Why should he care? Honda covers a percentage of the warranty work (the labor part) up to 100% of the cost if it's defective. The tech is there to fix the problem, not be overly concerned with expense.
I'm 100% with you on that @Pir8pete. I hate having work done for fear of having some amateur hack making a mess of things and screwing up the car. I also make sure that after my car is serviced, they park my car somewhere where it won't get door dents from some inconsiderate a**hole who isn't careful around other peoples cars.
The lemon law does not yet apply in your situation because they are still troubleshooting the same issue using different techniques. The lemon law would apply if they replaced the stereo three times, each time fixing the issue, and then the same problem occurs again after the third repair for the same failure. You haven't gotten that far yet. I have a similar repair situation in which the HVAC blower fan has failed three times, all the same fault, and Honda has replaced the HVAC blower fan three times. The second repair involved replacing the power resistor/transistor in addition to the blower fan. The fan failed the first month I had the car, Honda replaced the fan. It failed again the following month and Honda replaced the fan with the power resistor. It worked great for 10 months/20,000 miles, then it failed again two weeks ago. Honda has replaced the blower fan again, and can't figure out why it keeps failing. We will see how long it lasts this time. I have an 8 year/100K warranty. I can argue a safety failure because if the fan is failing, I would not be able to defrost the windshield in the winter, causing a safety risk. I am not sure if your failed HondaLink Display would be considered a safety issue. I am annoyed that the HVAC fan keeps failing because I really love my car!
They have every right to care about how much a warranty repair would cost Honda. They are sending out a lead tech from Torrance Headquarters to figure out why it is not working. Maybe something can be done with reinstalling the software in the stereo rather than dropping thousands to replace a stereo that may not be broken. Every company has the right to control expenses so they don't go out of business making the wrong, expensive decision. Yes, it may be inconvenient with multiple visits, but I would be thankful they are sending out a lead tech to figure out the true problem. Maybe there is an issue with the subcomponents, such as the USB or HDMI harnesses/modules. Or the HondaLink/Bluetooth module is the issue, and not the main stereo unit. So Honda should get credit for doing such extensive troubleshooting, rather than saying, "We can't duplicate the issue".
At least they tested your phone in other Hondas and confirmed the phone worked as expected in other vehicles. So something is going on with the audio components in your vehicle if it refuses to recognize the phone. What will happen when SkyNet goes active?
