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Honda getting sued for low gas mileage; Woman wins small-claims suit over Honda hybrid mpg
Topic Started: Dec 28 2011, 01:39 AM (1,912 Views)
Woodie
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I don't get it at all, the number came from a government agency, Honda didn't make it up out of thin air. Plus, why wouldn't they just buy the car back to make this go away?
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bogs
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Duct tape heals all wounds

robertino, if this lady were a lone crusader voice by herself, I'd say that was a close and accurate example story, but she isn't.

This is a story of how she is handling her part of a much larger problem that has already gone through the court system in a class action case where she was not satisfied with the outcome, and I don't blame her for that one bit.

I'm with Woodie (I think) on this one, Honda's proposed settlement in the class action suit was weak to say the least, they could have avoided this whole fiasco by being far more proactive initially.

Look at what is going on with the Volt and the battery / crash test issue. Before it was even definitively known to *be* a battery issue, gm was up front ready to replace the cars already in service. That was the smart way to handle it.
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iamgeo
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Big League

How do we know that she is not going to small claims court for no other reason than to collect some money. Her car may be in tip top condition.
I am not going to side with this woman until I know for a fact that her car suffers from a bad battery pack and/or another malady that can be blamed on Honda.
To blindly believe this woman without proof is foolish.
Edited by iamgeo, Jan 7 2012, 09:53 AM.
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Spock
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Live Long and Prosper.

:thumb
Edited by Spock, Jan 7 2012, 10:44 AM.
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Coche Blanco
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Troll Certified

http://www.wix.com/civichybrid/dontsettle#!
cool little site, obviously it's one of those like...well you get the idea. Like a "9/11 was an inside job" type website, but cool nonetheless.
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bogs
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Duct tape heals all wounds

iamgeo
Jan 7 2012, 09:52 AM
How do we know that she is not going to small claims court for no other reason than to collect some money. Her car may be in tip top condition.
I am not going to side with this woman until I know for a fact that her car suffers from a bad battery pack and/or another malady that can be blamed on Honda.
To blindly believe this woman without proof is foolish.
Somehow, I rather doubt she is worried whether you or I are on her side :-/ As to whether or not she has the proof required to win her position, as I said earlier, we shall most likely have to wait and see.
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nerys
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Grr

Sadly the law in her state is "rigged" its designed to prevent the PEOPLE from actually getting anywhere since if you lose you can't appeal but if THEY lose they can appeal and IN come the lawyers and you "auto lose" at that point since even if you "WIN" your in the same boat again with the lawyer taking everything.
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iamgeo
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Big League

I had noticed that. It sure is skewed in the defendants favor.
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nerys
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Grr

that's because "they" make the rules :-) so of course they "rig" the rules in their own favor.
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robertino
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Bogs, I respect you opinion but lets look at the facts that were stated. Yes it was a class action lawsuit and yes Honda lost. They offered the owners rebate checks (which sucked) plus $100
The LA Times wrote:"The Los Angeles resident is miffed that her 2006 Honda Civic hybrid doesn't get its claimed fuel economy. And she isn't satisfied with a proposed class-action lawsuit settlement that would give trial lawyers $8.5 million while Civic owners would get as little as $100 and rebate coupons for the purchase of a new vehicle."
She is not happy because she had to spend more money on gas than what she thought she should. Well how does she know how much less gas she should have used. I lived in LA until 2006 and I know how people drive here. She drives like all of us because the flow of traffic demands it.
Now I cant remember what was the fuel MPG on those Hybrids when I was working for Honda but I can tell you that the only way she was getting 30 MPG is if she was punching it.
The woman is irked at the fact that she's only compensated by $100 but the trial lawyers get 8.5 mill . Do I think she should get more HE_L yes but 10000, come on now! that's a bit much.
When you are in a class action lawsuit you get screwed. I was part of that Countrywide lawsuit and you don't want to know how much I got after I lost half the equity on my house.
I personally think that she should sue the lawyers for overcharging !

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bogs
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Duct tape heals all wounds

Robertino, go a little beyond the story in the times article, possibly even to the link CB mentioned, and view the video she posted, but there are other avenues of research. The whole thrust of her argument basically is this:

1.) Not only Honda, but the EPA of the time said the car should be getting around 50 mpg (fuelecon.gov backs this up, btw, here is the ratings for a 2006 Civic Hybrid originally, 49 City / 50 Combined / 51 Hwy)

2.) From the very beginning, the best she was able to manage was around 40 mpg combined, which incidently coincide with the new numbers ( current epa figures = 40 City / 42 Combined / 45 Highway )

3.) After several years of ownership, her numbers started declining from the 40's to the 30's combined, and the car started going to Honda to diagnose the problem (this is reported by her, but I would have to believe she has evidence to support this at this point) and is ultimately diagnosed as the battery pack issue.

Normally I'd agree with you, someone gets a brand new prius or insight, and is tanking the mileage by hot rodding the car or mis-uses it, then decides to jump on the "me too" bandwagon by suing sounds likely.

In this case, though, it sounds more like someone who regularly monitors their mileage, like mjs or Nerys, suddenly having their car break down 2 years in. Would you suspect they were suddenly lead footing? Not so much, because you know their habits, and we don't know this woman.

Again, I don't know her either, and I may be taken in as well, however I don't believe she is just fabricating it out of whole cloth.
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econoboxer
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I am the one on the left.

At a bare minimum Honda was aware ... that by the time Peters bought her car there were problems with its living up to its advertised mileage," Carnahan wrote in the judgment.



http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=157&sid=18720220&title=woman-wins-small-claims-suit-over-honda-hybrid-mpg

You go, girl! :thumb
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vr4


Great. Now I can use this to sue every manufacturer of all my cars for not getting the mileage advertised and indicated by the epa sticker. :)


I'm gonna be rich!!!!!!!
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Cobrajet25
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vr4
Feb 2 2012, 01:23 AM
Great. Now I can use this to sue every manufacturer of all my cars for not getting the mileage advertised and indicated by the epa sticker. :)


I'm gonna be rich!!!!!!!
Lol! Lawsuits like this keep the government and manufacturers honest about their MPG estimates.

Otherwise, why not just advertise 100 MPG and blame the driver when it only gets 30? :evillol

Glad she won, but I honestly thought Honda would have quietly settled it out first. Guess there is the matter of legal precedent, though.
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dayle1960
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Fastest Hampster EVER

Wasn't this ajudicated in the small claims court? If so, now it's up to the plaintiff to get the money from Honda. How is she going to do this, stand in front of the corporate offices with a sign that reads "Honda owes me $9k, and they need to pay me NOW!!!"?

She will never see the money.
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