Cvt transmission violently shakes at speeds 0-10 and causes auto stop to engage at all times extremely dangerous when driving through congested traffic on the highway. It performs poorly when in motion in any street or highway when driving very slow or after accelerating at a stoplight.
2005 Honda Civic Hybrid: CVT failure
9 of the 48 complaints about the 2005 Honda Civic Hybrid describe CVT failure.
- owner complaints
- 9
- of this car's complaints
- 19%
- typical mileage
- 98,900
- recalls
- 0
Is there a fix? 1 service bulletin covers this area of the car. See below
CVT failure by model year
What owners say
The vehicle shutters during initial takeoff from a stop. It feels like the car wants to start from second or third gear. I have checked all the fluids and they appear to be at normal and acceptable operating levels. The lack of acceleration and the hesitation from the car make it difficult to merge into traffic. This is truly a safety concern when turning from 2-way stop signs or turning right at a stop light. Oncoming traffic could be coming at excessive speeds and with the slow acceleration and shutter, I fear this vehicle's CVT will fail.
Tl* the contact owns a 2005 honda civic hybrid. While driving approximately 10 MPH, the transmission made a loud noise and the vehicle started jerking violently. The dealer stated there was a vibration in the transmission (CVT). The manufacturer was not made aware of the issue. The failure mileage was 98,900. Updated 1/23/15*cn updated 9/7/2017
This car has an automatic transmission. When in reverse it struggles to move and honda says the transmission needs to be replaced but it only has 55,900 miles on it. Honda states that only they can work on the CVT transmission and of course can control parts and labor cost and they will not sell parts to outside mechanics. It seems like a scheme to make money off of customers off of a unreliable part. Checking the internet there seems to be a lot of complaints. A normal automatic transmission replacement charge parts and labor is around $1800 but honda wants $4200 to $4900.
A friend was driving us back home on the highway at speeds of 55-65 miles per hour, getting on an off ramps. She is an experienced driver and it was the first time she had driven my car. She told me that the steering wheel was very wobbly, the car was shaking and she felt she had no control over the vehicle; she had trouble steering. I had several incidents after that when I had start-up/judder vibration and extreme grinding when accelerating from a stop. It felt like the car was slipping out of gear. Honda determined the CVT transmission was bad; it was classified as slip/judder in honda's service bulletins 07-049 and 07-050 but I never received a recall notice. Honda paid 50% of the cost of replacing the clutch in september 2013 but the severe acceleration/slipping problems continued and within a week of having the clutch replaced I sold the car. I had bought it used with 28k miles on it; I sold it when it had 41k miles (I had driven it only 12k miles in six years and took a big loss on the sale). I was afraid I would have a terrible accident in it as it was absolutely unsafe. When I told honda I was still having these problems after the clutch replacement they told me to take it back to the dealer again; this had been four months of dealing with CVT transmission problems and I had spent enormous amounts of time on trying to fix a known civic hybrid defect so I traded in the car.
My car has what honda calls a slip and judder that occurs from transmission failure upon acceleration from stop. Honda issued a recall for the first generation models of the civic hybrid ('03-'05) in japan to address the issue, but only an extended warranty on the one's in the united states. The fix that honda recommends will not actually remediate the transmission failure. They recommend burnishing the starter clutch and changing the transmission fluid. Independent mechanics have recommended a new starter clutch and new bearings, an obviously more expensive fix. The real problem is that honda chose to use a CVT that cannot handle the load of more than one passenger in a car accelerating on a flat or decline road. The CVT fails when the load on the transmission is exacerbated by more than one passenger and uphill driving. The transmission failure can be dangerous accelerating on an onramp to a highway, as in my case. Complaints of the CVT issue were not hard to come across on automotive related websites. Some of the complainants had issues at 100,000 miles, others at only 20,000. The federal safety agency should examine this issue further for the safety of first generation honda civic hybrid owners.
From what I has been told to me by the dealer, the starter clutch in the transmission of the CVT civic hybrid becomes deficient and upon initial acceleration, from a stop, you feel a harsh jutter which gets worse with time until it fails. They put out a service bulletin but this only covers cars within warranty. But since out of warranty, they want people to pay $1500 to $200 for a problem which should never occurred.
2005 honda civic hybrid began juddering when taking off from a stop. The transmission also began slipping. Honda has acknowledged problem with the CVT transmission and extended the warranty to 105,000 miles or 7 years. However, they initially insist on attempting to fix the problem with a procedure called "burnishing". This procedure takes care of the problem temporarily, but juddering and slipping eventually comes back. This is not a permanent fix. The starter clutch needs to be replaced, a more extensive and expensive repair, but the only repair that fixes the problem for good. Honda has a known defect, and they have used a band-aid approach to the repair; forcing customers to burnish the transmission before they will replace the starter clutch. Customers have been forced out of the warranty period by burnishing and then having to wait for the problem to re-occur. Safety is an issue here as the transmission slips and hesitates when trying to pull out in traffic.
Transmission is juddering when accelerating from a stop. I'm only 10,000 miles over the 105,000 extended transmission warranty (they know the transmissions are broken), and I have an extremely extensive service record with the dealer. They refuse to work with me on the issue. A recall should be issued on the CVT transmission and starter clutch, and the warranty should be extended to 200,000 miles.
Service bulletins that may apply
Related recalls
No recalls on record for this model year.
Questions about the 2005 Honda Civic Hybrid cvt failure
Is CVT failure a common problem on the 2005 Honda Civic Hybrid?
9 of 48 owner complaints about the 2005 Honda Civic Hybrid (19%) mention CVT failure. The model year with the most reports is 2005.
Is there a recall or service bulletin for this on the 2005 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 2005 Honda Civic Hybrid
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