NHTSA Complaint #11605506 — 2016 HONDA CR-Z

My driver’s side door handle has broken. I have the broken handle if you need it. It’s a safety issue because it delays entering the car from the driver’s side, which could endanger an owner or a passenger who needs to get inside the vehicle. Apparently, this is a known problem in CR-Zs and is often blamed on the car being in a hot climate (spoiler alert: It’s getting hotter these days). My car had less than 75,000 miles on it at the time the handle broke. I have been driving since 1978, and I’ve never dealt with a broken handle before. I have had a local body shop install a new door handle; that one broke after a week of light use (driving once daily). These are expensive repairs, especially for a retired owner on a fixed income such as myself (the local Honda dealer quoted me $1,000 to replace the handle). There seemed to be no signs of a pending failure that I noticed; I just couldn’t open the driver’s door one day. PLEASE get Honda to recall and replace these faulty handles. I cannot afford $1,000 repair bill every week. (My previous vehicle was a 2008 Acura MDX that had no problems with the handles even after 15 years and 200,000 miles.)