Our family has owned seven Hondas -- 1988 Prelude, 1989 Accord, 1990 Accord,

1991 Accord, 2002 Civc, 2003 Civic, 2004 Civic. All Civics are used and purchased within the last two years. The '02 just suffered complete transmission failure. We had no clue when we switched to the Civics that this was a problem. The dealership first said that there were no problems with Civic transmissions. Then they said that Honda used two different transmissions over the years, and they had problems with one, but not the one that's in our car. Then they said that since the car was used, there was no way of knowing how the previous owners took care of the car. Mind you, we purchased this car from this very dealership. They had the car fax with the service record, and they were supposed to have maintenanced the car before selling it, and told us it was clean. As a goodwill, they'll knock off a whopping 20% to replace the transmission. We have 3 more years to pay on this car, and now will have to finance another $1800 to fix it. We haven't yet called corporate, but judging from the other complaints, it will be to no avail. The reason we have purchased Hondas is because they have been a great value. If corporate does not do better than this on the transmission, this is the last Honda we will ever purchase!

My '02 Honda civic transmission failed 3 days ago (Sept 25, 2009). I am the only owner of this car bought from Honda Way in Abbotsford Auto Mall (BC) in 2001 Sept. Always dealer maintained. I had placed couple of complains in the past about the fuel consumption and was not taken cared by the dealer satisfactory. The latest car serviced at the dealer was on 4/25/09 in Abbotsford (Type E paid $717.37). Broght the car to Winnipeg in July 2009. On Waverly Road - strange noise while still in speed, slowly released the accelerator and parked to John Angus. Then the gear did not engage at any gear while the engine could start without any problem. Toed to the FOrt Richmond Transmissions. - have not heard back so far from them. Will update when I hear. I wanted to check if there is any recall for this vehicle.

Well, I just took my car in for an oil change in august, then again just a couple of weeks ago. They were real quick to tell me everything I needed to have repaired when I went in for my oil change, left a rag in my engine and everything. This was at the dealership. When I went in for the 1000 dollars worth of other repairs, I told them it had started to make a noise. They even drove the car... and not one person stated anything was wrong. Repaired my lower front bushings, my cam end oil plug, and something else, i can't even remember any more, but not one person stated anything else was wrong. Mind you, I just had my belts repaired so I thought that could be the problem. Come to find out, my transmission is failing and it is going to cost me $1800 to get fixed.

I called honda for the "goodwill repair".. and that was a joke. Honda won't help me at all because it is out of warranty and there was no recall for my particular vehicle. Followed the scheduled maintenence and this is what happens.

I got in my car last night to come home from work and as soon as I put the car in Reverse I felt a hard jolt, and the transmission was gone. It no longer goes into 1st or 2nd gear. My car only has 82,000 miles on it and I've never had, heard, or felt any problems with the transmission before. The D for Drive on the instrument panel now constantly flashes with a green box around it, and my mechanic tells me that this is very common with Hondas. My estimate to rebuild the transmission is $2,400. How's that for a nice punch to the gut.

I was raised around Hondas and this was the first one I bought for myself (new) in 2001. I bought the name, and along with it, the expectation that it would last a long time without all the problems that American cars seemed to have. The reality is that my gas mileage isn't as spectacular as is perceived, I have an SRS error problem that I'm ignoring (and probably risking my life), and now my transmission just spontaneously collapsed. I regret buying this car and this brand that apparently no longer owns up to its historical levels of quality. I can see no reason to buy another Honda at inflated sticker prices when the warranties are bad, the quality is bad, the features are plain vanilla, and it will randomly break down when you least expect it.

How in the world can Honda not recall major problems that will alienate its most loyal customers? If they owned up to it, then myself and others would likely buy and recommend many more Honda cars for ourselves, kids, and friends over the coming years. Instead, we're all disillusioned that we believed the marketing hype and will not look to Honda again for our transportation needs.

Update from Sep 29, 2009: I'm writing to recant my complaint about the transmission. After the transmission had appeared to fail, I called Honda corporate and asked them for goodwill help. They said they couldn't forward the case to a regional manager until I took it into a Honda dealership and had them diagnose the problem. I got quotes from two different Honda dealers, and took it to the nearest one that had quoted me $3,080 to rebuild the transmission. I called Honda corporate back and explained my situation and again asked for goodwill assistance, to which they replied that they would forward the case on to a regional contact. The car sat at the dealer for a few days, and finally someone from the service department called me back and said that the Honda regional guy had called him and offered $1,000 goodwill assistance toward a rebuilt transmission. However, if they helped, the warranty from the dealer would be reduced from 3 years / 36,000 miles to 1 year / 10,000 miles. I told him to go ahead with it.

A couple days later he called back and said that he did additional testing on the car and found that the readings indicated something could be wrong with the wire harness, either in addition to the transmission or instead of it. He said Honda would pay to replace that (I'm not sure why) and see if that fixed the problem. He called back two days later and said that the problem was fixed, and they only thing they did was replace the wire harness. I've had my car back for a week and everything seems to be normal. The happy ending to the story is that I didn't pay a penny at the dealer, the service team spent extra time to solve the problem, and for the time being my car is fixed. Honda corporate called up today to see if I was happy with my service (of course I was!). I still don't understand exactly how I didn't end up paying anything... I have suspicions that Honda knows they have problems with the wire harness or something like that and decided to take care of it, even though it wasn't an official recall... maybe? Either way, I'm glad I still have $2,000 in my pocket and a car that works.

Driving down the road transmission was not quite shifting right, but then it straighten out, Got down the interstate just fine, got off the exit, engine light came on, transmission failed. Had to coast around a corner. Would not move. Cost over $1700.00 to have the Torque Converter fixed, Master overhaul kit, new filter, and forward Drum. There was no warning of any transmission problem before this. It happens in just an hour's time. I own a Honda Accord before never had any problems, and it was a 1993, I put had over a 100,000 plus and it was still running great, but traded it in for a Honda Civic. Bad mistake.

It's all been said here, so...

Called Honda Motors America to see if they would help. They told me that they'd pay $500 to help pay for the repair, which left me with a $2310 repair. Only problem I've ever had with the car, and the first thing that goes is the transmission??? They said since I'm the "third owner" (first owner transferred ownership to his son, who lived in the same house), and since the transmission fluid hadn't been changed at the December 2008 mark (apparently either 8 years OR 120k miles--mine had 80k)--it failed totally in February--they "can't help me any more than that." Right. Driving it like a granny for the last 40k miles apparently was just too much for this "reliable" car. Oh--apparently they "know of no issues with this model and year transmission."

HAHA, looks like i beat everyone in this forum! My transmission blew at 39,100miles! I bought my 2002 civic in Novemeber of 2001 brand new and got my regular routine checkups and oil changes, plus i drove my car very well and carefull. While driving to school one day, i noticed i was pressing the gas but it was just redlining. At first i thought i had gotten a flat tire, but soon realized my tran was blown. Called the tow truck and towed it to Gardena Honda Dealership.. they told me it would cost $3,400 to replace and my warranty would not cover the cost becuz it was a 3 year or 36,000 mile coverage whichever one came first..So i towed it to a local mechanic and i was planning on getting the tran rebuilt, but 2 days later Gardena Honda called me and said they called Honda headquarters and they agreed to cover my transmission 100% free. So i towed my car back to Gardena Honda and after 2days i had a new tranny. So at the end, i ended up paying nothing for my tranny since i got reimbersed for my towing by my insurance company, but time and stress can not make up for it. Now my car has almost 100,000 miles and i change my trans fluid every 20,000 miles, I plan on keeping this car for 1 more year, and i know i will never get a Honda again!

My Honda CIVIC 2002 LX with 63,000 miles on it was being driven by my wife with my kids and it just suddenly stalled right in the middle of a major intersection. Thanks to a couple of good samaritans who helped pushed the car to a safe spot otherwise things could have turned seriously disastrous. Engine runs ok but transmission just died like it suffered a stroke. Had it towed to a Honda dealer and got the transmission replaced for almost $1,500*!!

What is even more frustrating is that I had the same problem with my other HONDA ODYSSEY just a year ago! Am I just so unlucky or HONDA vehicles are just plain piece of junk? Both of my HONDAS had to have their stupid transmissions replace below 70,000 miles!!!

( *CLUNKER HONDA USA shouldered half when I told them about my other HONDA CLUNKER ODYSSEY)

It is hard to admit but all those good things we've heard about HONDA QUALITY are all myths! Owning Two Honda cars with the same problem is just too much.

I am getting rid of these HONDA CLUNKERS and will probably go with real "Quality" made cars and not just hype. KIA and HYUNDAI are probable better with 100k warranty.

I purchased a Honda Civic because I did not want to deal with the constant repair of major components that I had endured with my previous Ford & Mercury - each of which had to have the transmissions rebuilt twice.

Imagine my surprise and disgust when driving on the 5 North near San Juan Capistrano in CA, 60 miles from home and 100 miles from my destination, that my car suddenly would not shift gears, was redlining even with a light touch on the gas and was losing power. I was fortunate that I got off the freeway before the car died - right in the middle of Ortega Highway. I had faithfully had all maintenance and oil changes performed throughout the life of the car - and as recent as 6K miles ago for the 100K service and 2 weeks prior for an oil change. All in the last few years at the Honda Dealership. I loved my car as I never had to replace anything other than the drive boots (which was disappointing, but not outrageously expensive; same for the SRS computer issue for which Honda reimbursed me).

Now, after my hours at work were cut in half it is costing me more than a month's salary to have the transmission replaced + the cost of 2 others diagnosis + towing + rental car. And I'm throwing in the timing belt replacement that's coming up shortly to save on labor hours for that job.

The dealer and I both spoke to American Honda customer service and was told "too bad so sad." I'm not done fighting.

So much for reliability. Tough economic conditions, barely scraping by, and the car I count on failed me. Worse, I now have to rely on my 1996 Cadillac Deville (currently in shop for a new water pump) as my family vehicle. I should feel lucky as Ive read so many complaints on this site about the same problem at far less mileage.

On a routine trip to visit the relatives today, the car began having problems shifting gears. I would press the pedal but the car would not accelerate, nearly stalling us the highway. We were lucky to get home. Thats when I became aware i had a big problem, Ive been in shock all night to this point. Never saw this coming. Always 3-5k oil changes, all scheduled maintanence, timing belt at 106k, and a recent tuneup at 140k. Never had any major problems, a few dents maybe, the trunk lock and hood lock both broke, my door wound not lock, and the hood popped up on me obstructing my view while going 60mph on the highway. Other then that, I was living the dream, maybe become the Al Bundy of Civic owners and hit 1 million, but it doesnt look it. Three quotes and a mountain load of online info, it does not seem logical to invest (roughly $2500) any further in this vehicle. Whats next to go wrong? That all powerful 4 cylinder engine? I dont want to hate on Honda because 7 years was a nice run, but I am concerned with this defect and believe a class-action suit may be worth a try. SO what are my options?

Given that I live a mile away from the dealership I bought the car from, and after reading some of the success stories of individuals who contacted Honda America Corp. and asked for the "goodwill repair," I will be contacting them tomorow. Otherwise I will be selling off my parts for scraps or hopefully get work done at a VoTech (vocational auto-mechanic school).

I would also consider trading this junker in towards a lease at Honda. If they so accept this car as the deposit/fee. I would pay you 150 per month for an 08' and give it back to you in 36 months. Deal. Where do I sign. (Thats free market research for you there Honda)

But if none of the above prevails, I will be purchasing a Toyota or perhaps Hyundai with its warranty offer in the future. I will also no longer discount American cars, there are incentives to buy. The problem is that IM BROKE. How am I suppose to take out a loan in this economic climate?

Transmission failed 4 times and was covered 2 times under warranty. Now have fail again and guess what I'm SOL cause I have to pay for it. Its horrible and I feel we should get a class action going because there are so many people who are having the same problem. This should not be hard to do. Something really needs to be done. People getting stranded at night and with kids. Honda seem to have no consideration at all because if they did, they would hear the people cry for these sorry transmissions.

When I purchased my Honda Civic with 35,000 miles I went to the dealership to have all my fluids changed. The dealership mechanic said I would be wasting my money changing the transmission fluid and informed me the recommended interval service is 55,000miles! I didn’t believe it until I saw the Honda vehicle maintenance manual that stated a transmission service is recommend at 55,000miles then every 2 years after. I called another dealership and they also relayed the same information. I still couldn’t believe that Honda would recommend a transmission service at such a high mileage. I wasn’t comfortable with the recommendation so I changed the fluid anyways. Since then I have experienced the odd slip and a delay going into gear during extreme cold temperatures that require the car to be warmed up for a few minutes. I am currently approaching 80,000 miles, mostly city, and haven’t had a major issue as of yet.

For those individuals whose transmissions haven’t failed I would recommend to change the fluid every 15-20,000miles or 2 years, which every comes first. The recommendation of a first transmission fluid change at 55,000miles is ridiculous. What I find most disturbing is reading the comments of the transmission not containing a filter. Honda expects their transmission to last with a recommendation of 55,000miles before a fluid change with no filter! Somebody at Honda did not do their homework when it came to determining the fluid service intervals along with the poor engineering choice of creating a transmission with no filter.

Another recommendation I would like to make is driving the car in 3rd gear in heavy traffic or areas that you don’t maintain a constant speed under 30mph. The reason for this is because every time an automatic has to switch gears it produces additional heat and unneeded gear change. In bumper to bumper traffic you don’t need your transmission cycling through 4 gears when you only need 2. An example is if I’m driving in residential areas I keep my car in 3rd if I know I wont be exceeding 30mph, if I’m driving at constant speed than I will pop into to drive. I haven’t looked into it but I’m sure somebody on a Honda Tech Forum has created a modification to add a filter onto the transmission using the existing lines so you may want to check on that. I hope these “reliability” recommendations help and I guess only time will tell.

My story is like all of the rest on here. I had taken my wife to work which is about 15 minutes from our house (so we could leave straight from there and take a trip out of town). By the time I returned home, the transmission all but refused to go into gear while accelerating. I took it to the shop and by the time they had test driven it, it wouldn't even go into gear. The silver lining is that the transmission didn't fail when we were 300 miles away from home, but it still failed below 100K miles. If you are looking to buy an '02 Civic take special care in looking into the transmission before you buy it. If it makes any sort of whining noise or doesn't shift completely smoothly, you should probably stay away.

Last year the Transmission started shifting hard in the cold weather but I just thought it was because the cold weather.(The car had about 90K on it) Then this winter when the car was cold the transmission would slip between 20-40mph so I started warming it up in the morning longer then normal as the months went on it kept slipping more. Then the car started to make a whining noise when you started it until it warmed up. Finally I came to the conclusion that before next winter I needed to replace the car which was a big let down, I bought the car brand new and maintained it because I planned on keeping it after I had my last Honda for 180,000 miles. Then in April one night while I was driving home it kept slipping gears until I would hit 50mph. The next day I reversed out of my driveway to find out it would not go in Drive. I let it run a while longer and kept shifting thru the gears and I got it down to my mechanic. The car had 114,000 on it at this point my mechanic tried everything possible to see if he could salvage it but it just wasn't worth it. My best option was a remanufactured Honda Transmission with a 3 year 36K warranty. The car was too bad to trade it or sell myself and I didn't want to take out a new auto loan yet because I am buying a house so I went with fixing the car. The Transmission was $2500 and then I had some additional work done since I am going to keep the car longer now that its fixed. It killed me to put this money into the car but on the bright side the car drives like new and hasn't driven this good since about 2 or 3 years ago. The Transmission was deteriorating for a while but because I drove the car all the time I just got use to it.

Its a real disappointment that my 2002 Honda needed this repair my family and I have had a great Honda Track record with a 1988 Accord (155K), 1991 Accord (180K), 1998 Accord (135K and still going), and a 2000 Accord (220K) all these cars were sold and had no major problems when we got rid of them. I am thinking I am keeping this car for a while but when I replace it I am not sure if I want another Honda, I am thinking about trying out Toyota to see if I have better luck. I see I am not the only person who has had this problem and the people who bought the 2001 Honda Civics seem to have even more problems.

Bought 2002 Civic LX(automatic) in December 2002 paid it off December 2007 currently has 125480 all highway miles owned the car 6 years and 5 months(not very long). My transmission just like the others on April 14TH 2009 started to miss 2ND and 3RD gear then eventually no forward speed at all. What I found out the transmission has a screen inside it (like a screen on your front door/window) and it was clogged and not letting the fluid/pressure get to the torque converter which is what you transmission needs to shift gears. Now most Honda dealers will tell you your transmission is shot and you need a new or rebuilt transmission for the cost of $2000-3000. I agree with this but it is not the transmission it is the screen blocking the fluid. Unfortunately the screen is located inside the transmission which you would have to take apart the whole transmission just to get to the screen to clean so you are screwed either way. I have a very smart friend who knew what exactly what was wrong and this is what we did. Drained all transmission fluid (by the way if you do not replace and drain the transmission fluid every 10000-15000 miles you need to drain it immediately before it is to late I do not care anymore what the dealers recommend 90000 is bullxxxx). I am not talking about a transmission flush for $200 I am talking about draining your current transmission fluid and replacing it with new just like your oil. This was our temporary fix for this. Drain all transmission fluid and look at the transmission bolt it is magnetized and probably has all kind of metal shavings on it clean it. There is a small bolt(mine was marked with a blue color) on top of the engine just to the left of the spark plugs and we removed this which was the transmission line that provides the pressure and fluid to the to torque converter. What my smart friend did next is he made a special tool where he put a small hose in the hole(where the blue bolt was) on top of the engine and used compressed air to blow out the clogged screen. After we did this we put new fluid in ran it and WALAAAA we had movement again. We took it one step further we ran it for about 15 minutes re-did the above process again and I took it for a drive and it is running like new.NOTE this may work for a week or last a year I do not know IT HAS BEEN A DAY but I do know I will be replacing my fluid every 10000-15000 miles to prevent anymore clogging. I am not a mechanic by any means my friend is and what gets me why did Honda make the transmissions without any filters instead of the screens it beyond me. I hope you find this all useful info. This is my 3RD owned Honda but I am losing faith in their product. The car is 6 years old and to have this major of a repair is ridiculous. I got off cheap this time but eventually hopefully at 200,000 miles I will be getting a rebuilt transmission and not have any more issue like this one.

Transmission failure with the Honda Civic is a widespread problem in models made from the early 2000s. The 2001 Honda Civic appears to be the worst year for transmission failure

Many of the transmission failure complaints are caused by the torque converter failing - the engine will rev up but the car won't shift into gear or move. In some reports, the torque converter burned up the transmission fluid which ruined the transmission. Which exactly what happened to me.

Currently there is no recall for the transmission defect, because it is not a safety issue (according to the NHTSA). So far, a class action lawsuit has not been filed.

However Honda has offered some Civic owners out-of-warranty compensation for the transmission repairs. Rather than going through your local dealership, it's best to contact Honda Customer Service at (800) 999-1009 and ask for a "goodwill repair".

I have a 2002 Civic LX that I just payed off in June 2008. I was so happy; I just bought new rims and tires, new suspension strut bars for the front and rear, a new DVD player, a new paint job just like the original with blue flakes. My car looks sweet - two days before my transmission crapped out. I spent all day cleaning the under body and repainting it so it looks brand new. Then dooms day...

I spent $2,000 to replace the timing belt, getting the A/C fixed, repairing an oil leak, changed sensors and some other sh*t. I called Honda $5,000: $3,500 for the new transmission, $700 for replacing the radiator fans, another oil leak on the head and that's NOT including labor. I live in Guam, so to get a new on would require me to pay cash up front and then it would take two months to get it here. It comes by the slowest ship in the world and that sucks ass! Honda said they would call me back, and it's been a week and I haven't heard sh*t. I have to stay up until two in the morning to even call them due to the time difference.

I'm thinking that if Honda doesn't pay for the replacement, I'm getting my camera and I'm going to blow up my car and post it on YouTube. I will keep everyone updated if it happens. Thanks for reading.

Can you imagine??? Another 2002 Civic with only 82,000 miles and a dead auto. transmission??? Who woulda' thunk it???

Repair estimate (dealer) $2370 (remanufactured tranny)

Can anyone guess why Hundai is seeing a sales increase during these bad economic times? BECAUSE THEY STAND BEHIND THEIR PRODUCTS! 100,000 mile drive train warranty and and "job loss" program.

I wish my daughter had not bought this car, and had stuck with Toyota like she grew up with. But, she wanted a Civic. Well, she got one just last summer. Her first ever car. Now, she'll need to spend another $2400 to keep it running.

For the same $2400 on top of what she paid for the Civic she could have bought a 2 year newer Toyota Corolla to begin with.

Honda had one try at her as a lifetime customer, and they blew it miserably...Forever.

Same as everyone else, I tapped my bank account, got a loan, and put it all in for a newer Honda Civic, a good reliable car, or so I thought.

When coming home from the airport, 100 miles from home, the car died at a stop light. We had to have AAA tow the car to a scummy place in Queens and rented a car to get home. After doing research online and fearing everyone in NYC would try to rip me off, I decided to have it done at a transmission chain store, Lee Myles. $3500 was the final cost including a 3yr/36k mile warranty. I called American Honda to complain and file a claim for a goodwill repair. When the finally got back to me almost a month later, their final deal was to give me $1000. Better than nothing, but barely a dent in what I paid out of pocket. Worst of all, I felt like I was being pressured into accepting the $1000 instead of holding out for the full price of the transmission. They demanded to know if I was satisfied with their payout. I felt like if I said no, I would have got nothing, so I sold out and told them that they had done a good job and that I would buy another Honda. NO FREAKING WAY!!!! is what I really thought. They also acted like this was an isolated incident because they have no evidence in their systems that conclude there is a recurring problem with these Hondas, despite this website.

I bought this car new and have diligently kept up on the maintenance and services. Same exact story as everyone else... Transmission slipping in the mornings for about 6 months. Southern CA dealer told me that I needed to let the car "warm up". This led to total transmission failure on the 405 freeway in rush hour traffic! I had the car towed to a transmission specialist, since the dealer was no help and couldn't even diagnose the problem. Close to $3K later, I have my used car back with a new transmission. Thanks Honda!