My 2002 Honda Civic stranded me 60 miles away from my home. I was driving and suddenly it felt like I was driving in neutral. I was pressing my foot down on the gas and the car was making revving noises. I pulled over and called AAA; they towed me to the Honda Dealership.

The Honda Dealership in Salem, Oregon sucked. They told me that my transmission had a defect and it was going to cost me $2,750. They explained that my car will not work because of the the transmission, but they did not stop there. They also told me that I needed a $150 LED switch and a $150 alignment procedure. That's $3,000 dollars.

I couldn't stop crying. The stupid Honda people told me to have a great day 5 times while tears were pouring out of my eyes.

I was waiting for my boyfriend so that I could get a ride home. I saw him drive by, so I ran out of the Honda dealership to flag him down. The stupid Honda employees followed me out of the dealership. The guy said to me, "So are you going to fix your car?" and I was like "No, I don't have $3,000!"

Then the Honda employee said,"It's going to cost you way more than $3,000".

So I had my car towed back to Portland (60 miles). I called Honda America and asked if they would consider helping me out with a goodwill repair. The guys spend about 20 minutes reviewing my case. He finally said no. This is why... 1. I never got my car serviced at the Honda Dealership in Portland 2. I towed my car away from the Honda Dealership in Salem 3. My car is out of warranty

I will never buy another Honda. I will devote my life to spreading the truth about my 2002 Japanese piece of crap. I was always told that Honda's were dependable, I feel so betrayed.

For the record, this was not the first time that my Honda Civic stranded me in an undesirable location.

Tranny failed on this cheap-ass disposable, over-rated Honda Civic. Had the trans rebuilt twice and finally sold the car for next to nothing. Yeah... "great resale, high quality, reliable Honda?" American cars are not as bad as they say after all. That's what I get for listening to others about what car to buy. Never had this type of problem with any of the American cars I have owned. Guess where all the Civics end up after they have trans fixed or replaced? They get sold or traded in before the second or third trans fails, so then some other poor sap buys them from the used car dealers just to have the same problems all over again. Mechanics say the remanufactured transmissions last only 20-30 thousand miles and they fail too. Rebuilding them is even worse. If you have a Civic, dump it now before it "grenades" too.

I was driving on the highway and suddenly my transmission started to slip. I exited the highway about a 1/4 mile from where it first slipped. At the end of the exit ramp, I had to stop at a traffic light. When it turned green I barely was able to get the car going again... it would only do about 5 MPH. I pulled into a gas station within about 500 ft and checked the level of the transmission oil and it looked okay, but I tried adding a little bit anyway, that's when I noticed that the fluid that was in there was brown. I let it sit a bit in case it needed to cool off or something. I started it up about 15-20 minutes later and it wouldn't even move. I called AAA and had it towed and was told that I needed to get the transmission rebuilt.

the day after i booked my non-refundable trip to Las Vegas, my transmission went on my car! i bought the car in 2005 with 40k miles on it, it now has 80,260. i was driving when i stepped on the gas to speed up, and my car stayed at 20mph, but the rpm's shot up. when stopped at a red light, i went to go, and the car stayed at 0, as the rpms shot up. my car would not go into any gear! i was stuck in the middle of a main road! i had to get towed and found out the next morning that i needed a new transmission! i just payed for a non-refundable trip to Vegas! i don't have the money to fix it, nor can i borrow it. my extended warranty ended 6 months ago, and i still have a year and a half left to pay on it. i read this website and contacted American Honda and asked for a goodwill repair. i had my car towed to a Honda dealership and i am awaiting to see if they will help me...if they don't, i will lose all faith in what i thought was supposed to be a reliable car, Honda, and i will never purchase a Honda again! i will keep you posted on if my repairs will be covered...if they are not, i am definitely interested in a civil action suit!

Update from Jun 6, 2009: okay.....so to continue my last complaint, America Honda got back to me and told me that i need my transmission completely replaced, it couldn't even be rebuilt! the cost is $2600...America Honda is holding me responsible for $1880 plus tax. that does not satisfy me by any means! i will NEVER purchase a Honda EVER EVER EVER again! Toyota here i come! if there is ever a civil action suite on Honda's crappy transmissions, im in! this is sooooo not fair! reliable my eye! i'm done with Honda!

Ok, It all starts in late April of 2006. My current car had been making one too many strange noises, so I decided to buy my first real car. By real car I mean $13,000 worth, where I had to get a loan to pay for it. I did my research, and it seemed like Honda's lasted forever and a day,and they got really good gas mileage ( I live in the sticks... no really...13 miles from the closet gas station) so I found my car and bought it. The first day I get my 2002 Honda Civic EX home, I notice a flat tire. Ok, so I take it back and they tell me they "forgot" to put a valve stem on it. Isn't that like the first day in "Automotive Technician School"? How to inflate a tire? Whatever, they fix it, it's under warranty. A few months later, the trunk latch breaks. Ok, take it back and have it fixed. Still under warranty. Few months later (do you see a pattern here?) the alternator belt starts making that wonderful sound they are know to make (like you closed a cat in a trash compactor... and it's screaming). Take it to Honda. No longer under warranty. Ok, I can live with the noise. Try Ivory soap, tightening it, loosing it. Nothing. Fine. Replace the belt myself. Car is good for about a week, then, back comes the screeching cat under my hood. It's definitely something more. Then the breaks went. Luckily I noticed it before it was the rotors too. Get the breaks fixed. Then the 2 front struts went. Replaced them myself (since it's no longer under warranty). Then the caster bushings went. No one I have talked to even know what these are! They rot through so very rarely, that no body know how to fix them. Fine, pull it apart, and do it myself. Notice while I'm under there, that the tie rods are bad. Fix those too. By now I have no idea how much I have spent on fixing my "certified" Honda. Everything is great. Then I notice the gears are slipping in between 1st and second, and the engine is revving until it catches. Take it to Honda. They find nothing wrong with it, but suggest flushing the fluid. Fine. $400, please. Also,they tell me I need another new tie rod. Great. I'll do that next week. Take it home. Still slipping. Maybe it always did this and I just never noticed. Boyfriend is driving it to work, when the alternator belt goes. Tow it to my uncle's garage, and replace the belt again. While we're under there, we notice that the tie rod isn't bad, it just need a bolt tightened. IDIOTS! Now I know they are just trying to get money from me. Still can't find exactly why the belt is doing what it's doing. I'll just have to be diligent and replace it often. Brakes go again. Take it in and have them done professionally (way too cold outside to be messing around with the car at home). 3 days later notice a grinding noise and burning smell. Take it back to Honda, the caliper is frozen and they can't get the part for at least 24 hours. (yes, this is a dealership...with no parts!) Get a rental car for the night to get to work and back. Pick up the car the next day. Now the check engine light is on. Turns out it's just the gas cap, but is still pretty frustrating! Trunk latch breaks again. Perfect. Now I get to drive around with bungie cords holding my car together, since I will never go back to the dealership. Classy. Car is good for most of the winter. Monday Feb 9. All that changes. Boyfriend is driving to a doctor's appointment, when the car stops shifting all together. Pulls over and hitches home (on the way some 70 year old lady in an Oldsmobile flips him the bird...perfect). Get it towed to my uncle's garage. Need a new transmission. JOY! Apparently, this is a common problem, so they used transmissions are few, far between and at least $1200. Any other car it would only be $600. Thank you Honda. I can replace the transmission myself (with a bit of help), but I will have no guarantee that it won't blow up within a week. Rebuilding it will cost $1200 to $2200. Honda says they can put a new tranny in for $3500. I tell them to go to hell. Still owe about $8000 on the damn thing! Can't even get a crappy car and transfer the payments because I still owe so much on it. My only option is to have it rebuilt, and take the 12,000 mile warranty. I have lost all hope for Honda, they didn't even pretend to be sympathetic to my problems. They just want the money. Hope this helps somebody. It the transmission is slipping, take it to a transmission place and have them pull it apart to look at it, don't just take their word that it's fine. Good luck!

Since about 20k miles, when slowing down almost to a stop then pressing the gas, the engine would violently jerk as the transmission tried to downshift. I learned to apply the gas very very gently in this situation to give it time to pick the right gear. I lived with this for the next 40k miles.

Transmission finally died at 60k miles. Had delayed shifts from 1st to 2nd gear and sometimes from 2nd to 3rd. This went on for about a year and was worse during winter. Eventually developed a whining noise for a few months. Wife was going up a hill one day and it completely gave out.

I changed the tranny fluid with Honda genuine ATF every 25k miles (instead of the 100k miles they suggest thinking it would last longer). Turns out this was a waste of $7/quart for fluid that made no difference. I ended up paying for labor while Honda picked up the parts. I wonder how long my rebuilt replacement will last. My friends and family have purchased Honda's based on my previous good experience with a 1990 Accord. I am no longer recommending Honda and feel bad for those that bought them.

While driving home from the airport in middle of the night, my car starting revving really hard without accelerating. I found the only way to stop it sporadically revving was to run under 2k RPM or 20 mph.

I felt I had this issue in a very minor sense. At rare occasions, my car would rev up really high as if it had down shifted, then it would return to normal. And now it's constantly doing this.

I was extremely worried about the car, so I towed it to the nearest dealership, and they called me back today saying the transmission needs to be replaced for $3500. First time

I've had a single car fix costing more than $1k, and I don't think its worth it. Especially if models like mine are having the same issue in masses.

Same problem as all the other civic owners-total transmission failure. Yes, I have a lot of miles on the car but I do almost zero city driving. This car should have done 200k with no issues. I drive with a light foot andI take great care of it with all scheduled maintenance completed. The thing that kills me the most is that Honda acts like this is an isolated issue. And to make matters worse, I also own an Odyssey that I've learned fom this site has the same issues-WONDERFUL! I've bought 3 hondas over the last 12 years but never again. This is not the same company that it once was.

Tranny blew up entering the driveway. Called Honda Corporate. Towed the car to the dealer. During the week got a few calls from the case manager who was doing the investigation. At the end of the week got a call from the case manager asking what I was looking for, eventually agreed that Honda would cover everything except for $1,200.

Final cost: $1,200 for repairs + ~$100 for tow + ~$100 for taxes + the need to get a spare car for 1.5 weeks. The work came with a warranty for 36,000 miles/3 years.

Factors that helped our case: Bought the car brand new from the dealer we towed the car to. Owned nothing but Hondas and Acuras for 10 years(some used/some new). Had some maintenance receipts(although didn't need to fax them since none of them were related to transmission). Very low mileage - 50,000, was told that these trannies should last at least 100,000.

Factor that might have helped the case: a few months ago emailed the dealers for a quote on a new civic, but decided to wait till the summer to buy it. Didn't list my last name, so the guy would have needed to connect my account on Owners Link with the email used to contact the dealer.

Will we still get that new Honda in the summer? Yes, but instead of buying, we'll lease...since a single repair can wipe out all savings from long-term owning.

It has been 4 days since the transmission failed. I could tell my car was sounding different for over a month, but not a major noise. A week ago I looked up to see when my next oil change was so that I could have it looked at then. Jan. 21st I reversed out of my driveway and could not get it to go in a driving gear. After a while, I got it in D3 and went a little way and turned around so that I was safe in my driveway instead of on the side of the road in 30 degree temps. Praise God for where it happened! I had the car towed to the Honda dealership and I went to work. They called and said my transmission went out (internal part failure). Two months ago I spent $860 to replace timing belt, water pump, battery, etc. I heard them say over $2000.

I can get a new from Honda for $2900.

Other options outside Honda:

I can get a used in for $1200.

I can get a rebuilt for $1700.

Of course I can trade my car in for a new Honda (they will give $1200 trade value). I decided I would replace the transmission with Honda and get at least 3 years out of the car. That is when I discovered that they would have to order the transmission and there are NONE available right now. They do not know when one will be. I would have to rent a car until WHEN????? I am glad I found this website. I have called American Honda to file a complaint (dealership has already on my behalf and they said they would not assist). I should hear from them tomorrow. I have had a Honda for 17 years. I am now looking at others.

My girlfriend's civic started making a weird vibrating noise from the transmission whenever in park or stopped in drive. about a week later, she was driving out of her neighborhood and her car would rev almost to redline, but it wouldn't go any faster than 20mph. once she got on the interstate tho, she said the problem went away, and the rest of the day it didn't come back. After telling me about it, i looked it up online and found all the complaints on here about the same problem. Sure enough, the next day when we tried to drive it to the Honda dealership to get it looked at, the transmission went out before we got out of the neighborhood and the car wouldn't move at all. we got the car towed, ASKED THE DEALERSHIP about the goodwill program, and they looked into it for us. Told us that we were approved, but still had to pay $2000??? i thought that was bull**, but i guess its better than $3200... i feel Honda's lost any bragging rights it had over American cars after this. i now feel better about owning my mustangs

My Honda had been over-reving when I first started off in the mornings. Mind you, I live in Florida so no need for pre-warming should happen around here. My engine light came on and I took the car diligently to the Honda dealership and told them of the over-reving and the light. The light indicated that my gas cap was bad so I had it replaced and since I was at the notorious 100K, I had the serpentine belts all changed out. No mention of the over-reving. This was back in August of 2008. Well around 5K miles later, I am hearing a whining like a top being pulled when I reved into second gear. This was added with the over-reving again when it was cold. I had placed an appointment to take my car back to the dealship to look it over again and replace the transmission fluid for me. Two days later I am driving to work and about halfway to my work it is really over-reving, but finally engaging in gear and keeping me moving forward. I stopped at a stop sign and pulled out into a busy road and the car would only go 20 miles an hour and hard rev. I hit the gas pedal, it reved and I kept going only 20 miles an hour. Mind you, people are now behind me honking their horns as this is supposed to be a 60 mile an hour zone. I pull of to the side and stop. Now, when I start the car up again after a few minutes, the car goes forward like nothing is wrong. Afraid that this might happen again, I try to limp my way to my work where at least I can call and have the car towed. I pull into my work driveway and now I am not geting any response to my gas pedal. Dead in the water. Luckily right in front of my work. I get the car towed and get a call from the dealership and they tell me that this is a very odd problem and is not like most failures they see in the transmission. Normally it would have problems when it gets warm they tell me. They gave me two options for transmissions, a used one with 30K miles on it from a car that got into a wreck with a 1 year warranty or a used shell with all new components inside with a 3 year warranty. The new one being more than $1000 more in cost and would take a week to get since it is a made to order part. The used one would take a few days to get here. I had asked if the failure was due to the fluid or some type of maintance issue that was my fault. They said these things just happen. After reading the other 45 people that had complaints just like mine on here, it does look to just happen to this 2002 transmission. I noticed when reading the issues there was a "goodwill" option a person had received that took care of the transmission and all he had to pay for was the labor. I am going to try that route since the total cost of the used transmisson and labor is looking to run me around $3K. I am also going to ask about what year is the used transmission coming out of as I don't want to have this happen again. Does anyone know if this issue is only for the 2002 or other years of the civic? Very curious to know. I will also be putting my info into the other site that was mentioned. I am happy that it was just me on a sunny morning, rather than my wife and our kids at night on the freeway like another person had. Oh, as an added note, when I asked if the replacing the transmission would fix the issue, they told me they were not sure. They needed to replace it and clear the computer and see what other issues might come up. Was NOT happy about that statement. Told the service agent that I was pissed that they did not find anything on the first time I was in on August. He told me that since there was 5K miles put on that this was a seperate issue. I guess I should have really pushed the issue with the over-reving at that time. Of course, it this has always been an issue for the 2002 transmissions, they already knew and hoped that it would just die and they could say that "this just happens".

My daughter told me about her engine revving in the morning when she drove her car but it went away. She was going to take it to a repair shop when the worst happened. Last night while driving home from work her car wouldn't go over 20 miles an hour. She managed to take backroads to her sons daycare to pick him up but couldn't drive the car home. We had to pay $240 to have her car towed to a dealership. The tow truck driver was very helpful and checked the transmission fluid for her. It was very low even though she had had her car serviced recently and all the fluids were fine. Today the dealership called and told her that her transmission was shot and needed to be replaced. Cost to replace will be $3100!!! After reading the complaints on this website I am pissed!!! She doesn't have the money to pay for this so guess who it falls on. I thought when she bought the Honda from my parents she would have a dependable car for years. I will definitely be calling Honda America tomorrow to see if they will assist in paying for the repairs. What is even more b.s. is that for that much money you can only get a rebuilt transmission, not a new one. She only has 87,000 miles on it so we expected a lot more from Honda. I have almost 90,000 miles on my Nissan XTerra and have never had a problem with it. You can bet I'm sticking with Nissan and her next car won't be a Honda.

Transmission was slipping a little so I took it to my Honda dealer for service. They called and said the transmission fluid was black and smelled burnt. They changed it as well as giving me a timing belt service package ($635) and sparkplug change ($200). Upon taking it for a test drive, it stopped working. After a restart they managed to get it back to the dealership where it gave the error code corresponding to "Improper Gear Ratio" which in turn translated to Complete and Total Transmission Failure. I did some digging and found very similar problems with other Civics and Accords. I filed a complaint with Honda of America and after a WEEK of review they called to tell me that they would discount $700 off of a new transmission...so I'm still out $2,500.

The day before x-mas I noticed that it would start revving, almost redlining, when I hadn't accelerated. It only did it a couple of times so I thought I would take it in the day after x-mas. Well I ended up stranded on x-mas night! When I first started driving I couldn't go over 20mph without redlining for a couple of minutes and then it seemed ok. When I got off the freeway I had to stop at a redlight and from there I would hit the gas and it wouldn't move. Spent x-mas night having strangers push my car to a gas station. The transmission light didn't even come on until the car wouldn't move. Checked the fluid and it was fine. Next day I towed it to the dealership and they said I needed a whole new transmission. I was so upset due to thinking I had a dependable car that would last for years and I still have another year left of payments. My last car, a Mitsubishi Diamante, went up to 191,000 before having any major problems. I praise the service guys at the dealership though because I didn't know about good will repairs and they offered to contact American Honda for me to try to get a discount, otherwise it would be about $3500. I spent a couple of days stressing, especially after finding this site and hearing about so many who didn't get help from Honda. I found out today that Honda will cover the entire cost of the transmission, $2500, and I'll have to pay for the labor, $900. I bought the car used from a Honda dealership, had all my maintenance done at Honda, and have never been late on a payment so I think these factors may have influenced their decision. While the service department was great in telling me about goodwill repairs and arranging it, I'm still disappointed in Honda because I really thought they were dependable and this site proves that they have a major flaw in their transmissions and I still have to spend way more $ than I ever planned at such low mileage. If you've got one of these lemons take it to Honda for maintenance because it may help to get a goodwill repair when your transmission goes. I'll never buy another Honda and once this gets fixed, I'm considering selling it before the new transmission goes.

This is the first problem (not self inflicted) I have had with my Honda and I have beat this thing to death. I did damage the front struts but I did that taking a hard right at 40 mph, so I can't really blame the car for that. I am disappointed to have such a major mechanical failure at 78,000 miles. I have an excellent mechanic with great prices that is going to replace the transmission with a used one for about 700 - 800 parts and labor. I just moved into a sales position, so I will be leasing cars from now on. I do not think I will ever buy another Honda. I will buy a toyota or lease a car instead.

Like many others here, I've taken good care of my Civic, drive conservatively, and perform regular maintenance as suggested. So when my transmission gave out this past weekend, I was pretty disappointed with the fabled "Civic that lasts forever."

I'll probably end up dumping the car for about 1/4 of the blue book just to get rid of the problem. I'd rather make payments on a new car than to pour another $3000 into a car that's barely worth $6k and take a chance on something happening again.

I did file a complaint on the website: www.nhtsa.dot.gov and hope everyone else will too.

On a very cold day, I started the car to warm it up. Left running for 15 minutes, then drove 1/2 mile, placed in park, and let run for another 10 minutes. When I got back into the vehicle to drive away, it would not shift into gear. No warning - no noises, odors etc. I checked the transmission fluid and it was full, clean and correct color. Had to get it towed to a transmission shop where I was informed that the transmission needs replacing for $3500. I bought this car used 2 years ago thinking that Hondas are reliable cars. I drive it carefully and maintain regularly. The transmission shop cannot find a reason for why this happened. Now upon researching this problem, I find this is a common problem among 2001/2002 Civics. I cannot believe that at such low mileage, the transmission would suddenly die with no cause. Now I am left without a vehicle for several weeks and no way to get to work, while the transmission suppliers close down for the holidays. Thanks a lot Honda!! So much for their reliable reputation. In the past I owned two Mazda's that reached over 275,000 km before any major problems occurred. I will never buy another Honda again unless they do the right thing and recall these Civics.