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Problems with the automatic doors on EX

5K views 18 replies 12 participants last post by  aferb 
#1 ·
First of all I would like to say that I am new to this board and I am a new Honda Oddy Owner... I enjoy this board very much and I am thrilled about all the info on the warranty as I almost bought the dealership ext warranty until reading the posts on this site.. So a Great Big THANK YOU....

After reading some other sites, I note that people have had some problems with the auto doors, have any of you had problems and should I have gone with the LX to avoid the automatic doors?

Thank you
 
#2 ·
We love our EX-L and the automatic doors. There have been a few reports of trouble with doors, along with reports of trouble with other components, like transmissions, engines, seats, etc.. Out of 500,000+ Odys built in the last seven years, there are bound to be some problems - and it is more likely that we'll hear about them than about the other hundreds of thousands of vehicles with no problems. I personally haven't noticed a trend of problems with the doors.

Do a search on the discussions about doors and safety. Here's one: http://www.odyclub.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=71562#post71562 I believe that auto doors are much safer than manual.

I sometimes wonder if loyalists to other manufacturers' vehicles will pick a point on which to harp :dunno: , preying on buyers' natural doubts and fears.

Regards,

M¿
 
#4 ·
lovmyoddy said:
You made very valid points and I do feel alot better about my purchase... I do think however for piece of mind I will get the extended warranty...

Thanks
I got the extended warranty.

I had a Lincoln engine fail at 49,991 miles, just 9 miles short of the expiration of a 50,000 mile warranty! Probably financially the warranty makes better sense to sell than to buy :D but I do like the piece of mind, like having homeowners insurance. In 26 years of home ownership I've had only two small claims, so I am money behind there, but I sure wouldn't want to be without the coverage.

Regards,

M¿
 
#5 ·
Got a 99 OdyEX that had a problem with the driver side power door. Actually it was related to opening the gas door. Honda decided to automatically lock the door when the gas door is opened. Problem was my door would not lock automatically so the gas door would not open. I found that locking the doors then opening the gas door lever worked.

Anyway, I took it in and they fixed it no charge. Not been a problem since. This was the 1st year of the new Ody so I figured it probably not a problem anymore.

D.
 
#7 ·
Has anyone been hit or pinned by the auto doors? The salesman says impossible to be pinned and showed me how it stopped when it hit his hand. But will it do that no matter where the door meets the resistance(high, low, back front)? My bro in law (who has had 2 Odys) claims he got his shoulder caught in the auto door and it didn't stop, messed up his shoulder. He now has a first generation LX. Anything I should look out for?
 
#8 ·
Hate to dis your bro-in-law, but I find it hard to believe that his shoulder got messed up by an automatic door. If I am wrong, please feel free to inform me.

Because I wanted to test our automatic doors (and because I was chicken) I rolled up a towel and closed the automatic door on it... it squished it SOME..then automatically opened back up.

Honda DOES say that when the automatic door reaches the last little bit of travel, a different motor takes over closing the door and this moter WILL NOT stop. I can see maybe a finger..but not a shoulder...

I don't think it matters where the resistance is..it is just that the motor meets more resistance than it expects, so it reverses (like an automatic garage door).

Bottom line...you will LOVE your automatic doors..
 
#9 ·
I have a 99EX and tried once to put my fist to check the automatic door. It reverced, but I hate to see what would happend if my 3year old of 1year old stick the hand in. It seems the doors could make some extensive damage to kids.
Any thougts on that?
 
#11 · (Edited)
letter100 said:
I have a 99EX and tried once to put my fist to check the automatic door. It reverced, but I hate to see what would happend if my 3year old of 1year old stick the hand in. It seems the doors could make some extensive damage to kids.
Any thougts on that?
Have you tried to see/simulate what will happen if a kids hand got caught in a manual sliding door?

I saw it happened twice it wasn't pretty. First time I was there when my friend's older daughter decided to help her young brother to close the door, she slammed the door soo hard. (She didn't know her little brother's hand was not clear of the door frame, no one knew his hand was not clear.) Lucky just some bruised finger, no broekn bone). Manual door closed about 1 second after she slammed it. I timed the Odyssey auto door, it will take 4 seconds to close once the button is pushed.
2nd time I saw it was over a week ago at camping site. People were unloading camping gear from the family vehicle. All of a sudden, a kid was crying his finger got caught on a manual sliding door. This time it wasn't slammed too hard but due to the door was heavier, his finger was bruised and had some cuts on it too (luckily no broken finger).

I personally got caught on the Odyssey Auto sliding door once, I was getting out somehow my remote button was triggered by accident. Door moved soo slow I just let it bump my shoulder and it stopped. It didn't hurt at all, but kinda stupid for me to close the door on myself, well at least my family didn't see it. :D

Auto door is a closed loop control device and Manul is an open loop control, depends on how hard a person close the door.
IMHO Auto door is safer than Manual door.
 
#13 ·
letter100 said:


I completely agree that the auto doors are safer. I just feel that even with them it could be very damaging for the little kids. I got to think of the way to try simulate this.
I suppose anything is possible. If it takes a while to conceive of or simulate a danger, then it probably isn't very likely.

For example, a middle seat can be unhooked from the floor without too much effort by pulling on the black release lever. If a child did that then put his hand below a slightly raised seat, he could be injured. Or, if the seat remained unattached at its back, that could add to injury if there were an accident. Is this likely? Probably not. The solution, of course, is to make it very hard to unlatch the seat from its attachment to the floor.

Regards,

M¿
 
#14 ·
When I purchase my ODY, the salesperson did a demo on the autodoors. He put his hand between the auto sliding door and car. He said once the door gets 1lb of resistance it automatically reopens. He said not to put your hand on the back part of the door or on top of the door as it will close on you.

Davidk
 
#15 ·
I have a '99 Odyssey EX with 61K miles on it. Been a great car. The automatic door have been a major convenience. This weekend my driver-side sliding door won't shut completely. It has done this occassionally in the past...but now it is a permanent behavior. It happens at the very end when the door is pulled to line up flush with the rest of the body. It will shut tight if I push in the upper portion of the rear part of the door. Hate to do tihs consistently :mad: Like to hear if others have had this problem and any recommendations before heading to the dealer. Thanks.
 
#16 ·
Hiya 99SJODY and welcome aboard!

The number one complaint with these power sliding doors is the fact that they will not shut completely and they do exactly what you are experiencing..

99.9% of the time this is due to an internal mechanical failure in the sliding door latch assembly.. a replacement of the latch will fix your problem...

However, you may have concern about an expired warranty and that you may be charged for this repair.. A reputable dealership should NOT charge you for this repair as long as the vehicle hasn't had any damage to the affected door (accidents or mishaps).. this problem has been ongoing since the power sliding doors came about and still exsist till this very day...

You are correct by manually shutting the door by applying pressure to the upper part of the door... the correct way is to disable the power doors via the "main switch", have one hand on the outer door handle and the other on the base of the rear sliding door glass and apply pressure inwards to shut the door...

If pressure is applied at the outer door panel/skin then damage could and is most likely to occur...
 
#18 ·
Your post implies that the most Ody power doors have problems. Is that what you mean to say?
I cannot say that most Oddysey's have problems with power doors, In fact, I wouldn't even be able to give an accurate figure.. I only see the ones with problems and cannot accurately determine how many that don't have problems...

For the fact this was a new Honda concept in 99 and a completely new model year, problems happen and can be expected, it just takes a bit to get the bugs worked out.. I do however still see problems up to 2002 (03's just arrived), but as expected, its not to the degree it was just a couple years back and has been alot of improvement since then...

Knowing the structure and the many components that make up the power sliding doors, I would hate to be the consumer and have to pay for door repairs out of warranty... there are alot of expensive parts, not to mention the labor times for possible repairs "down the road".. The more technology they put into vehicles, the more it increases the chances of component failure..
 
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