9.3
really awfulTypical Repair Cost:
$2,760.00
Average Mileage:
107,349 miles
Total Complaints:
21 complaints
Most common solutions:
- replace transmission (12 reports)
- not sure (9 reports)
transmission problem
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2010Aug 25
Accord EX 3.2L V6
- Automatic transmission
- 164,563 miles
Similar to other 2003 Honda Accord owners I had the misfortune of dicovering Honda has a transmission problem the HARD WAY...I was driving 65mph in comm all I could think was THANK GOD I WASN'T KILLED!!!!
The transmission went out August 2010, the estimates to fix it range from $3500-$4000, since I don't have the money to fix the car it just sits in the garage collecting dust. So much for the new tires, new battery, new breaks, new belts, 150,000 mile vehicle maintenance etc that I invested in nine months before the transmission failed.
If Honda doubts this is a true problem, I invite an authorized HONDA representative to take my car for a test drive on the highway, experience the sudden deceleration and then come back and tell me there's nothing wrong with the transmission.
To be honest, I don't even know why I'm storing the darn thing in the garage...I'm NEVER going to trust it again...$27,000 down the drain...Thanks Honda!
2012Feb 03
Accord EX V6
- Automatic transmission
- 192,000 miles
Doesn't want to shift after highway speeds. Can turn car off and it will drive fine for a while and start the hard jerking after a bit.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
2011Dec 22
Accord EX V6
- Automatic transmission
- 121,000 miles
Was leaving work after dropping off Christmas cookies to co-workers got on the highway and car start jerking badly thank God there was a
Oreilly pulled in and asked a worker to help he told me to put in reverse but it didn't work so he checked transmission fluid and said it was low so he add some (band for Honda) then it went in reverse so was advise to get transmission fluid changed, car start driving great.. but jiffy lube suggest me to take to Honda due to tans fluid smelt burnt so when pulled out parking lot car start jerking worst then before so i pulled over and got it towed to lake jackson Honda at 1214pm and they keep over nite said transmission was ok they did a check and didn't find nothing.. put it on computer and still nothing but they said trans fluid need to be change due to the burnt smell so i said ok so picked car up on 12/24/11 and only drove bout 20miles and started again i called them they asked if i can bring back and i did and they drove it and came back and said my transmission is going out but will do more checks on it.. how could they not find that..they screwed me out my Christmas cause now its Christmas eve and im not able to go out of town with fam...i truly have no respect for Honda after this will never deal with them again, i don't know what to do now.
2011Sep 08
Accord LX 3.2L V6
- Automatic transmission
- 94,326 miles
My vehicle violently downshifted during rush hour traffic. I have kept up the maintenance on the vehicle with a local Honda dealership. I do not understand why this is happening.
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2011Oct 01
Accord EX V6
- Automatic transmission
- 106,000 miles
Well, now we have to join the ranks of pained - not to mention outraged - 2003 Honda Accord owners...our V-6 just started having the issue of downshifting/accelerating for no apparent reason. Scary stuff, indeed....called American Honda and got a case number. They really do need to cover the entire cost of a new transmission ($5,300 quoted - way high), in our opinion. The car has been regularly maintained, and the 2nd gear oil jet was installed in early 2005 per the 2004 recall notice. As someone else has already stated, this was simply a blatant attempt at a "band-aid" fix for the problem. Will update status on this post to let folks know if Honda is going to cover anything in the way of repair costs...and does anyone know if Class Action has started on this???? Have owned half a dozen Honda in the past - this will likely be our last.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
2011Jun 07
Accord EX V6
- Automatic transmission
- 120,000 miles
Honda told me that since I didn't have the transmission fluid changed after 60,000 that that's probably why the transmission failed. WHAT? And yet, even though I needed to forgo the scheduled maintenance because of lack of funds, I would have gone with the transmission change had I known it was that crucial. My ex said he never had our Ford T-Bird's transmission fluid changed, and it now has 180,000 miles on it. I thought Hondas were supposed to last forever. Not mine! I think I just changed my mind on buying another.
2011Jan 20
Accord LX V6
- Automatic transmission
- 100,451 miles
I am sadly joining this group of very unsatisfied and traumatized owners of 2003 Honda Accords. I was driving on the freeway and slowed down as the traffic slowed ahead. I decelerated from 65mph to a terrifying 35mph in a split second as the car downshifted violently to 1st gear. If it weren’t for my seat belt, I would have slammed my face on the steering wheel or the windshield!!! I was almost rear ended by a semi-truck!!! I immediately pulled of the emergency side of the freeway and turned off the car. I checked the engine bay and under the car and found no apparent damage or leaks. I turned the car back on and proceeded to exit the freeway using the emergency shoulder. I drove the car to the nearest Honda Dealer (Gardena Honda), which was only a mile from where this occurred. The car continually downshifted randomly to first gear so I kept the car at 5mph to prevent it from going to second gear. I drove the car in traffic with the hazard lights on until I got to the dealer. I spoke to the Honda Service Specialist and was informed that the problem was most likely internal transmission and that it probably needed a new one. He quoted me $3500. In shock, I drove my car home (1/2 mile away) with the hazard lights on and going 5mph. I parked the car on the driveway and had been in that position for the past month. I looked around other transmission specialist and they quoted me around $1500 for a complete transmission rebuild with 1-year warranty.
This is a major defect waiting for someone to loose a life on. I am not willing to be the one as the example so I opt not to use the car. Honda needs to stand behind their product and offer a solution to this deadly flaw. Honda needs to extend their warranty or reimburse those who have had their transmission rebuilt elsewhere (dealer's $3500 quote is ridiculously over inflated). I really hope Honda rectifies this matter before someone looses a life.
2011Feb 22
Accord EX 3.0L V6
- Automatic transmission
- 107,000 miles
The night of February 22 my family and I were coming home from the airport and to our surprise or Honda Accord transmission started shifting violently and roughly while driving on the highway. It was very scary and schoking! The car downshifted in such a violent way that we all yelled! We almost had an accident! We had to stop on the side of the road to calm down. After a while my husband managed to drive the car home at five miles per hour and the next day he took the car to the dealer. At the dealer they check the car and told us that the transmission looked really bad and we need it to change it. The total amount in the report that the dealer gave us is $4,498.00!!!!!(amount that we do not have)
After this happened I Google transmissions on the internet and found this website with all this complaints from other Honda Accord's owners. After reading all this, we are ready to fight for our car. We want Honda to fix the issue and recall the cars. We can not let this happened without complaint, it will be terrible if someone has an accident and die on the road! My husband and I are committed to complaint and fight because we believe that Honda must do something!!!! This is a safety issue!!!!
2010Oct 02
Accord EX V6
- Automatic transmission
- 64,950 miles
I am the owner of a 2003 Honda Accord EX V6 which I purchased at Carmax in Laurel, MD about 2 years ago. The car had roughly 44K miles on it when I bought it and because I had always had wonderful experiences w/ Honda reliability never saw the need to purchase an extended warranty. Big mistake -- at 65,000 miles I had to replace the transmission because it was downshifting violently. The problem only occurred when the car was hot (driving more than 30-40 minutes); it felt like slamming on brakes and I was afraid that I would get rear-ended since the problem seemed to occur on major highways after traveling at higher speeds. I did some research today & found a website where several people have experienced the same issue (http://cdonner.com/honda-accord-2003-ex-v6-transmission-failure.htm). I live in FL where the problem manifested & initially took my car to Kuhn Honda in Tampa to get it checked out - they said it needed a transmission ($3700). They acted like they had never heard of these cars having this type of issue ever which conflicts with all of the info which is out there on the web. I got the same story at Brandon Honda when I inquired after I had the repairs done at a great place called B&B Transmissions. The Brandon Honda rep stated that he had never heard of the issue as well & seemed surprised that it occurred when the car only had 65K miles on it. The people at B&B Transmissions told me about a potential recall brewing and were the 1st to tell me to do research on web & retain all my receipts. They really did a superb job at B&B and saved me about $1000 on the repair (I highly recommend B&B, by the way). Of course, that's still money that I shouldn't have shelled out of my pocket! As for the Honda dealerships - they appear to be shameless liars and I hope that the people who they have taken advantage of have some recourse to get just compensation/reimbursement for this major issue. These cars are NOT SAFE TO DRIVE if this transmission problem manifests itself!
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
2010Oct 03
Accord EXI V6
- Automatic transmission
- 124,000 miles
Honda Accord 2003 EXi V6. The same problem started yesterday while driving on highway, all of a sudden accelerator stopped working at the speed of 65 miles (could turned into possible deadly crash). I took the car to nearest Firestone dealer to find out the issue, they diagnose issue with Transmission. I called up Honda Service desk to see if I can get Goodwill Repair as it is a generic issue which several drivers have faced. But all I was told that the car has 124000 miles on it and cannot cover under goodwill repair. I am afraid of paying 3000$ for my repair. There should be some legal action against this or recall should be issued.
2010Oct 03
Accord EX V6
- Automatic transmission
- 82,000 miles
I had multiple problems with transmission over the whole summer. First it would just downgear randomly as i would drive on backroads at low speeds. When it get worse and worse till the point i would press the speed padel and it wouldn't accelerate i would have to stop. Thats was so dangerous that i haven't drive a car for a while. Now its doing another thing it has flashing drive light and it would torque once in a while but now its doing it in interstate! Thats so scary i parked it yestedrday and iam not going to take my chances.
2010Jul 21
Accord EX 3.0L V6
- Automatic transmission
- 86,000 miles
After having my transmission fluid changed my husband and I were driving on the highway the next day. After exiting and traveling at 40 mph the car suddenly down shifted into low gear on a very busy congested road during rush hour. The car jerked violently and had we not had our seat belts on we may have gone through the windshield. Subsequently we had to pull over, have the car towed and transmission replaced.
Why hasn't Honda notified owners of this problem? We have never received a recall notice for this problem. This was a very dangerous situation. In all the years of owning cars we have never had this situation happen and never would have thought it would happen with a Honda.
2010Jul 08
Accord EX V6
- Automatic transmission
- 92,500 miles
I was driving down the highway at approx 50 mph. with my 5 year old and 2 year old in the back. At first it started missing the next gear and then all of a sudden it bucked violently twice and a car almost hit me from behind. I came to a light and pulled into a wawa. Once I was parked it wouldn't even go into reverse. I had it towed to a Honda dealership. They called me a few hours later and said, "We drove it around and it seems fine, no problems that we can tell." I asked why that would happen then and if there was anything else they could do. They said they could check the tramission fluid. They called me back and said the fluid was very dark and would change it. Then 20 minutes later they called me back and said they drove it again and it needs a new transmission which would be $3900. WHATTT!!! How can it be "totally" fine and then needs a $4000 repair? Ridiculous! They should have investigated that first before they called me and said nothing was wrong. Needless to say, we drove it off the lot and went to a garage that deals only with repairing transmissions, that comes with a two year warranty. It cost us $2400.We hope this is the end of it, but we will try to get some money reimbursed through Honda. However, i'm not holding my breath.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
2010Mar 07
Accord EX Coupe V6
- Automatic transmission
- 70,216 miles
While driving home from a friend's home my car jerked suddenly forward while driving at low speed. When I got on the highway it sounded like the transmission wouldn't get into third gear. When I got home and tried to back into my parking space I realized that the reverse gear was gone.
2009Jun 01
Accord 3.2L V6
- Automatic transmission
- 115,000 miles
same as previous complaints about rough downshift thrusting forward as if stepping on the brakes. no one knew what the problem was even at the dealer, stating it may have been related to faulty gas if water somehow had gotten in the supply line at the gas station.
2009Aug 08
Accord EX 3.2L V6
- Automatic transmission
- 91,000 miles
wow! i wish i had looked at this page earlier...even though i doubt it would have helped the problem from happening. i bought my 2003 accord bout a year and a half ago from a family friend who obviously had no clue about these issues or he wouldnt have even sold me the car. my first experience with the transmission problem was when i was exiting the highway my car suddendly jerked like i had slammed on my brakes. i slowly made my way home and took my car into the dealership on monday because this happened on a saturday. they drove the car and could not get it to do what i said it was doing. since then the car has not wanted to shift gears like its supposed to. i now have the car back at the dealershsip because it happened to me again, but this time it would not go over 25 miles per hour and the rpms were goin above 6000. im assuming from all ive read on this page that i will be replacing my transmission which i do not have money to do. this really upsets me considering that i had a 94 accord for 7 years and loved it..which helped me buy the 2003. im hoping that honda will help..we'll find out when they call me tomarrow. i will be calling that lawyer in ny and NHTSA.
2009May 02
Accord LX 6v
- Automatic transmission
- 72,000 miles
The car just stop working while I was driving on high way. My car always have had services in Honda dealer, but it seem that that is not a guaranty of a good work.
2009Jul 14
Accord
- Automatic transmission
- 165,000 miles
I had problems with this car since day one. Few months after I had it, the engine didn't want to turn on. I took it to the dealer and they said nothing was wrong with it (but the car started working again!) ..2 years later the transmission was acting up and I paid $900 in labor to get it fix (I was told they will pay for the parts but I had to pay for the labor) (such nice guys huh? yeah alright!) 6 months later while driving on the freeway the car just went to a complete stop! I got it to turn on again and drove it to a gas station. The transmission somehow messed up the radiator and miraculously, HONDA repaired it for free, transmission and radiator!! 2 years 6 months later the transmission starts jerking, I take it to the dealer and guess what? I have to get the transmission replaced and they want $4000 dollars to get it done? They must think I'm crazy to pay that money and then have to do it all over again in 2 years!!! This is crazy, I will never purchase another HONDA again and I WILL discourage anybody from doing it!!
2009May 08
Accord EX V6
- Automatic transmission
- 82,000 miles
I am very disappointed to encounter a severe transmission problem on my 2003 Honda Accord after only 82,000 miles. Since this was a new model year I was sure to get the maximum extended coverage - so I am covered for the repair costs.
However, I am very disappointed to find that Honda will only warranty the replacement transmission for 12 months/ 12,000 miles. This means that the value of my auto investment has been severely impacted. From reading the additional complaints about transmission failures, it seems evident that Honda experienced undetected qualify control/ design issues just prior to introducing this new model Accord.
In the best interest of customer relations I think Honda needs to recognize that there is a transmission quality control issue and provide the appropriate relief to those customers that invested in their product. The warranty for any replacement tranmissions should be at least 3years/36000 miles.
2008Nov 16
Accord Coupe V6
- Automatic transmission
- 61,826 miles
The car jerks violently when you drop down from highway speed after about a half hour or more at speed. Once it's warmed up and then you try to move around at city speed and in start-stop driving you're in for some dangerous gear movements. You get anything from slight bumps and glitches to violent full stops.
Having heard that the local Honda dealer is a pain (by all accounts) we tried the nearest out of town dealer for a quote. Well, that next service manager looked terrified right from the start and was basically ready to do anything at all as long as we left and took it elsewhere. He started by pretending he'd never heard of such a problem, as seems to be the norm for Honda by all accounts, but let's just say that I knew that he knew that I knew that he knew that I knew he was lying his butt off. The quotes he did give were way, way into the thousands of dollars but it was evident he wanted no part of it (and we were ready to pay). Scared to work on or assume responsibility for a Honda product?
So, best I can figure it's not his problem now and he doesn't want it to be. That indicates to me a recurring issue and that means I'll be dealing this mess.
This is how a company kills itself.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
2012Mar 19
Accord EX 3.0L V6
A recall 'service' was completed in 2004 on my car for a transmission defect (according to Honda America's search of my VIN#).
Recall press release verbatim from the Honda website: 'A situation that is created by insufficient lubrication of the transmission's secondary shaft second gear that can occur under certain driving conditions. Prolonged operation under these conditions can lead to heat build-up and under certain circumstances may eventually result in chipped or broken gear teeth or breakage of the gear. In the event of a chipped or broken tooth, the owner will likely experience abnormal noise from the transmission and seek repairs. In rare instances, this condition may lead to gear breakage and possible locking of the vehicle's transmission, creating a potential safety hazard.'
I didn't buy the car until 2009. The problems listed in the recall are the EXACT SAME problems that my car is experiencing now. I was told by Honda America that the dealership has to diagnose the problem, and that once it is determined that it is the SAME PROBLEM that presented the reason for the initial recall, that Honda would approve a replacement of the transmission AT NO COST.
As suggested, I took the car to the nearest Honda dealership to have the problem diagnosed. I left it for a day, and the mechanic called me and said that the car's transmission has failed due to an issue with the 2nd gear (listed as the issue in the recall). I called Honda America to inform them of the diagnosis (and so they could update my case in their database). They stated that all I had to do was go speak to the service manager at the dealership, who would then contact his district rep, who would then confirm with Honda America that the repair needed to be done 'good will' (no charge). The service manager called Honda America and apparently his rep, then he said that since the car has high mileage, that they've never serviced the car before, that I didn't buy it there, that they will not 'come out of pocket' to replace the transmission at no cost. The service manager said that the 'best he can do is 50% off, and THAT was with pulling strings.'
I asked for the general manager's number, and both the receptionist and the service manager REFUSED to give it to me. Thankfully I am a resourceful person, and have good contact with the right people.
I contacted Honda America while I was STILL AT THE DEALERSHIP. They reiterated that the dealership is required to replace it, and they can reference Section 7.3 of the Honda Service Operations Manual (of which I can find NO COPY on the web) to verify that they are able to repair/replace a defective part if it was in fact non-functional at ANY TIME, ANY MILEAGE after the initial recall repair. I asked the service manager about this section of the manual, and he refused to show it to me. He stated that 'it would do me no good anyway'.
I filed a safety complaint with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration online, and followed up with a phone call. They stated that this recurrence of defect, even after the initial recall 'repair' is a KNOWN ISSUE and must be acknowledged by the dealership and Honda. When speaking with another representative from the NHTSA just a few moments ago, it was suggested that I call the US Dept Of Justice, Consumer Protection Agency Division, and to reference my official complaint. I will be calling them shortly.
My NHTSA complaint:
THE VERY FIRST THING I NOTICED WAS APPROXIMATELY 3 MONTHS AGO. WHEN PARKED, THE RPMS WOULD SUDDENLY JUMP TO 2000 WITHOUT PRESSING ON THE GAS, THEN IT WOULD GO BACK TO NORMAL. MY MALFUNCTION INDICATOR LAMP CAME ON BRIEFLY ABOUT A MONTH AGO, AND THEN WENT OFF. THE MAINTENANCE REQUIRED LIGHT CAME ON A WEEK AFTER THE MALFUNCTION INDICATOR LAMP, AND NOW BLINKS EVERYTIME I TURN MY CAR ON. I WAS DRIVING FOR APPROXIMATELY 15 MINUTES AT A RANGE OF SPEED BETWEEN 0 TO 50MPH. VERY SUDDENLY, THE RPMS SHOT UP TO 6000, AND IT VIOLENTLY JERKED AS THOUGH I WAS SLAMMING ON THE BRAKES. THERE WAS A BURNT RUBBER SMELL RIGHT AFTERWARDS. THE LONGER I DROVE, THE MORE FREQUENTLY IT HAPPENED. IF I DIDN'T HAVE MY SEATBELT ON, MY HEAD WOULD HAVE SMACKED THE STEERING WHEEL. I WAS ALMOST HIT FROM BEHIND SEVERAL TIMES. NOW EVEN WHEN I AM DRIVING FOR A SHORT DISTANCE AND TIME, THE RPMS ARE HIGHER THAN NORMAL, AND THEN THE VIOLENT JERKING BEGINS.
Lauren S.
Newark, DELAWARE, USA
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