Hi,

I have to -slam- the rear hatch or a display light will not go off indicating that the hatch is open. Seems as if some sensor doesn't get depressed or something unless I -slam- it.

Anybody else see this?

Keith

I have to do that to mine also. It's king like when you don't close the door all the way.

Dano
Blackhawk Black 4WD DX Auto

me2...

on the flip side, i always feel as though i didn't put enough strength to close the front doors, but they are always shut tight...

After I closed the deal on my E and hopped in to drive it home, I noticed the hatch light was on. The dealer tried shutting the hatch, the tailgate, over and over, but it was still on. So I had to come back the next day(it was 10 pm) to have it fixed. I was told that they adjusted something and now I have no problem with it, and no slamming, just a hard push down, enough so it is closed level with the rest of the car.

I guess I just assumed I had a unique flaw.

It doesn't do it all the time, but yeah, I do have to slam it sometimes to get it to shut so the light won't come on.

It seems to happen to me most right after the tailgate has been opened and closed.

It's a pain.

Be happy :lol: It means you have plenty of insulation in the back hatch!!

My father in-law had a similar problem with his Toyota Tundra. The cab is so well insulated that the air could not escape fast enough when you swung the doors shut. If you were inside at the time the pressure felt like a slap in the ear drum, and the door ajar light would stay on. He found two ways to remedy this: 1) Close the doors much slower. 2) Role the window down a bit before you close the door. The happy ending is, that as the rubber seals settled with age, the problem solved itself.

i have the same problem, but have found out that the right side of the bottom section doesnt always latch then when i close the top section it says its open so check out the bottom section this worked on mine
dutch bros rocks in a orange E

Listen up folks, I am embroiled in a conflict with the dealer regarding the evolution of this problem. They never bothered to tell me about the misalignment of my hatch and since I took the car home at night, I never noticed until I popped the back hatch and then couldn't seem to get it closed correctly. When I returned to the dealer they told me that someone had tried to close the hatch with the seats up and the head rest still on and that"you can't flip up the seats with the headrests on". First of all, I am really tired of discovering that I know more about this car (due, in part, to this informative website) then the salesmen do. Honda did everyone a grave injustice by keeping this auto under wraps for soooooo long. Second, you can adjust the seats this way and close the hatch as long as you have the headrest put on correctly (which the dealer did not) and all the way down. So, don't buy this line of crap if someone tries to feed it to you. In order to get my htchbak indicator light to go off and to align the door w the body, they had to send my brand new car to a collision specialist. When I dropped the car off for the repair I specifically said "Make sure the integrity of the seal is maintained so this car does not leak". Well, lo and behold I discovered 2 puddles in the back of the car this past wknd. The dealer is trying to say that the leak is probably not related to the htchbk. The GM at the dealership has been much more responsive and they are adressing a multitude of issues, including, but not limited to, the leak. Please, please, please, post your info regarding this, share it with everyone, and keep folks informed. Clearly, if 8 of us have the same problem the design flaw is a Major Issue. Equally clear is that if the door problem did occur as a result of the htchbk being slammed on a seat headrest, this car is in Huge Trouble when crash test time rolls around.

ctk8,

Ok, putting the lawyer hat on for a sec. What state/province do you live in?

Most states have a good new car lemon law. I know several, and used to work in consumer fraud for the NYS Atty General's office.

We used to go after car dealerships, and repair shops.

Anyway. If the dealership can't get it fixed, and are blaming you, you may need to go to court to have a judge or arbitrator sort things out.

If the dealer is saying they will fix it, you need to give them time. They have to have the chance to make the needed repairs. Depending on the state, the time varies. If they are unable to make the repairs, after a certain number of visits, or if it is the shop for a set number of days out of say a month, you may be entitled to a refund, and or a new vehicle.

See if you can get a copy of the new car lemon law, and see what rights you have. Good luck, and please keep us posted.

The E I took for a test drive experienced this same problem, now that I think about it. I assumed it was from the dealer liscence plate holder in the tailgate...But even when I fixed it the light failed to go off. Hmmmm....I will check that when the dealer delivers my car.

RML
I reside in MD and the tale of this car goes beyond the tailgate situation. Thankfully, I ceased dealing with middle managers who were embittered by my painfully honest American Honda Service survey after they displayed an impressive level of ineptitude the first time I had the car brought in for the tailgate problem. As of yesterday, just after my posting of my story, I spoke with the GM of the dealership. He went to great lengths to right the previous wrongs. So, for now, the saga has ended and all appears to be fixed and fixed correctly. I have, of course, before/after videotaped the inside and outside of the car as a precautionary measure. I'm feeling pretty optimistic that this ends the story but will certainly be quite vocal should the problem persist. I figure my next visit will be for the cd player issues, just not back to this dealership.

ctk8,

I am glad that they finally got it right. If I can be of any help, drop me a line.

I had a problem with a dealership's service with my old Isuzu. The dealership does not matter. When I went to pick it up after a service, there were several deep scratches, and they did not put on the lug nuts. I started to drive away and the wheels almost came off. I stopped the car in the lot, and went walked back to service. I went balistic.

They took the care back. I went back to pick up the car the next day, and they used touch up paint (and did a horrible job of it) on the scratches. The lug nuts were put back on. I went to the GM of the dealership. Long story made short, after threats of suits and going to the press, etc., they took the truck back, repainted the areas that needed it, detailed the entire truck, and paid for the next few service visits.

I don't go to the dealership anymore since I moved. My local garage does a better job, for less money, and I have never had a problem again.

:lol: i find that you have to slam the hatch toget it closed and i often forget to slam it and i have to get back out of the car to slam it shut.

The dealer told me that he'd look into the problem. I told the dealer that I wouldn't worry about it right now. Hopefully it will fix itself. If not, I'll bring it in then. I am afraid to let them mess with it. I don't want a leak! The little light doesn't bother me that much. And I have developed this knack for shutting it that cuts it off most of the time.

:)
Keith

I noticed the same problem with the E I looked at on the showroom floor. It seemed to be closed but the metal didn't line up. Slamed it again and it closed the right way. Must all be built this way ?

Mine does not have this problem.

I wonder, with our E, they got it just off the truck, no one had a chance to play with it. Is it possible that someone closed the hatch on the headrests?

What I am thinking is that with the ones on the showroom floor people are checking, they closed on the headrests, and that threw off the alingnment of the hatch.

The ones that people have bought, (that have had problems) were ones that people have also closed the hatch on with the seat headrests in the way.

Now, I am not sure, I don't know, but this is just a theory. What does everyone else think?

When I was looking at the car while the salesman described every detail including tightening the gas cap three clicks to make sure it is tight and the computer doesn't see a leak, I took off and retightening the gas cap the required three clicks.....while the engine was running. Later on, we both noticed the engine light was on. After turning the engine off, then on, it did not go out. Salesman said bring it back next day and we will see why. Took it back the next day, but the engine light went out. Told the manager what happened about the required three clicks of the gas cap while engine was running, And he said the computer reset itself when it did not detect the same thing three more times. Good thing to know about that reset feature. Also he said that this particular dealership does not charge for resetting the engine light. Eveery other dealership nearbye will charge one hour labour to reset that rascally light. ($75!!)

Mine was just off the truck. It was a bare bones $16,100 Element with absolutely not one option. And it had the rear hatch problem.

Oh well.

Maybe we can blame this on the "Big Bang Theory" :P

Keith

Big Bang Theory, A great canadian band from the eithies. I work with their lead singer.

kavetter,

Well, so much for that possibility. :wink:

I have no idea. It was worth a thought. :D

I wanted to add that I do not seem to the problem when another door or window is open which leads me to believe that the car is just sealed real tight.

Also, I did close the hatch once and left it for a couple of hours with the seat up and the headrest on and could see the closed hatch sticking out because of it. I put the seat back and closed the hatch and it was lined up perfect. I did not see any difference in the hatch issue from before or after this incident.

I think the hatch issue is just the car being sealed to tight. It might go away after a while.

Dano
Nighthawk Black Perl 4WD DX

I know a lot of you want to have a good excuse for a bad design, but it's just not the case that this problem is a result of what a good job Honda-almighty did with sealing it.

My wife sat in the front seat with the driver-side door wide open while I shut the hatch over and over and over again so she could yell to me when the light went off. So, the seal thing goes right out the window.

Like others have said, I have found that there is a trick (although you shouldn't need a trick). When it's not closed correctly, the right corner isn't flush with the car. Slamming it by pushing from that corner works about 90% of the time for me.

I had the same problem with the hatch when I brought my E home. Infact, I had to jump start it because I didnt drive it for a few days. The light drained my battery. I find you have to slam it and then check to see if its closed properly. Its annoying. :(

I pick up my black E tomorrow or Saturday :D :D How should I check to make sure the rear deck lid is aligned properly :?: What about removing the rear headrests :?:

Fosterbo,

Let me say 1st, removing the head rests is easy, you pull them up, and if need be, push the button on the top of the seat (under the head rest) to remove them. From what people are saying, that does not seem to be the issue.

Next, I don't have a problem with my E, so I can't be sure, but I would think open and close it a few times to see if it lines up right. If your light does not come on, you should be fine. If it does, tell the dealer right away.

Thanks for the tip, RML. This bulletin board is great.

fosterbo,

Happy to help. :D

Not sure where the headrest thing entered this thread but I don't think it should be perpetuated. I've never even had the back seats down all the way and have had the hatch problem since day 1. I picked it up hours after it rolled off the truck.

I think we can safely assume at this point that some Elements are just defective in this area.

i second that ! i got myine right off the truck to with no real back door problem

Man, I've been gone for a week and look at the mess with these tailgates!!!! As I had previously reported, it really is not conceivable that the problem with the door is due to the headrest. If something that simple did that much damage, I'm trading mine in for a sturdier tin can tomorrow. Maybe a Pinto. Clearly, Honda measured something incorrectly or something on the assembly line was not as fine tuned as it should have been, or someone on the assembly line was enjoying a little too much Sapporo the night before. Whatever.
I wonder if there is a way to track the VIN #s for people who do have a tailgate problem and see what day, week, etc they were produced???? Maybe our cars were built in sequence?? Regardless, if you have a tailgate problem, please call American Honda and report the problem. For all any of us know, we could all have water leaks, or worse, carbon monoxide leaks - in our cars one year from now.

tigernumber6,

The headrest came in as a possible reason why there was an issue. No one was trying to redirect people away from the problem

ctk8,

Yes, please should notify Honda, but I am not sure we have a way to track things, other than everyone with a problem posting their VIN's.

How about this, lets see how widespread this issue it with a poll. Please check under the poll section, lets see how many people have this same problem.

I'm going to have to take mine in - I can't seem to shut it right to get the light to go out at all anymore. I've tried everything - pushing from the right and all. It seems like it totally out of alignment and Honda Mechanics will have to deal with it.

This is a fit and finish issue.

Please make sure all of you who have problems with the hatch, and those of you who don't to stop by the poll section and vote. Thanks.

Same problem here, too. Recall? Fix? I don't think it's caused by "user error"...

New to this forum and New to Honda. The E is my first H car. Not bad for a 50's something person. At any rate, same problem as discussed. Have to slam the damn hatch. Have yet to return to the dealer to have it fixed. Will let y'all know if the saga continues. Safari so good. :wink:

Later Dudes and Dudettes!

At first, no problems with the hatch. Now, I've been driving two days with that darn light on. Will be taking it to the dealer tonight.