What nonsense. If they gave up on them, then it's either because they are stupid or they bought fifteen year old ones with 250K miles on them. The idea that MB, BMW, Cadillac are unfit for long distance travel is patently absurd.
ond ones with
A friend of mine bought a Merc and that lasted a few months. It was a diesel that performed like a '61 Volkswagen. next up was a Cadillac that he had visitation rights for since it really lived at the dealer's. A couple of more months and he was driving a Lincoln Towncar that he really liked. The finally straw was when his secretary showed up with a new Pontiac that looked like the Caddie's twin.
He comment; 'I finally figured if I was going to be n-----r rich I'd do it right.'
With an engine that typically lasts 400K+ miles, these cars are used for taxis in many countries, because of their durability, longevity and fuel economy. Yes, the older ones didn't accelerate very well, especially the non turbo models. But then they were getting 30+ MPG, when similar gas cars were getting about half that.
Wonder if body shop is scamming your insurance company by charging daily storage for the car. It happened to me last year in an accident with the tow shop not releasing it. Same thing happened in an accident 20 years ago with insurance company urging me to get it taken to the body shop. In both cases car was totaled but insurance could take two weeks to look at it and they had no control over the guy that towed it.
Brake pads are a commodity, maintenance items, spanning many years and many product lines. How about things that are year and model specific?
97 Honda Prelude door handle. Lots of people list the part, actually finding one in stock, in the right color, not so much.
Did you try the dealer?
Ebay? Plenty of them on Ebay, brand new in various colors. And whether it's stock or not isn't the issue. Sure, the dealer might have to order it. the issue was whether they are still being made.
The dealer searched the national Honda database and came up with a black one, shipped from out of state. My car is red. He told me, they are pretty rare. (two model years, of one model car)
That did not seem to be the case when I looked and they wanted a couple hundred bucks for one in the wrong color. You do need to be careful and be sure they are selling you exactly the same part number or it is not going to fit. They do lie/don't know better.
And the obvious next question would be, how long to order one from Honda? Again the issue wasn't whether it's in stock at a dealer, in stock in the US, but whether they are still being manufactured. If I go into the MB dealer, they first see if they have it in stock. If not, they check the MB North America warehouse. If they don't have it, they check MB direct. Given that multiple vendors are selling new ones on Ebay, it would seem that those Honda door handles are being manufactured, but it is possible they may not continue to make them in the less popular colors at some point.
Price is another issue and why people often wind up at a salvage yard.
That was Honda saying they did not have any in the database and they did not think the door handle fairy was going to come up with any more. No manufacturer is going to crank up a line to manufacture a unique part for a car that is more than 10 years old (max under the law). If there was enough demand, like for maintenance items (brake pads etc) OEMs would jump in but they also would only be interested in parts that span many models and model years. This feeds right back into that headlight conversation. If you have a somewhat rare car and you need a unique headlight assembly, when current stock is gone, they are likely to be gone forever except for salvage parts.
The problem is a plastic door handle in a junk yard will be as environmentally degraded as the one that broke. That is just a tumor transplant.
The door handle for my '96 Ranger is still available from FORD - AND fron at least 6 other "second sourse" suppliers including Dorman. The Honda one is likely still available in Japan as well - just not available through Honda USA.
I had the same issue with a frame section on my old 1980 Corolla a while back. Toyota Canada swore it was no longer available. I called a dealer in Buffalo and went down and picked it up the next weekend. OEM part, right out of the Toyota USA stock.
That's just more bad information. There are parts available for just about all cars that are only ten years old. I have a 40 year old classic Mercedes in the garage and many parts are still available new for it. Less now, but even at 20 years, anything I needed I got.
They don't have to jump in, they are where the parts came from to begin with and I've yet to have an experience where a part for a ten year old car is no longer available. Can it happen? Sure, but it's sure not the typical case.
but they also would only be interested in
Then just send the whole car to the junk yard, problem solved.
So if no one makes the seatbelt and the body shop won't release the car without all its seatbelts, do you have to throw away the car?
A seatbelt is a pretty generic part and you can easily find something in a junkyard that will satisfy the law.
I bet there are plenty of model specific parts for that car that are unobtainable "new" from the OEM or any other source. It all depends on anticipated usage and what they have stashed around the world in dealer sops and warehouses. Mercedes (or Honda) makes their money selling new cars. A car that gets junked is a sales opportunity for them. The government requires "reasonable parts support" for 10 years. After that it is whatever is in the pipeline or what an after market comes up with. On a low volume vehicle, unique parts can easily become unavailable "new", particularly if there was an unanticipated demand, late in the cycle, after the OEM has shut down that line. Then again, someone *might* come up with one at 5x the list price, but I am not doing that either. List on the last one I bought was $75 and I did pay $125 by the time I had it in my hand (for the wrong color) but when the other handle broke, I couldn't even find that.
Actually, no you can't. Modifications to the restraint system are NOT allowed. In practice it would not be hard to retrofit parts from a different model - but under THE LAW, you can't. Hasn't stopped me in the past as long as the functionality is the same. Often the difference between 2 parts is the wiring connector - I've been known to replace them to make a newer part fit. The issue is the retractor/lock/and tensioner apparatus which all have to functionproperly. It's not like a '71 Chevy pickup.
As far as the door handles on the Prelude are concerned if you REALLY want to keep the car a good body shop can convert it to a newer more common handle - or a custom one.
What year prelude did you say it was???
I believe the same part also fits the Acura TL of the same age range. - colopurs may not be perfect match. They ARE discontinued by both Honda and Acura directly - but APPEAR to still be available "second source - order for an acura and you payed about $30 more from the dealers.
You certainly could if it was the same part number or a designated substitute. A little googling should give you a list of target vehicles.
97
What I took issue to was " a pretty generic part and you can easily find something in a junkyard that will satisfy the law. "
Sure, if you can find a "direct replacement" in the junkyard, you are golden - and as I said, I've used non-direct replacement units where only a wire plug needed changing.
Within a manufacturer and in the same general year, I bet there are not that many seat belt assemblies. Sure there will be different plastic covers but I but everything else is the same. Face it, these days GM, Ford and Chrysler don't really make that many different cars. If you don't look at the stick on name plates, it is hard to tell the difference between a Chevy, Buick or Cadillac in the same body type. The difference my wife's MKX (Lincoln) and an Edge is too close to call. We had the lincoln and rented an edge. There were virtually identical.
I looked on Ebay and did a regular Google search with no luck except an Ebay guy who wanted $400 or something. Those guys must have turned up some in a dusty warehouse somewhere in the last year after I was looking. I paid Honda $125 for a black one 2 years ago, it was 3 weeks out. A year ago I know I would have jumped on a red one for $133 "right now" if I could have found it. I was opening the door with a piece of brazing rod.
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