CarComplaints.com Notes: The 2004 Honda Accord suffers from widespread transmission failure & problems with the stereo backlight failing. We recommend avoiding this model year like the plague.
The transmission begins slipping & eventually has to be replaced, typically soon after 90,000 miles & with a repair cost of over $2,000. Transmission failure has been a huge problem for the Accord & several other Honda models all through the early 2000s model years. Honda extended the transmission warranty to 93 months/109k miles for the 2000-2001 Accord as a class action lawsuit settlement, but owners of other Accord model years with transmission problems are out of luck.
The stereo backlight problem has been an issue ever since these Accords were only a few years old. Honda eventually issued a recall which covered the repair for 7 years/100k miles, which was nice while it lasted but now that period is over. Honda initially replaced the entire radio ($800) but eventually began replacing just the PCB which at ~$300 is much cheaper. That sounds like a deal, but keep in mind we're talking about a backlight bulb that costs $2 to fix in most other cars.
Yesterday my wife took the car out of the garage, got off the car to go and close the garage, as well as the gate. I was not there but my wife and son were. She said that as soon as she got off the car, the car started going in reverse, by itself at about 5mph. My wife got scared that the car would run over our son and quickly reacted being able to only put in an arm and a leg. She said she was trying to stop the car but she couldn't. The car went in reverse and broke the edge of the fence that is usually left out when open. But it didn't stop there, it kept going in the direction from which it came out, in a tilted path. It finally stopped when it crashed into our Pilot parked inside the garage. We all got very scared, especially my wife because she did not understand how the car took off by itself. She had said she left the transmission on park, but when i checked it was on reverse. It was a very odd situation because there was nobody controlling the car. Even after it broke down the fence it did not stop. Now the car driver's door wont close because of the impact it had with the fence while it was open and crashed. Also our Honda Pilot got affected too. It has a big scratch on the left front side of it and the driver's door won't open either. We still cannot understand how this occurred and we are trying to find a logical explanation but we can't. We are very worried that it might have already happened to someone else.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
Yesterday my wife took the car out of the garage, got off the car to go and close the garage, as well as the gate. I was not there but my wife and son were. She said that as soon as she got off the car, the car started going in reverse, by itself at about 5mph. My wife got scared that the car would run over our son and quickly reacted being able to only put in an arm and a leg. She said she was trying to stop the car but she couldn't. The car went in reverse and broke the edge of the fence that is usually left out when open. But it didn't stop there, it kept going in the direction from which it came out, in a tilted path. It finally stopped when it crashed into our Pilot parked inside the garage. We all got very scared, especially my wife because she did not understand how the car took off by itself. She had said she left the transmission on park, but when i checked it was on reverse. It was a very odd situation because there was nobody controlling the car. Even after it broke down the fence it did not stop. Now the car driver's door wont close because of the impact it had with the fence while it was open and crashed. Also our Honda Pilot got affected too. It has a big scratch on the left front side of it and the driver's door won't open either. We still cannot understand how this occurred and we are trying to find a logical explanation but we can't. We are very worried that it might have already happened to someone else.
- Hermilo S., South Gate, CA, US