2003 honda civic hybrid transmission issues at only 115,907 miles have been a huge problem with this company. I just had to be excused from my shift of where I perform law enforcement duties so I could pick up my wife and two teenagers from the car that has been the bane of my existence and the bane of others' as well from what I have read in the umpteen different forums and sites across the world. Asia did it right by treating their people and honda owners right by recalling their transmissions across the board due to the lack of performance and durability in the CVT powertrain. This vehicle left my family stranded along a very busy highway after having to coast to a stop from the far right lane because the transmission stopped accelerating while operating perfectly fine at 70 MPH. Then we had to wait along the highway for an hour before a tow truck could come and pick up the car and tow it to the nearest honda dealership which I'm it will cost an arm and a leg to get this fixed! In town it sounds like it's always mad as it shutters on take off and slow rolling accelerations making it a bit harry to get into traffic or get through an intersection of any kind. The car also jumps or surges forward while stopped at intersections as well. Not cool when you have your teenager operating this. I'm just glad she is smart enough to stay on the brakes! Not to mention that the AC sucks during days it gets to 90 and 100 degrees here in kansas. Who puts a rubber belt in a transmission any way. Get this fixed!!!! If you will not get it fixed, you will lose yet another customer!
2003 Honda Civic Hybrid: CVT failure
8 of the 51 complaints about the 2003 Honda Civic Hybrid describe CVT failure.
- owner complaints
- 8
- of this car's complaints
- 16%
- typical mileage
- 132,000
- recalls
- 0
CVT failure by model year
What owners say
"juddering" happens with my continuously variable transmission (CVT) when taking off from a stop and when accelerating to enter an expressway. "juddering" means that the trans is slipping and making noise (loses power when you need it the most- very dangerous). River town honda grandville, mi stated that it would cost me $2,100.00 to replace it with a new one. Honda japan has recalled these transmissions in their hch model years 2003 through 2005. What can we do to get honda america to treat us to the same recall that japan has? This is a known problem, defect with the CVT. Honda makes quality vehicles with very good reliability, my other car is also a hch 2005 with a manual trans and absolutely no problems. Please check into the problem (I am not alone with this) and get honda america to stand behind their reputation and recall the cvts or reimburse the $2,100.00 cost to get them replaced. This is an ongoing, everyday occurance not limited to just one time. Please help!
Loss and surging due to faulty CVT transmission parts and the egr valve in the civic hybrid
Strong judder or shudder, along with noise, from transmission at intersection. Cvt transmission. Recently, has become worse. Change of transmission fluid took away the noise...temporarily. 3000 miles later, it has returned, and is worse. Burnishing does not help it. In honda civic hybrid (hch) forums, there are hundreds of entries on this problem. Many honda dealers are extending warranty, replacing fluid for free, or checking erg for free. A honda dealer in another state says there was an extended warranty issue from honda that deals specifically with this issue. Another owner posts that shudder or judder up to 15 MPH requires honda to drain and burnish the 2003-2005 honda hybrid CVT clutch. Honda will check the egr valve during this service too. Honda tech article# ats06070. Still others have received an extended warranty on this issue in the mail. My dealer refuses to do anything free of cost. I believe that this is untrue. Please assist. Burnishing does not work, changing fluid does not work. My dealer(s) in the area are: pacific honda, 4761 convoy st, san diego, ca 92111, (858) 694-1000, mission honda and dch 5812 mission gorge rd, san diego, ca 92120, (619) 521-6000.
Upon acceleration, the transmission judders violently.I have had tsb 07-049 done twice which is suppose to fix the problem, but the judder returned shortly after both tsb's were done.I have also had multiple transmission flushes performed and it has been using honda's new CVT fluid sense it was available. Honda extended the warranty for the judder problem, but never issued a recall for this problem. Dealer told me that I need a new start clutch which I refuse to get because I will be paying up to $1,000 for the same defective part! An investigation and recall should be issued for the transmission's start clutch. I am tired of having to go to the dealer and have these so called "band aid quick fixes" done to the start clutch. This is a well known problem among all 1st generation honda hybrid owners and it is a serious safety issue that deserves a recall.
We were driving along the freeway around 8:30 at night at about 70mph in the fast lane when the transmission suddenly stopped working. We had to coast over 3 lanes of traffic to pull into the emergency lane. My husband was driving, I was the passenger, and our 4 month old newborn was in the backseat. It took an hour for us to get a tow and a ride home. All the while I feared for the safety of my family, as it was quickly approaching dark. After some research on the internet, I found that I am no the only one that has encountered such a problem with the '03 civic hybrid CVT. Apparently, honda issued an extended warranty that would cover it for 7 years up to 100k miles. Unfortunately, I just bought this car a year ago, so I am well outside the extended warranty limit. My complaint is that there should be a safety recall on this vehicle. There were no warning signs that this would happen. We were just driving along, and there were no sounds or anything. By not having a recall on these vehicles, honda put my little family in an extremely dangerous situation.
This vehicle has a slipping in the CVT (transmission) at lower speed and when coasting.
Cvt transmission slips at 45k miles. Replaced transmission and problem reappeared at 75k.
Service bulletins that may apply
Related recalls
No recalls on record for this model year.
Questions about the 2003 Honda Civic Hybrid cvt failure
Is CVT failure a common problem on the 2003 Honda Civic Hybrid?
8 of 51 owner complaints about the 2003 Honda Civic Hybrid (16%) mention CVT failure. The model year with the most reports is 2005.
Is there a recall or service bulletin for this on the 2003 Honda Civic Hybrid?
There are 0 recalls and 1 service bulletin for the same area of the car. Check them below with your VIN.
Other symptoms on the 2003 Honda Civic Hybrid
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