Test drove car at 133,000 miles and the shift from first to second was already not smooth but it was only noticeable sometimes with more aggressive driving or on a steeper incline. Bought the car. Have had it for about 1.5 years and 35,000 miles.

Very gradually the problem got more noticeable: jerks and slips would happen more often and more noticeably and I was driving on eggshells, trying to give it an extra "one-one-thousand" to do the shifting before gassing it. Transmission didn't slip every time, and was smooth if I hit it just right, but more and more often it was noticeably off. There was also a full second delay for the transmission to engage from park to reverse or drive which I read online is a sign of a wearing transmission.

Went to local transmission shop and the guy rode around with me and said the parts were wearing down and it's just a matter of time. I delayed as much as I dared and took it in at 170,000 miles for them to open up the transmission and diagnose ($350). Called and said I could have the very worn parts replaced (torque converter, clutch plates, pressure rings, washers, etc) for about $1,900 with one year, 12,000 mile warranty or have transmission rebuilt (everything replaced new except shaft and major non-moving parts) for $2,985 with 3 year 36,000 mile warranty or they could install a remanufactured Honda transmission for $3,495 with 3 year 100,000 mile warranty. Went with the $2,985 and picking the car up tomorrow from the shop.

It felt weird to spend more than KBB value of my car to fix its tranny, but the engine and body are in great shape and the radiator and hoses are new, battery is new, wheels and tires are great, no oil leak, so I decided to go for the repair over a new used car with that money where I would just be getting dealt a whole new hand of possible used car problems...

This car was my mothers car initially. She put only 40K miles on it and had it regularly serviced at the local Honda Dealer in Santa Clara, CA. The car was given to my daughter, who drove the car until it started slipping, on starts and stops mostly. I ended up helping her get another car (NOT a Honda) because it was unsafe to drive and didn't want her to get stranded somewhere by herself.

When she had a problem with a check engine light, she brought it to a service facility and they said it would cost 4000 dollars. She does not have that kind of money for a repair, so drove it home. She then brought it to the Honda dealer in Marysville, WA. and they said it would not be worth repairing if she was going to trade it in.

I now have the car and have been trying to see what I can do to fix the problem, or get Honda to help fix what I found out was a severe recall for faulty transmissions, and a poor design. This car only has 97K miles on it and was still a great car until this transmission problem occurred. I feel Honda should take care of repairs if under 100 K miles for transmissions. Or, at a minimum, cover a majority of the replacement cost.

This car was well taken care of, and not abused while driving.

I BOUGHT THIS ACCORD BECAUSE I BELIEVED THAT HONDA WAS A REPUTABLE VEHICLE. I OWNED A USED 1995 CIVIC FOR 9 YEARS AND HAD NEARLY 300,000 MILES ON IT WHEN I DECIDED TO SELL IT AND USE THE MONEY FOR A DOWN PAYMENT ON THIS 2000 ACCORD. THIS I HAVE TO SAY WAS A REALLY REALLY BAD IDEA. I WISH I COULD GO BACK AND NOT BUY THIS CAR, BUT IT SEEMS TO BE ONE OF THE HORRIBLE FACTS OF BUY A USED CAR. I HAPPEN TO KNOW ONE OF THE BEST TRANSMISSION GUYS IN WASHINGTON STATE SO HOPEFULLY I CAN GET THIS CAR FIXED REASONABLY OR I MAY HAVE TO TAKE DRASTIC ACTION. HONDA HAS MILLIONS OF THEIR VEHICLES ON THE ROAD, THEY SHOULD BE REQUIRED TO STAND BUY THEIR PRODUCT IF IT IS A PROBLEM THEY HAVE KNOWN FROM THE BEGINNING REGARDLESS OF HOW OLD OR HOW MANY MILES HAVE GONE BY.

I've had my 2000 Honda Accord for 13 years now. It's been a great car but I've lived in fear of the transmission ever since the news of the recall. After learning that there was really no fix and that all Honda's were doing was replacing the transmissions with new ones, I decided to take my changes.

Mine had already lasted to nearly 100k miles and does slip a lot going into 1st gear. I've learned to baby it and give it time to find 1st gear from a stop. Occasionally in the winter it will unexpectedly downshift and cause a quick jolt. I'm at about 160k miles now and hoping it can just hold on for a couple of more years. I feel for everyone on this forum!

Transmission slips between 1st and 2nd gear and sometimes into 3rd. Causes rpm's to skyrocket over 4000, and when it catches, transmission will lurch forward. My car was turned in for the recall due to the transmission and parts were changed, but I still have a problem. It is impossible to keep rpm's under 3000 while daily driving, I find myself waiting to be stranded on the side of the road somewhere when it finally gives out. Oh, did I mention i can red line it where most other cars would be approaching the 3500 mark (ps: red line on my Honda Accord starts at 6300 rmp's) extremely unhealthy for engine!

I purchased my new Accord EXL, year 2000 model, back in 1999 because I believed that that Honda brand and "Made in Japan" tag are synonymous with quality and reliability. There was a general impression that Honda cars have better resale value than any American cars. To preserve the value of my car, I always got all repairs in the last 14 years done at Honda dealership and maintained my car very well. I was surprised at about 76,000 miles (in 2007) my car's transmission failed - so much for quality and reliability. Its transmission was in fact replaced by Honda under warranty. Even after replacing the transmission with a new one, its transmission has failed yet again at 136,000 miles. This I've been quoted $4,600 to fix this problem. It's resale value is a moot point and any body's guess! I'm not buying a Honda anymore and from my experience dissuade people from blindly purchasing overrated Japanese cars.

We bought this car back in 2004 and it was a smooth ride and we had only had one problem with the A/C before the transmission issues started a few years back. At first when accelerating from a stop the car would take a while to change into gear and even sometimes miss gears, but this was just a random thing that hardly ever happened so we took no action towards the issue. Now the car is almost impossible to drive, accelerating is horrible as the car will take a while to change into gear and the revs will get higher until they're almost in the red and then the car will finally change into gear or freak out and change down gears or even miss gears. When trying to keep a constant speed the car will also randomly change up or down gears which makes it very difficult to keep a constant speed.

We had taken the car back to Honda NZ for them to look into the problem but they said they couldn't find anything wrong with the car. We then took it into a different mechanic and he said he thought it could be a problem with the transmission as he has seen many others with the same problem, he told us that he would look into it to confirm the problem and that we could collect the car later that day. We collected the car and the guy there told us we need the transmission replaced which would cost about $4,000, the car was only worth about $5,000 or $6,000 to sell so we told him not to worry about it. We visited Honda after looking on the internet and seeing many things about transmission problems and after receiving the mechanics report and asked them to do something about it as it is obviously a common manufacturers fault but they refused to go anywhere near the car and tried to sell us a new Accord instead.

We loved our Honda's. We have had an Odyssey, Integra, Prelude, Civic and an older model Accord which were problem free but this one Accord has been plagued with transmission issues. Honda were always our first choice when looking at cars. After this Accord and Honda's refusual to do anything about it, Honda is now our last choice. We are very proud owners of a very reliable problem free Toyota Highlander, Jaguar X-type, VW Polo, Subaru Legacy and a Mazda 6.

I have heard many things about the D4 light blinking but we can't see this as our D4 light has never worked since the day we bought the car.

Update from Jan 29, 2013: We actually bought the car in 2006 not 2004

Update from Feb 6, 2013: We have contacted Honda New Zealand over this issue again and they are still refusing to do anything. Their excuse is because our Honda is a New Zealand new car it was manufactured in Japan or Thailand and since this website ends it .com it is an American website so it must only have complaints about American Honda's, and the American Honda’s are manufactured in the United States of America or Mexico so they are apparently different. I have researched on the internet and it seems to be the design of the transmission that is at fault and it doesn't matter where it was manufactured. We told Honda about this but Honda New Zealand has told us that we must pay $6,000-$9,000 to have the transmission replaced as it is only a problem with the American Honda's. This is outrageous! We are now planning to take Honda to the Motor Vehicles Disputes Tribunal (a small claims court) and claim for a transmission repair or take them to a national TV show, Target or Fair Go (focus on consumer issues and putting them right), and see if this issue can be resolved.

I have not had the car fixed as of yet. I'm still debating on if its worth putting this amount of money into it. I'll also need to get other estimates as I have only taken it to the dealer. I will say this I will NEVER purchase another Honda!!!!!!!!!! This will be the SECOND TIME HAVING THE TRANSMISSION REPLACED. The first time was partly covered under the extended warranty. I am the sole owner of this vehicle and it has always been serviced by the dealer. What truly made me mad was when I pointed out that this was absolutely crazy having to have the transmission replaced twice the service adviser tried to blame me and say I didn't get the transmission fluid replaced often enough. The funny thing is GP Honda always serviced the car and it wasn't recommended. Even on the paper work I received with the estimate for their overall vehicle check they checked good under transmission fluid. The other stupid comment he made is you're getting about 100K per transmission as if that was normal. Again I'll NEVER PURCHASE ANOTHER HONDA AND IF I DO GET IT FIXED IT WON'T BE AT GP HONDA!!!! I would have thought Honda would have taken better care of its customers. Once you purchase the car all you can really do is take care of the car. When you've taken care of the car and still have major problems with it the manufacturer should resolve it. They should stand behind their product!! I bought the car because of their so called dependable reputation....they're obviously extremely overrated!!!!