CarComplaints.com Notes: 1997 is the last model year in the 5th generation of Accord. Which means it's also the last model year before problems like widespread transmission failure, subframe rust and peeling paint took over.
Does the 1997 have problems? Sure it does. Any car this old will. Some owners say their engine started to cut out around 147,000 miles. That's still not bad, and getting to 200,000+ miles isn't out of the question.
Does anyone believe a newer Accord will reach 200,000 miles?
10.0
really awful
Crashes / Fires:
0 / 1
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
73,085 miles
About These NHTSA Complaints:
This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
While driving car speed starts to fall soon there is no pedal at all and smoke and fire come from underneath dashboard transmission hesitates to shift now currently un safe to drive.
This car randomly shuts down as I am driving have taken it to numerous places and nothing is found. Shut down 6 times in a row last time with my child in the car on a dark highway cold and raining. Very dangerous!!! the inside lights flash on and off all of the time mostly turning curves, wasting battery. Noise in the front wheels/tires/axles like something is waiting to break off as you are driving. Overheated last year for no apparent reason costing ton of money. I have replaced the compressor twice and still the air conditioner doesn't cool. I leave the "air" button on to keep the fans running so it doesn't overheat as I'm driving. Not to mention in the summer it is blowing out heat and all the windows do not roll down. This car is a mess and I will never purchase another Honda. Thanks-
The contact owns a 1997 Honda Accord. While reversing, there was a loud metallic noise coming from the hood of the vehicle. The failure recurred numerous times. The vehicle was taken to a dealer, where it was diagnosed that the transmission failed and the motor mount fractured and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired, but the failure recurred. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 170,000.
While driving uphill in the mountains of nc on I-26, without prior warning, transmission slipping of my 97 Honda Accord with 88,000 original miles, caused traffic to back-up behind me in the rain. Was finally able to remove from freeway out of danger.
Complete Honda Accord automatic transmission failure at 69,550 miles below incident almost resulted in rear end collision on interstate highway when attempting to accelerate onto entrance ramp and vehicle behind required evasive action to prevent rear end collision with my vehicle due to automatic transmission failure, failing to accelerate more than 20 mph. Four speed automatic transmission completely failed for my 1997 Honda Accord LX, 4-door, with only 69,550 miles. The "check engine" light illuminated, while the "D4" automatic transmission indicator flashed off and on at same time. Honda wouldn't drive in fourth gear and acted as it was slipping. Vehicle was brought to ed voyles Honda, marietta, Georgia on September 13, 2011 for diagnosis. Honda technician(s) advised that the "ECM code" disclosed that the transmission had completely failed and required replacement.
- Marietta, GA, USA
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Four speed automatic transmission completely failed for my 1997 Honda Accord LX, 4-door, with only 69,550 miles. The "check engine" light illuminated, while the "D4" automatic transmission indicator flashed off and on at same time. Honda wouldn't drive in fourth gear and acted as it was slipping. Vehicle was brought to ed voyles Honda, marietta, Georgia on September 13, 2011 for diagnosis. Honda technician(s) advised that the "ECM code" disclosed that the transmission had completely failed and required replacement. I was not notified and/or offered any information regarding Honda extending the transmission warranty for this 1997 Honda Accord LX. At time of incident, was interstate 285 on ramp when vehicle transmission started slipping, allowing maximum speed of approximately 15 to 20 mph. Vehicle immediately in the back of my vehicle had to take evasive action to prevent rear end collision. Premature transmission failure created a significant safety hazard to myself and other vehicles to my rear. Please note, Honda Accord within several years before and after the 1997 year model has a significant history of early transmission failures in which Honda has failed to initiate a product recall, despite numerous website posts..
The contact owns a 1999 Honda Accord. The contact stated that the vehicle would hesitate when shifting gears. The vehicle would also lunge forward sporadically and without warning. The dealer diagnosed that the transmission would need to be replaced. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 65,000 and the current mileage was 87,000. The VIN was unavailable.
1997 Honda Accord LX, 4-door, 4-speed automatic transmission. Automatic transmission failure at 69,500 miles, September 09, 2011. Transmission slipping in fourth/third gear, with little acceleration. The "check engine" light came "on, " while at the same time the "D4" automatic transmission shift indicator was "blinking" on and off. Vehicle was brought to ed voyles Honda, marietta, Georgia on September 13, 2011, where Honda technician(s) checked diagnostic code(s) for "ECM." Honda technician(s) stated that the transmission, with only 69,500 miles had completely failed and required a new and/or rebuilt transmission, despite all preventative maintenance having been performed on the vehicle. Replacement cost expected to be $2,400 for a rebuilt transmission, or $5,500 for a new oem Honda replacement transmission. According to Honda service advisor, Honda has had previous automatic transmission failures involving this model and year. However, no mention of any extended warranty by Honda was mentioned, if any.
I have noted that I can remove the key from the ignition of my 1997 Honda Accord without being in park. The safety issue is that the driver turn off the engine, remove the key (not in park), leave the car and the car can then roll away. This is the same safety defect that is now being recalled on the 2003 Honda.
On 7/27/03, Sunday the check engine light showed up, I decided to take the car to my mechanic right away the next day, but on Monday morning, I couldn't even get out to the main road from my development and the car just lost the gear. This happened without any warning sign, and the incident could have turned fatal at highway traffic and speeds. Car just has 58K miles and Honda refuses to help in any way, even though they have history of such problems and they even have an extended warrenty for such problems on newer Honda and Acura branded vehicles. The reason for refusal is that they don't provide goodwill assistance to vehicles more than 5 years old. But the bottomline is that I have maintained this vehicle well and generally the usage habits affect manual transmissions not the automatic ones. We have driven other cars to death and nothing had happened to their automatic transmissions, so this is a manufacturer defect. There is certain quality and durability that is expected from any product, and the manufecturer should be held liable for any product that fails, even if it happens outside of warrenty. The fact that they provide 7 years/100000 miles extended warrenty on newer vehicles, sets up a precedent, that is they expect a defect free transmission to last at least that long. Honda just thinks that they can get away without fixing older cars because they think oweners won't pursue their case in the court, but I am going to the small claims court for sure on this one.
Hi, several years ago I reported to NHTSA (and corporate Honda)that my Honda Accord had serious transmission problems. A NHTSA engineer telephoned me and did in fact go out to a dealer to investigate my allegation. No action was taken by NHTSA and Honda did nothing to fix the transmission defect. Today, some years after my complaint, I have been informed that transmission repair shops are experiencing a large and unusual increase in transmission failures of the Honda Accord, 4 and 6-cylinder. Failures are occurring at 40,000 to 60,000 miles. Honda dealerships here in southern California are not paying for these premature failures, instead owners are paying $6,0000 for new tranmissions. Please investigate. Yours very truly, peter reiter/psreiter@aol.com
Started at about 46K tach started bouncing over 2K RPM than started experancing powerloss and eratic shifting than intermitant undriveable conditions dealer says I need a new trans
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Youngstown, OH, USA