Dash/console trim panel warp on 2003 Civic?

Been googling and haven't really found anything that confirms what the
service guy said, so I thought I'd ask here. My wife bought a 2003 Civic
EX at the end of May and about a month later, the hood and windshield each
had a pretty nasty scratch on it from a rock that hit her during her
commute. She decided to get it fixed, so she went to a dealer (not the
one she bought it from - they're pretty far away and we only used them
because they were the one that carsdirect.com was partnered with). They
referred her to the bodyshop they owned, so she took it there, and they
painted the hood, but were dishonest and lied to her about the windshield
- they told her they ordered it and it wasn't in each time she called, but
she finally found out that they hadn't ordered it until about a week after
she dropped her car off. So she called the insurance company and they got
on the bodyshop's case for being incompetent and dishonest.

So after she finally got it back (took about 2 dozen phone calls to the
dealer, insurance, and the dealer's parts dept. (who actually does the
ordering of the windshield)), we were in it about 2 weeks later and I
noticed that the trim panel around the bottom of the dashboard that
connects to the center console had a gap of about 1/4" between the dash
and console. It hadn't been there prior to the repair and normally the
dash isn't touched during a windshield replacement.

She took it in to the dealer who owned the bodyshop on Tuesday and the guy
that looked at it said "Looks like somebody took it apart and didn't put
it back together right, but I'm short 8 techs today and can't look at it
right now." We took it back in today, got a different guy who looked at
it and said he can probably take care of it. When we picked it up, he
said it appeared the piece was warped (pretty much denied that the
previous tech would say anything like he said on Tuesday) and wouldn't fit
back together, so they'd have to order one and replace it. He said that
he even took it back to the bodyshop and they said they didn't do anything
with that part of the car and couldn't figure out how it got like that.

Sorry for the longwindedness, but I figured the background might help with
my question - is this a common problem w/Hondas or Civics? Especially in
one that's only 3 months old? Or did somebody at the body shop **** with
it? Reason I'm asking is that the service guy said it wasn't too big of a
deal, but I've *never* seen it happen with my Saturn, Jeep, or Monza; my
wife's Saturn or Ford; my folks' Saturn, Oldmobiles, Caddy, MGB, VWs, or
Chevy; my brother's Toyotas, Saturn, or VW. I just wanna see if this is
truly just one of those things or if it's a possibility the bodyshop did
something....

Thanks for any answers....

brian

 

It's highly unusual to have the body modeling come off a new vehicle (unless
it's VW). However, cars that have after market paint job (which required the
body molding to be removed) are prone to some bad fit and finish. Some times,
the body shop will paint the panels beside the one that's affect in order to
blend in the paint job. I would think that the shop would be able to match the
color very easily on a new car (without having to paint the adjacent panel)
but most of these monkey's brains are fried from all the paint fume.

Pars

 

Sorry, maybe I wasn't clear - this was on the interior and it was the
plastic trim panel piece that connects the bottom of the dash to the
center console in between the front seats. Thanks anyway....

brian

 

IME body shops and glass shops are notorious for breaking fittings - they
know nothing of any individual vehicle's mechanical aspects for latches and
fasteners and very often just yank till it breaks. I don't own your
vehicle and can't picture exactly which part is warped/distorted - have a
look here <http://makeashorterlink.com/?K4E621EC5> and here
<http://makeashorterlink.com/?V5F622EC5> to see if you can pinpoint it.

I think you should check that the trim part you mention is actually what's
at fault or if maybe the console itself is broken and pushed down 1/4".
I'm picturing the glass guy kneeling on it as he tries to hack the old
windshield out - those guys are scarey and you should never watch then
doing anything to your car.

Rgds, George Macdonald

"Just because they're paranoid doesn't mean you're not psychotic" - Who, me??

 

Actually, that's kinda why we went to this specific body shop - a Honda
dealer owns them and they work on pretty much nothing but Hondas, so we
figured they had somewhat of a clue. It just baffles me that this could
happen while replacing a windshield - I thought those got removed and
installed completely from the outside of the car with no interaction with
the dash/interior.

OK, thanks - from the first link: There's about 1/4" gap between assembly
20 and where it meets assembly 17.

Yeah, kinda like sausage and laws.

We'll see what's actually broken when the new part (assembly 20) comes in
- if it doesn't fit, then the dealer will have to order the center
console. It's on their heads now since either the body shop broke it or
it's under warranty. She's taking it in on Sat. to a body shop that's
always done good work for her in the past on other cars to see what they
say is broken, so they might have a whole different view of the problem.

Thanks for the info.

brian

 

The Honda dealers I know who have body shops also sell GM, Mazda and
what-not stuff and will take any body work they can get so I'm not sure it
counts for much.

Hmm, still a bit confusing since not all the parts are described lwoer
down. 17 looks like an ashtray bezel to replace what'd be there standard
and, of course, ashtray is not in the Honda lexicon those days. 20 looks
like the passenger side underdash cover so I guess I'm not fully
understanding. Good luck with it anyway.

Rgds, George Macdonald

"Just because they're paranoid doesn't mean you're not psychotic" - Who, me??