my wife was driving in very heavy traffic while Christmas shopping and the transmission just began slipping, she could not get off the road completely before it just quit. we got it towed to nearest dealer and he called a week later and said it would cost $4000 to fix it.we are very disappointed in this because we had gotten it out of the shop the day before, we have had all the regular maint. done. i have read other complaints on this model and a lot of them say they have just gotten them out of shop for maint. when this happens, do you suppose the Honda dealers are doing something to cause this?????????? we are very disappointed my wife is very upset, guess we won't buy Honda again.........if they have a class action lawsuit please let me know.

Daughter driving 2002 Honda Civic, well maintained with 90K miles, and slowed to make turn but car would not shift. This was late at night and in a major traffic area. Honda doesn't consider this a safety issue, but I certainly do since my daughter was stranded in the cold, late at night, and could have been hit in the intersection or from behind as her car suddenly lost acceleration without any warning whatsoever. Car had to be towed 45 miles and is currently being diagnosed, but assume from what I've read that transmission needs to be replaced. Called Honda and they want me to have the car towed to a dealer for diagnostics, and quoted about $3600 for replacement with 3 yr warranty. Was told by Honda they would open a case, but dealer says unlikely anything will be done. I'm not willing to spend $1200 more for dealer to repair just on the possibility of some "good will" supplement. Good will? Really? Honda should be held accountable for what appears to be a pervasive problem and an absolute safety issue.

Although this has happened to many people, Honda right out of the door told me it did not apply to my serial number......hummmmm at 66k miles seems a transmission failure on a well maintained, dealer serviced, easily driven, one owner car might just indicate a manufacturing issue. Now, it is Nov 30 and Honda called me yesterday, but when I called back I got voice mail and then they do not call me again. I am going to work towards getting more folks like me together and a lawyer! The icing on the care was the mechanic at the Honda dealer offering to buy the car for $500. dealer maintained, garage kept, one owner, never in accident and they were so generous. NEVER another Honda product.

I am the only owner of a Civic with 154100 miles at this time of writing. I have cared for the car religiously as a weekend mechanic and had high hopes of exceeding the 200K mark and running it into the ground (500K?) Obviously you are reading this because you know that is not possible with all these transmission problems.

I am currently in the process of looking for spare transmission. The noises it makes it almost unbearable and am trying to avoid some of the horror stories I have read on this site.

Purchased the vehicle in June 2006. Only had 63000 miles when I got it. Less than 5 months later I was driving the civic when it did not want to switch into gear. I tried driving it home at 15mph when the car came to a complete stop on the roadway. The transmission did not want to kick into gear. Had to tow the car home and it stayed in the parking lot until march 2007 when I finally got my tax refund to repair the transmission. This car has given me hell since I purchased it. We need to open a class action lawsuit against honda for these civics.

I can't believe my Honda Civic transmission totally went out only one hour after I left the dealer service place (Beavercreek, OH). I wanted to have them checked the noise from the car, and the I was told by the dealer place that the noise came from the transmission and they could do nothing about it.

The car was towed back to the dealer place and we were told that the transmission needed replacement with a cost of $3000+tax. I just spent over $500 on the car service on the same day, it was insane!! I decided to have it done in AAMCO for $2,800 including tax

I called the Honda customer service and I was told that since the transmission replacement was not done in dealer place although all the scheduled service and repair of my car had been done in the dealer place, Honda could do nothing about it.

I was shocked!! How can Honda get away from this? If there is a class action lawsuit, count me in!

Okay folks, I'm appalled.

Please tune into Car Talk on your local NPR carrier the weekend of 11/20 (or thereafter if I don't make it on).

It's obvious Honda is ducking this problem which is affecting 2001/2002 Civics at the 8-year mark. A part (torque converter) fails inside and the entire transmission needs replacing.

HONDA - you are close to a class action law suit. My lawyer is archiving Auto Beef complaints at this time.

It is APPALLING that Honda will not acknowledge this problem which presents a clear and present danger to all drivers as failure can occur at any moment. I got lucky and made it across busy traffic and rolled into a gas station.

I will never buy Honda again.

I owned a 2002 Honda Civic LX just 85000 miles the car is well maintain change engine oil every 3000 miles transmission oil every 35000 miles then one day my son driving to school suddenly the transmission failed in the middle of the street, some folks just help him to push it on the side road. The car wasn't able to move on all the shift gear. we towed to transmission mechanic stated need transmission to rebuilt or replace. now i been thinking on having it rebuilt or get a new one. i believed honda's were reliable but now having a second thought.

The dealership personnel are always pleasant. They have everything to gain. My car is eight years old, and I've NEVER had a problem with it. I don't drive it "hard", and I've been told that I could get at least 300,000 miles on it. The car has regular maintenance and RECENTLY had the 100,000 (maybe it was the 120,000) mile service. I use nitrogen in my tires, and synthetic oil. Suddenly, with zero warning, the Honda stopped accelerating. The engine ran, but the car wouldn't move. I had it towed to the DCH Honda Auto Group in Oxnard CA. The mechanic said it was nothing I did wrong.... it just needed a new transmission, bushings, etc. I'm retired and on a fixed income. My car is paid for and I'm not in a position to purchase a new, or used, car. To get my car back, running, it cost me $5,905. This was, indeed, depressing and a financial blow. I feel stupid, in a way, but I don't know what else I could have done under the circumstances.

This complaint refers to the gray 2002 Honda civic, so I hope that I chose the proper VIN #. This is only a problem due to our having purchased 2 new Honda Civics (1 gray, the other black) within a 6 month time period. We have faithfully, always had mechanical services done at the same dealership, Community Honda of Orland Park, IL, where we purchased them both.

Anyway, 10/19/10 I was pulling out of my VA hospital job parking lot when the car would not accelerate. I had thought of just taking side streets home, but as I live about 23 miles away and would have to drive through numerous Chicago neighborhoods (including some that are notorious for their potential for danger) I returned to my job and called the dealership for advice. It was suggested that I not drive the vehicle; instead, have it towed to them for review. I was even told I could have a ride home, once I got there. I arrived about 6 p.m. when the service writer returned, after analyzing the problem, his first question aka accusation was that I had made a mistake by not having the transmission fluid checked, added, etc. at appropriate times. I disagreed, pointing out that I have faithfully followed the suggested 5,000, 10,000 etc. service recommendations. I have never missed a service call. He then looked up the car record and acknowledged I had followed up consistently, correctly. He had no explanation as to why this would have still happened. Instead, he went about providing estimates of costs (if I purchased a used transmission from a vendor they use it would be about $3,000 with a 12 month warranty; if I purchased a 'reman' transmission from Honda it would run almost $4,000 with the purchase of a 3 year, 36,000 mile service warranty for an extra fee of course). I declined to decide. Called my spouse who came up. The service writer stood firm. He offered no explanation as to why this problem would occur when we have followed their procedures faithfully. Other than trying to first blame me for not taking care of the service needs, he offered nothing. He also noted that he figured since we had spent time looking at other new Hondas to consider for possible replacement of this one, that we are really satisfied with the cars. He just coldly stone walled us. The car is still there. I'm following through with a complaint as far as I can take it up the chain and try to get Honda to treat me as though I'm still a member of their 'community'. We knew that we were paying more for service calls. We took on that responsibility willingly. We didn't mind because we saw ourselves as supporting a local business and setting up a pattern of continuity over the long term. In fact, I was hoping to have a Honda as my next car, but maybe after 300,000 miles, not 162,000.

Update from Nov 10, 2010: I resorted to contacting the national Honda organization in the USA. They took a duck and dive approach, stating the problem represented an issue with potentially improper maintenance. I advised their staff of my having read the Honda complaints information from the website. They came back with a plan for me to contact the local dealership, insisting that since the problem occurred after 100,000 miles it was not their concern.They had me speak with a different staff person (good idea, as I was not happy to speak with the person who had accused me of poorly maintaining the vehicle, and told the next person of my displeasure, but of course that was of no use. I was contacted by the local delearship and offered about $400 off of either of the first transmission replacement/repair bills. I advised that I still needed to think about it.They also suggested willingness to provide a generous trade-in amount if I bought my next vehicle from them. After this, the only contact I had from them was calls from the sales department offering to sell me another Honda at a good price.My last time in contact with Community Honda was when I returned to take off my license plates and arrange for the car to be donated to the Military Order of the Purple Heart. Yes, I fully disclosed the problems. They think it is still a suitable donation. I hope someone can use a 2002 Civic after they replace the transmission. It has a less than 6 month old battery, newer tires, (replaced in the past year or so), new front windshield and looks very good inside and out. I have ordered another car. No, it won't be a Honda. I had considered a Mazda, but the local Mazda dealership is owned by this same bunch of people.

Here we go again, the same story, a honda with a transmission problem, nothing but trouble, my wife was nearly hit by a large truck when the trans decided to stop working and just started to rev and rev and go nowhere! Note: I started to have problems with this transmission when the car had about 70,000 miles No matter what you do you will not get more than 95,000 on the Honda's transmission. My wife was driving on a highway like road and the car had no signs of total failure, but there she was stepping on the gas pedal and going nowhere. I called the American Honda corp and they offered a small amount of the $3000 to fix it, and by the way if you do not take the offer in 14 days the offer is removed the Honda people are GD rude as well, We were not able to afford it at the time and that is why we were not able to take their offer but that is it you can't reopen the case.

DO NOT BUY a Honda New or used, todays cars will have tomorrows problems.I will never be sure that a new car today will be a car that you can trust "down the road'. Get a Toyota much better car in my opinion.