2003 Accord roof liner

The roof liner in my Accord rattles and creaks like crazy on the back of the
car near the rear window. The fact that I have a subwoofer makes the
rattles even more pronouced and it's driving me crazy. I had the same
subwoofers installed in my old 2000 Civic and it never rattled at all.
Considering this, I'm pretty pissed about the new Accord to say the least.
My dealer tells me that Honda tried some new things in the design of the
roof liner and that they screwed up the design so that they rattle easily.
Has anyone had any luck fixing the rattled in the roof liner? The dealer
has already replaced it once with no success (if anything it's worse). It
seems like if I tap the liner, I can feel and hear it hit the metal top of
the car, so I know there's a gap there where the liner just hangs. Would
filling that with foam help or would that just increase the amount of down
pressure, making the creaking worse? I also thought about buying some
strong velcro strips at the local hardware store and having the dealer
install those to keep the liner from moving. I'm getting very frustrated
and dealer is already starting to try to blame my subwoofers for the
problem. My only saving grace right now is that the liner rattles even
after I unplug the subs.

I'm willing to tolerate some of the other small rattle in the car but this
roof liner is really driving me insane and I'd like to be able to fix it.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Sean

 

Lots of luck. My dealer has had no luck curing the many rattles on my '03
V-6 Accord. Somehow I think Honda really missed the boat in this regard
with the '03.

John

 

Hi Sean.

I have a 2004 Accord Coupe V6 Auto and it had the "squeaking" in the same
area of the roof liner as yours. So don't let them blame it on your
sub-woofers. It went away after I pressed on the liner in that area but it
could come back. I also have a very annoying rattle in the rear side
curtain behind the driver. The dealer told me to bring it in but I really
hate the thought of them pulling the whole thing apart. I'm afraid of what
other damage they might do. Also, somedays I hear it alot...other days I
don't. So you know how that is. I would really like to take the rear side
curtain off myself and look in there to see what is rattling but with the
airbag...and the fact that I don't know how to take it off, I'm afraid I
just have to leave it for now.

 

have a look at this thread:
http://www.vtec.net/forums/one-message?message_id=165562

 

John Horner said...

The console on my '03 EX V6 Coupe was squeaking and about drove me nuts
for a while. After reading someone's tip here on how they fixed it, I
opened the "non-ashtray" lid, pulled up the edge of the console and
slid a business card underneath it so that 2/3 of the card was still in
the "non-ashtray". Closed the lid, which hid the card, and have driven
around in serene peacefullness ever since.

It's amazing at how much that changed my overall perception of the car.
I love driving the thing.

Casey

 

I did that fix early on. In fact, I think I posted here about it.

I've also disassembled the driver's door and fixed rattles in there.

Rattles up front, in the dash, in the visor and at the rear have so far
evaded correction.

This is my first Honda and I am completely shocked by the poor attention to
rattle type problems which Honda engineering and mfg. has shown.

I'm also still waiting for an answer about how to fix the rocking back and
forth of the driver's seat. The dealer keeps saying that they are awaiting
a fix from Honda.

There is much to like about the current generation Accord, but there are
also a number of areas where it seems like cost savings at the factory are
taking their toll on quality. Long term this is a bad trend for Honda.

Our friends '99 Odyssey automatic tranny just gave up the ghost at 45,000
miles. They have cared for the vehicle very well. Luckily Honda is
replacing it for free under warranty.

However, the question remains as to why Honda released unworthy products
into the marketplace? The recently announced recall of 600,000 Honda
products for automatic transmission problems shows that Honda still is not
getting it right. Honda automatic transmissions have been trouble prone for
over five model years now. Obviously Honda has not yet learned their
lesson.

Market share falloff takes a long time to happen, but disappoint enough
customers and a tipping point is eventually reached where the worm turns
against a company.

Is anyone at Honda corporate listening?

John

 

Yeah, whenever I press on it, I hear some creaking, the the noises don't
seem as bad when driving but it's very short lived. Within a day the
rattles and creaks are back. By dealer said that the liner is held up by
velcro strips and plastic clips. They think the sound I might be hearing is
the velcro coming apart slightly when the liner bounced up and down on
potholes. Also, they told me that when they pulled off my original liner,
that some of the clips had broken so the liner was hanging from the velcro.
"built without compromise" my ass. It's gotten to the point where I'm
embarrased to have friends in the car who know what I paid for the damn
thing. Especially since my old 2000 civic was tight as a drum.

What's worse, is that in a fit of rage I said my next car would be a Toyota
but I rented a Camry about a month ago and it rattled even more than my
Accord so obviously, all companies are cutting corners and sacrificing
quality. I think maybe my next car with be a GM or Ford. At least then I
KNOW I'm buying crap and there will be no surprises.

Sean

 

John Horner said...

You're post is probably the one that I remember - if so, thanks. About
one minute of effort on my part after reading that made a world of
difference.

I guess I've been lucky in that I haven't experienced any other rattles
or squeaks.



Casey

 

I was going to trade in a 2001 v6 coupe for a 2004 coupe. After reading
about rattles in the 2004 model I will keep my tight 2001. My next car will
be the sport coupe Scion toyota, coming out in June. I have a 2004 xa Scion,
it is tight as a drum and is fun to drive with a fine sound sys. 40 miles to
the gal in town.It has a peppy vtec engine. I sold a 2002 honda civic si
because it felt heavey on the road and was not very much fun to drive
because the driver sits to low and was a gas hog. Honda is losing the war.

 

as an aside, ive learned that almost all manufacturers have outside
suppliers that supply *whole systems* for cars.

google on "trim masters" or "arvin sango" or "kaneka" to learn more.
companies ive never heard of, and theyre as important for quality as toyota
(in the above cases) is

i doubt honda actually made the seats, either. so they have to file a
complaint with who made the seats, and let *their* engineering and QC guys
figure out a fix, etc.

not to excuse honda, because they or the line workers should have caught
problems like this... they assemble the cars day in and day out.

 

i *really* really wanted a scion xA... looked at em, test drove one, talked
my mother into buying one for herself. $13k for a sporty econohatch with a
nice mp3 player, AC, and power locks/windows is unbeatable.

but my 98 civic hatch is paid for, runs fine (tho i needed an O2 sensor last
week, 45k miles), and i just replaced the OEM rubber with some BFG touring
tires which make it handle much better. so im gonna hang on to it for a
while longer : /

how much would you ask for yours, anyway? what color?

 

Apparently it's not taking that long ro fall off. I haven't done any
research to check on actual numbers but on Autoline, the other day, the guy
said that both G.M. and Ford have higher *car* sales in the U.S. than Honda
now.

I hope someone's going to waken up.... soon! They just took the Civic out
of the youth market and it would not surprise me to see the new Scion tC
take that over immediately - eminently modifiable, has an optional
supercharger and lots of raving about it among the younger set. At last
Toyota reintroduces a coupe hatch to the U.S. market - it's gonna kill the
Civic Si and RSX. I can't believe they'll hold the price to the currently
quoted $16,465.

Rgds, George Macdonald

"Just because they're paranoid doesn't mean you're not psychotic" - Who, me??

 

That's great info. Does anyone know how to remove the rear side curtain so
I can secure things in there...anyone please?????