My 2001 Honda Civic's transmission died on December 28, 2013, at 120,000 miles. There was no warning. It died while driving; only the safe drivers around me avoided a car crash; I coasted to the side of the road and had it towed.

Honda has known of their dangerous 1999 through 2004 defective transmission problems, but was irresponsible by never notifying me. Honda's known defect with the front air bag (same years) didn't get recalled for ten years (this information is from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety who said "Air bags were activating with excessive force where metal fragments went shooting into passengers when the air bag deployed". Their Honda Customer Service 800.999.1009 is unavailable until after New Year's. Their recorded message says to ask for their "goodwill repair". It remains to be seen.

My Civic EX is well maintained. All oil changes and recommended services were done at Honda dealer. Transmission fluid was changed last year. Transmission failure happened at 76000 miles. Call America Honda, the representative said my car is old, there is no recall on this model, they can do nothing about it. By calling transmission shops and talk to mechanics, I have learned that transmission defects on 2001 Civic are very common issue. I would like to know who can help me? What action I should take???

The only reason I am adding to this complaint fest is to add to the number and help raise awareness of this issue to the public. After having volunteered overseas serving USA, came home six months ago to purchase a 2001 Civic LX having always relied on Hondas in my 12 years of driving, this being my third Honda.

Only warning I had was this similar sound when I turned on the car (especially in cold) of whistling, or "whrrr." I asked my mechanic and they said they didn't hear it/didn't see any problems/I had a healthy car.

Lo-and-behold, was driving in the mountains, and car all of the sudden wouldn't go into gear in a left hand turning lane, luckily my friends were with me to help me out and a nice gentleman helped push my car to a safe spot - and I wasn't actually going up a mountain in the woods with no cell phone reception. Had to get towed all the way home. And am now trying to figure out if I should spend the minimum of $2000 on repairs or sell as is for $2000 and purchase an older/more reliable civic knowing that it's highly likely my expensive repair would only last one year or something of that nature based on what you guys have reported!!!

ANYBODY KNOW WHAT THE RATE OF FAILURE IS ON THESE TRANSMISSIONS?

I was unaware until today that 2001 Hondas have a bad transmission. I always associate Honda with reliability and quality. I know that cars can sometimes have problems and I accepted that I might have gotten a lesser quality Honda, but it’s always gotten me where I needed to go so I didn’t mind making the repairs because I figured they were kind of “forever” repairs. After reading this site, I now realize it’s more than a small problem but something consistent and expected. Honestly, I’m rather upset to hear about the lack of support from Honda on this issue.

I am typically cautious and careful about my car since it was the most expensive purchase I’ve ever made ($10,000 in 2006 at a Honda dealership in Atlanta when I was a sophomore in college, it was my first Honda too. I previously drove a Nissan Sentra). I always get my oil changed, tires rotated and always have them check my fluid levels. And have done the required maintenance as needed. I’ve gotten very familiar with my car and the way it drives. I know what to expect when it acts a certain way so when it started being a little louder and nosier than normal I started to pay extra attention to its behavior, especially since there was no engine/warning light. It was already on my radar to get it looked at when my car started having trouble switching gears, struggling to accelerate and was running rougher than normal. I took it to a neighborhood repair guy who has worked on my families’ car for 25 years and is a trusted source. He didn’t even have to take the car out of his parking lot before he diagnosed me with transmission troubles. Because of the type of labor involved, he wasn’t able to work on my car at his shop and recommended that I get a transmission repair shop to look and diagnosis the specifics.

I called a few shops to quote general cost of transmission repairs (they were all in the $2,500 - $3,500 range) so I ended up going with the one that offered to tow my car and look at it. My local Honda dealership hasn’t been the most helpful in the past so I completely ignored their quote. What I was hoping was just a little minor fix, turned into me needing to have my transmission completely rebuilt. It ended up costing me $4,000 (well, my sister really, I had to have someone else pay for it all at once since I don’t have that kind of money lying around) the first time and then required a repeat visit for about $300 for a busted transmission line that they didn’t fix properly the first time. This all happened at 96,800 miles. Which, seemed a little soon. But, I figured this repair would get me till the end of my car’s life (MANY years from now…not apparently one).

Since the repair in 2012 my car has been pretty solid and I’ve only had to replace my brakes and ball bearings (which was a $350 dollar expense). Sadly though, my car has started to act up again and I’m positive when I bring it in to be looked at it will be another transmission issue (trouble shifting, slow acceleration, etc.,) . The place that repaired it offered a 2 year or 24,000 mile warrantee that expired 3,000 miles ago (of course) so I might have to suck it up and bring it to Honda. I can’t drive another 150 miles just for repairs, that’s insane. But, I don’t think it’s worth shelling out another $4,000. My car wasn’t even worth that much when I repaired it the first time.

After seeing that 600+ people have had this problem with their car, some more than once, I know that this isn’t just a lower quality car but actually a problem with the manufacturing of the vehicle in general. I guess I need to start finding a new car, even though I only have 126,000 miles on it, and that new car with definitely not be a Honda if this is the type of product they put out.

Brother in-law purchased this car new in 01 and always had it serviced at the dealership, brother in-law was 48 at time of purchase. His sister bought it from him in 09, she was 47 at the time. She always had it serviced at a local foreign car repair shop. Last transmission service at 150,000, now at 163,000 this great Honda civic left her stranded in the middle of the road not quite 50 miles from home, with no warning! I drove it the night before and it ran fine.

So I have a 51 year old female an hour away in an area that she is not familiar with, scared to death, on Memorial day. So after a bunch of hours of calls, going to get her, dealing with the car we finally get to bed. The next day we call the local dealership, yep that happens, it'll be 4000.00 dollars to replace. What kind of crap is that? Is there another option? Nope a REBUILT transmission from Honda is the way to go. Your kidding! Why the hell would I trust Honda to rebuild something when they could not build it correctly the FIRST time.

Its a HONDA and it is JUNK at 163,000 miles?

I have a 98 ford f250, 252,000 on original transmission, a 2004 ford f250, 178,000 miles on original transmission, a 2000 Chrysler Sebring, 198,000 on original transmission and a 1998 VW Golf with 180,000 on the original transmission. So Honda can't make a car go over 160? If I were the people at Honda I would have to kill myself out of embarrassment of making a POS and claiming that it was a good car. Thank God they are not in the construction business or building airplanes

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If you are reading this DON'T buy a Honda, they will screw you over.

Honda thinks they have the best cars on the road, well they do not. This car had 103,000 and the transmission gave out without warning. My daughter was driving this car and it died on a major roadway. I owned a 1994 toyota Camry that had 250,000 and the car ran great only doing basic maintenance. The only thing that killed the car was a drunk driver that totaled it while parked otherwise the car would still be running today. Honda should be ashamed of the craftsmanship and quality of their work. I will never buy a Honda again!

Transmission failure! I see that this is a known problem, yet Honda is not stepping up to fix the issue. With over 800 complaints on this board alone, you would think a company like this would listen! We sold this Honda to our daughter, who now has to decide what to do, spend $2400 or junk the car! Not fair for a lemon of a car, which is not normal (in my experience) from Honda -- we have owned 6 Honda's over the past 12 years, all are still running, except this one.

Going to call Honda and see if they step up, but based on this boards response, I am not overly confident.

I have owned three Honda Civics (this is the 4th) ;prior to this piece of crap!!! Problem after problem after problem! I have always had the oil changed in a timely manner and started out having all the recommended maintenance until the price was too high and the Honda dealer kept giving me a list of things that were wrong that came to 1000.00 anyway. I should have gotten rid of it years ago, I have put so much $$ into it!! Now the transmission fails and I have it rebuilt and find out the exhaust has a crack in it and it needs new front motor mounts plus bushings! I guess I was lucky to make it to 110,000 miles with the transmission since I have read were many people have had it die around 48000 to 780000. I was hoping to have this car last me a few more years...I guess I was dreaming. Honda, shame on you!!! I will NEVER buy another piece of crap Honda or any Honda again! I am a single parent and have been for many years, I can't afford to have an unreliable car that could break down anywhere at anytime and that is what this car has done to me a couple of times now. Again, after this Honda Civic experience, I am done! Too bad they don't make them the way they used to, I rarely had issues with my other three and they would probably be running better than this one had I not traded them in!! Next car...I am thinking Toyota...I need to do my research though. Hondas are over rated expensive and Unreliable...at least this one was and I am not willing to take another chance after wasting all the money I have.