2003 Honda Civic: CVT failure

Filed Dec 31, 2014 · Transmission · 300,000 miles · CA

Tl* the contact owns a 2003 honda civic. While attempting to accelerate, the vehicle jerked and failed to accelerate. The failure recurred numerous times. The vehicle was taken to a dealer where it was diagnosed that the CVT transmission needed to be drained and burnished. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 300,000.

Filed Oct 17, 2014 · Transmission · 147,773 miles · ME

Went to leave walmart around 7 pm. Car wouldn't move...CVT trans, hybrid..

Filed May 27, 2011 · Transmission · 85,800 miles · NJ

Honda civic hybrid 2003 with CVT transmission, it shudders and vibrates entire car when accelerating slowly. Also in neutral it hesitates going in reverse. I am requesting a recall as I see many having this problem on the web. Honda claims the car has no problems and that is the engine lurking forward.

Filed May 10, 2011 · Transmission · 119,000 miles · RI

Have an 03 civic hybrid with CVT transmission. I got it certified used at about 36,000 miles and it was supposed to have fresh trans fluid and I believe it did. The powertrain is warranted to 100,000 miles since it was certified used. I am at 74,000 now. At about 66,000, when it should have been due for it's transmission fluid change, it was making a slipping/grinding sound when starting off, especially on a hill. It had previously been very smooth and quiet. It gradually became a problem. It was not all of a sudden. It was hard to know for sure that it was not my imagination, except for it being real obvious on an incline and it was getting worse. The dealer's mechanic heard the sound, too, and said let's start with the fluid change it was due for. The change made it great again, but only for a few thousand miles. When I went back they said they had learned about a process called burnishing the transmission band. I believe they put their foot on the brake while putting on the gas, almost to the point of stalling (I think) to clean up the band. Mine would be the 2nd car they would do it on. It also requires a change of fluid after because it is supposed to take the crud from the parts and put it into the fluid. They did it for free since I had already asked them to work on this problem, and I had paid for the fluid change to fix the same problem. Again, after their work it was nice and quiet and smooth, but about 3,000 miles later it is coming back again. I don't know if their process did anything, or if it was just the fresh fluid that helped like it did the first time. I am concerned repetitions of the process might decrease the life of the transmission. The best outcome for me would probably be a complete transmission failure at 99,000 miles because then I can get a new one. Anybody having similar problems?

Filed Mar 19, 2011 · Transmission · 42,000 miles · CA

My 2003 honda civic hybrid with CVT transmission suddenly lost all the power while I was driving and the car behind me almost crashed into my car. Soon I found out it's a common problem with the transmission slippage problem with the CVT transmission. I called two dealerships but they said since it's a 8 year old car the extended warranty has expired and they will not fix it for free. I believe it is a driving hazard as an accident almost happened to me, and honda is liable to recall theiir CVT transmission on honda civic hybrid.

Filed Jan 17, 2011 · Transmission · 130,000 miles · OH

Drive belt in my 2003 honda civic hybrid broke all of sudden with no warning while driving. Could have been very dangerous if I was traveling at a high speed. Luckily was traveling at very low speed. Vehicle has always been serviced at honda dealership and is up to date, they have no explanation how this occurred and honda is not willing to help fix the issue, I have been told new CVT transmission is needed. They had extended the warranty because so many complaints received, but mine expired 11 months ago. Honda should have done a recall with this issue! It is a safety hazard and they are sweeping it under the rug and wont correct their faulty CVT transmissions.

Filed Jan 3, 2011 · Transmission · 40,440 miles · WA

My 2003 honda civic hybrid has a history of the transmission/car shuddering and slipping during acceleration. This has been occurring regularly since july 26, 2005 at 40,440 miles. On one occasion after having the clutch replaced, transmission fluid sprayed all over the engine and manifold while traveling down the interstate which would have caused the fatality or serious injury of my son driving the car had it ignited. The spokesman at the honda dealer in portland oregon said my son was very lucky not to be engulfed in flames. Since this occurrence, the shuddering issue has continued requiring regular trips to the honda dealer. Each honda service representative I have complained to have said there is nothing they can do because honda of america has not authorized a fix to the defect other then to burnish the start cluth and change the transmission fluid. This has only been a band aid fix which hasn't worked for some time now, but originally used to work for about 2-3 thousand miles at which point the problem re-occurred. This is clearly a defective product and honda is using a band aid approach to mask this serious defect until the warranty has expired, at which point, they quickly say the transmission needs to be replaced with a new one at the owners expense (approx $3,400 to $4,000 dollars). Honda of america claims to have fixed the problem in their new transmissions but they have not been willing to use this fix on existing cars like mine until the warranty expires. I have actually been told this by honda representatives. All this is despite a safety recall for this very same problem in japan, india, and indonesia. Please investigate why honda of america has not been held accountable for this serious defect in their honda civic hybrid 2003 CVT transmissions.

Filed Oct 1, 2010 · Transmission · VA

2003 civic hybrid with CVT has transmission issues. Upon accelerating from a stop (even slight acceleration), the whole car will shudder and harsh slipping feel will start until the car gets moving a bit. Far worse when starting on an incline from a stop. Honda replaced my transmission while under warranty at about 40k miles, but it quickly began having the same issue at around 70k miles and has been having the issue ever since. Getting a transmission fluid change helped a bit, but it is costly to continue changing that fluid at earlier than the manual recommended 30k mile intervals.

Filed Jul 18, 2010 · Transmission · 122,899 miles · MS

2003 honda civic hybrid purchased at 66,000 miles at 90,359 miles slight shutter/judder when moving from a complete stop. Honda diagnosed (04/08)CVT for judder. Added one start clutch burnishing procedure/add two start clutch burnishing as a recall service. Now same problem again. Now at 120,000 miles experiencing same problem vehicle slips, shudders on take off from full stop. Repair will be $1200 to replace start clutch. When starting from a dead stop I hope the vehicle will move. I have to really press down on the gas petal to get the vehicle going and I do think this is a safety hazard with my vehicle. Had the egr valve changed at $400 repair(0708).

Filed Feb 4, 2010 · Transmission · 80,000 miles · FL

Honda civic hybrids with the CVT transmission develop what honda refers to as a judder. What is actually happening is the "start clutch" in the transmission slips during take off from a stop and causes the car to judder or shake. When this happens in any condition other than perfectly dry roads you can temporarily lose control of the vehicle because the vehicle is front wheel drive and the front wheels can lose traction and spin. I have even had this happen when the front tires are sitting on the painted white line found at most intersections. Honda is very aware of the problem. There are thousands of complaints documented online, yet honda has been very reluctant to properly address the situation. Honda claims this is not a safety issue, but I have temporarily lost control of my car on wet roads several times. I can't imagine trying to drive one in the snow. Here are a couple of links that will take you to discussion groups about this problem. Http://townhall-talk.edmunds.com/direct/ view/.f0b3259/262 http://www.cngchat.com/forum/showthread.php? 266-2001-2005-CVT-transmission-warranty-extension-for-slip-judder honda has extended the warranty period for this problem. In my specific case they kept ignoring my request to rebuild the transmission until I was beyond the extended warranty. In my case I filed a complaint with honda american and negotiated to split the cost with them. There are a lot of people out there who have not been so lucky and have had to pay in full for the repairs.

Filed Jan 8, 2010 · Fuel system, Transmission · 155,000 miles · TX

We purchased a 2003 honda chc in 2006 with approximately 34,000 miles. As of january 2010, the car has 155,010 miles. From the date of purchase, there has been a shudder when decelerating from 40+ MPH. We have only taken the car to our local honda dealership for repair and maintenance and have been repeatedly told that there is nothing wrong with the car and that shudder is from an "overload". Taking the service department at their word, we have never had any repair work done to remove the shudder or taken the car to another dealer. Over time the shudder has gotten worse. We have also experienced a hesitation when accelerating and then the car will suddenly lurch forward when it hits gear. Again, we were told that there wasn't anything wrong with the car and that we should expect hesitation when the car is switching from battery power to engine power. About 4 months ago, the check engine light came on and we were told that the catalytic converter was in need of replacement. We were given two options-immediate repair or drive until the catalytic converter completely fails. Recently the ima light came on and we took the car for diagnosis. The response was that the battery pack needed to be replaced. In addition, we were told that the transmission is beginning to fail. To replace the CVT transmission, battery pack and catalytic converter will cost approximately $7,500. As I have read the other complaints not only from this site, but also other sites on the internet, I now suspect that we have been experiencing transmission problems all along. We have had several other honda vehicles. We purchased this vehicle because of the reliability we have come to expect from honda. $7,500 or more in repairs is unreasonable for any car under 8 years old, especially a honda.

Filed Aug 6, 2009 · Transmission · 135,000 miles · VA

There is a known problem with honda civic hybrid CVT transmission: "a 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" my 2003 civic is having this problem, which is unsafe because the transmission stutters to engage when starting out from a stop, which can be dangerous if you need to get going quickly to get out of the way.