Hi,

I traded in my '93 Honda Del Sol for a new car last weekend, and I'm a
little concerned that at least some people at that dealership have a bad
attitude towards customers, because of what happened with my trade-in:

The Del Sol had a driver-side-only airbag that I disabled years ago after
reading numerous accounts of deaths, injuries, and unexpected activation in
early-model airbags.  I put a small piece of black tape over the clear
plastic in front of the instrument panel airbag warning light so the
light's glow would be visible at night around the tape, but not bright
enough to be annoying.

When I traded in the Del Sol on Saturday, I put my Haynes service manual on
the passenger seat, and told the salesman that before they sold the car,
they needed to re-enable the airbag.  (The new owner could use the manual
to disable it again if they distrusted the airbag like I did).  He said
they would.

Tuesday I sent the salesman an email telling him that when the battery was
disconnected to re-enable the airbag, it would wipe the radio's security
code, and I had put the radio's booklet with the security code on it inside
the service manual.

He replied by phone the next day, and told me there'd be no problem, that
they still had the car on the lot.  So I have now mentioned the airbag to
him three times on three separate days, once in person, once by email, and
once on the phone.

Yesterday I went by the dealership to see if they still had the Del Sol,
since I thought I'd left my electronic tire gauge inside it (turns out I
hadn't).  They'd already sold the Del Sol.  But when I asked the salesman
if they'd gotten the airbag re-enabled OK, he said they hadn't done it.  I
told him and a nearby manager that they really should at least call the
buyer and let him know the airbag was disabled but not defective.  I sure
hope they did, but they both looked completely unconcerned.

So, someone bought my old car and maybe doesn't know that it has a
perfectly good (but disabled) airbag.  The warning light is hard to see
from the driver's seat in daylight (which is when most test drives happen),
but when he sees the warning light glow at night, or a passenger sees it
later, he's going to think the airbag is defective--and he's already bought
the car!  If he decides to get it replaced, he's going to spend money he
doesn't need to spend--a few minutes is all it takes to re-enable it.  And
airbags aren't cheap.  What a waste that would be!

Am I expecting too much in the way of customer concern from this dealer, or
is this a genuine sign of indifference to their customers?  I know it's
just a used car, but the dealership told me they'd have to spend about $400
cleaning up and detailing my Del Sol before they would sell it, so what's
another few minutes to make it right for the buyer?

It makes me wonder; if they don't care about their used-car customers, they
may not care about the new-car customers either.  Should I think about
taking my car to another dealer for service?

It's been more than five years since I bought a car; I don't have a lot of
experience at it.  Perhaps most dealers are like that.  Or maybe the idea
that someone would care about an airbag on a car that's more than twelve
years old, or spend money to fix it, is silly.  So maybe the salespeoples'
attitude is reasonable.   I don't know.

Opinions?

Thomas