Just like all the other cases reported here, the transmission on my 2001 Honda Civic just went out without warning. I do not want to waste time describing the details. Rather, I want to make suggestions on what to do about it. In my case, I have always written to newspapers' editors on current news items so I firmly believe that the pen is a mighty sword. The biggest regional newspaper in my area is called the San Jose Mercury News and they have a columnist named Mr. Roadshow. I am going to write to him about this and hopefully my letter will be printed and if enough people respond, maybe the Mercury will do some kind of investigative report on it. When I called Honda Corporate this morning to open up a case for claiming the repair costs ($2800), the tow charges ($76) and the rental car ($50/day), I made sure that they know I am working with the newspaper. I made a big deal about them taking down my contact information and I repeated every bit of information they gave me. I am going to do a journal on the whole ordeal and make my story into a case study for Mr. Roadshow. Other things I can think of doing is calling a radio station or a TV station. My local Channel 7 (ABC) has some consumer advocacy program called "7 On Your Side". Contacting the Consumers' Union may also help. But, one thing for sure, I will never buy another Honda. It will be Toyota and nothing else for me from now on.

Update from Jun 6, 2009: This is a (very belated) addendum to my posting on July 11, 2008 (#182)

San Jose Mercury News' columnist Mr. Road Show said he has not heard anything about the 2001 Honda Civic being especially prone to the problem (my thinking is that the average mileage for this problem to appear is 96K so it will become more obvious right about now, when more and more cars hit that mileage). He did forward my message to two other columnists (one on consumer complaint, another on technical auto issues) but neither of them chose to pursue the subject. I also called up some transmission shops locally to see if they noticed an abnormally large number of 2001 Honda Civic being brought in for transmission repair. Unfortunately, none of them noticed such.

In any case, I did file a claim with American Honda in Torrance and started a "file" with them. After some back-and-forth communications by phone and fax, mostly in proving to them my Honda was well maintained all along, they agreed to "share" the costs. They told me that: #1, the repair would be coded as "warranty", which will greatly reduce the total costs, and #2, Corporate Honda will share 50% of the reduced costs. I thought it was pretty fair so I said "thank you". However, when it came time to settle the bill, I was asked to pay $1376, a little more than half of the original quoted "non-warranty" repair!!! Since my son has been paying $55 for a rental car EVERY DAY since this whole incident started and it was already day 10, we decided to just paid the amount and picked up the car.

Afterward, I did call up American Honda again to ask why the "warranty repair" cost exactly the same as "non-warranty repair" but they said the pricing is up to the individual dealership and I should take it up with them. They promised to pay 50% and they did and that's that. I called the dealership about 6 times before I finally got to talk to someone live. They said the original quote they gave was actually for "warranty repair" and that "non-warranty repair" would be twice as much. That is not the way I remember it but since I could not prove my case, I had to let it go at that.

Also, my son said that for the first few weeks after it was fixed, it still felt very sluggish and made funny noises when the car was started and taken into first gear. Now that it has been 5 months, it is running OK.

All in all, it was just a very unpleasant situation. We paid for the tow truck, 10 days of rental car and 50% of the so-called warranty repair -- almost $2,000!

I will NEVER, NEVER, NEVER buy another Honda.

I bought a 2001 Civic new and have paid the dealership for all recommended maintenance to ensure warranty coverage. The extended warranty ran out last year and of course the transmission failed on our first long trip with it. The "Check Engine" light flashed while climbing a hill and there was a loss of power. Pulled over at top of hill and all seemed ok. Engine temp was normal, no leaks, pings or knocks. Continued to cabin and took to the closest dealership the next day. They replaced spark plugs for $200 and said all ok. 10 minutes down the road the tranny failed while passing a motorhome in heavy traffic. Barely made it to the side of the road without a crash. No deal from Kamloops Honda but Honda Canada covered $1300 of the replacement cost. Still cost $3000 plus a week of car rental. But working now. Won't buy that CRV now. Also had an engine mount go a couple of months ago as well. What a lemon this is turning out to be.

I have a 2001 Civic EX with automatic transmission. The tranny suddenly failed on me the other day. I had it towed to the dealership. They had it for a whole day before they could tell me that the tranny had died. They explained that their policy doesn't allow for specific diagnosis or repair of the problem, just replacement of the entire transmission which would cost over $2500 plus I'd probably have to take it to get the alignment done afterwards. The maintenance schedule doesn't even show that the tranny needs to be serviced until 120k miles so it stands to reason it is expected to last past that mark at least. Not until I requested to report this to Honda did the dealer give me their information. I filed the case today and am awaiting their response.

I have a few things to complain about. . . . I bought a 2001 Honda Civic in 2006, so it was about 5 years old. I never had a problem with it until about 2 weeks ago. I noticed my transmission was slipping and then about 2-3 days later (on my birthday)the car just broke down. It would run, but it wouldn't go anywhere. I had it towed to a local transmission shop and ended up needing the torque converter replaced. I got it back about 3 days later on a Wednesday. The Friday after that (4th of July) I couldn't get the damn car out of park. I had it towed for the 2nd time back to the transmission shop. They fixed it and gave it back the next day and also told me that 2 of my motor mounts needed replacing. UUUuuggghhh!! About 20 minutes after leaving the shop I heard a loud noise under my hood. It sounded like I had busted my tire, then I heard a loud grinding noise. I thought 'GREAT. What else could go wrong?!' I called the transmission guy AGAIN and had it towed AGAIN (for the THIRD time in two weeks) and found out that my ball joint in the front passenger side had busted. UUUUUGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!. I don't think I will ever own another CIVIC again. An Accord maybe. This whole experience has cost me well over $2,400.00. I thought these little cars were suppose to save you money. Not put you so far in the whole you can't see the light anymore.

Add me to the ranks of victims of Honda -- thought I was buying a reliable car and at 80,000 miles my transmission quit. Torque conversion failure. This is clearly a manufacturers defect and I'm left holding the bag. I followed advice I found here and called American Honda for a goodwill repair. When it quit moving in the middle of the road I lucked out to get it off to the side before I lost all momentum. I had AAA tow it to the dealer - didn't know what else to do-- and I haven't had the work done yet because I still don't know if Honda will give me any "goodwill." Of course my extended warranty has expired so I'm completely at their mercy. I did perform required maintenance but at an independent Honda repair shop so I don't know what kind of goodwill they'll extend. I've been calling around and the dealer is at least $1200 higher than an independent Honda shop for the repair.

I want to join a class action suit -- doesn't anyone out there know a lawyer who would file for us? This is clearly a safety issue; suddenly the engine started revving with no forward momentum -- and with absolutely NO WARNING!! What if I had been on a freeway at the time - or on a steep hill?? Are they waiting for people to get killed before they take this seriously?? SILLY ME, OF COURSE THEY ARE!! Stay away from the 2001 Honda Civic if you're shopping around for a reliable used car.

I would like to thank Honda for convincing my parents to never buy a Honda again. My parent’s ’01 Civic LX recently died while on the highway in Houston. The dealership scanned OBDII codes P1361 and P0740. The service adviser told my parents the P0740 is transmission failure. To fix it, they replaced the entire transmission for over $4000.

When I got back home, I checked the two OBDII codes. P0740 is Torque Converter Clutch Circuit Malfunction, which I believe could be resolved with replacing the solenoid, which is a much cheaper alternative. I asked the service adviser why they didn’t do that, I was told that the dealership “doesn’t mess with the stuff inside.” That made a lot of sense to me, it’s like replaces your whole house because your toilet doesn’t flush. My parents should have taken the car to a tranny shop and fix the part that was broken.

Just a side note, this is our 2nd Honda. Both of which had tranny problem. Our 1994 Honda Accord also had a tranny problem that caused the tranny to not upshift.

I neeeed help!!! Im 21, full time working student tryin to pay off this piece of sh*t Honda civic that I bought 3 1/2 years ago. It only has about 73000 miles on it and its screwing up on me everyday!!! It drives for a few miles and stops accelerating and shudders. I have to turn it off and wait for a few mins before i can turn it back on and drive it. But it stalls and shuts down so often I don't know what the hell is wrong with it. I changed the camshaft censor, which was assumed to be my first problem, that cost $80, but then it happened the day after I fixed the camshaft censor. It happens so randomly everyday Im scared to drive anywhere!! I don't have the time and money to be fixing this so called reliable piece of sh*t car. Can someone help me out or tell me how I can solve this issue without costing an arm and a leg.

.. I will never buy a Honda again thats for damn sure. I have to 10,000 to pay off, WHAT A F*CKING RIP. My bf has a saturn and a ford and its older than my Honda but he isn't having a problem with those cars. THis is just sad sad sad. I cant believe ppl think hondas are good cars.

HELP!

Little_kat_27@Yahoo.com

I was driving my 2001 Honda Civic down the highway in Dallas and the transmission goes out - talk about dangerous. I almost got killed as my car slowed down and oncoming traffic almost slammed into me as I tried to get over to the shoulder. I definitely don't expect a failed transmission for a car that only has ~73k miles. What a piece of crap. Has anyone had any luck with filing a small claims suit against Honda. From what I've read and from what the mechanics have told me this is a common problem.

I own a 2001 honda civic ex and I bought it because I thought Honda's were supposed to be the most reliable cars. I have owned the car for several years and until the transmission died on me recently, I hadn't had too many problems, aside from the muffler constantly rattling. Well, the Honda was running fine with no signs of dying, until wife was driving to pick up our foster kids from a visit with their mother. It was during this 15 minute drive that the transmission completely died, leaving my wife stranded on an overpass and our foster kids stranded at the family job and service center for a little longer than they would like to be there. The transmission was slipping a little bit earlier in the day, then it stopped completely. Thank you 2001 Honda Civic for being completely worthless at this point. Why won't Honda recognize this problem and pay for there mistakes in 2001. Based upon what I learned from this page (http://www.hondaproblems.com/Civic/transmission-failure.shtml) I will try calling them to see if they will pick up some of the cost to get a new transmission. I'll keep you updated.

My daughter was at the NJ shore with her 2001 Civic and called me because the car would not go into gear at the parking lot. I drove 80 miles, picked her up and on monday called Avalon Honda to have it towed. Later that day they said they had changed the transmission fluid and "fixed" the problem which they had seen in other Civics. I drove my daughter back to the Avalon dealer and then received a call that her transmission had slowed down on the expressway and she had pulled over twice. After she reached home I called the local Honda dealer who towed the car and informed me the transmission had failed ( at 41k miles).I called honda in Torrance CA. to complain about the misdiagnosis by the NJ dealer, the danger to my daughter on the highway and 2 towing bills. I also informed them that my wife drove a 2004 Accord and I was on my 2nd acura MDX. After faxing them the NJ dealer diagnosis they agreed to pay for the new transmission and reimburse the towing costs if I would pay $300 towards the tranny cost, which I did. I have summarized the problems we have had with the 2001 Civic that include 4 door panels that had to be re-glued at 13,000 miles, a new battery at 29,000 miles, a new AC system at 40,000 miles, engine mounts replaced at 39,000 miles, new front struts at 48,000 miles and the new transmission at 41,000 miles. This car has been driven by my daughter at college and now at work and only has 57,000 miles in june 2008. It is well taken care of and is a big disappointment to the family. If you look at the NHTSA site for technical service bulletins issued by Honda for the 2001 Civic it totals 348 while the 2002 dropped to 218. Clearly 2001 was a bad year for the Civic.

I wish this website would have existed when we bought our Honda. After reading almost all of the complaints about this problem, I would have saved myself a lot of money buying a Toyota. The transmission went out without warning on Friday as I was driving to work. I almost didn't make it, then had the car towed home at the end of the day. The mechanic told us he'd heard of this problem a lot and I should check the Honda website and/or call Honda. I did both with no results. I will file complaints in every place I think will be effective in getting this safety hazard fixed, and I won't be buying Honda in the future.

I have had a similar situation as everyone else here. The car just died--as one poster said it was like I was in neutral, except I was in drive and flooring it. My mechanic found out yesterday it missed the warranty by 1 month and is going to cost $1200. I'm going to write a letter to Honda and include information I have found on the 'net (such as the number of transmission complaints on this site and a few other sites I found). I plan on asking them what they plan on doing for me--not that I actually expect them to volunteer anything, but I will make sure to let them know how unhappy I am with them. Honda is supposed to be a reliable car, but I certainly am not feeling that right now! My friend has a 2000 Civic and has had none of these problems!

I could have never thought that the Honda transmissions could ever go bad! But I guess I was wrong! My girlfriend was driving her Civic happily to her work in a morning on a highway at 70 mph. Half way to the work the car starts to slow down even though she is pressing on the gas pedal. Fortunately there was not much traffic on the highway, so she could pull over on the shoulder. The car comes to a full stop, the engine still running, but the car won't move at all in any of the gears. The car gets towed to the nearest mechanic by AAA and within minutes, the diagnosis was out. Transmission failed!! We looked up online and found out that there has been similar cases already with this model. Also tried calling the local Honda customer service hoping to get a goodwill repair. But Honda doesn't care about 160 car failures out of the millions of cars that they sell. Their excuse was "the car had 109,000 miles so it's past the warranty" That's BS! Anyways, what did I learn from this? No more Hondas in family after this!! bye bye Honda................

My story is not much different than the others. I had my tranny serviced approximately two weeks ago and my very reliable mechanic told me all was good to go. I have been quite diligent about keeping my services up to date. Lo and beholed it went out. He even took the time to go and talk about it with the service manager at Norm Reeves Honda who said that there was nothing he could do for me. I have always trusted Honda to the fullest extent. I once owned a 1986 Honda Civic Crx which I honestly didn't take very good care of and when I traded it in it had 183,000 and the most costly thing I ever had to do to was replace the clutch for about 400 bucks give or take. I sure wish I had discovered this site before I bought it.