I can understand that. Another problem is a lot of people don't care
about music that much in their cars, so the service people don't realize
what a hardship it is for someone like me to be stuck listening to the
radio for a month instead of being able to play my own music, either
through my cds or my iPod.

I'd be happy to relieve Honda of the problem by buying a better audio
unit, if I could find one that actually fit into a TSX. With so many
audio problems, one would think Honda fans would know about good audio
replacements, but I guess the TSX isn't exactly the car that
enthusiastic music fans usually buy.

He can't do that; Honda won't give him one. You probably got that
promise from a new Service Advisor who didn't know any better and didn't
think to ask. Or maybe one who was sick of you bending his ear with
complaints and just said something nice to make you go away.

Like I said, they've been having lots of trouble with their audio units.
Lots of TSBs on them.

But audio units are not like, say, transmissions, and will not receive
the same sort of corporate expenditure Honda is willing to lay out on
trannies.

Dealers have a hard row to hoe sometimes. Financially, dealers are
usually at Honda's mercy. Plus they have no say in what they must buy
from Honda, but they still have to sell and service what Honda sells to
them, no matter how inadequate or defective.

Keep bringin' it back as long as your warranty is in effect; make them
work for their money. Eventually you'll get a radio that keeps working.
I know this is a pain, but at least it's not a "stranded vehicle"
problem, like you might get with, say, Ford...

The dealer promised me a new unit, seeing as the car was only a few
months old. Then, he stalled and stalled for about a month.
Honda Canada was embarrassed when I complained and gave me some free
service for compensation. But having the newly rebuilt one start to
screw up really has me annoyed.

Failed units are replaced with rebuilts. That is Honda policy on this
issue. Failed audio units are sent to a Honda-authorized repair center,
remanufactured, then reissued.

If the dealer does not wait until they get warranty clearance from Honda,
they may have to eat the cost of replacing your radio. It makes no sense
for them to replace your audio unit until they get approval.

nah, the bastards just waited until they had a rebuilt cd player they
could give me.

Honda has been having many problems with their audio units.

Honda also requires that dealers submit the warranty claim, AND wait for
confirmation, before performing the repair. This means lots of time goes by
before they are authorized to perform the repair.

Probably, but intrusion into the factory wiring setup is a recipe for
disaster, especially these days.

If you do decide to go aftermarket, have a _qualified_ professional shop do
the work, and insist they use an "aftermarket harness" so the factory
wiring is not altered.

It took almost a month for the dealer to fix the cd player by replacing
it with a rebuilt one. This one is developing intermittent problems, but
the dealer won't fix it until it stops working for him, and then, I'd
wait another month.

I don't much like the cd player anyway and suspect I could get better
sound with a different one.

what is the problem ???
You're still covered by warranty, why not take it to dealer ?

I have a Canadian '06 TSX and I'm having trouble with the cd player. Is
it possible to replace the one I've got with an after market sound system?