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SUVs Acura MDX Air Vent Clips
21 messages, Last post on Aug 21, 2009 at 7:29 AM
You are in the Acura MDX Forum. Your Hosts are steve_ & tidester
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Replying to: lkns (Jan 25, 2008 5:45 am) 
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Replying to: bobs_car_doc (Aug 18, 2007 8:59 pm)
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Replying to: tpulak (Mar 11, 2008 11:01 am)
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Replying to: jrgear (Aug 28, 2008 8:19 pm) Well, sorry about the bad luck with your MDX. Our '04 has been bulletproof with the exception of the darn vent clips. Three of the four front ones have broken. One was fixed under warranty the other two I just use a pencil to move them. It's coming up on 60k miles, two months shy of 5 years old and only 3 more easy monthly payments. Woo Hoo...
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Replying to: upstatedoc (Sep 02, 2008 9:53 am) By looking at the broken vent tab, it's a very cheap two-piece of plastic with a flawed design. The weak part is the two clips on the back of the top piece, which sooner or later will break unless you never use the tab to adjust the vent. From many posts I found on the Internet, this seems like a prevalent problem for MDX and the usual breaking point (depending on how much you use the vent tab) is about 4 years. I guess you probably will see increasing complaints form '03 and 04' MDX owners pretty soon. But why does Acura never want to address a problem like this? In my opinion, there got to be some easy and cheap alternatives to just "replacing the whole vent". If you have the two broken pieces, I think you can super glue them together but like some posters said, you have to be very careful not to glue the other parts to make the vent practically unmovable. For some people that have lost the broken pieces, Acura should really consider selling the plastic tab, not just the whole vent. It's $5 vs. $150. I understand it’s the owners' responsibility if they screw up. But isn't it true for all other parts if the owners decide to “do it yourself”? Acura can also provide guidance to its dealer technicians about how to replace the plastic tab. It should be a very easy and normal procedure. I bet if some vendors (maybe somewhere in China) start producing some kind of knockoffs for the plastic tab and selling them on eBay, they would be sold like hot potatoes. It’s very disappointing that such poor workmanship is discovered on a $40K plus car. It’s even more irresponsible on the Acura part to simply tell many of its loyal car owners just to suck it up or pay it up. I’m not talking about a recall or something. But a prestigious car manufacturer like Acura should be able to find a solution to address a design and quality problem like this. Don’t make the MDX the last Acura I own!!!
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Replying to: jbkj (Oct 25, 2008 3:09 pm) 
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| We just traded our '03 MDX for an '08 - the clips were the main point of frustration for me - we were missing 2 out 4! I thought it may just have been bad luck for us until I came across this discussion. We also have an RL and now the new MDX - with what appear to be the same design...will be interesting to see if they pop off down the road. Acura should do something to help with a pretty loyal owners group..especially since seems to be widely documented issue at this point + with state of the auto industry now more important than ever to retain repeat customers ..otherwise, have no complaints - our '03 was bulletproof..hoping for a repeat experience. | |
I'm posting to see if there has been any further info on this issue. All four vent clips on our '04 are broken. It seems as if the "pencil" method is the only solution without paying the exorbitant replacement price. No surprise that Acura does not include this item in the FAQs on their site. No mention of it on the few parts houses that I questioned either.
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Replying to: staugbob (Aug 19, 2009 1:16 pm) I have found a cheap solution that works, at least for now--it's in the air freshener section of the auto parts department. They make air fresheners that are actually clips that you stick into the vents, and all that shows is the very end--it isn't noticeable at all. I paid $2.50 for four of them, and so far they work fine. They move the inside part of the vent as well as the outer (up and down) slats. I didn't like the scent of them that well, so had put them outside to lose the smell before I actually started using them. It's worth a try!
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Replying to: dasmit (Aug 20, 2009 5:26 pm) |
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