Reverse was extremly slow- another close call. While trying to complete a 3 point turn with distant traffic, reverse quit while car was in oncoming traffic. Honda replaced the entire transmission at portion of the cost with me. Almost was a very serious accident, family in the car. My first transmission failure was a sudden loss of forward movement while out of town in a busy intersection when the car had only 65,000 miles. Honda acts like they've never heard of this being an issue. The nature of the widespread and most of them happened within 80K to 120K mileages, it is definitely a product default to the transmission or the control system related to the transmission.īought the car with 30k miles - transmissions don't last 65K period. That's why I initially did not think the issue is really due to Honda. Having experience of owning 3 new Honda cars in the past 16 years, all bought new, I have really enjoyed the reliability and efficiency of the cars with Honda brand. With so many similar occurrences to the 2002 Honda Accord which I just learned in these posts, I think it is time for Honda to take the responsibility for the sake of its brand name. The problem would resurface a week or two later though. With several tries, however I found I could sort of let the car drive 'normal' after I reset the car's electronic system 'normal' without feeling the known transmission issue for a short week. It really annoyed me and scared me a couple times as I was so close to be rear-hit. The past several months I needed to use the car a bit more. I never thought it was a systematic manufacturer default by Honda, even though the shops I visited consistently told it was a known issue to Honda for the Accord before 2004/2005 model. As I have another car free to use, I have just left the car in garage most of the time. I also dropped at Gilman Honda SW service center in Houston, they told me the same thing, and the replacement of the transmission would be several thousands! Gilman Honda told me Honda would not cover it in or out of warranty as the car is over 10 years and just passed 100K miles.

It seemed the assessment were consistent and conclusive. I had turned the car to several Houston mechanic shops including Firestone which I have been using as my trustful provider, all reporting to transmission errors with their diagnosis. We had to drive with extreme caution avoiding I-10 to arrive Houston home. We gave it a break and checked to make sure everything seemed to be good with full fluid as the car had been regularly maintained. We were really scared in state highway 71 before turning to I-10 eastward. All in the sudden the car had difficulty speeding up normally from 1st gear to 2nd gear (low to high) after a full stop due to heavy traffic. The car had been really good to us until it was driving from Austin to Houston for the spring break. This sensor is covered under Honda's lifetime seat belt warranty, but some dealers charge a $100+ 'diagnostic fee' or tell customers the entire SRS unit ($800) is bad. The SRS warning light likes to come on due to a defective seat belt sensor - typically the driver's side. Repair cost to the subframe is over $2,000. Subframe rust near the front passenger side wheel has become a problem recently, due to the poorly positioned A/C drain hose directly above that area. Honda extended the transmission warranty to 93 months/109k miles for the 2000-2001 Accord as a class action lawsuit settlement, but owners of other Accord model years with transmission problems are out of luck. Transmission failure has been a huge problem for the Accord & several other Honda models all through the early 2000s model years. The transmission begins slipping & eventually has to be replaced, typically soon after 90,000 miles & with a repair cost of over $2,000. We recommend avoiding this model year like the plague. Notes: The 2002 Honda Accord suffers from widespread transmission failure, subframe rust, & problems with the airbag system (SRS).

Honda accord transmission problems