2007 odyssey "lemon" and no help from corporate. Please advise

twinmama1

I have a 2007 Odyssey touring.

I have the car slipoing backwards when at a stop on a hill and I start to drive. I was told initially by my dealership that they drove it with no results. I have spent 2 years battling this issue that has become increasingly worse. I now slip a foot backwards and have bumped into cars stopped behind me. I was told that it is a "known problem, but they cannot fix what is part of the car". When asked for it in writing, corporate said they would not. I am afraid of bumping into the wrong person and do not want to be sued over something that is not my fault.

I have had many issues like fighting to replace a dead battery for 2 months after owning the car for 4 months. I have had to replace the tires every year and replaced the brakes when the car was one year old. My navigation is not working periodically when I am on trips with my 4 small kids solo and when I bring it in, of course it works. Again, they refuse to replace it and I am out of luck if I am stuck in a big city looking for gas or the onramp. I also recently had my A/C compressor go out suddenly this week when it was 110 out and my kid had an asthma attack from the heat. Who would expect that out of a 2 year old car????

I bought a new Honda for it to be reliable and safe. Corporate says that under the extended warranty, they will fix what comes up, but I cannot cross my fingers and hope my car will be safe for me to drive. I have no recourse according to them if I am in another city and something happens. I would have to stay in the city until it's fixed.

Does anyone have any suggestions?? Do these issues seem excessive for one car???

mikea07

I just read a message about someone having problems with their 2007 Honda Odyssey. I have a 2005 and while I know it is not new I feel I have problems with it that I should not have. There is 76000 miles on it and after the first 2 years of ownership the vans quality went downhill. I've had the radio replaced twice, the oil pan replaced, three motor mounts replaced, the master cylinder and ac climate control replaced. I just found out this week that the power steering rack ( $1700 ) and the lower control arm bushings ( $1100 ) need to be replaced. Also the PCM computer is shot and needs to be replaced. This is not to mention the recalls that had to be done. ( ABS recall on brakes, Gas conn. leak and so on ). Ohh and I also had to replace the lift supports for the back hatch twice. So...........I feel your pain and will never purchase another Honda again. By the way...............When I talked to the corporate office, they didn't want to hear anything if it was not under warranty.

01intrigue

Sorry to hear about your troubles, but I cannot believe that your experience is typical. Our 2006 Ody EX-L (bought in September 06) now has over 112K miles in the Florida heat and across the entire South and East. We drive north to Boston and back next month and that'll be another 3K miles on this workhorse. Only a replaced battery and the brake fluid recall, plus the 105K maintenance ($800) with the timing belt/drive belts/water-pump, have been our expenses, besides normal maintenance of brakes (once). This is our first Honda, and likely won't be our last. With such a strong name brand, I am surprised Honda is so nasty when things go bad. Are you able to shop around different dealerships? Being nasty to customers is uncalled for, in my opinion.

sww2

I had an ODY with 70000 miles when the tranny went out. Honda has known about this issue for some time and even lost a class action lawsuit over it. Honda will not assist you. Get rid of the van and buy something else other than a Honda.

shradhanand

We have an 09 Odyssey we bought from Coggin Honda of Orlando. We would set the AC on Auto at a fixed temperature and it would be working fine. Then it would cycle after the interior temp is reached and that would be the end of cold air. If the engine is restarted the cold air comes back. This happens mostly on trips over an hour but it has happened driving from Poinciana to MCO airport. Coggin says if they can't duplicate the problem they can't fix it. Once it happened on a Sunday and we took it in. Two of their advisors observed it not working properly but there were no techs to look at it since it was Sunday. We were told to come back the following day. Guess what? They could not duplicate the problem and we are still in the same situation. My wife took it there on 9/8/2011 because it happened while taking me to the airport. It started working again while she was in the parking lot. They kept it overnight but of course they could not find a problem. We spoke to the regional Honda rep but he was no help. We bought a new van hoping to avoid issues like these but how wrong we were. The vehicle has been in over 4 times and we are still dealing with this issue. We have 3 kids and this really sucks in the Florida heat. Does anyone have any ideas why this is happening? Thanks very much.

jwpfl

Intermittent problems like this are very frustrating and can be difficult to diagnose, as you can appreciate. While a number of possibilities exist for the problem your van is experiencing, my guess is that it is probably the thermal expansion valve that meters the refrigerant in your air conditioner. These often fail in an intermittent manner consistent with what you're describing. Unfortunately, the only way to get Honda to fix it under warranty is to keep trying to bring it in when it is not working. The problem may occur more frequently given enough time, making it more likely to happen at the shop, but this could take awhile. Good luck! Wish I could have been more helpful.

shradhanand

Thanks jwpfl for your response. We are worried about this failing after the vehicle comes off warranty. Do you have any idea how much it costs to replace this valve? Thanks again.

patnic

Do you have a local television station or newspaper that might get you some help? Maybe they can do a story on it.

BTW - also have a 2003 Ody with transmission issue at about 83K. Got a new one - they paid 90%, I paid the rest. And yep, they know about that issue.

I'm ready for a new van and leery about buying a new Honda Ody. Especially, first or second model year. New Toyota is boring, Nissan looks good, but dealer is over 20 miles away. Ugh.

jwpfl

Hi. Hopefully since you brought this problem to their attention while under warranty they will honor it if it ends up out of warranty when they eventually diagnose it. I really don't know how much it would cost to replace the expansion valve, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was over $500. It's possible that it is an electronic problem, so you probably don't want to just try replacing parts without a proper diagnosis. Hope you get it fixed soon!

redtuna

We were experiencing severe shuddering at 20-25mph as the car shifted gears. We took it to our dealer and there is a Honda Service Bulletin addressing the issue. Honda recommends draining and filling the transmission fluid 3, yes 3 times. It pulls out metal shavings that interfere with gear shift changes. It worked! Apparently there are metal shavings interfering which tells me whoever is building Honda trannies for the Odyssey aren't using quality metals. Heard the 2012's are getting the Acura transmission. Hope this helps other owners.