Honda aims to cut service costs
29 October 2003 Honda's servicing expert, Yoshitsugu Goto, told What Car? that the company is working on the idea of 'variable content servicing' in order to reduce service costs. The dealer would plug a diagnostic computer into the car's engine management system, and details of the work required would be decided by the computer. The data would also go straight to Honda headquarters to ensure the dealer didn't carry out any unnecessary work. Even details such as whether the oil and air filter needed changing could be determined by analysing the number of start-ups and types of driving the car had done. Mr Goto said that it is also possible to have a sensor in the oil tank which could detect chemical breakdown, or carbon build-up, and so warn the driver with a light on the dash. Honda has considered other options to make its servicing costs keener. One would be to extend service intervals from their current 12,000 miles, although Mr Goto believes it is important for safety and for the relationship between owner and dealer that the car be inspected once a year. Variable servicing, which is used by companies including BMW, would alert the customer when their car needed a service via lights on the dash. However, Honda has rejected this because fleet managers would find it difficult to estimate servicing budgets. |
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