Imagine parking your 2022 Honda Civic outside only to come back to notice that some of the exterior trim had started to melt. This is exactly what happened to the daughter of Charles Goldberg.
In December, Goldberg’s daughter Elena returned home from college and parked her car in the family driveway. However, it didn’t take long for some issues to arise as Elena noticed that the paint had started to bubble up in certain areas. On closer inspection, Goldberg discovered that not only had the paint started to bubble but some areas of the car had started to melt, including both the passenger and driver’s side wing mirrors.
Goldberg spoke with WSB-TV Atlanta 2 about the issues. The damage done to the mirror on the driver’s side is particularly bad and even parts of the front bumper have started to warp and deform. While one may think a manufacturing defect is to blame, Honda is having none of it.
After taking the Civic to a local Honda dealership, a service advisor said that the most likely explanation for the damage was that the sun had reflected off a window in the house and acted like a magnifying glass, melting some of the weaker plastic surfaces. The carmaker says its new-car warranty does not cover environmental damage like this.
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“It is a long-established fact that focused sunlight can heat surfaces and cause damage, depending on the intensity and time of exposure,” a company spokesman said. “This sort of damage is not isolated to automobiles, or to Honda in particular. In short, under the right circumstances, while rare, reflected sunlight can cause damage, and Honda’s limited warranties do not cover damage.”
Confronted with the prospect of potentially having to pay for the repairs out of pocket, the Goldbergs have filed a complaint with Honda’s corporate office.
