Neglecting double checking, IMO. Many years ago my
'82 Accord caught fire twice with the same exhaust-filter
location. Doesn't bother me. Just glad to own a car.

--
Burt


"Sparky" <nemo@moon.sun.edu> wrote in message
news:Jmfcd.24461$Fe6.9489041@news4.srv.hcvlny.cv.n et...
> Why Are Honda CR-V's Catching Fire?
> October 12, 2004
> By JEREMY W. PETERS
> DETROIT, Oct. 8 - With barely 10,000 miles on the odometer of his 2003
> Honda CR-V sport utility vehicle, the only thing Steve Elder expected to
> smell inside was that new-car scent.
> But as he drove home after having the oil changed last December, his
> CR-V began to fill with smoke.
> "So I got out, obviously, checked under the hood and saw flames coming
> out of the engine," said Mr. Elder, a 35-year-old financial planner from
> North Yarmouth, Me.
> It was not long before the entire vehicle - and a pair of diamond
> earrings Mr. Elder had bought his wife for Christmas - were consumed by
> the fire.
> Mr. Elder's vehicle was one of at least 60 new CR-V's nationwide to
> catch fire suddenly while on the road. In most cases, the vehicles had
> just been serviced for their first oil changes.
> While no injuries have been reported, the National Highway Traffic
> Safety Administration has reopened and upgraded an investigation into
> the CR-V to determine what is making some of them suddenly burst into
> flames, in many cases destroying the vehicles. The expanded inquiry
> covers about 280,000 CR-V's in the 2003 and 2004 model years.
> So far, the investigation has yielded nothing but finger-pointing, with
> Honda blaming dealerships for mishandling oil changes and consumer
> groups accusing the automaker of dodging responsibility.
> "The core issue for us is the issue of improper installation of the oil
> filter," said a Honda spokesman, Andy Boyd. "There doesn't seem to be
> anything else that we can point to."
> In the new phase of its investigation, the safety agency is looking
> beyond the oil filter to see what other factors could be contributing to
> the CR-V fires.
> Rae Tyson, a spokesman for the agency, said, "In this instance, both
> N.H.T.S.A. and Honda initially thought it was merely a problem with not
> executing the oil change properly, and that there didn't seem to be
> anything inherently wrong with the vehicle."
> Mr. Tyson added that while the agency had not found any evidence of a
> manufacturer's defect, the manufacturing and design of the CR-V are two
> of several subjects investigators are now studying.
> Honda and the safety administration thought they had resolved the CR-V
> fires problem this summer. In July, the agency closed a preliminary
> investigation into fires involving 2003 model CR-V's after Honda said
> the problem was a result of faulty oil changes.
> According to documents from the safety administration, Honda said that
> in many of the vehicles that caught fire, mechanics had either not
> properly installed a new oil filter seal or had failed to remove the
> factory-installed seal before putting in the new one.
> With the two seals in place at one time, the new oil filter could not
> create enough suction to prevent oil from leaking out and spilling onto
> the car's hot exhaust system. With an improperly installed seal, oil
> could also seep out onto the exhaust system and cause a fire.
> The documents show that the agency agreed that the problem originated at
> dealerships and service stations and had nothing to do with the CR-V's
> design.
> Honda then sent letters to its dealers warning them of the potential
> fire hazard, and the agency stopped its inquiry.
> The fires, however, did not stop.
> From July 1 to Sept. 9, the date the safety administration reopened its
> investigation into the CR-V, the agency received reports of 18 more fires.
> The new investigation, known as an engineering analysis, is the most
> exhaustive of the agency's safety inquiries. It is also looking at model
> year 2004 CR-V's because drivers have begun reporting fires in those
> models as well.
> Mr. Tyson said the investigation could have several outcomes, ranging
> from no action to a recall.
> Honda insists the fires are being caused by negligence on the part of
> mechanics and says it is not considering a voluntary recall.
> "You can't recall the process of changing oil, and that really is the
> root problem as we see it today," Mr. Boyd said.
> What is puzzling Honda engineers and other automobile experts who have
> been studying the fires is why they are occurring only in 2003 and 2004
> models.
> "There were no fundamental changes in the vehicle design from 2002 to
> 2003, yet we have seen this jump in the number of leaks, and in some
> cases fires," Mr. Boyd said.
> Mr. Boyd said the last significant redesign to the CR-V was in 2001, but
> fires have only recently become a problem.
> Some experts have argued that if the fault lies with mechanics, as Honda
> contends, any vehicle would be prone to the same problems as the CR-V.
> "There's something Honda isn't telling the government about this
> vehicle," said Clarence Ditlow, executive director of the Center for
> Auto Safety.
> Mr. Ditlow said the safety agency should order a recall if Honda refused
> to do one voluntarily. "This is an open-and-shut case, so the only
> question for us is, Why haven't they done a safety recall?"
>
> Gregory Barnett, an automotive and heavy-truck consultant to the
> insurance industry who has written a book about vehicle fires, said the
> CR-V problem appeared to be a result of Honda's design and laziness on
> the part of mechanics.
>
> The CR-V's oil filter, like those in models from many other automakers,
> is near the exhaust system, which increases the likelihood of a fire if
> the filter leaks, Mr. Barnett said. It is the mechanic's job to keep a
> leak from happening, he added.
>
> "For somebody to change the oil and not check for a stuck gasket is just
> stupid," Mr. Barnett said. "I can't believe that Honda has had to send a
> letter out saying, 'Hey, guys, check for the oil filter gasket - you're
> setting cars on fire.' "
>
> Some Honda mechanics disagree.
>
> In a letter to Automotive News, Jonathan O'Brian, a Honda shop foreman
> in Princeton, N.J., said the close proximity of the oil filter to the
> exhaust system in the CR-V could not be overlooked.
>
> "With oil changes being relegated to less-experienced technicians and
> the constant pressure to do the job quickly, what is simply a mess on
> any other car is potentially hazardous on a CR-V," he wrote.
>
> Mr. O'Brian declined to comment further, saying his letter had made his
> superiors at Honda unhappy.
>
> "I'm better off not saying anything," he said.
>
>
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/12/bu...f178189f9f838d
>
> Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------
>
> '"With oil changes being relegated to less-experienced technicians and
> the constant pressure to do the job quickly, what is simply a mess on
> any other car is potentially hazardous on a CR-V," he wrote.'
>
> IOW, O'Brian is defending shoddy workmanship and saying it's
> unreasonable for the manufacturer to expect Honda service people to
> follow the shop manual and just plain crazy for customers to expect
> anything more than crap work. Double gaskets? What's more basic in an
> oil filter change? Will he defend cars being returned to customers
> without a filter altogether?
>
> A compelling argument for customers to change their own oil.
>
> IIRC the article doesn't say, but suggests, that the fires are largely
> in cars serviced at Honda dealers - the dealers better watch out here.
>
> I also wonder about Mr. Ditlow, who wants Honda to issue a recall - in
> the lack of an engineering design flaw, what would Honda have done to
> the CR-V's on the recall?
>
> I'm curious if the fires are distributed evenly amongst the 50 states in
> proportion to CR-V sales and, assuming Honda uses the same design in
> other markets, if fires are occurring in those markets, as well.