Tailgate Latch Problems of Honda CR-V

1999 crv. My wife and I purchased the car new from anderson Honda (now bloomfield Honda; bloomfield hills, mi). My wife drives the car to and from her office. The vehicle now has 70,000 miles on it. It has performed mostly perfectly. About six months ago, the rear door latch would not close securely. I would have to manually set the latch mechanism prior to slamming it shut to secure it. I made arrangements to have the dealer check and correct the problem this week. They replaced the mechanism and charged me $173 ($40 for the part and $133 labor). They gave me the "old" part to examine. I am a graduate mechanical engineer and experienced in automotive corrosion issues. I was shocked at the condition of the handle assembly they replaced. It was in an advanced state of corrosion to the extent it was "frozen" shut due to corrosion. I have two issues with this: 1. The location of the latch is mostly protected from the external elements and should not have corroded this much. I keep the car garaged. In the winter, I take it through a car wash perhaps twice/month. In other seasons I wash the car by hand also about twice/month. 2. This is either a design problem or a quality problem. The reason I am calling it to your attention is that a safety issue may result due to the failure of the back door to latch securely. Things and kids might fall from the rear door suddenly opening while the vehicle is being driven. You might want to look into this.

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