Where should I start...
It's not actually Honda's fail, but it's Israel branch.
So... I got new Civic from the showroom in Netanya called Top Car on 4th July 2013 and we went to celebrate my wife's birthday to Tiberias. It was last work day, we were exciting to have fun all weekend together.
After about a week of having new car I found this... in the new car...
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| Image source: http://mypestprevention.com/2011/04/german-roaches/ |
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That didn't scared me too much, I thought it was accidental one.
The second one... I caught in the trunk. He was faster, but I killed it too.
Third I saw when I ran out of first tank of fuel that was "gifted" from Honda. When I stopped at gas station, opened fuel cap and saw him, he was scary and flew away. Yepp, they can fly...
I actually never saw such small cockroaches here in Israel. At least I don't remember when. Usually we got big ones, matches box size - looks like American version, see here and here if very interested. Buaaaaa...
There were days when I didn't saw them, and days when I got 2-3 killed before I can drive.
This one was running on dashboard when I drove at night. I was trying to kill him while driving (before that I stopped to kill another one) but he ran inside dashboard somewhere and next day I found him dead in glovebox.
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| So dramatic. Hope he died fast. |
I told about my problem to few people, we laughed together. One of them suggested to use K2000 spray for extermination. Most popular K300 we have in Israel is bad choice for that, it smells and very toxic for such closed spaces. K2000 is more improved, no smell but dangerous if used wrong (see label for instructions).
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While opening stuff, I killed few again. I looked under rear seats.
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This is was very very suspicious for me. Like egg at first look. But not. Feels like tiny dots on paint. Probably after color processing something was scattered on frame. Not so critical, but looks bad dear, Honda!
I sprayed everywhere under seats and surroundings.
Also in trunk.
For day or two it was working, donno how.
But than again!
We found them on floor, ceiling, seats, people few times. It was complicated by the fact that my wife's sister with her 3 years old daughter visited us for 3 weeks and we traveled a lot.
It was not fun at all. New car, 140K Israeli fucking shekels. WHERE ARE THEY COME FROM, F-F-F-FUUCK!
I blamed Honda. I did nothing to get them inside, I was sure. I never experienced such pleasure with fucking insects in my life for more almost 10 different cars. Never fucking ever!
I called to Honda, to Roman Yablokov that signed me at Top Car, Netanya.
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| Image source: public profile at Odnoklassniki.ru |
(A) - Hey, Roman. That's Alexey with new Civic.
(R) - How is going?
(A) - I got one problem... I don't know why, but... I got cockroaches in my car.
(R) - What? Ha-ha-ha... Cockroaches? Hey, he got cockroaches in the car... Hahaha (another haha in a background).
(A) - Not funny, Roman. I got it since first week of owning it.
(R) - Go buy K300 and spray there. You probably eat and drink inside.
(A) - No, I'm very careful with food in my cars.What should I do? I think that's some Honda fault.
(R) - I don't know, spray around.
(A) - Great...
On other day I called to extermination service (I used for home servicing) hoping they can advise or do something. And turns out that doable. But all your car will be in special powder and you should clean it after process. I said I will think.
As we talked, he explained that this usually happens with cars that works in food business, or you tramp somebody working junk yard, food servicing, etc. Also if you park your car near garbage.
Few days later (still fighting with them, 2-3 each drive) when I parked at home I noticed that
I forgot to tell. Most of the cockroaches I was found at rear part of the car, seats, trunk (favorite!). It was obvious to look there. I even made a spreadsheet in Google Docs to write: where, how much and when to build a map :-) fucking insects.
So, if you saw above video, you got a clue.
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I took broom and cleaned all my parking spot and 2 around my car. My neighbor was coming after sports training, saw me and helped me. He saw them too, that's not me insane :-)
Next day (or after one) I was expecting extermination on parking spot. Early in the morning. I was need to destroy the source to continue.
For 200 ILS he covered my parking with special agents. But said it will remain only until rain season that usually comes after October.
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That all reduced amount of insects I found after that.
And few days later on weekend I started digging inside new fucking Honda Civic.
And guess what? Recognize trunk? :-)
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But first things first.
I removed spare wheel, all trims from back, left and right.
It should be informative post too, so I pictured a lot for part numbers and position of latches.
Right trunk cover
Left trim
Back cover.
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The first place to look is air escape shutter. When you close all doors in a car you create pressure. Air should escape somehow leaving pressure at same level otherwise you will feel it. So in every car there is a shutter for that. In Honda Civic it's in trunk, look at the left besides jack and warning triangle, just after them. You don't need to dissemble all trims to find them. Take some light and check there.
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There are 3 light rubber that opens when air escapes. Cockroach can't open them to get inside, they are heavy for them. I asked them :-) Looking next...
By the way, it's important to know that all car should be sealed. It must to, unless... keep reading, almost end.
While disassembling I found another two dead roaches in the coners. Did you see him? So cute... Tsss....
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Before we get into the problem, here are shots of bare frame. You can see ground points, other stuff.
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| Rear left |
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| Rear left seat, top view. Probably shock sensor (yellow) |
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| Rear left, view to trunk |
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| Trunk, right |
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| Trunk right |
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Sensors are in the bumper, control module - inside. To connect them they did a hole in a plastic cover, tightened up all 4 wires into one and put through it.
I asked one of dead cockroaches to help me demonstrate how they get inside.
There are marks also on back trim that also shows that it was a hole.
Left side has virgin plastic cover, right side with parking sensors - don't, look for dust patch.
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I also sealed with silicon these holes just in case.
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Undo all disassembling and voilà! No more cockroaches.
I also sprayed all the area with K2000 for sure.
What should I say? Fuck you Honda Israel for making me and my family live with this shit for a month. I got a new car for a lot of money and you don't bother to seal it with $1 silicon patch? 140,000 ILS ($40,000 or 30,000 EUR) is not enough to perform simple parking sensors installation? You buy cheap boxes for top $200, may be you should let Honda's factory to do that job? I don't know yet what's happening in servicing garages :-) Do you know how engine looks like after all?
This is how not to work on brand loyalty. For me now Honda driving experience will be associated with running around me cockroaches. I hope power-train issues will not occur for proven engine and transmission.
I owned Honda Civic Hybrid when worked at Cisco. It was great comfortable interior. The issue was with battery, it was saying full and in few moments empty. That was tricky to move such heavy car only with 1.3L engine and drawn battery. So I returned it even before lease period ends with money penalties and bought Skoda Fabia.
Also, all Israeli Hondas can have this issue. And not only Honda. Any local (Israel) intrusion in your brand new car with ass-connected hands and heads can have similar consequences. Yes! It's just me so lucky to have cockroaches in bushes on my parking. But you can stop or park near such nests eventually.
To check this case, you will need from 15 to 30 mins at home, not complicated. I can post instructions.
I don't know why Honda is so attractive to cockroaches. I did notice that spare wheel in a trunk have strong smell, may be it's connected...
Waiting for official Honda response.
Thank you, done for today.
