I purchased a new 2009 Honda Accord V6 in October 2008 from Crest Honda in Tennessee. I considered my third purchase of a Honda as an investment that would possibly be my last purchase as far as a car is concerned. So, I didn’t mind paying over $30,000 for the car. Throughout the years, I have had my car serviced on a regular basis by a reputable Honda Repair Shop. From time to time in the past three years, the symbol in the shape of an engine appeared on my dashboard. When I brought it to the attention of the auto repair shop, I was told that this symbol sometimes appears if the gas cap is not screwed on tightly after pumping gas. Well, this seemed to work, plus this same problem occurred with the car rental and I was told the same thing and it worked. So, I had no reason to give any additional consideration to the possibility of a problem because I was never alerted about engine problems with 2009 Hondas. However in July 2016, I traveled to Louisiana to attend my brother’s wedding. To my dismay, the car began to run very rough as if it was going to stop in the middle of traffic along with the “engine” light appearing on my dashboard. When I arrived back in Tennessee, I took my car to Accura Automotive. They checked the car along with any recalls and advised me that the repair was under warranty, so I should take the car to Crest Honda where I originally made the purchase. I had my car towed to Crest Honda and I was informed that the repair was under warranty and it would be made at no charge to me.

Nine months later in April 2017, I began to experience the “same” problem with the car. So, I rented a car and took my car back to Crest Honda. About one week prior to the car problem I was having, I received a safety recall notice related to my airbags or SDS system.

I spoke with the service technician at Crest Honda. During our conversation he stated that there would be a $3,000 charge to resolve the problem related to the engine light that appeared on my dashboard again. I objected to the charge because I felt that I was being asked to pay for the same problem that was not properly repaired the first time in July 2016. So, I objected vehemently! After conversations with the American Honda Headquarters, they stated that the warranty expired October 2016. If the warranty expired in October 2016 and they made the repair prior to the expiration of the warranty, why am I having the same problem with the car? As far as I was concerned, I am paying for service that was not performed properly the first time.

This is my third Honda. I have also purchased a Honda lawnmower. I purchase Honda products because of the “quality” that goes along with Honda products. My loyalty has been put to the test and I feel betrayed! Honda did not stand behind their product that I decided to purchase as an investment. First, I was not alerted that there was a recall on my 2009 Honda Accord. Second, I incurred car rental charges not once but twice. Third, I was given the runaround as it relates to the actual repair. After leaving the Crest Honda Service Repair Shop, I gave the technician approval to make the repair and also take care of the safety recalled item related to the airbags. On the morning I was scheduled to return the rented vehicle to Enterprise Rent-A-Car, I called Crest Honda and asked what time my car would be ready for pick up and I was told that they never started the repair because they did not know if I wanted the repair done! I informed the technician’s supervisor that I approved the repairs before departing the day I left the car with them. According to the person who called me, he said they tried calling me to verify if I wanted the repairs done but they could not reach me. Well, they could not reach me because they were calling an “incorrect” telephone number that I told them before leaving the repair shop that those numbers were no longer contact numbers to reach me. This was unbelievable! What is equally as shocking, I the technician to go ahead and make the repair along with the repair related to the SDS recall BEFORE I left Crest Honda. So, there was no reason to call me about whether I wanted the repairs done! I told him I needed my car and I gave him permission to make the repairs before I left Crest Honda that day!

I consider all of this behavior unethical, unprofessional and it constitutes FRAUD. You do not charge a loyal customer for a warranted repair that was not properly performed the first time. In my humble opinion, the behavior of the individuals in the repair shop and the corporate office was not only incompetent, unprofessional and greedy. To add insult to injury, someone sent me a customer satisfaction survey along with a message that stated - there is no need to complete and return the survey. So, I sent the email along with my complaint to the Vice President, Mr. Smith. I can’t imagine why they would send a "customer satisfaction survey" and an email message that discouraged me from completing the survey?

My decision to purchase a Honda versus another car was based on a person who owned a Honda. I routinely make decisions about purchasing a car from someone I know and not television Ads. Until I had this problem, I also highly recommended a Honda. However, with the bad experience I have had with poor customer service coupled with an expensive auto repair, I would not recommend the purchase of a Honda.

In closing, if or when I am in the market for another car, it will not be a Honda nor would I recommend a Honda to others as I have in the past.

I have taken my car numerous times to be fixed and it has yet to be done. I've seen online where there is a class action taken for 6 cylinders, and a warranty extension for something else that could be tied in to my problems, but the service department keeps trying to say that one has nothing to do with the other. The thing is I have numerous issues going on...

1. VSA and engine light is on

2. Oil life indicator comes on shortly after oil changes

3.Hard down shift when slowing down/stopping

4. Dragging noise when cold cranked

From what I've read so far, oil consumption, leaking into the spark plugs and timing chain would cause such random symptoms. I'm not a mechanic but I do have common sense. Is it really that hard to figure these issues out? No, Honda is just trying to get out as cheap as possible!!! I was talked into buying my Honda because I had to purchase a used car and they had the best ratings for dependability and value. Wish I would have stuck with Toyota now. This is my first and last Honda for sure!

Honda has this huge suit that they just settled regarding the misfire on the car cylinders. It cover cylinders 1 thru 4 but 5 and 6 are left out if you have a v6. Cylinder 2 went at 43,000 so I had a new coil and spark plug put on free of charge buy my then local Honda dealer. Cylinder 5 just went at 69,000 and cost over 300 dollars, the dealer I took it to said it was not covered under warranty. It was the exact same fix as cylinder 2 but because it was cylinder 5 it was not covered. Fouled spark plug and coil replacement. I will never buy another Honda as long as I live, these plugs are suppose to be good for 100 thousand miles and they are not, this is really disappointing.

While driving home from a weekend trip away, the check engine light started flashing as I was cruising on the highway. I pulled off at the next exit and stopped at the first place I could. When idling, the car was shuddering and sounded as if one of the cylinders was misfiring. Given that I didn't want to damage the car by continuing to drive it, I had it towed to the closest Honda dealership. It was Sunday and all shops were closed, so I had to have a relative in the area pick me up and take me to the closest airport, where I got a rental car and drove the rest of the way home.

The next day, the Honda dealership notified me that the 3rd cylinder spark plug was fouled and would need to be replaced, along with with a computer upgrade. He mentioned that this was becoming a common problem with all Honda V6 engines, but it still wasn't covered, so I had to pay $150 for the repairs on spark plugs that are rated for 100,000 miles, even though I was below 65K. Total cost after towing and rental car was well over $300, not to mentioned the huge inconvenience of getting stranded in the middle of nowhere.

Dealership was also concerned about excessive oil consumption, so they have started me on an oil consumption test. This is not something that I should have the burden of doing on a 3 year old car that has been maintained perfectly according to schedule. Not happy!

The check engine light came on when I was traveling home from a 2 hr drive. The car was jerking when idle at the stop light and wouldn't accelerate through the light. The check engine light indicated that a spark plug was bad and that one of the 3 engine cores was bad. Estimates were around $400 to fix when the car, which only has 42,000 miles on it. The dealership admitted that the spark plug should never go this early and blamed our driving habits for the engine core going bad. Nothing was covered by the warranty. We just let them do an oil change and the problem has gone away so far. We just aren't sure when the check engine light will come back on since we didn't let them fix it.

My vehicle has been plagued with Cylinder 3 misfires (P0303 code) since my 2nd year of ownership ---- here's the history:

At 29000 miles, check engine light turns on and vehicle begin to shudder badly and run rough once I'm off the highway and slow down at a light. Vehicle runs rough until I turn it off and return to drive ~8 hours later. Runs fine until ~35 miles into the drive when the problem arises again. Took the car to Honda service center, they diagnose the problem as cylinder misfire, update the PCM software (per a Honda bulletin) and replace a fouled spark plug.

Car runs fine until.............13 months later at 49000 miles. Same problem arises, same diagnosis....cylinder 3 misfire. Spark plug replaced and I'm sent on my way.

All is well until.............10 months later at 60200 (most recent occurrence) when the same problem arose. This time, however, the car ran fine after waiting 8 hours to take it to a service center. When I arrived with no check engine light, the center refused to service the vehicle because they claimed to need a check engine light for accurate diagnosis.

I've read how this problem arises from overtightened valves within the engine and that to fix this costs ~$600-800 just to look inside the engine for the problem, followed by ~$6000-7000 for engine repairs. American Honda Services may or may not cover some of the cost for this repair. If the problem is untreated, it apparently slowly scores the inside of the cylinders and does cumulative damage to the engine. It's only a matter of time/mileage until the problem requires a major engine repair ($6-7K). This is a huge problem for Honda with their 2008-2011 Accord lines that is related to Eco-mode. Apparently frequent long highway/constant speed driving exacerbates the issue. For this to truly be fixed, Honda would need to recall all cars and pay a large amount of money to replace substantial portions of many Accord owners' engines. Of course, they don't want to do that, so they ignore the main problem (overtightened valves) and just treat the symptom (replace spark plug, update PCM software, await imminent future spark plug fouling in ~9-12 months).

Aside from this problem, I really liked this car and wanted to keep it for the long haul. This was a terrible, engine-destroying, deal-breaking problem that Honda refuses to treat properly with a full recall. They've lost a Honda customer for life. I refused to deal with this problem to the tune of 1-2 days without my car and $200 every 9-12 months and didn't want to eventually deal with begging American Honda Services to pay for at least part of the $6000-7000 engine repair that would be needed to fix the problem. I traded in my car at only 3.5 years of ownership for a Toyota Avalon. Not looking back. I'd advise anyone suffering from this problem to do the same and to post their experience so Honda understands exactly how these failures are costing them lifelong customers.

It was approaching the time to have my oil changed, so I checked my oil and there was no oil on the dipstick. Took it to my mechanic and had the oil changed. He noticed one of the plugs was fouled and asked me about it and if the car was burning oil. He changed the oil and the fouled plug. Did an internet search to see if there was a problem with excessive oil consumption in 2009 Honda Accords. It showed up that this was a recurring problem. Called Honda Corporation and the rep. wasn't very helpful because I didn't have a record of every oil change. However, the next day I received a call from the service manager of the Honda dealer wanting to see the car. I brought it in and they did a computer mod. and changed the spark plugs. However, they did not change the oil since it had just been changed 3days prior. I received another call from Honda Corporation instructing me to bring it back after a 1000 miles and have the oil checked and then to bring it back after 2000 miles and have the oil checked again. After 2000 miles it was down a little more than a half quart. The Honda dealer said since you didn't have the oil changed by us we can't verify this and you need to start this process over. So that is where I am at. Very frustrated. Down a half quart after 2000 mile may not sound like a lot but for a car that shouldn't burn any oil, to me that's quite a bit. Just waiting on the next step.

My 2009 Honda Accord first went into the shop on 3/08/11 with rough idling and the engine malfunction indicator on. I was told that the spark plug for cylinder #3 was fouled and was charged $240.10 to have all spark plugs replaced. It seemed early to have a fouled spark plug since the car was just over 2 years old and had only 59,642 miles on it, but the problem seemed to be resolved and I didn't give it much more thought. I began having intermittent problems again in April of '12 with a rough idle and engine malfunction indicator coming on. This occurred at approximately 85,000 miles. I took it back to the dealership in September of '12 and was told that I needed a software update and was charged another $105. Approximately 1 month later the problem reoccurred and I took it to the dealership again. This time they diagnosed the problem of oil leaking into the #3 cylinder causing the spark plug to fail. They recommended a new short block, new intake and exhaust rockers on #3 cylinder and install new valve stem seals on all cylinders at a cost of $7,586.07. I have not had the repair completed yet because of the exorbitant cost compared to the value of the car. I'm frankly very surprised that a manufacturer with a reputation of quality such as Honda has not addressed what appears to be a known and wide spread issue. This is the fifth Honda I've owned and have returned repeatedly solely because of their reputation for reliability. Shame on you Honda for failing to stand behind your work!

while driving car engine light went on took car to the n earest honda dealer, first question when did you put gas in. well they adjusted some things after keeping my car for 2 days and said they really cant find anything this was March 17 On April 22 well guess what same problem and again the first question was when did you put gas in. The result 2 bad spark plugs from ofcourse bad gas. I think that this car is garbage and I would never get another Honda. I am someone how had 4 Hondas and always felt this car was the best. HONDA YOU STINK

3rd time the check engine light has come on. The previous 2 times the error message was for a "Cold start cylinder skip". This time it was worse. Not only was there a cylinder skip, but there also were other messages (vtec?). Also, a tip of one of the ceramic spark plugs had broken off and there was major oil consumption. They had not reported the oil consumption issue on my previous visits. Either they didn't check for it or they decided not to tell me about it. Anyway, they now want me to come back after the next 1000 miles. Another pain. The dealer is not local and I have to take 1/2 day off from work. I've had 2 other Honda Accords and a Toyota Solara for a total of 480,000 miles and have never had the oil consumption problem or check engine light issues as I'm having with this Honda.

It's the first time in 36 yrs that I would NOT recommend the car I'm driving to a friend. I believe Honda's V6 engine with Variable Cylinder Management is a lemon that they rushed to market. I wished I had followed a co-worker's lead and bought a 4 cyl instead. He has had no problems with his car. More later after my next visit.