Afriend told me the hood looked like it wasn't latched on my 2002 Honda CRV. I checked it and it was completely open. I could pick up the hood and look under it. I had not opened it since my oil change at the dealer a couple of months before. I'm the only driver and I always keep it locked so no one else could have gotten to the latch. I took it to the dealer and they say nothing is wrong with it. Now I'm almost afraid to drive it. I had been on the freeway just before it was noticed.

- Upland, CA, USA

We own a 2002 Honda CR-V (VIN [xxx]) with 30,000 miles on it. My wife - who is the primary driver of the car - filled up the windshield washer reservoir on Monday (12/1/03) afternoon. This is routine; she checks the oil on occasion as well, and has done so with every vehicle we have ever owned. As she has done on many other occasions, she dropped the hood closed from the height of about a foot, and used two hands to try to pull up on it. There was no play. She visually checked the fender-hood fit on both sides and it was correctly positioned. A few hours later she was driving at fifty miles an hours when the hood popped fully open. Fortunately she was able to stop without further incident. We contacted the nearest Honda dealer - bedard brothers of cheshire MA; they examined the vehicle and although the mechanic said he thought that there was excessive play in the latch mechanism, they refused to acknowledge any mechanical defect or design flaw. In other words, it was not their problem. I wrote a letter to Honda but they stonewalled me by saying that the dealer had found no problems. I was told to take it to a different dealer, but this would mean wasting most of a day since there are no other dealers close by. Moreover, I am not convinced that I will hear anything different from another dealer. I am convinced, however, that the hood was shut as securely as it was humanly possible to determine, and that there is a design flaw in the CRV hood latch mechanism. Information redacted pursuant to the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).

- Washington, MA, USA

While I was driving my 2002 Honda CRV on the highway about 65 mile/hr, the hood was popped up suddenly without any warning sign. The hood even flipped over more than 90 degrees and hit the windshield. The hood smashed into windshield so powerfully, the windshield was totally damaged. The impact was so strong, all items inside the car was flying freely inside the car, such as sunglasses, garage garage door opener, parking decal. My eye was hit by garage door opener, I lost my left eyeS vision temporary. The worst part is the whole front window view was blocked out entirely by the hood. My car lost control on highway with 65 miles speed for a few seconds, it was the most scary moment in my whole life. I was very lucky to get the car under control. It is either the defect part or inferior design to cause the hood to hit windshield. This problem shouldnT happen and it is very dangerous and fatal, I hope your office can take action asap to avoid any death due to this problem.

- Plano, TX, USA

While I was driving my Honda CR-V on the highway with 65 mile/hr, the hood was poped up suddendly without any warning. The hood even flipped over entirely and hit the windshield. The hood smashed ino windshield so pwerfully, the windshield was totally damaged. Besides, the whole window view was blocked out entirely by hood, car was lost control on highway with 65 mile/hr for a few seconds.

- Plano, TX, USA