Update:
Honda America helped me out with this. They shipped a whole new audio unit to a nearby dealer and the dealership installed it. Of course, I lost all my programming and bluetoothiness... but we shall see if the lane camera bug goes away!

BTW: Honda America was amazing. They called and kept me informed every step of the way. They were even going to give me a loaner, but I didn't need it, just a ride home.

 

wow guys, this happened to me on the 2nd day that I got my car. (this past weekend). While I was driving and turned on the right signal it just showed the backup cam. Then later on (that same drive) I was on the freeway and I manually turned on lane watch and it turned black.

Once I parked and turned off the car to restart it seems to fix it. I haven't driven it much yet so it hasn't happen again. I'm a little worried about them just changing the whole unit so soon since I don't think they know the exact cause of this yet.

Thanks to this forum, I thought I was the only one. whew.

 

Wow. Pulling and replacing a whole head unit seems drastic. WTF!

 

Update: Post replacement of the "audio unit" (which is what the service was) it only took a couple of hours to get my car back. They'd never done it before, so it might be faster next time.

Anyway... the camera bug is slightly better. When the lane change camera works it switches to the camera in less than a second. When it doesn't work right, it takes about 3 seconds for it to switch. Which is WAY too long. By that time, you've probably already changed lanes.

 

Wow, even a second is a very long time when you are waiting for that sort of information. I wonder if the video is being sent in analog or digital form from the camera?

 

This is the same issue I've been experiencing for over a month. I opened a case with Honda but they closed it because they can't reproduce it at the dealer (well duh, it's intermittent). I'm just waiting for a software fix. And trying to remember to test Lanewatch after the car boots up. It seems silly to replace the headunit at this point if that won't fix the issue.

 

Exactly!

I've had this happen only twice. It seems that the car decides after it starts whether it will work or not. If it works, it works for the duration of the trip. If it doesn't work, it will not work right till the car is restarted. At least that's my limited experience.

 

They were wrong to close the case without it being resolved. Take it back and and mention the words "lemon law." They have a certain number of tries to make it right and they have already used one of them.

This is a safety-related issue and they are wrong to sweep it under the rug just because it isn't convenient for them to reproduce the problem.

 

Were they wrong to close it? Yes. Is this worth my time to deal with bringing it in repeatedly until they eventually reproduce the issue and still aren't able to see anything wrong because it's deep in the software? No. I threw the unit into diagnostic mode last time the issue happened and ran all the tests and they all passed.

It's not a safety issue. My mirrors still work as designed. I've driven for close to 20 years with just mirrors and can continue to do so no problem. That said, I'm not giving up on the issue. I'll talk to them next week and see if I can get up the chain to someone who understands the issue better and maybe have them re-open the case until the issue is actually resolved but unless they want to stick some kind of logger on the unit or have some way of capturing the issue in real-time, it's not worth my time or extra mileage to repeatedly bring the car in or the hassle of tooling around in a bunch of other cars that I don't feel comfortable driving while mine is in the shop (I'd consider that to be a bigger safety issue actually). I've already driven 5 other cars over the past 3 months and I'm pretty happy where I am now with the Fit and I'm loathe to try out another vehicle while they poke at my car.

I'm really not sure how exercising my rights under NY's lemon law would help here. If they can't fix it in 4 attempts or the car is out of service for 30 days I get a refund or a replacement...maybe... (they may argue that this feature doesn't impair the value of the car if it came to arbitration). Considering I love the car otherwise and I'd have to go through the hassle of an exchange for a new car that probably still has the issue I just don't see any gain from this. Remember, someone else posted an internal memo to service departments that Honda is aware of this issue (in Fits AND Civics) but they don't have a solution yet. So a replacement would likely have the issue as well.

At this point I can either waste my time complaining repeatedly about a car that 99% of the time works as designed so I can get some kind of compensation that's pretty worthless to me, or I can wait until there's a solution and be aware of the issue and live with it until that time.

 

I doubt that you will get all the way through the lemon law process. The key to getting a timely solution is to make the problem financially threatening for the dealer and Honda. It will help them to focus their priorities. It might make the difference between putting one programmer on the problem "when he can get around to it" or putting a team of programmers on the problem to find a fix ASAP.

The cameras are touted as safety features even though they put weasel words in the manual to cover their posteriors. They can't have it both ways.

Defective cameras definitely diminish the value of the vehicle. It would be very difficult to dispute that.

 

Here's my update:

I've decided to drop it for now because I've only had it happen twice since they replaced the audio unit. I did get a guy's name and phone number at Honda America to call for if/when it happens again. I will also take some video of the issue next time too.

 

So it looks like the "cure" didn't take. Mine malfunctioned only twice, so I;m not worrying about it. Stopping and starting the car seems to get it working again.

 

Did you also have the audio unit replaced?

Of course the lengthy delay happened again this morning. I took some video of it. It didn't seem quite as bad as the first couple of times, maybe because I wasn't actually trying to change lanes. 3 seconds is a long time when you're changing lanes!

 

No, but a Honda tech did contact me through this forum. Unless it gets worse, or they have a definite cure - like a software update - I'll leave it alone.

 

Honda customer care has contacted us, and is having us take the car to the local dealer. The dealer tried to pre-order the part, but was told by the engineering department, they must see the car before they can order the part. My daughter will be in town next week, so we will take the car in, then she will come back the following week and we will have it installed.

Why do some people think pulling the entire "head unit", is a major deal? does the entire dash need to come off, or something? Will we regret letting them do this? As I recall, the Honda customer service guy told me they had made some type of engineering change to the reconditioned part, which is why the engineering department needed the dealer to see the car before allowing them to order the replacement (my theory is they need to verify the firmware version on the existing unit).

 

Mostly because as far as I can tell by reading here on it, it hasn't entirely fixed the problem. That's an awful lot of crapola for an unreliable fix. I'd love to hear you say that it worked out perfectly for you. That would be good news. Hoping it does.

 

There are several plastic panels that must be removed, and they involve plastic and metal clips. There's potential for breakage, not to mention scratching. It's one thing to have the cars assembled on the assembly line, but it's quite another when some guy is tearing into it and then putting it back together again.

 

Also to further SilverEX15's point, there is also potential for newly induced rattles in the dash after a job like that. I will say however that in recently doing a little digging under the passenger footwell of a new Accord, there was a visible amount of effort taken to reduce rattles (felt wrapped prongs, foam) so maybe some of that also trickled down into the Fit.

 

Yes. Everything is neatly tucked away and secured under the dash. When I run wires, I'm careful about their placement, and I use lots of cable ties.