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Comments
American Honda is unwilling to do ANYTHING for my Accord with 1500 miles on it other than to replace the transmission with a REMANUFACTURED unit. Nothing more and nothing less. I guess with all the transmission issues Honda is currently having in the Accord, Odyssey, and Acura TL/CL lines, they have taken a hard-nosed stance towards the customers.
I have done my research and already filed complaints with the NHTSB, FTC, BBB, signed the online petition to American Honda, and added my name to the class-action lawsuit being worked on by a firm in San Diego. The lawyer I spoke to yesterday said that my story sounded like everyone else's and that American Honda was basically treating me the same way they have treated all their customers with transmission problems. The e-mail address in the third link ( hondacomplaints@pkns.com ) is still active for the law firm and is the best way to notify them of your transmission issues.
This is a copy from the Acura Board here on Edmunds:
#173 of 173 links for tranny problem by maldorf Aug 11, 2003 (10:58 am)
http://www.detnews.com/2002/autosinsider/0209/22/autos-593168.htm
http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?acura
http://www.acuraworld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2- 4415
Here are a couple of links about the tranny problem. One is the announcement of the extended warranty offered to only some of the affected customers. The other link is an online petition. The last link is about the law suit that is underway now as we speak. If you are having problems, you should get involved so that Honda realizes their mistake and makes it right.
Your dealer and American Honda appear to be treating you properly, and you decide to sue by joining a class action lawsuit? Where is your injury? How has Honda not attempted to remedy your problem? It is a given that no one wants to have transmission issues with their new car, but you yourself have admitted that Honda's policy on replacement versus repair of the defective unit is the proper approach. So, what is the hard-nosed stance, and what would you have Honda do differently?
Honda authorized the dealer to do whatever was necessary to fix the problem, so the dealer replaced all four rotors and brake pads. The brake shimmy is gone for now. I'm going to try to be extra sweet on the brakes, and possibly replace the rotors/pads with another brand after the warranty period is up (assuming they go bad again).
I also had a rattle in the right side of the dashboard. Apparently, a wire was hitting against something.
So far I've found Honda Customer Relations to be very responsive. I think it's helpful to call them before your service visit, so that authorizations can be made ahead of time. Of course, everything depends on the dealer's diagnosis, but at least the dealer knows from the outset that Honda is willing to cover the cost.
I'm so happy to have my car back again, especially after driving the dealer's poor, abused loaner, in which people have been clearly defying the no smoking sign
The only thing class action lawsuits do is make lawyers rich, and cars more expensive.
I don't think an automobile manufacturer is obligated to do anything more than cure the defect. It may be wise from a customer service perspective to go beyond this, but again, I don't feel that the obligation to do so is there. And as far as registering complaints in a number of different ways, that is each person's prerogative. Part of what I was questioning was accordboy's explicit agreement with Honda's course of action in one message, and then his subsequent actions (i.e., petition, class action, other complaints) and apparent dissatisfaction with what he once was satisfied.
thankfully, mine is a-ok.
I haven't called the service department...yet. Anyone else notice this? I did a search on the boards, and haven't found it. Thanks!
(If you figure out how to just "drive" this car, and stop obsessing over it, PLEASE let me know!!)
take a deep breath, and stop driving so erratically. haha, kidding. take it to the dealer and see if they say it is "within spec" or not. if not, wait until 35k miles, then get new front seats!
The grooves on the seat make you feel that way.
It feels like a very short but abrupt shift to the right when making a fairly sharp left turn. I always feel it on the same turn each morning. Oddly enough I never feel it shift back to the left and can't make it move either way by pushing side ways??
It's a little annoying so I'd like to find out if it can be easily resolved.
Took the dealer 2 days to do the replacement as it was the first 2003 that they had performed a replacement on. I guess this is a good thing since my Accord was manufactured in 8/03 and this dealer sells a LOT of Accords.
I'll keep everyone posted as the car now has 1,575 miles on it. (the dealer put almost 30 miles on it after replacing the transmission to make sure everything was gonna perform correctly).
Let us know if you have any luck pursuing other reimbursement/compensation from Honda.
Autobum: that's exactly what happens here, too - shifts one way but not back.
in my experience, all Hondas take longer to start than other cars. always have for some reason.
again, what is a long time? a full second? two seconds?
One person suggested turning the key to the point where the seatbelt warning noise and indicator lights come on, and keeping it there for a few seconds longer than normal (in case it's a case of the ignition system not immediately recognizing the key).
In my case, it begins to turn over, but sounds like it isn't getting quite enough gas for a few seconds.
It's so infrequent, however, that I'm ignoring it for now.
Since the car was brand new, I've had a squeaking/creeking type of noise coming from the right rear area when I'm going over bumps at low speeds. It seems like it's coming from outside of the car (maybe in the suspension) but I've read on this board about something inside the car that might be causing it.
And when I hit about 3,000 miles I started getting a rattle coming out of the dashboard area (seems to be right in the middle of the dash somewhere). It mostly happens at speeds above 50 mph. I've tried pressing on areas of the dash to locate the exact spot but that's hard to do at that speed (duh).
Anyway, other than these two complaints the car is great. Excellent handling, good gas mileage, brake rotors are nice and smooth (so far). But it is a little frustrating to spend almost $20K on a car and have noises like this. And I don't hear the rattles every time I drive, but it's at least 3-4 times a week.
I had a 96 Accord and an 01 Accord and neither of them made noises like this. Hopefully Honda will come out with a fix for these things because they seem to be happening to a lot of owners. I might have my dealer check these noises out at my next oil change, but they probably will have no clue, so I may just have to live with it for now.
But still, I think a brand new car should be flawless, especially from Honda or Toyota. I could see if I had 75,000 miles on this thing and it had a few creaks in it...fine, no problem. But brand new, out the door...sorry, it shouldn't be happening. Maybe I'm just too picky, I don't know.
At least my brake rotors are holding up so far. The transmission is very smooth, it handles very well, tires are doing okay so far. All in all, I'd give it about an 8.5 or so.
There were many posts on the 5-series board about various noises and squeaks, but the posters didn't seem as bent out of shape as we do here in Honda territory.
And on the Volvo S60 board, people were replacing this, that and the other thing and still commenting endlessly about great their cars are.
I don't want to downplay anyone's concerns, because car problems are frustrating. But maybe we should understand that our Hondas are just machines, and for around $20K, pretty nice ones at that.
The dealer salesperson said this rocking motion from the braking force is normal and is typical of ABS brakes. My current car (a 1992 Civic) does not have ABS but have absolutely no jerking motion when I brake and this is a 12-year old car.)
Does anyone who have 2003 or 04 Accord sedans have similar experiences? Please let me know if you do, and what can one do about it? Is the condition possibly temporary?
Any help would be greatly appreciated, as I almost bought this car without test-driving it, and had my heart set on getting an Accord.
Thanks very much in advance.
Kevin
This suggests that the 03's brakes are unusually sensitive by design, but is something one easily adjusts to. Second, seat adjustment affects operation - a driver develops muscle memory in driving the car smoothly but change the seat settings, and the driver has to learn again - after the initial head-bobbing.
Anybody have any ideas what it could be? I'm going to try to take to the dealer quickly because I only have 200 miles left on the warranty (35.8k)
thanks
Then the tie rod end.
My 1996 and 2001 Accords were rattle free when brand new as well as after 60,000 miles on the 96 and 20,000 miles on the 01.
Just my $.02 -- maybe it's too high of a standard but that's what I believe.
However, they told me I need new rear brake pads and that the sound was coming the wear indicator touching the rotor (do the rears even have an indicator?). This sounds ludicrous to me. How can a car with 36k miles need new rear brakes? Also, the sound occurs when I don't even have my foot on the break. They also want an outrageous $225 to turn the rotors and replace the pads?
Anybody have any ideas what the noise can be? Could it be the brakes? I'm going to get a second opinion next week
First, atlantabenny and sockpuppet1969,
thank you for your comments on the Edmunds board to
my question. I am wondering: Did you ever consider not buying
the 03 Accord when you experienced the abrupt body jerks from
the braking force?
Perhaps this is a matter of degree (and/or personal tolerance). Benny,
you mentioned you adjust to it after driving about half a mile,
but I didn't adjust for the whole 5 to 10 minutes I was test driving
it. I had motion sickness midway through the test drive and it
didn't go away through the end of my test drive. And I have
never suffered motion sickness when I'm the one behind the wheel.
I had settled on the Accord and thought I was just going through
the motions in test-driving it before I buy it. Now I'm not so sure.
As I mentioned, two out of the three Accords I test-drove had
this jerky braking, but the other one braked smoothly like in my
current car. I am just quite confused that this would be inconsistent
within the same model.
Do you (or anyone else) have any advice as to how to proceed? (I could not
live with the two cars I test-drove because I would throw up my lunch
in stop-and-go traffic). Do you think the dealer can fix
or at least dampen the hard pull? I keep thinking that this is due partly to the disc brakes being so exposed to the elements in the 03-04 models. Any truth to this?
Although I can try getting used to it (as both of you suggested), I just don't want to spend $26-27K and be subjected to this and not know FOR SURE that it won't be a problem. Thanks. Kevin
My wife's 99 EX had rear rotors and pads serviced at about 18k, even before the fronts did. I'm not sure if it's brake apportioning, smaller rear pads or a combination. Harder pad material might work though there might be a quietness trade-off.
I had an 86 Honda Accord in the past and swore by it. I guess things- they are a changin'. I will not own Honda again, sorry to say.