I was traveling with family on the highway, going 75 MPH and suddenly saw a flume of smoke behind my car. I notice the RPM jumped to 5 and I stepped on the brake to immediately. It smell like some liquid was burning. Pull the car over onto the exit and look to find the transmission fluid had leaked and spray onto the exhaust and muffler - causing the smell. Towed it back to my house and call honda but they said it's over 100k and they will not cover any repair cost. It's obviously a manufacturing defect but they will not repair it. Just the week before, I brother-in-law's van (exact same make and model - and about same mileage had to same problem - oddly enough almost at the same place on the highway. It's very unlikely that two identical vans broke down almost at the same spot with the same problem was a normal break down. Honda knows the problem but would not admit to it and will not recall it. I would like for you to tell honda to recall the transmission and fix my car and my brother -in-law's. It's not only a defective transmission, it also a hazardous - what if it had caught on fire - when the fluid spray out. Please mandate honda to recall the transmission of the 2003 odyssey. Thanks.
2003 Honda Odyssey transmission complaints
Page 6 of 19: complaints 131 to 160 of 533, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Tl* the contact owns a 2003 honda odyssey. The contact stated while driving 45 MPH when she noticed that the vehicle was shifting gears independently. The vehicle was taken to the dealer for diagnosis. The dealer stated that the transmission needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure and the current mileage was 136,000. The VIN was not available.
Starting the vehicle up and trying to drive away it will jump out of first at which point the engine over revs. Must sit for a few seconds and it will "bang" into second gear shaking the entire vehicle. Driving down the road it will slip out of third gear at 55mph and then "bang" into 4th. This vehicle has had the transmission completely rebuilt four times since 07/01/2011. The second time for a rebuild was january 2012, then may 2012 and now it must go back a fourth time august 2012. On several occasions while pulling out into traffic the transmission has slipped out of gear and nearly caused accidents. This is a very dangerous vehicle that has a transmission that can not be repaired once it begins to fail. At highway speeds when trying pass another vehicle the transmission will stutter slip and "bang" into passing gear or slip out of gear and then re-engage in a lower gear preventing the over taking of the other vehicle. Another incident occurred on the expressway at 65mph I began smelling smoke and pulled off onto an exit ramp at which time the entire vehicle was engulfed in thick white smoke that smelled like burning transmission fluid. We had to exit the vehicle for fear of it being on fire.
Transmission failed. When I stopped the transmission was severely smoking. Concerned of a fire, removed the family form the vehicle immediately, and then called for a tow truck. $3000 for a new transmission. Now having to replace the transmission again 20k miles later. Same issue with transmission overheated and has failed. American honda motor is aware of the defective transmissions and will do nothing. This is clearly a design and safety issue honda is failing to address. Spoke with transmission repair facilities and they confirmed it is a design failure and honda is keeping from the public. 1-failed PCM module 2-failed torque converter ( low follow atf fluid causing drag and overheating).
The transmission started slipping while our family was heading for a vacation going 75 MPH on freeway in the middle of nowhere. Van jerked incredibly, then wouldn't shift into anything higher than 3rd gear. We made it to a freeway exit (not a town, just an exit) where after stopping for a minute we discovered that the van wouldn't go into reverse. We were able to turn it around by pushing and managed to make it to a small town limping along on the side of the freeway going 40 MPH with our hazard lights on. Repair shop has quoted us at least $3700.00 to fix it.
Vehicle lost transmission at 65 MPH while attempting to pass another vehicle. There was no warning, the transmission was working one minute with complete failure the next. No gear grinding noise, only indication was the loss of power and the high revolutions of the motor. Fortunately, there was no accident and we were in a safe place, able to coast to the side of the road.
Transmission failed---car lost rpms & dropped from 70 MPH to 5 MPH while driving on the highway. We were not notified of the transmission recall by mail & never notified in person at the honda (autofair honda-manchester) dealership where our car's service was done. When we called american honda to complain, I was told, ''what do you expect, the vehicle has 140,00 miles on it". Honda took weeks getting back to us & in the meantime we had an independent transmission shop replace the transmission (approx $3800). Honda dismissed a very serious situation & as I researched more & more, I became very angry knowing honda has been allowed to endanger families for so long with this known problem. It was by complete luck that my children were not seriously injured or killed when the car went from 70 MPH to almost a stop in the middle of the highway. Also, when the transmission was taken out of my minivan, the steering column and other parts were melted in spots. As the 2003, 2004, 2005 odysseys get older with more mileage, there will be more reports/accidents. Also, honda should be obligated to state they expect their cars to not make it to 150,000 so the consumer can be aware.
Tl* the contact owns a 2003 honda odyssey. The contact stated that while driving 55 MPH, the vehicle would not accelerate. The contact was able to stop on the side of the road. The vehicle was taken to the dealer for a diagnosis. The dealer stated that the transmission needed to be repaired. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was contacted and stated that they would cover 10 percent of the repair costs. The failure mileage was 74,500 and the current mileage 74,900. The VIN was not available.
Tl* the contact owns a 2003 honda odyssey. The contact stated that the vehicle would not accelerate to 60 MPH and the transmission failed. The accelerator pedal was abnormally able to be depressed into the floorboard. The vehicle was taken to a local mechanic who advised the contact to allow the vehicle to cool down first and then it should run as normal. The dealer was notified and they informed the contact that the vehicle was already repaired once under the federal safety agency campaign id number: 04v176000 (power train:automatic transmission) and provided no further assistance. The vehicle was not further repaired. The failure mileage was 117,000.
Transmission failed!
I bought this honda odyssey brand new. After driving it for 89322 miles the transmission failed. I brought the car to the dealer that I purchased it from. The dealer was "honda on grand" in elmhurst illinois. They wanted to charge me $6000+ to replace the transmission. I believe that this transmission should be replaced at no charge. I believe that this transmission is under recall from honda, but I have not received anything from honda about my transmission.
Tl* the contact owns a 2003 honda odyssey. The contact stated that while driving 65 MPH, the transmission seized. The vehicle was merged to the shoulders, turned off and once restarted, the transmission failure was no longer present. The dealer was notified of the issue who advised that they would inspect the failure and inform the contact of the outcome. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified who offered no assistance. The failure mileage was 130,000.
Check engine is on. When cruising the car the is a slip in the transmission at lower gear. The RPM increase and vehicle stalls. Conicelli honda service center, conshohocken, pa described the problem as internal transmission failure.
Difficulty shifting from 2nd to 3rd gear... I called honda care services and I was told that my vehicle is out of warranty and they can't shoulder the cost which is unacceptible given that this van had been recalled for transimission issue and many owners had failed transmission. I like honda vehicles and recommended to my family and friends but after this incident I will never buy another honda product again.
Transmission started slipping at 77k miles, even though I had brought the van into the dealer for the 'fix' when the recall was issued. Was driving along highway and during acceleration engine RPM went up and van acted like it was in neutral. Dealer wanted ~$6k to fix. Honda offered $2k as good will.
While driving my transmission would not engage. This caused an extremely unsafe situation due to the car being suddenly unresponsive while driving in 40 MPH traffic. It could have easily caused an accident resulting in serious injury or death. Thankfully I was not hurt, however others might not be that lucky. The transmission no longer functions. After doing further research I see that honda has had many issues with their transmissions that they have not addressed. Someone at the federal safety agency needs to look into this before people get killed due to a faulty transmission design.
Pulling out of driveway onto highway and the transmission failed, had to have towed to repair facility and ultimately transmission had to be replaced. Have heard this is a common problem.
My wife and four children, while traveling at 60mph just before rush hour on the highway in our 2003 honda odyssey the transmission unexpectedly shifted from 5th gear to 2nd gear of its own accord causing the vehicle to lurch forward and the entire vehicle to shutter (as speed decreased from 60mph to 15-20mph almost instantaneously) as if hit from behind, causing a near miss collision with the vehicle following and terrifying my wife and children. This left them stranded on the side of a busy highway for over an hour while waiting for help. Upon code download at the dealership, I was informed that due to codes po730 and po780 replacement of the transmission, torque converter, and the PCM would be required at a cost over of $5500 for a rebuilt transmission and parts. (no actual inspection of the transmission occurred to my knowledge). This transmission has been maintained in accordance with manufacturers recommended service intervals. It was also subject to the transmission inspection recall of 2004. Transmission never had history of slipping or other issues prior to incident and had recently been serviced. There was no warning of the impending failure and might have been fatal to my entire family.
Tl* the contact owns a 2003 honda odyssey. While traveling 75 MPH, the vehicle suddenly lost power and independently decelerated to 45 MPH. Inorder to stop the failure, the contact had to restart the vehicle however the failure recurred. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where the contact was informed that the failure could not be duplicated. The vehicle was not repaired. The current and failure mileages were 108,000.
My wife drove this minivan, honda odyssey 2003, and just before entering the interstate freeway the "check engine" light turned on, the transmission became "sleepy" , RPM jumps up to 5000, smog in cabin, all lights on dashboard start blinking and the car just stopped. She panicked because this was during heavy traffic and the situation became dangerous. She slowly drove to her friends' house and left the car overnight. The next day, I checked the diagnostic codes and had p0730 and p0780 (transmission failure). Poway honda dealership, in san diego, ca, was asking for $4,565.00 to replace the bad transmission with a refurbished unit. I am very disappointed with honda's "high" quality product. This vehicle has only traveled 108,000 miles and now requires such a high repair cost. I found one private repair company that will repair this problem somewhat cheaper.
The vehicle was moving at the speed of 55-60 MPH. Suddenly few jerks were noticed and vehicle failed to receive torque/speed from the engine. Engine was otherwise appear to be on and functional. Vehicle came to complete stop on a very busy highway and started rolling backwards (since the highway was up sloping), while in drive mode. Vehicle was then put in park mode. On further attempt, it would not engage in any other gears. Further diagnostics suggested "transmission failure" code p0730, which needed transmission change.
Tl* the contact owns a 2003 honda odyssey. The contact stated that while attempting to accelerate from a traffic stop, the vehicle would not respond. The vehicle stalled without warning and the contact was unable to restart the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, who diagnosed that the transmission hydraulic malfunctioned and as a result, the transmission would need to be replaced. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure who advised that they would contact him at a later time. The vehicle was not repaired. The VIN was not available. The failure and the current mileage was 130,000.
Transmission fails on highway, endangering occupants due to sudden loss of speed.
We have 74,000 miles on a 2003 odyssey. It's always felt slipping around 40 MPH. We participated in the 2004 recall with the revision to the oil cooler return line, hoping it would help this problem. No change. Around february 2012 the transmission started to take longer going from reverse to drive. We had the transmission fluid replaced on march 2, 2012. On march 6th we went in for the follow-up to check the fluid, and levels were fine. About 8 miles after that, starting up from a stoplight, the car failed to shift from either between 1st and 2nd or 2nd and 3rd, not sure which, but the car was lurching and wouldn't go above 25 MPH. The dealership diagnosed the problem and said we would need a new transmission as well as a new computer (ECM).
Transmission shifting from 2nd to 3rd does not shift properly. Replaced 4th gear pressure switch as per honda and removed and replaced transmission fluid 3 times. Nothing works. Need trans rebuilt.
[xxx], houston, tx 3/3/2012 the problem began on february 15th while I was on my way to teach. I was in stop & go traffic due to an accident ahead of me. As I pressed the accelerator to move a bit, the car did not want to move, and then it hesitantly moved forward a bit, I stopped again because of the traffic. While sitting, the engine began to hum and when I needed to move forward again, the car would not move. I tried taking it out of drive and then putting it back in drive, but the car would not move. Because of another incident, I had it towed to a shop for some bodywork to be done; after picking it from the repair shop, I was on my way to the airport when the same problem of hesitation started again. After returning from my trip, I called the honda dealer where the car has always been serviced and told them I was bringing it in. I had to pull over several times while driving to the dealership because the car would stall; after pulling over several times and waiting a few minutes for the transmission to work again; I finally made it to the dealership. After the service department checked the car out, I was told that I would need a re-manufactured transmission; cost for this was $4,458.00 which seemed pretty high. The service rep said honda does not rebuild the transmission on your car because of the level of difficulty in getting to the parts, so they recommend a re-manufactured one which comes with a 36,000 mile warranty or 3 yrs. In the city of houston, 36,000 miles racks up pretty fast. This is a lot of money to spend on a problem that honda has yet to fix. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6).
Vehicle had a flashing "d" light and it didn't have the same pick up. It was taken to the dealer dch kay honda who declared it was the 4th pressure switch $271.29 and the service advisor said, the transmission was fine that was july 21, 2011. September 22, 2011 the car is now sluggish and slamming into gears I took the car to dch kay honda and they said, the transmission needs to be replaced $4420.00. The van has been sitting because I can't afford to replace the transmission.
Automatic transmission gear shifter has become very loose and also allows removal of the car key in any gear, rather than just in park. This lead to the car rolling away after being parked on a slight incline when it turned out that the transmission was inadvertently shifted to neutral rather than park and then the key removed.
The transmission is failing, slipping. After the d on the gear indicator started flashing. While driving the car has a difficult time going into the next gear revving up to 6000 rpms its gotten so bad at times that it wont go into reverse. Honda dealers in the area are giving me the run around as to when the 2004 recall warranty is up. Apparently my car (1 previous owner) was serviced for the recall. Doesn't honda have to help if there is this many complaints about the same make model and year? Literally google 2003 honda odyssey transmission and the complaints are endless in the thousands. I'm a single mother of 4 and can't afford to fix this or buy a new car.
As original owner of 2003 honda odyssey engine buying car from weir canyon honda in anaheim hills california. My engine block light, tcs, lit up at 153,000 miles. I have been experiencing a major transmission problem between 2nd and 3rd gear as car seem stuck and I am unable to accelerate. This is not safe at all since my van can be rear ended when it's stuck in this mode. My mechanic advises everyone from not to buy any honda as his shop rebuilds honda transmission all the time and makes a fortune from the poor victims of honda owners like me. Go to http://www.odysseytransmission.com/home/whattodo consider yourself forewarned! If you're looking for a reliable and safe mini van, do not look at honda odyssey.
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