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Comments
I have a 2002 Ody with 9,000 miles and the transmission valve broke on the highway 150 miles from my home. I have to go back down and get it tomorrow. So it doesn't appear that 2002 will be immune to any tranny issues just because they upgraded the speed.
This is my new (purchased in November 2001) 2002 Honda Odyssey. Since the purchase it has pulled to the right and had a small steering vibration. I have taken it to three dealers and requested for this same problem to be checked and fixed. Some have said tire pressure, others rotate, others tires out of round and finally a tire manufacturer tel me that the tires are fine and needed to be worn to the same size or thickness of tred. Well, here I am and I still have the pulling and shaking.
To add to this I have taken my vehicle in three times due to a buzzing noise from the front which was diagnosed with being the front windshield which was defective from factory, never sealed correctly. Well, I still have this also (at high speeds), although it has gotten better.
Third and this one is a good one. I had fuel smell in the car and after complaining about this I was advised that they found a hole in my gas tank. Another manufacture oops, so the dealer said. The tank and lines were all replaced and three days later I had my van. After much complaining I made the dealer provide me with a loner. because that's another Honda thing, they do not give loners....
Then there are the little things... squeaky drivers seat. It sounds like an old door hindge. Again, I took it in (two times) nothing yet. The last dealer I went to said they took the seat apart and lubed it. Well, the next day, it squeaked again...
And last, during a road trip I made the mistake of sitting in the 2nd row and was very upset to start hearing a rattle from the drivers side passenger door.
Can anyone help with these problems.
I am a very unhappy Honda Ody owner and would love to give it back to Honda!!
Have you tried to contact Honda and listed all the problem your had? See what can they do. Maybe check with the lemon law lawyer in your state.
good luck,
bjk
I'd be dilligent in keeping files and get Honda to buy it back under the Lemon law.
1. Pulling to the right
Multiple trips to the dealer, replacement of the camber bolt, alignments etc... culminating in replacement of the tires.
2. Door sticking initially, right rear.
3. Transmission nosise, still there and NO clunk yet!
4.Cracked rear spoiler-replaced.
5.Multiple small problems, cracked and broken compartment doors, all NOT due to mistreatment.
6. Recurrent "glazing" of the rear brake shoes and front pads and rotor and rear drum "Hot spots". This is the recurrent problem and Honda dealer informed me the most recent episode was due to driving prolonged distance in a rain storm! I did not know the Ody could not be driven in the rain!
There seems to be a recurrent problem with recurrent glazing of the pads and shoes, hot spots on both rotors and drums. We drive mostly highway, 30% city.
Has anyone had similar issues and any comments.
Thanks.
Pat84: Good try. I'm not tall enough, so I had someone else drive. Better safe than a control freak.
Thank you both.
Seeing a couple of parking lot dings on the right rear quarter panel, the service manager tried to blame collision damage and poor body shop repair for the door constantly jamming. The problem with that explanation is that my Ody has never been in an accident and never been worked on by a body shop. It's just an excuse for their inability to fix a chronic problem. From what I've read on this site, sticking sliders is a chronic problem that lots of Ody owners have. Apparently, the door mechanisms are poorly designed.
Here is listed on Honda Owner link. http://www.ahm-ownerlink.com/ . Sign up is free!
Honda Automobile Customer Service
Honda Automobile Customer Service stands ready to answer questions and address concerns with your U.S. Honda vehicle. You may contact us several ways:
By Phone
Monday through Friday, 6:00am to 5:00pm Pacific Standard time at the toll-free phone number (800) 999-1009
By Fax
(310) 783-3023
By Mail
American Honda Motor Co., Inc.
Honda Automobile Customer Service
Mail Stop 500-2N-7A
1919 Torrance Blvd.
Torrance, CA 90501-2746
Good luck,
bjk
So I've been driving around with the door not completely latched. Not good if we get in a wreck. Vehicle going to the dealership on Monday. Again.
I think this is a safety problem. I finally called American Honda and the NHTSA and filed a formal complaint. Both phone numbers are in your Honda manual. I would urge others to do the same.
Honda needs to do a formal recall on these doors. Although apparently the new latches aren't working any better.
San Jose, CA
Is this legit?
It's not a strong thrust or long hesitation it lasts just a quick moment, couple of seconds, then kicks in.
Bottom line is try a new dealer and or speaking to the zone rep if you have on going problems...
How do you contact a zone rep? Will the dealer provide this or should I contact Honda manufacturing?
Also, I was upset that our local dealer refused to help us in any way. We purchased the van and our Accord there within the last 2 1/2 years. They probably don't have an obligation to help but if they want future business, which they might not get anymore, I think they should have helped out. What does anyone think about this?
Well I don't think you will be able to find the truth. Unless Honda has a data base to collect all the sliding door warranty for all the Honda dealers performed, you won't be able to tell. And I believe Honda has that information, I believe Honda has all kinds of data base to collect all the warranty work performed by their dealer. Dealer is charging Honda for all the warranty work. The question is "Will Honda tell you"? The answer is NO. It's proprietary information for Honda.
Since 1999, Honda have made over 500,000 Odyssey in last 4 years. You know there are 4 other people have sliding door problem. Let's say there are 50 people had sliding door problem. 50/500,000 =0.01%. Is it high, low? What's the standard for all the car maunufacturers? It could be a good project for J.D. Power or some college kids.
bjk
Campaign Number: 00V119000 Date: 2000-Apr-25
Component: Structure: Door Assembly: Latches And Locks
Defect Summary: Vehicle Description: Minivan. The sliding doors may not latch properly.
Consequence Summary: An improperly latched door could open unexpectedly while the vehicle is in motion. Under certain circumstances, a door could open completely. An unrestrained rear seat passenger could fall out of an open door of a moving vehicle and be seriously injured or killed.
Corrective Summary: Dealers will replace the door latch assembly on all Odyssey minvans built from December 3, 1999 through December 16, 1999. Also included in this recall are approximately 1,612 Odyssey minivans that had the latches replaced under recall 99V-158 or under warranty, that may need to have the latches replaced again. Owners of these vehicles will be notified by Honda to bring the vehicle to their Honda dealer for inspection of the previously replaced latch assembly. Latches with the suspect date code will be replaced.
URL: http://www.autosafety.org/autodefects/HONDA.htm
(Car salesmen won't like customers reading this!)
"The Odyssey minivan launched by Honda in 1999 has not been up to Honda's usual quality standards with eight safety recalls todate. The van has particular problems with sliding doors that will not stay latched. Honda has issued many dozens of Technical Service Bulletins (TSBs) to dealers on how to fix problems in all of its vehicles. CAS has listed some of the major TSBs in the enclosed Fact Sheet which tells you how to find other TSBs on your vehicle."
They also say this "When Honda makes mistakes, it hates to admit them as seen by Federal fines for failing to recall seat belts sooner and violating emission rules.
When its cars have defects, Honda often uses secret warranties under which only consumers who complain loudly get reimbursement. Look for the code phrase "Any repair performed after warranty expiration may be eligible for goodwill consideration by the District Service Manager" in Honda Technical Service Bulletins to indicate the possible existence of a secret warranty. When Honda used this phrase on excess tire wear on 1989-91 Civics, owners got free alignments and reimbursement for excess tire wear up to 36,000 miles."
four times because it will not go straight. 4 Alignments later and it
still pulls to the left from all lanes of the highway. Has anyone had a
similar problem? The aligment machine (at three different places) says
it's straight and the tires have been changed and rotated--the
dealership finally gave up.I just submitted my "certified letter" for
the Lemon Law and awaiting American Honda's reply. We'll see how Honda
responds. To all else out there: test drive your Odyssey on the highway
before you take delivery and see if it goes straight--this has been a
nightmare.
The LX problem involved wheels that were out of round. The solution in these cases frequently involved a change to alloy wheels. I suppose Alloy wheels could be out of round as well.
Any information would help.
Thanks.
I called America Honda and the customer service person told me that there are a lot of mechanical parts in the sliding doors and mechanical parts can break, and that's what extended warranties are for.
Moral of the story; if you buy a Honda Odyssey EX make sure you buy the extended warranty. I never thought I would see the day that you would need to buy an extended warranty on a Honda.
I wish Toyota would hurry up with their redesigned minivan before I go broke fixing these doors.
1999 Odyssey EX had its share of problems with its power sliding door (it was first year), maybe Honda cut too much corners on it's sliding door. Honda has improved it's sliding door since then.
bjk
I pointed this out to the dealer. She pulled her receipts and said only the passenger door latch assembly was replaced. Which was the one that wasn't working at the time. Apparently when the technician checked the bulletin he found that my VIN number wasn't part of the recall.
So even though my work order says both latch assemblies were replaced only one was replaced.
So I called America Honda again to find out why my vehicle wasn't included in the recall. The driver's side latch assembly failed at 13,600 miles and the passenger side failed at 53,000 miles. Seems like my van should have been included.
The dealer's shop cannot fix the pull. Tech Line was no help. Alignment is correct, tire pressures correct, tires are in good shape and cross-rotating the tires made no difference at all. When accelerating it pulls even harder, so hard that, from a left lane, it will climb UP the road crown, AGAINST A CROSSWIND! Honda was very unwilling to assist my dealer with other in-warranty efforts to fix this, so I contacted BBB Autoline. In my complaints to BBB, I outlined the pull to the right, poor paint quality (silver), noise upon acceleration, and rumbling at 48-56 mph in top gear (1500-1700rpm)
Honda responded to this by sending out a field engineer to work on the van. After two days of work, he indicated (through paperwork, he would not be bothered to actually talk to me) that the noise upon acceleration is normal torque converter noise, he fixed the rumble by doing something to isolate the shift cable and replacing the front "dynamic dampner" with one from a V6 Accord, the bad paint is "not abnormal," and after adding camber adjusting bolts and slightly altering the camber on one side, deemed the pull to the right to be normal when compared to another 2002 Odyssey.
I believe his "torque converter" explanation of the acceleration noise is correct and am willing to accept that as normal, and I appreciate the fact that he could correct the rumbling noise.
But...
I drove 5 other 2002 Odysseys, and not ONE of them pulled to the right like mine. NOT ONE! For them to tell me that the pull is normal is essentially declaring that they do not know how to engineer a FWD vehicle as well as their competition. And the assertation that the blotchy paintwork is "not abnormal" is yet another declaration that Honda can't do something as well as the competition, in this case paint a car silver. But I know better that that. I have owned or currently own 4 other Hondas and have never experienced such problems. They are not perfect, but I have always believed they offer excellent engineering and build quality for the money. And when problems did arise, Honda fixed them quickly and courteously.
Now Honda has me re-thinking my stance (sheesh, who wouldn't!). I tried to contact the "mediation specialist" at American Honda who originally arranged for the field engineer to look at my van, but so far two phone calls have gone without reply. I want to give Honda every opportunity to restore my faith in them, but it's beginning to be a stuggle for me to remain optimistic (understatement). My next obvious step is to pursue this under the Texas Lemon Law. I have a rock-solid case. I will not relent. If they continue to avoid me, or if they refuse to rectify the problems, I absolutely will file suit. And I will continue to outline the verifieable facts here for others to read and draw their own conclusions.
I like Hondas. I really do. But right now I am wondering why I spent time defending the Odyssey against the Honda-bashers over at the Ody vs. Chrysler minivans board.
Apparently a defective door latch is a safety problem for some owners and not for others.
"Have you noticed any increase in the vibration as the tires have worn? Have you rotated the tires? "
I haven't but I still have very low mileage on my Ody compared to you. Because of that I haven't needed them rotated yet either.
I stopped reading posts to answer you. I'll continue reading to see if you get an answer to your question from someone else. I would agree that even at 20k there shouldn't be any vibration.
Thanks
This door latch problem is a major safety problem. I can't even get my door to latch manually. Plus the door can't be locked. I guess Honda is ok with letting people drive around with doors that don't latch until they can get to a dealer for repairs.
Is your Ody 3yr/36,000 miles warranty expired? I will take it to the dealer to get it fixed.
bjk