Googled my trans problem found Donner's Daily Dose of Drama "Honda Accord 2003 EX-V6 Transmission Failure"

Violent down-shift. This violent shifting happened to me, just as described in the above blog. When the trans is cool drives fine after reaching operating temperature would down-shift violently. Arrived home checked the fluid level, yup it’s full. And smells like it did when I put it in on the last fluid service 4 months ago.

WTF Honda????? Was a die hard Honda dude. Now, don't think so Transmission failure without any warning. Not cool guys.

Our family has owned 6 Honda cars and 2 Honda motorcycles. Four of these Accords. 3 of these Accords developed transmission problems. This car, a 2003, at 98k miles the transmission began downshifting and moving from gear 1 to 2 violently (like dumping the clutch in a manual). Dangerous.

This car was maintained at Honda for its entire 'life'. Honda wants $6,700 total to replace the transmission. This is beyond blue book value. While a number of recalls for transmissions were issued by Honda, they say this one's VIN is not included, though symptoms are the same. And Honda, on first pass, is saying the car is too old for "American Honda" to provide partial or other remedy on this cost.

Three Accords with transmission problems - Honda has failed my 'trust' in their technology. They are also failing my trust as a customer. I expect more from them, especially after purchasing 8 vehicles from them, their known transmission problems, and the danger they can present.

If there is no favorable response from Honda in this matter, I am done with Honda, and will certainly pass that recommendation on to my family and friends.

I purchased my 2003 Honda Accord EX used in 2006. I have maintained the oil, brakes, tires, timing belt. And for the most part it has been a reliable car. I travel 120 miles to work round trip daily.

Last week, while driving, my car wouldn't go over 50 mph on the Hwy without revving up to 5.5 RPM's. I got it home without towing. After several phone calls, we had a person run a diagnostic on it, and it said it was the sensor. He replaced the sensor, transmission fluid, and oil, and today driving it to work, it drove like a charm down the highway about 50 miles at 70 mph. When I got off the Hwy, the car jerked violently going 45 mph. I felt as if I were rear ended. I knew something was wrong. I went 45 a little while longer, and then it jerked violently three more times. I was going to pull over and have it towed. I drove it slow with flashers on to work. Going 45 miles per hour in a 55 mile an hour lane. It didn't jerk thereafter, but going 45 mph, the RPM's were at 5.

I don't think a new transmission will help the car. The back light in my stereo also went out a month after I had the car. There are many similar flaws described by many of us. Costly. Are they really worth investing in any more.

I've owned my Honda for 3 years now (I've always owned Hondas). This has been a fantastic car for me thus far. I lost my husband to cancer at the age of 31, 2 years ago and really wanted something that was low maintenance and cheaper to fix. I didn't even question whether or not to get a Honda, the question was, which model to get. I decided on the Accord 2dr V-6 EX.

While driving home from getting a new kitten, I was on the freeway about 30 minutes from my house and the car jerked forward, almost as if someone was slamming on the breaks violently. I was going 65 mph at this point. I was incredibly lucky that I was not rear ended. The car preceded to jerk violently causing my left knee to push up and hit the dash. We put the car in Neutral and attempted to get off the freeway (during 5 o'clock rush hour). It took me 2 hours to get home in first gear, taking the back roads. The estimate to repair my Honda Accord is about $2000. I just started school for my bachelors degree and I do not have this kind of money. My Honda doesn't even have 100,000 miles yet.

I am very disappointed that Honda has failed to accept responsibility for the failure of the transmissions in their cars. I will be submitting a request to Honda to help pay the replacement costs.

I work 270 miles from home, I was driving home for the weekend and got off the Interstate after 2 hrs of driving to get something to drink. As I got back onto the Interstate my car started to jerk and buck like the gas and brakes were being used one after the other. The hi-way was busy and I was miles from the next town. I hit the flasher and drove down the shoulder at 20 mph until I got to the next exit. I pulled into a gas station to check tranny fluid, it seemed to be o.k.. Called the wife to find a repair shop near my location from the internet. Had it towed and it is still there now. Hope to hear soon on what issue is and how much $$$$ to fix. I bought this Honda used on the false pretense that they were good cars, depending on the repair cost, I will be trading it back to the dealer where I bought it.

I had my Honda Accord in for the recall and they said it was taken care of. At that time I had not had any trouble with the transmission. Just today I was driving 60 mph on the highway when my car suddenly downshifted to low and nearly caused me to be rearended by another vehicle. It would not shift into gear at all and although I was continuing toward home at 40 mph it did the same thing 3 more times. Of course it is after hours so I must wait until tomorrow to get ahold ot the dealer. I am distressed to find so many people online who have experienced this same problem without a solution.

A recall 'service' was completed in 2004 on my car for a transmission defect (according to Honda America's search of my VIN#).

Recall press release verbatim from the Honda website: 'A situation that is created by insufficient lubrication of the transmission's secondary shaft second gear that can occur under certain driving conditions. Prolonged operation under these conditions can lead to heat build-up and under certain circumstances may eventually result in chipped or broken gear teeth or breakage of the gear. In the event of a chipped or broken tooth, the owner will likely experience abnormal noise from the transmission and seek repairs. In rare instances, this condition may lead to gear breakage and possible locking of the vehicle's transmission, creating a potential safety hazard.'

I didn't buy the car until 2009. The problems listed in the recall are the EXACT SAME problems that my car is experiencing now. I was told by Honda America that the dealership has to diagnose the problem, and that once it is determined that it is the SAME PROBLEM that presented the reason for the initial recall, that Honda would approve a replacement of the transmission AT NO COST.

As suggested, I took the car to the nearest Honda dealership to have the problem diagnosed. I left it for a day, and the mechanic called me and said that the car's transmission has failed due to an issue with the 2nd gear (listed as the issue in the recall). I called Honda America to inform them of the diagnosis (and so they could update my case in their database). They stated that all I had to do was go speak to the service manager at the dealership, who would then contact his district rep, who would then confirm with Honda America that the repair needed to be done 'good will' (no charge). The service manager called Honda America and apparently his rep, then he said that since the car has high mileage, that they've never serviced the car before, that I didn't buy it there, that they will not 'come out of pocket' to replace the transmission at no cost. The service manager said that the 'best he can do is 50% off, and THAT was with pulling strings.'

I asked for the general manager's number, and both the receptionist and the service manager REFUSED to give it to me. Thankfully I am a resourceful person, and have good contact with the right people.

I contacted Honda America while I was STILL AT THE DEALERSHIP. They reiterated that the dealership is required to replace it, and they can reference Section 7.3 of the Honda Service Operations Manual (of which I can find NO COPY on the web) to verify that they are able to repair/replace a defective part if it was in fact non-functional at ANY TIME, ANY MILEAGE after the initial recall repair. I asked the service manager about this section of the manual, and he refused to show it to me. He stated that 'it would do me no good anyway'.

I filed a safety complaint with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration online, and followed up with a phone call. They stated that this recurrence of defect, even after the initial recall 'repair' is a KNOWN ISSUE and must be acknowledged by the dealership and Honda. When speaking with another representative from the NHTSA just a few moments ago, it was suggested that I call the US Dept Of Justice, Consumer Protection Agency Division, and to reference my official complaint. I will be calling them shortly.

My NHTSA complaint: THE VERY FIRST THING I NOTICED WAS APPROXIMATELY 3 MONTHS AGO. WHEN PARKED, THE RPMS WOULD SUDDENLY JUMP TO 2000 WITHOUT PRESSING ON THE GAS, THEN IT WOULD GO BACK TO NORMAL. MY MALFUNCTION INDICATOR LAMP CAME ON BRIEFLY ABOUT A MONTH AGO, AND THEN WENT OFF. THE MAINTENANCE REQUIRED LIGHT CAME ON A WEEK AFTER THE MALFUNCTION INDICATOR LAMP, AND NOW BLINKS EVERYTIME I TURN MY CAR ON. I WAS DRIVING FOR APPROXIMATELY 15 MINUTES AT A RANGE OF SPEED BETWEEN 0 TO 50MPH. VERY SUDDENLY, THE RPMS SHOT UP TO 6000, AND IT VIOLENTLY JERKED AS THOUGH I WAS SLAMMING ON THE BRAKES. THERE WAS A BURNT RUBBER SMELL RIGHT AFTERWARDS. THE LONGER I DROVE, THE MORE FREQUENTLY IT HAPPENED. IF I DIDN'T HAVE MY SEATBELT ON, MY HEAD WOULD HAVE SMACKED THE STEERING WHEEL. I WAS ALMOST HIT FROM BEHIND SEVERAL TIMES. NOW EVEN WHEN I AM DRIVING FOR A SHORT DISTANCE AND TIME, THE RPMS ARE HIGHER THAN NORMAL, AND THEN THE VIOLENT JERKING BEGINS.

Similar to other 2003 Honda Accord owners I had the misfortune of dicovering Honda has a transmission problem the HARD WAY...I was driving 65mph in comm all I could think was THANK GOD I WASN'T KILLED!!!!

The transmission went out August 2010, the estimates to fix it range from $3500-$4000, since I don't have the money to fix the car it just sits in the garage collecting dust. So much for the new tires, new battery, new breaks, new belts, 150,000 mile vehicle maintenance etc that I invested in nine months before the transmission failed.

If Honda doubts this is a true problem, I invite an authorized HONDA representative to take my car for a test drive on the highway, experience the sudden deceleration and then come back and tell me there's nothing wrong with the transmission.

To be honest, I don't even know why I'm storing the darn thing in the garage...I'm NEVER going to trust it again...$27,000 down the drain...Thanks Honda!

Was leaving work after dropping off Christmas cookies to co-workers got on the highway and car start jerking badly thank God there was a

Oreilly pulled in and asked a worker to help he told me to put in reverse but it didn't work so he checked transmission fluid and said it was low so he add some (band for Honda) then it went in reverse so was advise to get transmission fluid changed, car start driving great.. but jiffy lube suggest me to take to Honda due to tans fluid smelt burnt so when pulled out parking lot car start jerking worst then before so i pulled over and got it towed to lake jackson Honda at 1214pm and they keep over nite said transmission was ok they did a check and didn't find nothing.. put it on computer and still nothing but they said trans fluid need to be change due to the burnt smell so i said ok so picked car up on 12/24/11 and only drove bout 20miles and started again i called them they asked if i can bring back and i did and they drove it and came back and said my transmission is going out but will do more checks on it.. how could they not find that..they screwed me out my Christmas cause now its Christmas eve and im not able to go out of town with fam...i truly have no respect for Honda after this will never deal with them again, i don't know what to do now.

Well, now we have to join the ranks of pained - not to mention outraged - 2003 Honda Accord owners...our V-6 just started having the issue of downshifting/accelerating for no apparent reason. Scary stuff, indeed....called American Honda and got a case number. They really do need to cover the entire cost of a new transmission ($5,300 quoted - way high), in our opinion. The car has been regularly maintained, and the 2nd gear oil jet was installed in early 2005 per the 2004 recall notice. As someone else has already stated, this was simply a blatant attempt at a "band-aid" fix for the problem. Will update status on this post to let folks know if Honda is going to cover anything in the way of repair costs...and does anyone know if Class Action has started on this???? Have owned half a dozen Honda in the past - this will likely be our last.

Honda told me that since I didn't have the transmission fluid changed after 60,000 that that's probably why the transmission failed. WHAT? And yet, even though I needed to forgo the scheduled maintenance because of lack of funds, I would have gone with the transmission change had I known it was that crucial. My ex said he never had our Ford T-Bird's transmission fluid changed, and it now has 180,000 miles on it. I thought Hondas were supposed to last forever. Not mine! I think I just changed my mind on buying another.

I am sadly joining this group of very unsatisfied and traumatized owners of 2003 Honda Accords. I was driving on the freeway and slowed down as the traffic slowed ahead. I decelerated from 65mph to a terrifying 35mph in a split second as the car downshifted violently to 1st gear. If it weren’t for my seat belt, I would have slammed my face on the steering wheel or the windshield!!! I was almost rear ended by a semi-truck!!! I immediately pulled of the emergency side of the freeway and turned off the car. I checked the engine bay and under the car and found no apparent damage or leaks. I turned the car back on and proceeded to exit the freeway using the emergency shoulder. I drove the car to the nearest Honda Dealer (Gardena Honda), which was only a mile from where this occurred. The car continually downshifted randomly to first gear so I kept the car at 5mph to prevent it from going to second gear. I drove the car in traffic with the hazard lights on until I got to the dealer. I spoke to the Honda Service Specialist and was informed that the problem was most likely internal transmission and that it probably needed a new one. He quoted me $3500. In shock, I drove my car home (1/2 mile away) with the hazard lights on and going 5mph. I parked the car on the driveway and had been in that position for the past month. I looked around other transmission specialist and they quoted me around $1500 for a complete transmission rebuild with 1-year warranty.

This is a major defect waiting for someone to loose a life on. I am not willing to be the one as the example so I opt not to use the car. Honda needs to stand behind their product and offer a solution to this deadly flaw. Honda needs to extend their warranty or reimburse those who have had their transmission rebuilt elsewhere (dealer's $3500 quote is ridiculously over inflated). I really hope Honda rectifies this matter before someone looses a life.