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2003 Honda Accord transmission complaints

Page 8 of 32: complaints 191 to 220 of 924, newest first, as owners wrote them.

See the summary of 2003 Honda Accord transmission problems: which part fails, at what mileage and related recalls.

Filed Dec 2, 2012 · Transmission · 101,194 miles · TX

Car struggles to gain speed after stopping or slowing down to turn. The RPM will increase but the car does not accelerate. In order for car to accelerate I will have to place the gear in neutral and then shift to drive. I have taken the car to the dealership on several occasions but they have not been able to duplicate or identify the problem. My concern is that it may be related to the transmission which has previoiusly been recalled on this vehicle.

Filed Nov 26, 2012 · Transmission · 120,000 miles · CA

I was driving at about 45 MPH and suddenly it felt like my car had downshifted. My car didn't move and the rpms went up to about 4,000. I tried to continue to drive as I was in the middle of three lane road in the middle lane and the car struggle to move. I had the car towed to a shop nearby and the transmission had failed. It was rebuilt in july of 2009. Four days ago, on 11/22/12 I was driving the same car, which has been kept up and well maintained, and a similar issue occurred- this time while I was on the highway. I was coming off a ramp and the car once again felt like it was downshifting. The only way I can explain is it felt like someone hit the brakes while I was driving. Luckily- I was merging onto the freeway so I was right next to the shoulder and got out of the way as soon as I could. Had I been traveling at 65 MPH I firmly believe this would have resulted in a major collision. I have the car at the same shop that repaired the transmission, and it turns out this was due to another transmission issue, although it didn't fail this time.

Filed Nov 24, 2012 · Electrical, Transmission · 140,000 miles · NJ

This car had recalled for transmission . I bought this car in 2006. I got told the recalled has been fixed in 2004. I got problem with transmission again in 2007 when my car reach 45000. They fixed this problem using my extended warranty. Now since last 2 year I still getting the problem with transmission . And the dealership saying they can't fix this time because they have fixed this problem before. I can't pass the inspection without fixing this problem. Fixing this problem costing me more than what my car worth, about $5000. Please help.

Filed Nov 22, 2012 · Transmission · 129,000 miles · SC

Transmission fail. When warm transmission won't stay in gear and slips.d rebuilt had to have it towed to a shop and rebuilt.

Filed Nov 19, 2012 · Transmission · 99,892 miles · CA

Tl* the contact owns a 2003 honda accord. While driving approximately 25 MPH, the transmission began to slip gears and then failed to respond. The vehicle was maneuvered to the side of the road where the engine was turned off. The vehicle was able to resume in operation after waiting for one hour. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic who advised the contact that the transmission would need to be replaced due to internal damage. The manufacturer was notified of the problem. The approximate failure mileage was 99,892. The manufacturer would not assist the consumer with replacing the transmission, because she was not the original owner. Updated 03/21/13

Filed Nov 14, 2012 · Engine, Transmission · 132,000 miles · GA

After about 45 minute ride out of my city on a major highway, my car violently downshifted from 65 MPH to 0 and would not move out of first gear thereafter. This has happened everyday afterwards that I drive my car at least 20 minutes. It seems as if once a mechanism inside the transmission heats up or gets hot, this happens. I always service my vehicle as required, I am worried. This is a major transmission failure. I have read where over 200 other honda owners have had this issue in the past but no recall has been issued. Please advise.

Filed Nov 12, 2012 · Fuel system, Transmission · 62,500 miles · CA

Vehicle downshifted in low gear at highway speed almost causing a crash. Took to transmission shop and they said transmission needs replacement. Transmission shop hooked up to diagnostic and read the following codes: po747 a/t clutch pressure control solenoid valve a stuck on and po752 shift solenoid valve a stuck on . Transmission shop states this is a very common problem.

Filed Nov 12, 2012 · Acceleration, Brakes · 107,000 miles · WA

I bought my honda from the dealership 06/23/12, 1 owner completely serviced through the dealership then traded in at same dealership. When bought it had 101,793 miles, timing belt was done at 90k and power steering pump. Not even month later I had to replace throttle body. I've always felt something wrong with the transmission after bought car. On 11/10/2012 out of no where when I was getting off the freeway my car started to down shift really hard, was jerking while driving and then was stuck in first gear, luckily I was less than a mile from my house so I drove home then parked it and no indicator lights on. The next morning (today) called a friend who works on hondas and he looked at it and said the transmission fluid was very dirty and practically gone. Drove around the block twice and transmission was working fine. Then later drove about 8 miles and started hard down shifting and was stuck in first gear. Then parked and tried to put my car in reverse and it not move acted like was in neutral. Put it in park, turned it off then started it again and put it into reverse, reverse now worked. After that I had my friend look under the hood at the transmission fluid and it was practically empty again. So I went to the store got more transmission fluid and put some in and tried to drive back home. Everything seemed fine for about another 8 miles then it started to hard down shift all over again. After another 3 miles the car completely freaked out check engine light finally came on along with the ABS, tsc, and the light showing I was in drive started flashing. So I pulled over and put the car in park and everything was still doing the same thing, including the light indicating I was in drive even thought I was in park and the park gear light was on. So I turned off my car, sat for a min then restarted. Driving slow needed to stop and brakes started to go out.

Filed Nov 4, 2012 · Transmission · 127,000 miles · TN

Cannot drive the car over 40 miles/hour. Took to honda service center in anaheim, ca, and they told me I needed to change the transmission. Car cannot shift into 3rd gear. It is very dangerous to drive and I might get stranded anywhere.

Filed Oct 30, 2012 · Transmission · 106,000 miles · OR

Driving at approximately 68 MPH on interstate 5 when car felt like the brakes had been applied, hard. Luckily there was not a lot of traffic behind me because it was a very quick deacceleration to 30mph and a very dangerous situation. I was able to limp along the freeway with my flashers on at 35mph, top speed, until I could get off of the freeway. When I was putting the car on the trailer dolly we realized that I had no reverse gear. The next morning, the car reengaged with reverse while taking the car off of the car trailer. The car was brought to a transmission shop that diagnosed that the transmission had failed at 106,000miles. We had taken the car into the honda dealer for the 2004 transmission recall repair. I had no previous warning that there was any problems with the transmission until this failure.

Filed Oct 24, 2012 · Transmission · 156,700 miles · WI

Coming to a stop sign, slowed car down to a stop. Pushed the accelerator and the transmission did not go into gear, felt like it was in neutral, but the shifter was set to "d". I had to put the shifter into "2" to get it to move. If it was a yield sign instead of a stop, and I had slowed down and the car did not accelerate, I could have easily been hit. Car also has problems shifting from 2nd gear into 3rd gear. The rpms jump between shifts.

Filed Oct 22, 2012 · Transmission · 75,000 miles · SC

Tl* the contact owns a 2003 honda accord. The vehicle was included and repaired under the federal safety agency campaign id number: 04v176000 (power train: automatic transmission). After the repair the vehicle was parked with the key out of the ignition when the contact noticed the vehicle began to roll backwards independently. The contact entered the vehicle, applied the emergency brake, and inserted the key in the ignition in order to stop the vehicle. The contact stated that the gear was in reverse. Also, the contact mentioned that she was able to remove the key without the vehicle being in park. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer for diagnostic testing. The vehicle was not repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 75,000.

Filed Oct 8, 2012 · Acceleration, Transmission · 123,000 miles · TX

Transmission stopped working will entering on-ramp onto a major freeway (I-45 n) and I had to push the car off on to the median during rush hour traffic. Horrible incident and could have been ugly if it happened on the freeway!

Filed Oct 5, 2012 · Transmission · 109,000 miles · IL

While driving on busy street the car violently shifted into first gear at about 25 miles per hour, luckily there were no other cars behind me at the time, had there been this issue could have caused an accident. After this incident the car had intermittent issues with the transmission slipping out of gear. I took it to the honda dealership and was told the transmission was failing, causing the issues. After researching, I found that this was a common problem with 2003 accords.

Filed Oct 2, 2012 · Transmission · 82,000 miles · NY

I bought the vehicle used had 80,000 miles on it I hardly ever used the vehicle it suddenly happened was driving and all the sudden it down shifted vigorously with no indication on dash ,like check engine light ,I was driving with my children ,almost got rear ended by another vehicle then it went into neutral it didn't go anywhere turned it off waited turned it back on drove for a little and again the same thing I have been researching this online and its known this is a problem and no one has done anything honda said they put a oil jet injector but that did not fix the situation from my understanding and its a v6 I cannot pay for a new transmission ,I'm also paying for the vehicle and cannot drive it please help.

Filed Sep 25, 2012 · Transmission · 89,930 miles · GA

The car acted like it was 'missing' gears, but this went away. I started to enter the freeway ramp and increase speed and the car did it several times again (missing gears', revving but not moving forward like it should) and was almost hit by several cars trying to get me to move. I was unable to get the car to move, so I immediately used GPS to locate a service station. I was able to drive the to the repair shop, but the car symptoms continued to get worse, which was a significant safety hazard! No check engine lights came on at all! I was able to make it to the driveway of the repair shop, but they had to push the car into the bay to review it. The repair place determined that the transmission has an internal problem, which is very common with 2003 honda accords. I only had 89,900 miles on the car. I have owned several hondas and have never had problems such as this. However, honda knows that this is an ongoing, safety hazard but has done nothing to address these ongoing issues (outside of the class action lawsuit requirements). I will be looking at new cars and hondas will not be on my list! I am asking the us department of transportation to please thoroughly review the history of transmission issues with these cars and require appropriate consumer protection by honda.

Filed Sep 12, 2012 · Engine, Transmission · CA

I have a 2003 honda accord ex v6. About two months ago I started feeling the car wasn't feeling right. As I was driving, it felt like the gear shift had been knocked down in to neutral, but was still actually still in drive. When this happened, the RPM's would go up and the car felt like it wasn't going anywhere, just coasting, then it seemed to just jolt back to where it should be. The problem wasn't happening every time I drove, but recently it started happening more often and for longer periods of time. I take the car to one place to have all my work done on it, so I took it there, but they felt the problem might be internal and recommended I take it to a transmission shop. They did diagnostics on the car and drove it. The result, the car is going into transmission failure. The transmission fluid is black and burned and has debris in it, and they said that the clutches are also burned. They won't know the complete picture until they take the transmission apart and get a good look. It is 5 days before christmas, I don't have the money to fix it or we will not have any christmas and now I have no transportation to do anything! Soooo frustrated. I thought honda's were suppose to be such good cars, but I have had nothing but problems with this one. It doesn't seem like a transmission should go out at 113,000 miles and I have had so many people say the same thing. Now that my transmission is going out, I read up on it and find out there was a recall in 2004 for the 2003 honda accords. Why, am I just finding out about this??

Filed Sep 7, 2012 · Transmission · 81,138 miles · NJ

At 55 MPH on highway, car suddenly slipped out of gear and rpms spiked up. No forward power. Had to coast on to the shoulder and shutoff and restart the car. Problem continued on that trip but seemed ok thereafter. Brought to dealer but nothing found. Over the next few years problem has occurred every so often unpredictably (no pattern) despite changing transmission fluid and staying current on maintenance. Increased in frequency at 100k miles. Most days the car is fine but then the problem will occur suddenly. Has happened when merging on to highways, when already at highway speeds and sometimes shortly after accelerating from a stop at a traffic light or stop sign. Occasionally happens when yielding (I.e. Slowing down for a yield sign and then trying to accelerate again).

Filed Sep 4, 2012 · Transmission · 89,540 miles · CA

Driving up to the high desert at 70 MPH the transmission dropped out of 5th to 1st and back to gear 4 times tell only second and first gears only work. There was no warning of a problem tell this time. I could of been in a sever accident, if I would of lost control of the car at this speed or someone was to close to me an hit me from going 70mpg to 10mpg in less in a second. This car only has 89k on it and should not be having a problem like this . This is a major safety problem when a car just locks up at freeway speeds . Honda should do something about this. There are a lot of online forums with just this problem if I would of known about this I would not of picked this car. I drive a lot of mountain roads and freeways. If this would of happen on a mountain road going up are even down I may not be her right now to send this complaint. I would be part of the mountain side. This need immediate attention, just like with ford having tier problems,toyota having there problem with safety on the vehicles this one that need attention.

Filed Aug 30, 2012 · Transmission · 82,300 miles · NH

Vehicle transmission shifted from ~3rd-4th gear while driving at a constant 40 miles per hour in traffic to 1st gear causing very rapid de acceleration (sufficient to cause items on rear deck to fly forward, seat belts to lock, and driver to hit steering wheel) and causing other drivers to brake to avoid collision. Dry pavement prevented loss of control. Action by trailing drivers (spacing and braking) prevented collision. Following incident, transmission remained locked in first gear. Transmission first locked into first gear (as above) on august 18, 2012. On august 21, 2012 the dealer returned the vehicle after asserted the transmission had not failed and required only flushing and changing transmission fluid (transmission fluid had been flushed and changed in 2010 as scheduled maintenance less than 12,000 miles of this failure). Dealer charged more than $250 for this service and stated vehicle was fully repaired. Second dangerous failure occurred within 5 miles. Honda dealer refused to refund the cost of work resulting from faulty diagnosis which placed a dangerous functioning transmission back into use. Transmission recalled in 2004 and modified by dealer pursuant to transmission lubrication problems. Honda dealer provided all state inspections and periodic maintenance. Honda north america refused to replace defective and dangerously functioning transmission. The dealer has agreed to replace the transmission with a re-manufactured transmission for $2500. The owner believes this failure is related to the previous recall. Vehicle has only been used for light duty, has never been used for towing, and all scheduled maintenance has been performed by dealer. The mode of failure was very dangerous. A recall should be considered and transmissions with this mode of failure replaced by manufacturer. Investigation is requested.

Filed Aug 23, 2012 · Transmission · 130,387 miles · CA

I was driving in a side street for like 35 to 40mph. And then all of a sudden my car shift to lower gear violently hen when I'm about to park I shifted it to reverse but my car will not move. For like a year only I replaced my transmission fluid and check it everything looks fine. And I talked to one of the dealer close to my place they told me its not covered with warranty anymore. Plus I'm unemployed base from some of the forum that I read they said that it will cost about $2500 to $3500 new transmission. How can I afford that.. Please someone help me or give me some advice to deal with it.

Filed Aug 22, 2012 · Transmission · 97,000 miles · NE

The transmission started slipping and the transmission/transmission fluid started overheating and boiling. The car started smoking and we had to pull over. When towed to a mechanic they said the transmission was bad and was slipping.

Filed Aug 15, 2012 · Transmission · 142,000 miles · CO

Tl* the contact owns a 2003 honda accord. The contact stated that the transmission jerked and hesitated while driving at various speeds. The contact also stated that the transmission would downshift sporadically. In addition, the transmission would engage from fourth to third gear and from third to second gear without warning. The vehicle had not been inspected. The contact stated that in 2004 the vehicle was taken to the dealer for repairs under the federal safety agency recall campaign id number: 04v176000 (power train: automatic transmission). The dealer replaced the oil jet kit on the vehicle, but did not repair the transmission. The failure and the current mileages were 142,000.

Filed Aug 15, 2012 · Transmission · 93,350 miles · MD

Returning from richmond car downshifted by it self into 2nd gear at a speed of about 65 MPH causing the car to dive violently as if applying the brakes hard. It did this about 5 or 6 times then locked in 2nd gear . I moved to the right lane and drove the car at a speed of 45 MPH stuck in 2nd gear to my local honda dealer. Thank goodness there was not a lot traffic on the road when this happened or I might have been hit from behind.

Filed Aug 14, 2012 · Transmission · 125,000 miles · NE

Only 125k miles on the car. I noticed the transmission slipping when going into/out of second gear. I took it for a drive later to see if I could replicate the problem and could not. Two days later, while getting off of the interstate and turning onto the surface streets, the transmission suddenly start jolting and downshifting even though I was pressing on the gas. It continued to do so all the way to the dealer. I could not get it to go past second gear. Was told that I need a new transmission at a cost of $4,000. Have since seen that this make and model is having all kinds of problems. There are websites addressing the problems and apparently a facebook page. I also learned after the fact that there had been a recall in 2004 related to the second gear but they patched it with some cheesy kit and apparently prayed that the s -t would hit the fan after everyone's warranty expired -- which it has. The federal safety agency needs to recall these vehicles and require honda to make good on them.

Filed Aug 13, 2012 · Acceleration, Engine · 144,202 miles · IN

I was traveling at 60 MPH on us 30 when my honda accord suddenly jerked and slipped into low gear. I was nearly rearended and was definitely in shock. I continued homeward and it did the same thing 3 more times. I had slowed my speed to 40 MPH but the engine sounded like I was going too fast for the gear I was in so slowed down even more....put my flashers on and crept home. Since it is after hours I must wait until tomorrow to contact the dealership. However I have found that many people have had the same problem with honda accords.

Filed Jul 11, 2012 · Transmission · 71,500 miles · CA

The transmission down shifted to first gear. The tires screeched and the transmission grinned to a hault. We had the transmission rebuilt, $2800.

Filed Jul 8, 2012 · Transmission · 98,000 miles · MI

While merging onto i75 off of square lake rd north of detroit, transmission momentarily failed then engaged with a jolt in a low gear making this normally routine maneuver quite treacherous. Luckily there was no accident or injury. Shortly thereafter transmission underwent complete rebuild at my cost. I have since discovered that this malady is quite common with this model and year at approximately this mileage.

Filed Jul 7, 2012 · Transmission · 154,000 miles · WA

The transmission had a major transmission failure of some kind as the car was just driving along the highway. It was as if someone had hit the brakes hard. The car went from 60 to 40 in just a second or two it seemed like... A violent slowdown. Now the transmission has no reverse, and forward driving is clunky, hard shifts and unpredictable.

Filed Jul 6, 2012 · Transmission · 105,000 miles · MO

No issues prior to the drive into work 7/3/12, where I experienced extreme downshifting. On the way home, driving 35 to 40 MPH, the car slipped out of gear and the engine's rpms skyrocketed. While maneuvering to the right to get out of traffic, transmission re-engaged and downshifted violently. From a stopped position it would move forward briefly, then slip out of gear. Finally, it wouldn't engage in any position (reverse, drive, 1st, 2nd, etc). The only way to get moving was to turn it off and restart. I got it to the dealer by restarting 3 or 4 times. Extremely dangerous in rush hour to lose all power, especially at intersections.

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