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We have an 07 Odyssey that has already had some transmission issues at 55k miles. A few other repairs, too, but they were covered under warranty. The Odysseys are not as reliable as other Hondas. If you can fit your kids in it, the CR-Vs are much more reliable, and used ones should be a bit cheaper than the vans. We have an 04 CR-V with 166k miles and it's never had the issues the van has. Good luck!
I will just sell or donate it and be rid of the problem, as it's also costing me for insurance .
like all the others I only bought Hondas, ( I presently have an '09 Accord) and am extremely disappointed in their response.
I am buying an extended warranty for my Accor from Bernardi for 7yrs/70k for $950, and will ditch the Accord if any trouble arises.
By the way, we bought a 2010Subaru Forester ltd, and the wife loves it.
By the way all of the car dealers now run carfax reports on vehicles and use any small infraction as an excuse to lower what they will give you on a trade. (See below how I know this)
Honda offering to pay anything at all is nice.
Making decisions about vehicles can be emotional, but its important to calm down and think critically!
By the way we've test driven the following vehicles this weekend:
GMC Traverse 4cyl --> low on power. no V6's available anywhere (yet)
Toyota Rav 4 limited V6 (OMG loads of power). what a nice vehicle.
Subaru Forrestor 2.5Xt (turbo). load of power but not so many features
Subaru forrestor 2.5 limited. Nice interior but no power.
Subaru outback 2.5 limited. Gorgeous! waitiing for an H6 so we can test.
My wife prefers the RAV4. I prefer the subie.
We shall see.....
:lemon:
I have a 2005 Honda Odyssey with 106K. I get it serviced religiously. Just recently got a oil change with Honda, their policy is to check all fluids to make sure that everything is ok, they failed to do that.
After a week following the oil change, the car would start but would not move when you pressed on the gas pedal. And then the engine light came on. I checked all the fluid and saw that the transmission fluid was running on empty, this would kill the transmission quickly and I drive almost 100 miles per day going to work. I went to Bill Page Honda in VA with the car asking them for advice. They said that there might be leak, well I said there was no liquid on the driveway. Anyhow I bought transmission fluid from Honda and filled the car. After that the car was moving which is great. But the service light was on.
Took the car to Bill Page Honda the next day, they were feeding me a lot of BS about how it was not their fault that the fluid was gone in the car and then they blamed me for putting too much fluid which burned, then they blamed me saying that I put generic fluid from else where (which I have never done since I only take the car to Honda) and they based that solely on the smell of the fluid after the flush. And then they charged me $133 to tell me that I need a new transmission and that it would cost me $4,000. After spending hours at Honda trying to get this situated they would not help, they didn't even talk to the manager. I don't have $4,000 to spend towards a new car or to fix the transmission.
I was hoping that they(Bill page) would contact Honda of America and ask them about the good will service since we are diligent about taking the car to Honda every time, etc.
I am having a hard time trying to get in touch with Honda of America, can someone give me the number, I tired this 1-800-999-1009 but they only have 9 options and none to talk to the operator. Please help.
It sucks living in VA with no car and a sucky service from Honda. I would've liked them a lot more if they didn't treat me like I was stupid and give me BS reasons for the transmission replacement.
My wife also liked the Rav 4, but I HATE Toyotas pricing . It's too confusing, and even on Emunds its not as clear as Honda's pricing. That said, however, she LIKES the Subaru, and I have likely bought my last Honda.
The problem I am now dealing with is the noise that the rear brakes make. I replaced the front brakes (that had squeaked a bit a little over a year ago), but then the rear brakes (emergency reserve brakes, I was told) got much worse. When I took it to the dealer from whom I bought it, the dealership was angry at HOA for refusing to cover the brakes (I have 3-4 more mos. on them). It is in the dealership's shop right now, they will take everything apart to analyze the problem, and they assured me that they want HOA to stand behind their car.
I don't know what will happen THIS time, but I am getting tired of all of the problems (I had had another problem with tires in the past). I feel that this car is causing way too much trouble at only 3 years and 50K miles. I think when the problem is fixed, it is time to buy a Lexus (the kids are grown, so I can move back to a sedan).
07 Ody, and 08 Pilot
now I am driving 07 Subie Outback wagon limited and love it more than two ex-Honda...
Too bad HOA does'nt seem to get it....
- Had issues starting at altitude (above 9000 feet); we live in Colorado;
- Excessive brake grinding; dealer said it was dust, but one month after cleaning it was back (as was co-worker's Outback);
- 4 cyl transmission downshifted at weird times and became an acceleration issue;
- Not enough room in back seat for kids in car seats;
- Vent design under front-row seats allowed rolling object into the vent and somewhere under the seat; had to take seat out to get to it;
- Design of driver's side "cockpit" was difficult to get into and out of, even at 8-inch ground clearance.
It did drive well in snow, though.
Cheers
Through all my previous experiences with Honda I've felt they were one of the best car makers out there, but after this I am really disappointed. Don't they realize the reason people buy Hondas is so that they don't have to worry about ending up in this type of situation. Time to go look at the Subaru, Mitsubishi and Fords.
the original at about 60,000, replaced by dealer
the 2nd 40,000 later, replaced by dealer
the 3rd at 60,000 , too bad, so sad
they think since we've had all these " free " trannys,
that Honda bears no responsibility.
4 trannys in 166,000 miles
I'm smelling something like lemons,
We should ride the WAVE with the Toyata recalls and file a complaint with the NHSTA. Transmission failure is a serious safety issue, worst is that Honda does not address the problem as it appears that they have not upgraded the faulty transmission design and they give you back the same transmission that was rebuit.
The window of opportunity is now, let us let Honda do right by the consumer!
http://www.odysseytransmission.com//ProblemCases?msgId=301
It could be worse like if you own a Toyota right now. :surprise:
I would buy another Toyota any day, at least they care enough to have the recall and get these cars fixed even if they do lose money. Honda on the other hand is doing nothing. I will never buy another Honda.
You said "Recalling on all of these transmissions would cost them through the roof"
So what? They should have to pay through the roof! They screwed up the transmission not us. What is it going to take a family to die before they have a recall?
Like you I've owned many Hondas, but only one Odyssey and will not buy another one. Honda has known about transmission problems in the Odyssey for over a decade and hasn't taken steps to fix it.
Atleast Toyota is acknowledging their mistake.... Honda's lack of integrity is very disappointing!
According to the Honda dealer here, if American Honda pays anything toward the transmission replacement the warranty on the new transmission reduces from 3yr/36K miles to 1yr/12K miles. They said that if Honda contributed it would be replaced under 'warranty' and those are only good for 1yr/12K miles.
Anyone run into this? Is this for real? Thanks.
Yes, in 2007, Honda changed its automatic in the Odyssey from the 3-shaft to the heavier-duty 4-shaft version developed for the Ridgeline.
Thankfully Honda USA has agreed to contribute another $640. towards the bill leaving us to pick up a balance of $2,090. That helps restore a little bit of confidence ...but not all. I think I would buy another Accord but I definitely would not buy another Odyssey [it was great while it lasted, but it didn't last long enough].
Next purchase will probably be a small SUV and before this episode I would have picked the CR-V without hesitation. Now I'm thinking that the Mitsubishi Outlander is looking real good with it's 10 yr/100,000 mi powertrain warranty and track record showing good reliability. If I had to buy another van I would probably go with the Sienna (even though I'm not a Toyota fan). I'm writting this in hope that it will help other consumers out there make better, more informed choices when shopping for a new car.
....AND, in case any Honda Marketing folks are reading these posts, think about how this type of issue hurts Honda's reputation and effects future car sales. Wouldn't it have made more sense to make the necessary changes back when the problem first became apparent around 2000? It certainly can't be good for business when a person Googles 'Honda Odyssey' and "transmission problems" show up at the top of the results list.
2002 Honda Odyssey EX
1992 Ford Taurus L 4 door 300 cu in long-stroke
1982 Ford E150 Customized by Triple-E travel Van 351 cu ins V8
1979 Mercury Zephyr 6 cylinder 4-door sedan
1972 Datsun 510 4-door automatic
1967 Plymount Valiant 2-door sedan large-V6
1965 Morris 1100
1963 Austin 850 mini
I can get rid of the vibration (feels like you're driving on a washboard) by turning off the overdrive. At 80KMH I can feel it the most and turning off and on the overdrive will turn off and on the vibration. On a slight incline I have the same vibration at about 60 KMH. This was verified by the HONDA mechanic who said to me it was the transmission trying to find the right gear. He had suggested that I turn off the overdrive. There was a 2009 courtesy Odyssey that we test drove and it had the same condition. In the end, he said this was not the judder noted in the TSB calling for a program or torque converter change.
Now I have the same droning noise when I have a "cold" start and it lasts for a few minutes. Do you have the same issue, that it is temporary?
So far I have BS from CSR and Case Manager who tell me this is a "normal" operating characteristic of the vehicle. Obviously if I can turn on and off the vibration by turning on and off the overdrive, it tells me there is a direct link or cause, especially if the HONDA tech tells me the transmission is trying to find the right gear. The game that is played is the dealership cannot replace parts if they cannot root cause the issue properly as HONDA will not compensate them if it doesn't fix the issue. I know this as I initially had the vibration issue and they re-balanced the tires. Issue is still there and they have not sent me my "work" order. They told me once HONDA gives approval for the dealership, I'll get the work order. So if there is no TSB (or product update), they may not get compensated for work done if it does not solve the issue.
I'll be escalating this issue to the next level. Anyone else have the same issue.
However, my issue is a bit different. If the whole world can subpoena the heck out of Toyota's execs for documents about this issue since there were some complaints (well, there were some fatalities too, but...), can't the same people subpoena the heck out of Honda's Odyssey transmission issues? Maybe there were no fatalities (thank God yet) but some people reported coming close when their van got stuck in the middle of the expressway. And also considering that there are numerous complaints to NHTSA, maybe it is not out of reach... I wish someone did this and the faulty transmissions would be recalled. I own a 07 EX and am worried that my trans will also go south in a few years.
I bought a 2001 Odyssey a few months back. It has 79,000 and was a one owner vehicle until I bought it. All service and maintenance was done at the dealer on schedule and the owner said he never had any transmission problems, I have not had any problems with the transmission yet in the 4 months/4000 miles I have put on it.
For those that have been through the whole recall process, can you tell me whether or not I am still covered by the warranty extension? When I put my VIN number into the Honda site, it said I was covered (in a 2002 letter to owners), but that the extension was only good until 7 years after purchase or 100,000 miles (whichever is first). So its now 2 years after the 7 year window and I am wondering if I am covered or not. I thought I had read somewhere that Honda extended it again to 110,000 but I am not sure. Also, as I already said, I have not had any problems with the tranny yet - but am wondering what Honda's protocol is for the recall if I am still covered - do I just wait until it breaks and then get it replaced or can I be proactive and get it replaced now.
Also - any Odyssey owners out there NOT have tranny problems? I would like to think that since I haven't had problems yet, maybe I won't, but I've read enough comments on here to know that it could go at anytime.
Thanks.
Yes of course MOST Odyssey owners have not had tranny problems. I realize you're using hyperbole, but I think its safe to say that the vast majority of Odysseys out there have not had tranny failures. Don't you think if like 90% were failing you'd hear more about it? There is already a negative bias on boards like this, as the first or second thing many people do when they have a problem is Google it, and then they find their way to these boards and post about how horrible it is. Most of the soccer moms out there aren't bothering to post "hey, another great day with my Odyssey -- its still running perfectly!"
As for the Odyssey - the paint started peeling on the rear bumper 3 months into the lease (repainted under warranty). 18 months into lease the trans quit, totally dead (11,000 miles). "repaired" under warranty. Van has never been the same - surges between 1500 and 2250 rpm at 40MPH. Dealer says all is "OK" Very scary - lease is up in 3 months - can't wait to give it back.
Bottom line - The Odyssey is an impressive vehicle when working. It drives like a car and has impressive road manners however its mechanical gremlins are real and need to be addressed by Honda. Car's today are built with cost cutting in mind. Combine this with advanced electronics and hardware and you have a recipe for disaster (think Toyota) It does not help that Edmund's makes it sound like the Odyssey can do no wrong. The beauty of the T&C I am driving is that it's electronics and engine are archaic and very dated. Less pleasing driving experience but it is fairly reliable.
In my opinion Japanese cars of the 1990's were better built when compared to their 2010 counterparts.