Traded in my 1999 Odyssey when it's transmission failed at about 90,000 miles and purchased my 2002 Odyssey in March of 08. Now it's transmission has failed at 86,000 miles and Honda is doing nothing for me.

Spoke with Marlene at 800-999-1009, then her manager Marla (use fake names much?). They couldn't have cared less. At one point I could tell that they actually muted the phone on their end, probably so that they could have other more important conversations about nail polish and designer purses, while I was demanding financial assistance with the transmission replacement costs. They kept to their script, though, and reread their lines like rejection zombies. They told me their manager is Durwin Gonzales (seriously?), but he couldn't possibly be bothered to talk to me, a lowly customer. Marla said, that because the car is being repaired at an Acura delaer (where I purchased it), and not a Honda Dealer (Honda OWNS Acura), that they couldn't be of any assistance. She suggested I get it to a Honda dealer (the transmission is laying on the floor at the Acura dealer), but when I asked if that would get me some compensation she quickly said no- probably not. What the??? So, why would I then move the car in mid repair? When I asked "doesn't Honda own Acura?"- she responded "yes, but, well... we're sort of under the same umbrella but, like, sort of not...oh, how can I explain it?..."

Are you kidding me? One person at Honda can't make a call to my contact at the Acura dealer? Do they not trust what the Acura dealer (again, they OWN Acura) is telling me?

So now, I'm paying $3500 for a new transmission, and I will continue to send copies of the invoice to Honda for as long as it takes.

+How can I sign on to a class action suit for the 2002 Odysseys?????

+Why hasn't the 2002 been included in the extended warranty??

This is my 2nd odyssey to have transmission failure. First a 1999 Odyssey, then a 2002. The first failed at @70,000 and the 2nd at 85,000. We took great care of these cars. I've read tons of material about this model in the last few days, and learned of all the tranny nightmares. I'm hoping for a class action suit against Honda for the 2002 Odyssey- but in the mean time I'll be arguing with the dealer today about what how much of the bill I will pay verses Honda. They better step up.

I will NEVER buy another Honda.

Why are these cars getting such great ratings?

I purchased a Honda, because I was tired of other manufacturers reliability. I had two chevy venture vans, one lost the transmission at 100K the other lost the engine at 95K. I never thought that I would have a Honda lose it's transmission at 86K. I took it to the dealer, they said I had to replace the Tranny and the control module for $4300. I told them that that was unacceptable, they contacted Honda, they responded by discounting the amount down to $3200.00. I was still in shock. I read many places where Honda replaced transmissions with more miles for free! I changed my tranny fluid and everything. I have owned Civic's, Accords, Odyssey, Element. Apparently this is where it stops if this is what they consider reliable. If you visit their website, they say come in for a reliable new Honda. Are they serious??? Before this happened to my Odyssey, I would have agreed, but after talking directly to Honda Corp, I don't believe it. If it is that reliable, they will stand behind the product!!!

I bought my Odyssey through AAFES new car sales in 2002 when I was stationed in Germany. It was a great mini-van. I had heard only good things about Odysseys before that. We had several trouble-free years until sometime in 2007, when several things started to go wrong: the transmission starting jerking while shifting, the "D" light started to blink while driving, the TCS light came on and stayed on, the transmission would slip causing the engine to race, and so on. We took it to a Honda dealer in MD for an assessment. We were told that the transmission was failing and needed to be replaced, not fixed or rebuilt. They said it was no longer under warranty (due to the mileage). Even further, AAFES had purchased the car from Honda Europe rather than Honda USA and they were two totally separate companies. Apparently, Honda Europe didn't recognize the problem and would do nothing to help. And, OF COURSE, Honda USA wouldn't do ANYTHING because it came from Honda Europe! What BS! They told us it would cost $6000+ to install a brand new transmission, so we thanked them and left. We continued to drive it for a couple years, expecting it to totally fail any day. Well, that day came when we moved from MD to TX. The van did OK for the entire trip until we hit Texas. Then, the transmission began jerking so hard I thought it was going to fall off the vehicle. We drove the last 20 miles to my brother's house in Dallas going about 10 mph (as fast as it would go). When we arrived, there was no reverse at all and only one gear in forward. So, it sits at my brother's house right now, gathering dust and waiting for me to decide what to do with it. I am torn between putting a new transmission in it (because everything else is still in great shape) and trading it in for something else (NOT another Odyssey). I am so angry with Honda, I could just sue them! Maybe I will. Maybe we all need to file a class action suit for model year 2002.

This is about 2002 Honda odyssey with single owner and 74000 miles over 7 years 4 months. Odyssey started giving jerks during driving last week. Then TCS (Traction control system) light started coming on. After about a day the 'D' light (showing minivan is drive gear) started flashing. When we took it to dealer was told transmission has failed and cannot even be rebuilt. Cost for new transmission and computer will be $6100. Dealer gave a choice to trade in minivan for $3000. When mentioned that 1999-2001 Honda Odyssey transmission failures and class action suite was told 2002 model not covered. Even if service manager asked Honda to provide to give goodwill, was told Honda may not pay more than $1000 towards fix.

I have owned 5 Honda cars and one accord with 180,000 is still running. So I am not pleased with this shoddy quality and will certainly give my piece of mind to Honda about this transmission.

i have a 2002 Honda odyssey very well maintained.we are the second owner. we took it to john hindeerer Honda of Newark Ohio, where we bought it, only to find out the transmission has to be replaced, and with the warranty we bought from them for it will not cover the control module because it is not a covered part BUT it is not bad it only has to be changed because the upgrade tranny that Honda says to put in also has to have the ecm replaced to operate.this tell me that Honda knows there is still a problems with their tranny but they will not stand behind them. i think the 2002 were {as with most cars} built with left over parts from 2001 so why were they not included in the lawsuit by specific models of trannys not just 1999 to 2001. i talked to a yolanda at Honda of America and she told me that there obligation was fulfilled at 36000. so to me that means they only plan on 36000 and after that you are running on borrowed time. TELL EVERY ONE THAT YOU KNOW ABOUT WHAT YOU HERE ABOUT HONDA ODYSSEY AND THE WAY HONDA HANDLES PEOPLE AFTER THE SALE. TELL THEM TO GOOGLE IT ON THE INTERNET AND SEE FOR THEM SELVES. I HAD ALWAYS HERD THEY ARE A GOOD CAR COMPANY. THEY ARE NOT

i am starting to believe what a old vet told me Honda=Help Our Nation Destroy America all they want is our hard earned money then they run bryan from Newark Ohio posted this

Update from Jun 19, 2009: i have already posted about it but YOU need to go to your local craigs list and place a add for your year of van and post all the trouble about it and how honda will not take care of their junk. you have to let every one know. if we make a lot of noise and can change peoples mind to buy anymore hondas then at least they will see how it feels to lose hard earned money. it is there cheap trannys they should have to take care of it.every one knows a van gets old , but this amount of bad trannys is unacceptable. it is not to much to ask they fix their screw up

Transmission failed at 95000 miles. Honda refused to stand behind problem. This is the worst company I have ever dealt with. I hope that everyone who has this problem emails everyone on their email list to let the word out about how Honda treats its consumers. I can't believe that they are aware of the problem and not standing behind it. They lost a class action suit on the 1999 - 2001 models for the same problem. This needs to go into another class action suit. I will never buy another Honda. I had planned on trading in this year but they have lost a customer for life.

To me now HONDA means HellONDA! I paid over $32K for a new Y02 Odyssey. Wanted a reliable long-term vehicle for my family. For a peace of mind also bought extended warranty. Owning my HellONDA has been a painful experience. In the note I'll only talk about autotransmission. In a little over 3 years with 54K miles the transmission failed - very painful as I lived 60 miles from the dealer. Prior to that all my service was done at the dealer. The dealer used the extended warranty to install a rebuilt HOWARD transmission- never even mentioned that he replaced it with a non-HellONDA transmission. Well, just about 3 years later with additional 53K miles the transmission failed again last week costing me about $4K to replace. I called HellONDA nationwide customer service. The rep said there was a problem with Y2002 HellONDA Odyssey transmission. There was a recall and the dealer had the recall service done on my HellONDA during the second year. She agreed that by the time of the recall service the defective component might have gone thru enough damage to cause the transmission to fail at 54K mile. She said that if at that time I had called HellONDA they might have replaced the part free. Now that I have a non-HellONDA transmission fail at 107K miles they really can't help me. I said the ROOT CAUSE of my second problem is their first defective transmission so HellONDA should provide me with some relief. She said no relief for me and asked me to call the dealer who relaced a non-HellONDA transmission. I called the service manager at the dealer who told me that there standard practice is to use norms of the extended warranty before even considering factory warranty. Since the extended warranty called for replacement using non-HellONDA transmission they simply obliged without informing me. I called back the HellONDA customer rep who still said NO to any relief. I requested to talk to her supervisor. Walter, her supervisor, called me an hour later. He said they can't provide any relief since I have a non-HellONDA transmisson. He even tried to make me feel guilty for choosing a non-HellONDA transmission to potentially save money. I again said that the ROOT CAUSE of my current problem was the original defective transmission so he should give me some consideration but he said no. He said that we could keep on arguing the whole day but his answer is no. I wish I had a bought a TOYOTA van. Just about the same time I bought my HellONDA Odyssey my friend bought TOYOTA - today after 120K miles that lucky chap has had no major expense on his van. I'll never buy a HellONDA again!

88K Miles on 2002 Honda, and the transmission needs to be replaced - shifting 2nd to 3rd would intermittently not happen. I deemed this dangerous to the family so I took it to a dealer. On the 1st trip, the dealer could not replicate the problem, and they sent us home. 2nd trip, we insisted they check more thoroughly as this was unsafe and obviously an unpredictable condition. They finally checked and found that the transmission needed to be replaced. Cost w/ chip was $4500. A call to Honda via the dealer got us 1/3 covered.

We had the repairs done, then decided to call Honda again to voice frustration on quality of the original and high expense. We were looking for a good faith assistance, and asking them to cover to 50% noting this would make me feel better about getting another Honda. They refused! I'm not planning on ever getting another Honda and I am urging those I know not to purchase Honda products. Keep in mind we took really good care of this van. I am also going to fire off a letter to Honda to make sure they get the message. This poor quality control is unacceptable. Please pass this information on to others.

The more I research the more I say, shame on you Honda. For such an honorable company to behave in such a dishonorable manner saddens me. My 02 Odyssey started by intermittently slipping between 4th and 5th gears. Took it to the dealer as it was time for the timing belt service. Had them test the transmission first. They found the transmission fluid to be thick and discolored. They felt that this was the only problem as the 2004 recall had been performed on the vehicle and due to gas prices it had been parked for better part of six months. I let them go ahead with the timing belt service and front brake job to the tune of $1,000. The next day the transmission fails, stranding my wife and kids.

Honda has agreed to split the cost of repairs, which takes me to $2150. I feel like they should do more, considering they have known of this problem all along and have deemed it cheaper to handle it on a case by case basis instead of openly admitting the problem and taking care their shoddily engineered transmission. This is the last Honda product I will ever purchase.

I checked on line and the previous 2 years were extended to 109,000 Miles under Honda warranty. I asked them why they did not spot anything at 95,000 transmission service. Honda covered half. Lots of little problems with this car since day one. Radio buttons never worked on the steering wheel. They finally replaced it at 95,000 at no cost. The map light switch cover the size of a Lego piece fell off and they wanted $300 for the entire overhead light assembly. They replaced that for nothing. sliding doors work intermittently. Clunk in front end that took 6 trips to fix. They claimed it was behind the glove box. Felt liner falling off in rear interior and RHS sliding doors and drivers door.

Update from Oct 29, 2010: Seems like it has only been a short time since I last wrote about the replacement transmission for $1500 rebuilt. The replacement unit is now ready to fail and at Honda Westminster. I wll find out next week if they will help on the 3rd transmission. The second one was 3 years and 36,000. It will be 3 year in December and I have 40,000 on the second one. I will keep you posted on what they decide.

Update from Nov 9, 2010: Honda paid for $800 and I paid for $800 for the 3rd unit. The second one lasted for 40,000 miles. Have fluid drained , not flushed every 15,000 miles.