a new front tire also. If the rear tire is not defective, I will try to hold out until February when the Dunlop’s are supposed to be available.

3.  I asked them about the overheating problem and they at first said that this was attributable to a software problem and could be corrected by a sub-harness. Then they said that my bike should not require the sub-harness and I should bring it in to you. I told them that I had reported the problem to you and that you had another customer that had also experienced the problem and that you could not get a response out of the district manager. In so many words, they said there is no way that the district manager would not be calling you back. Please give this guy another call and crank on him. I think they are trying to avoid a problem. I have enclosed a copy of the letter sent with my Survey. I will be sending a registered letter this week, giving them another 30 days. At that point, I will have my lawyer send them a letter. The letter is not to force them to fix it, but to protect me in the event that I am in a situation where I cannot pull to the side (like my experience on the Dan Ryan) and trash the engine or worse get hurt. I want to keep you guys clean on this so the best thing you can do is to make sure that you document the call.

I will need a 12000-mile checkup soon. Please check to see if you need to do all of the disassembly required for the air cleaner for any other item on the check up.  If you do then I will let you change the air clean. If not, I will change the air cleaner myself. Then I will know how to remove the plastic.

 Thanks,

Letter sent with my Survey

September 6, 2001

Mr. Ray Blank
Vice President, Motorcycle Division
American Honda Survey Processing Center
450 Enterprise Court
Bloomfield Hills, MI 48302-9816

Dear Mr. Blank:

I purchased my GL1800 Gold Wing on July 9. Since that time I have had two occasions in which it has overheated:

1. While participating in the light parade at this year’s Honda Homecoming, my motorcycle began to heat up and was very near the red mark. Fortunately, I was able to speed up or come to a complete stop and allow the motorcycle to cool down. However, this happened several times during the fifteen miles or so of the parade.

2. A few weeks ago, I was on my way from Indiana to Wisconsin and was stuck in traffic on the Dan Ryan Expressway in Chicago. Once again, the temperature gauge began to rise. In case you are not familiar with this section of road, there is no safe place to pull over. The temperature gauge hit the red line and stayed there. After clearing the traffic, the temperature recovered and it seems that there has been no ill effect.

I reported this information to my dealer. I informed him that this is a common problem based upon information that has been posted on the various GL1800 forums. He has not been able to obtain authorization for any kind of remedy.

It appears that Honda has placed me in a position where I must decide whether to protect my investment (pull to the side of the road) or protect my life (continue driving due to the unsafe conditions that may exist, for example the Dan Ryan). Worse, I could continue driving and have a failure, which could result in both loss of investment and personal injury. It seems that this is an unfair position to be placed. I have notified my attorney of this condition in the case of personal injury; but asked that he not take action at this point. I am allowing 45 days from this date, before instructing my attorney to pursue this matter in another form. Your response and proposed remedy during this time frame would be appreciated.

I am aware that two service bulletins have been issued for my motorcycle. The dealer advises that the parts for the kill switch bulletin are on national backorder. The service bulletin clearly states that failure could result in death or personal injury. It seems that if this failure occurs because parts are unavailable, you will have place yourself in a poor legal position. Please advise how I should pursue having the service bulletins fulfilled.

Alan Leduc