I’ve mentioned before that I believe one of the current industry-wide embarrassments of the entire automotive industry is the state of underbody aero/drip/splash/whatever trays and shields. These shields tend to be made from either plastic, thin sheet metal, some kind of pressed fiberboard, or what seems to be pressure-treated animal wastes, and they routinely rip or tear or break around their attachment points, and then flap around noisily until the owner just tears the damn thing off or does a quick repair with zip ties. I know that I’ve done both of these things to cars I’ve owned and friends’ cars. It’s incredibly common.
There’s a story making the rounds now about a man who took his 2017 Honda Civic into a Canadian Tire in the Newfoundland and Labrador province of Canada for an oil change, and while being serviced, Canadian Tire techs secured his damaged splash shield in place using zip ties. The Honda owner, Travis Jones, claims that the failure of these zip ties was the direct cause for him driving into a ditch a few months after the zip-tie repair.
Before the addition of the zip ties, when Jones first picked up the car from Canadian Tire, he described an incident where the car was “shaking violently” and struggling to reach highway speeds. He returned to the shop, which is when the zip-tie fix was undertaken.
The CBC has a video report about the incident:
Okay, so, I have a lot of thoughts here. And I suspect you do too. And I’ll preface everything I say by noting that I have no direct experience with this particular car, person, or repair. I’m basing my thoughts on similar repairs I have made to similar cars over the years, and similar situations where a splash shield came loose because of either wear or my half-assed zip-tie barely-a-repair. I’m a little embarrassed by how many times I’ve been in this situation, so let’s just say it is very healthily plural. Very.
In every incident I’ve been involved in with a splash shield – either plastic or metal – coming loose at highway speeds, the result I’ve noticed is a lot of awful noise made by the shield flapping around and scraping on the asphalt rapidly passing beneath the car. It’s annoying as hell, but I have never experienced a loss of control as a result. And of all the people I know to whom this has also happened, I’ve never heard anyone state they crashed as a result of a loose underbody shield.
Now, this is not to say it can’t happen, because anything is possible, right? It just feels extremely implausible to me based on my experience. Which again, is considerable.
As far as the ethics of Canadian Tire using zip-ties for this repair, I’m of two minds about it. If the customer didn’t want to spend the money to replace the whole damaged splash guard with a new one, there’s really not a whole lot else you could do. Sure, you could use big washers around the torn fastener holes or something, but that’s just a different sort of janky repair. Your options are to make some janky, good-enough fix, or just take the whole thing off and not think about it ever again, which I have also done multiple times.
Canadian Tire’s mistake here, I think, is not informing the customer about what they were doing. The customer should have been told their underbody splash/drip/whatever tray is all messed up, and then given the three options: spend the money and replace it; do a janky zip-tie fix that is technically temporary; or just yank it all off and deal with the repercussions, which, let’s be real here, are pretty minimal in the real world.
In fact, removing the splash/drip tray could allow you to see and identify engine fluid leaks before they get to be a problem, something an intact guard would hide. I’m sure there are efficiency/aero/cooling issues as well, but they tend to be pretty much ignorable for most drivers.
Canadian Tire offered Jones a $400 reimbursement should he choose to repair the shield, but Jones declined, believing he shouldn’t have to pay out of pocket for the repair. Another offer for more money was tendered, and also rejected.
So what do we think here? I think Canadian Tire’s crime was lack of communication, and that’s not insignificant. Car owners deserve to have as much information as possible about the condition of their cars and the state of the repairs. So it seems Canadian Tire can definitely do better there.
At the same time, I just can’t fathom how a loose splash guard could send a car into a ditch; I suppose it could hypothetically get caught in axles and wheels or tie rods or something, but the condition of the guard that Jones shows in the video doesn’t seem to suggest that level of mangling. Driving with a flapping or loose underbody tray is so wildly common that I’m just having trouble accepting it’s the sort of thing that would cause loss of control of a car?
I don’t know, though; maybe the noise and chaos of a flapping, scraping shield caused Jones to panic? I really can’t say.
But I can wonder, and I definitely am doing just that. And I think a decent takeaway from all this would be that any shop should at least tell you about what they’re repairing on your car and how they’re doing it. That part I’m sure of, at least.
Also, Jones did pick a good color for his Civic.
(thanks for the tip, Vic!)
I’m in danger, but I guess I did it myself. I have at least one car with several plastic welds and zip ties holding the underbody pieces on. But don’t we all?
My take: this asshole is being an asshole and trying to leverage his assholishness for Internet fame or money.
98% of the customers either do not know or do not disclose that the underbody shield is loose. We are categorically doing them a favor by zip tying it up free of charge. This guy is a jackoff.
Source: I’m a mechanic now; people have accused us of:
– inflating their tires such that their check engine light came on
– using clerical errors (mistyped mileage) to suggest that we somehow put 3000 joyride miles on their car in 48 hours and that’s why it’s a smoldering piece it’s shit
– we should have known that they had changed the long block (but they didn’t tell us, and it uses very nearly the same oil filter) resulting in an oil-out fiasco that still has the van in our parking lot six weeks later, despite an independent auditor finding that we were not at fault.
Fuck this guy.
I would never admit that a splash shield forced me into a ditch. That’s grounds for a man card revocation.
Sounds like that dude’s Honda momentarily turned into a Toyota and got grounded to the ground.
Definitely wasn’t his bad driving skills. Nope.
Crash course in local lingo: Skeet (noun).
The entire front bumper assembly on my MX5 was held on with just 4 cable ties, and stayed in place at speeds of over 100mph. The rear bumper too.
Other drivers would knock them off occasionally by parking like they do in Paris, but aero forces never managed it.
Mil-spec zipties rated for the stated loading and resistant to the degradation caused by UV radiation and unwanted exposure to the chemical reactions of organic compounds might have prevented failure.
I used said zipties for the body shells I’ve built for my electric trikes, with satisfactory results. What killed my zipties wasn’t UV/chemical degradation, but accidents by other vehicles colliding with me. Said Mil-spec zipties may have even even saved me from injury during collisions by other vehicles on the road. Those zipties have had their ratings tested and certified. I will use nothing less.
I mention this because, for an OEM vehicle, there is something to be said for using actual steel bolts/screws/washers/nuts/fasteners for underbody. Fuck his industry-standard made of plastic snap parts bullshit. I’ve done work on an F-body Camaro with this snap bullshit and it sucks!
Mil spec shrink wrap is pretty awesome too. Especially on kinky night.
I haven’t tried that. Sounds like a good time. <3
‘Shaking violently and having trouble getting up to highway speeds’. Yep sounds like the splash shield to me too.
I always wished EVERY Mk2 VW I ever owned had a splash shield. As soon as you hit a big enough puddle on the right side, you either had squealing belts or momentary loss of power steering or both. Fun times, would still buy.
Also, I’ve had a flappy panel as recently as my current 2016 Q3. Right side, just behind the front wheel. I would just tuck it back up if a puddle knocked it down, never fastened it properly and one day after being in for service at the dealer, it was attached. Didn’t even have to ask, good guys.
Most of the mounting bolts snapped off the the splash shield on the used ’13 Highlander I just recently bought. It is just likely going in the bin unless I can retrofit to plastic clips easily.
Usually, an 8 year old rust belt car has no shields anymore. Most mfgs use 6mm bolts to attach said shields, which snap off within the first 18 months of road salt exposure.
Given the comments, no one here does they own oil changes. Some don’t even have basic tools, yet still spout misguided opinions about the work of those in the trade.
I have hole/scroll sawed access holes in a few, removed others entirely. Permanantly removed most the underhood panles on the W-body I had in college. PITA.