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A web search on Odyssey transmission failure will get you over 562,000 hits and yet Honda tries to ignore this problem and treat each occurrence as a one time failure. That is B.S join a class action suit and get them to stand behind their :lemon: :lemon: :lemon: :lemon: :lemon: product!
We have a 2000 Odyssey which had the original (under warranty) transmission replaced 10/06 at 98,000 miles. One month later that transmission was found to be defective and a third transmission was put into the van in January '07. At that time I was told that there was no charge because the second transmission had also been defective. Now, 2 years and 30,000 miles later the third transmission needs to be replaced and Honda has graciously offered to split the cost with us. When I asked about the 3year/36 month warranty I was told by Honda that because I did not "participate" (their word) in the replacement cost I was only covered for 12month/12,000 miles. Apparently, if I had paid even a dollar towards the replacement of their defective product my warranty would cover the FOURTH transmission. Now I'm out $1400.
At no time did anyone from Honda ever ask me if I wanted to "participate" or explain that replacement of their defective part would only result in an additional 12/12 coverage. I have never heard of this. I've contacted Honda about this and am waiting for a regional manager to contact me. Has anyone out there ever had this happen to them? If so, please let me know if you were able to resolve the problem.
Thanks!
I had to pay part of my replacement, so I wonder what excuse they will give me when my new one fails...
I am on the fourth tranny and have averaged on every 2 years. now Honda wants me to pay and I am not buying. I have never heard of a vehicle having so much trouble. Honda must be making a bundle on the junk transmission replacement ploy. there has got to be justice in a time when auto makers are in a bad way. I am ready to join that class action.
It took me 4 months of explaining to my dealer what was wrong, but in the long run it worked out.
What I had going for me.
Original Owner
Bought at the dealer in question
serviced at the dealer in question (not 100% by the book, but regularly)
This is my 4th Honda
and I told them that I wasn't going to do ANY of the upcoming major services until the tranny was fixed.
American Honda covered the entire replacement cost and labor (would have been over $6K).
While they had it up there I paid to replace timing belt/water pump and did the 90K service.
New tranny, belts, pump, filters, etc. for under $1,500.
My 2002 Honda Van was originally purchased at the Dublin, CA Honda Dealership by someone. It had a carfax record that perfectly maintained and showed it was traded in at 33M. A Chevy dealership bought it and put a sticker on it showing that it was given an all-points used car check by a certified mechanic. I bought the van.
At 48,000, the van started having tranny problems. At 50M, it was shot.
After much grief with Honda of America and throughly ROTTEN service from the two Honda dealerships in my area, Manly Honda of Santa Rosa, CA and Hansel Honda of Petaluma, CA, I discovered that there is NO hope in getting Honda to help you our in any meaningful way (other than $500 vs. $3,600) if you didn't buy it at a Honda dealership and have THEIR mechanics do the used car check.
It is completely wrong. I told them that I bought 5 new hondas in the past from dealerships----not theirs, but, it least it showed I was loyal to Honda. BOTH managers of the two dealerships gave me NO hope because I didn't buy from THEM. They made it sound on the phone that they had great sway over Honda of America's decision and if I brought it to them, they would take care of me and get something worked out by way of a very significant contribution, in part by Honda of America and the dealership. I was told that the dealership has a lot of authority when it comes to contributing towards the customers cause. "Bring it in", they said.
So I did. I was hooked like a fish. It was a ploy to get me to bring the car in. When it was apparent that I was bamboozeled by one dealership, I towed it to the other---why? Because I fell for the same trick twice. I was told that the first service manager of Manly Honda of Santa Rosa had reputation as business man but didn't really fight for the customer---I believed that from first hand experience. So I believed the service manager at Hansel Honda in Petaluma and towed the van there. No sooner than it was there, the tone changed. It stayed there 2 weeks and no deal was worked out with Honda---although I was assured that there was something Hansel Honda would be able to do. It was BS.
Honda of America had no interest in helping. They were very rude. After my 4th contact with them, they basically said we only cover cars bought at Honda Dealerships. It didn't matter I had a long, good track record with Honda. When I told them that this experience made me angry at Honda and I wondered if I'd buy one again---their response: "We'll sir, if you feel that way, we can just remove our $500 offer then". Yeah, like that means alot. BUT it says volumes about the arrogance of Honda Of America.
I finally towed it to AAMCO, got a lifetime warranty, and a $400 discount off the warranty---and a discount off the transmission work, too.
Moral of the lengthy story----If you're going to buy a HONDA, new or used, only buy it at a Honda dealership. It also helps greatly if you pay the outrageous premiums to have them service your car.
Hansel Honda of Petaluma, and Manly Honda of Santa Rosa should be VERY ashamed of their horrible service and trickery.
Have your prominate person do a yahoo search on the internet using "honda odyssey transmission problems" The reponse number will be 550,000 that would seem to me to be much to high to ignore. Good Luck on fighting the Honda coverup.
jvhwood
Honda is using the case-by-case to separate the group power, now Ody owners have to do the opposite, get to Honda as a biggest group as possible.
I'm looking to make the best choice as far as reliability and repair issues. Not on trade in value as I will probably keep it till it (or I) dies. I have a 1993 Pontiac Trans Sport that unfortunately has died after 187k miles. Drove it for nearly 9 years and 95k miles. Had to rebuild trans along with several other basic problems (starter, water pump, AC comp) Before that I had 2 Cameros, a 1987 & 1989. I bought each from people I knew. So buying a vehicle again has my nerves on edge.
So PLEASE someone HELP me to decide which is the best choice.
I have to decide this morning!
The used Odyssey is way too old for you to be getting into it long-term, and especially since the 99-04 Odysseys were notorious for transmission issues, you just have no idea when the transmission on an Odyssey with 104K miles will go again.
The Montana hasn't been a competitive van since the late 1990s, if it was even competitive then.
Last week, my wife noted that it was "driving a little funny in the snow." When I got in it on Saturday (my birthday), I noticed that it took 3-5 seconds to get "in gear" after selecting Reverse and a few again after selecting Drive. It was also making a "belt"y kind of noise that went away after driving it for 10-15 minutes and arriving at the mechanics.
He's a Honda and Acura specialist, but not a dealer. The sound had stopped but he told me that my description of everything sounded like transmission trouble which he confessed was very common. He told me about the "7 year 9 month warranty up to 109k miles." Having read a lot on this site, I confessed to not being the original owner, not having all of the documentation for tune-ups, and not buying it at a Honda dealership. To each of these he responded that it wouldn't be a problem. I asked if he wasn't thinking of the recall, and he said it was a warranty.
I went home and called the dealership. They told me the recall had been done by the previous owner and that anything else I'd have to take up with American Honda.
I called them today and after discovering the guy I was talking to didn't understand the recall at all, he told me there was nothing he could do to help me. I didn't even get an insulting $500 offer. He told me that he couldn't help me because I bought it used, that it was outside the 36k mile warranty and that it didn't have the extended warranty.
I told him about the research I had done on the internet including this site and he more or less insinuated that we were all lying. And that whether our transmissions had failed or not was "customer opinion."
Then I called the lawyers.
Have you had any luck contacting the attorneys regarding the class action settlement? I clicked on the link in your message (http://www.hondatransmissionsettlement.com/php/login.php), but I can only access the VIN validation page. It says mine is covered, but I can't view anything else on that website.
I looked up the law firm on yellowpages.com, and found the address/phone:
Kirby Noonan Lance & Hogue
625 Broadway Ste 600
San Diego, CA 92101
(phone # deleted IAW forum policy)
I called a yesterday afternoon, and was transferred to the voicemail for Rose Reynolds. I am currently awaiting a return call.
Let me know if you have any luck.
But they gave me the same crap. You must have talked to Ron at Honda, he is a good liar. He told me no one else is having these kinds of problems, and that I can't believe what I read on the internet.
Can anyone comfirm?
The dealership will let us know what the $$ is today so I'll be able to say whether 25% would even make a difference.
Question: Has anyone ever gotten timing belt work done on their car at the same time? Would it save any labor costs to do so?
I called the Honda Specialist again to ask him more about the "7 year 9 month, 109k warranty" he was telling me about. He used the term "extended warranty." I said that I never purchased an extended warranty and he again said that it didn't matter. The American Honda rep told me, "You don't have the extended warranty." I took him to mean that I didn't buy one. Did he mean that I didn't qualify for one? Why not?
What this sounds like is the result of the Class Action lawsuit for the 99-01 models. Does that make sense?
We were originally quoted $4200 to replace the transmission at Autoway Honda in Clearwater, FL -- which came with a 36K/3 yr warranty (our van has 70K miles). After 6 weeks ....YES, 6 weeks of going back and forth, they finally agreed to replace it for $1800 -- but with only a 12K/1 yr warranty. We took it to Aamco who will rebuild it for $2300 AND warranty it for LIFE. Be REALLY careful getting work done at the dealer (unless you're under warranty, of course). The dealer told us that we also had 2 broken engine mounts, but we've had two other shops look at it and there's only one broken mount. I've owned Honda's for the last 15 years, but this will be the last one that I will ever own. This experience has shown me their lack of professionalism, sneakiness, and unwillingness to take responsibility for their errors, which I might be willing to suffer through if they had a dependable product.....but alas, they don't!!
1) I'm told by my my local auto shop that the catalytic converter might have to be changed. I saw in some forums that up to 80k catalytic converter will be replaced by Honda. Is this true? I dont have a Honda warranty (it expired in 2008).From my vehicle history I see that Honda did a one time fix on the transmission of my car because of similar problems across many 2001 models - like a recall.
2) Does it make sense to buy an extended warranty?
3) I'm told a CC will cost $1000 for the Honda brand. Has anyone purchased Eastern Catalytic converter or anyother non honda converters? I see them listed for around $200.
4) Also I have not changed the timing belt on my car. Should i spend for all at once and hope to be happy for a while?
Please help!
It doesn't really make sense to purchase an extended warranty at this point, because in 2 years, you really don't know if you'll still be driving the same 2001 Odyssey.
Honda did offer transmission replacements, although in recent years, they've been more restrictive and the offers less generous- even during earlier years, transmission failures were taken on a case by case basis by Honda North America in regards to payment. I'm sure at this age of the car, Honda would have stopped paying.
I see it as you have 2 options:
1. You can fix everything that needs to be fixed right now (get a mechanic to do a complete inspection) and drive it for another few years
2. You can fix nothing, and go ahead and trade it in, and take a small hit on resale value. Any dealer will probably be fixing everything before putting it on the lot anyway, so you will take a hit on the trade-in value.
Don't fix one thing but not fix the other- the 2 solutions that make financial sense (at least to me) are all or nothing solutions.
15,000 miles later, the tranny went out----and we were gentle with it as we were with all our cars. I was SHOCKED. Shocked that a Honda van transmission would go out at less than 50,000 miles. But, I was more SHOCKED at the RUDE, unprofessional Honda of America attitude, like you are saying. Because I didn't buy it at a Honda dealership, they'd only give me $500. It cost $3,600 to fix.
I told them about this site and that there were others who had double the mileage and they got all but $1,000 paid for. He said nastily, "if you don't like it, we can resend our offer to you". I was more than mad at that. I told him despite my great success with the Accord, I would not buy a Honda again. With that he said, Fine. We resend our offer.
I hate Honda Of America now. DESPISE them. They're attitude is counterproductive to say the least.
Oh but of course----we are all lying. We have nothing else to do, but bad mouth Honda of America.
First thing is Honda should not equipped these vans with bad tranny for so many years, 1 or 2 years is enough headache.
I purchased the new Sedona because it best fit my situation. In all honestly, it is not as nice as the new Honda as far as handling and a few other little features. But, you don't hear the same problems with them. Most of Hyundai and Kia's problems are little things. Also nice to have the peace and mind of a long warranty. The Koreans are putting together a very competitive product now.
Pro
1)Believe in 07 the transmission was replaced so you have a chance of that problem being resolved.
2)Nice handling and acceleration
3)Eight passenger seating is nice except no place to put the eight seat when not needed (started in 08 in 06 and 07 the seat would store in the storage space).
Con
1)Braking is soft (reading the forum on braking) but recently they have posted a bulletin on the issue with a couple people seeing improvements. Interesting to see if that lasts.
2)Towing needs an expensive towing package or void the warranty. Seems like they still do not trust the transmission yet to allow a small towing capacity without the package.
3)The shield in the back (over the rear window) is worth less and even bothersome. You cannot clean the entire window and have heard that ice build up will cause to crack when opening the door.
4)Lots of noise with the doors. Both front doors had noise issues and are sliding doors make odd noises also.
If I was buying now I would give Toyota a try based on my needs. A couple pros and cons for the Toyota that I noted are:
Pro
1)Does not require an expensive towing package.
2)Has an AWD option
Con
1) Eight passenger seating causes you to lose the captain chairs (not so in the Odyssey)
2) Does not have the nice front storage compartment like the Odyssey
So far good as per the complaints.
I think 2000 - 2004 had the most problems.
You are on your way to a new transmission. How much you end up paying is a total shot in the dark, as you can tell from the various results posted here. Just be glad the transmission doesn't die on you on the way back from a ski trip down the snowy mountain road.