2003 Honda Accord: engine knocking or ticking

Filed Aug 14, 2019 · Airbags, Electrical · 260,000 miles · AR · 1 injury

Takata recall: my son was driving on the interstate at over 60 MPH when the side airbag (driver side) spontaneously deployed. It slammed into his left arm with extreme force,knocking him toward the passenger door making him swerve in front of an 18 wheeler. The passenger side airbag then deployed and as he was trying to pull off the interstate the passenger front air bag deployed. He was able to stop in the area between the on ramp and the interstate, as he exited the vehicle the driver front airbag deployed. May 2016 the airbags and ignition recall repairs were done. After incident dealership ran diagnostics and said all he could see was that there was a problem with the SRS unit. He asked us if we had made any electrical modifications (which we haven't) I asked him if that part had been checked or replaced during the recall and he said that wasn't part of the recall. He said we should call honda customer service. Upon further investigation I learned there have been recalls on the replacements because of moisture being introduced during manufacturing.also there have been problems with corrosion and malfunction of the SRS units due to extreme temperatures and high humidity. At the time of the incident the heat index was 110 and the humidity was extremely high. Arkansas is located in the second of three priority regions for the SRS recall.also while researching spontaneous airbag deployment causes, I learned that the SRS unit moisture problem and the degradation of accelerant from moisture can not only cause the airbags to not deploy on impact, but also cause them to deploy with no impact. This information should be included in the recall information and honda should expand the SRS recall. We are lucky lives were not lost in this incident, but that may not be the case the next time this happens.

Filed Jun 25, 2015 · 131,000 miles · WA

I have owned four hondas and have never encountered or heard of issues like this before I bought my 2003 honda accord. I take very good care of my cars and do not drive them hard either. I bought my 03 accord in 2010 and had no idea that I was driving what is tantamount to a ticking time bomb. Roughly a month ago, my tach started slipping and the car started jerking and clunking while I was driving it. The problems do not begin at a set amount of time behind the wheel. It starts I the lower gears and I can tell it is starting when I decrease my speed to a stop, at 10 miles per hour the car ?shudders? And ?clunks?. It progressively gets worse and the higher gears become affected. I was on the freeway, on my way home from an appointment in the middle lane. I was traveling at roughly 55 ? 60 miles per hour when the entire car violently jerked. It was enough to throw my head into the steering wheel. I immediately went to exit the highway when I noticed that my car was now in neutral. I babied the car home and checked the fluid. It was fine. The problem has gotten worse and I can no longer drive my car without being willing to be injured or worse. The cost of replacing or repairing the transmission is not a possibility. I now have a car that I cannot fix and cannot drive. It is unconscionable that a car company that is built on its reliability would not acknowledge and fix this problem. Does someone need to die first? I guess that I am unwilling to risk getting behind the wheel of a honda again. The scariest part of this whole situation was that I was going to put my 16 year old daughter in this car. Something needs to be done?now.

Filed Jun 21, 2013 · Transmission · 149,000 miles · MO

While driving on the highway in rush hour traffic the transmission started to have issues while shifting down into first, a small knock. When I was able to get up to normal highway speeds as traffic opened up the car violently slammed into first gear causing my tires to lock up and sent me veering to the right. Luckily I was in the right lane and the car behind me was at a safe distance or I would have been toast. Afterwards I was able to limp home in first gear as no other gear is working including reverse. Looks like its off to the dealer to buy a new transmission. I don't understand how there can be hundreds of complaints of catastrophic transmission failure at highway speeds and there is no concern of safety from either honda or the federal safety agency, but they are quick to tell you to replace the ignition interlock because it's unsafe! Please do something about this before someone gets seriously hurt!

Filed Sep 16, 2011 · Transmission · 150,000 miles · GA · fire

Tl* the contact owns a 2003 honda accord. The contact was driving 20 MPH when the vehicle exhibited a loud, abnormal knocking noise. The contact was unable to accelerate of shift from second gear. The vehicle was taken to the dealer who diagnosed that the second gear had burned and as a result, the transmission needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure who did not offer any assistance. The manufacturer advised that because the transmission was not locked, the vehicle would not be repaired under the federal safety agency campaign id number: 04v176000 (power train:automatic transmission). The vehicle was not repaired. The failure and current mileage was 150,000.

Filed Nov 6, 2010 · Transmission · 99,787 miles · NY

2003 honda accord with approximately 99878 miles was traveling south on the bronx river parkway in westchester @ approximately 45mph, when the car started violently shaking and knocking from the rear, the car began swerving and almost hit another vehicle, I safely pulled off the road and then couldn't reverse the vehicle. Then shifting gears the car would violently go into gear. There are many logged problems with the honda accord transmission and as these vehicles get north in mileage they are gonna cause a serious accident. I pray someone looks into this problem before a fatality or serious injury happens because honda does not to issue a proper factory recall. This incident happened on a narrow highway @ over 40 MPH, speed whereas serious injury can occur ! The defective honda transmission is a safety issue.

Filed Jul 6, 2009 · Transmission · 184,000 miles · NC · crash · 1 injury

December 5th, 2007 I drove my 2003 honda accord onto our driveway pad, just like any other night. I turned off the car, took the key out and got out of the car. As I was getting ready to close the door, I realized the car was rolling backwards. I started back towards the car when the door was knocking me down. When I fell, I tried to get up immediately. I must have had my right leg bent, because the car ran over my left leg at the calf area. I sustained a crush injury to the leg. The squad was called. I was taken to unc memorial chapel hill ed, where I was treated for a crushed leg injury and sent home to observe for increasing compartment syndrome symptoms. I ended up with two large blisters/wounds to my left leg. One healed the other required skin graphs/donor site left thigh. Hospitalized one week on bed rest for the grafts to take. Have suffered permanent damage and chronic pain to the left leg.

Filed Jun 4, 2004 · Suspension · 35,997 miles · FL

Front end produces a loud knocking noise intermittently. The dealer cannot duplicate the problem .

Filed Jun 25, 2003 · 2,200 miles · CA

In the month of february I bought a honda accord, everything was fine until the end of may when I noticed a clicking noise coming from the front of the car every time the car stops, I took it to the honda dealer where I bought it and after a few hours, I was told that the clicking of the car is characteristic of this car, I told them that it didn't have it when I bought, then I was given a print out where honda talks about the "clicking or ticking at idle" for this type of car, I have asked other person with the same type of car and he doesn't have this noise, I have taken it to another dealer under honda's customer service request and the dealer said that all cars have that noise, I know for a fact that none of my previous cars had that noise. Since this is not consider a defect or a problem by honda, they offered me a free oil change as a "good will". This car is costing me over $27,000, honda can call this noise anyway they want, but I did not buy a car to have some noise after only 4 months of having the car, they also admit is a problem in the bulletin when they say "characteristic problem", the honest thing from honda since they knew this since december 2002 and I bought the car in february 2003, should have been to inform me about the possibility of having this noise in the car, and I would have made the decision of not buying the car, I have been to two dealers, called honda customer service 3 times and I have only been offered a free oil change, I hope this agency can help me to deal with honda, I know this may not be a safety issue but I don't think honda should get away with hiding information from potential customers and then when they get called just act like there is no problem. Thanks, ml I only see report defective equipment that was included with the vehicle at time of purchase but this noise wasn't there when I purchase the car.

Filed May 1, 2003 · Visibility · 2,000 miles · TX

I have a 2003 honda accord 4 dr ex purchased in january of this year. I have a constant problem with the front seat driver and passenger windows rattling or ticking. I have taken the car in twice and have scheduled it for a third time next week. The dealership does not seem to be able to fix the problem. They have admitted that other cars on their lot have this problem including one driven by a sales mgr. They have also called honda america but have received little if any guidance on how to fix the problem. I will commend the dealership for their efforts to fix the car but I will pursue the lemmon law if this is not fixed.