Odyssey trailer hitch

Friend of mine wants to install a bike rack on a trailer hitch. He was told
by Honda that he needs, in addition to the hitch, a modification to
transmission cooling or whatever which will cost an additional $1000 or his
warranty will be void. He has no intention of trailering anything. Is there
a way around this?

 

I find it hard to believe, that anyone at a Honda Dealership would tell a
customer that they're vehicle's warranty would be voided for something so
simple as a trailer hitch. He (or she) should contact the zone office for
his area and find out the true answer.

Brian

 

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

Must have spoken to a salesman? A bike rack adds little weight, and
only a bit of wind resistance. It's not like he's planning to tow a
cattle trailer.

Gimmie a break ! !

Tell your friend to find a better dealer. :-(

'Curly'

 

Time was, a Honda dealership would look the other way with respect to
warranty repairs. I know of a tech who put three transmissions into an
Odyssey under warranty, at his boss's instruction, even though the
customer was towing a huge trailer that was WAY out of spec or reason.

But now Honda has a $400 million recall campaign going on surrounding
transmissions--and that doesn't count the previous "goodwill" warranty
extension program they did for a previous set of transmissions a year or
so ago.

So my guess is that Honda is getting very antsy about covering
transmissions, and that they're inspecting things very closely. No more
having the dealer in question just do it and explain things to Honda
later.

Honda has always specified the transmission cooler and power steering
cooler as part of their own trailer hitch kit, and now it sounds like
they're holding firm to that.

(It doesn't cost an additional $1000, trust me. The kit isn't
expensive, and neither is the installation. The whole bundle is under
$1000.)

You can get a trailer hitch installed anywhere, not just Honda. But be
aware that any powertrain warranty issues will be seriously questioned.
Nobody will know if he just hung his bikes there or if he hauled a huge
family trailer across the mountains. Honda will assume the worst, no
matter what--and an aftermarket kit without trans and PS coolers is
their way out of paying for a warranty claim.

 

Try this site: http://www.etrailer.com

Installing your own hitch is real easy. Your friend doesn't need a wiring
kit - but they have those as well. Your friend will come out well south of
$1000.