CarComplaints.com Notes: The 2001 Honda Accord suffers from widespread transmission failure, subframe rust, & problems with the airbag system (SRS). We recommend avoiding this model year like the plague.

The transmission begins slipping & eventually has to be replaced, typically soon after 100,000 miles & with a repair cost of over $2,000. Transmission failure problems have been a huge problem for Honda Accords & other models all through the early 2000s model years. Honda eventually extended the transmission warranty to 93 months/109k miles for the 2000-2001 Accords as settlement for a class action lawsuit, but that period is over & owners of Accords with transmission problems are out of luck.

Subframe rust near the front passenger side wheel has become a problem recently, due to the poorly positioned A/C drain hose directly above that area. Repair cost to the subframe is over $2,000.

The SRS warning light likes to come on due to a defective seat belt sensor -- typically the driver's side. This sensor is covered under Honda's lifetime seat belt warranty, but some dealers charge a $100+ "diagnostic fee" or tell customers the entire SRS unit ($800) is bad. Also make sure your 2001 Accord has been checked for the airbag recall: excessive pressure may cause metal fragments during airbag deployment.

9.6

really awful
Typical Repair Cost:
$2,590
Average Mileage:
75,150 miles
Total Complaints:
9 complaints

Most Common Solutions:

  1. not sure (4 reports)
  2. buy a newer honda to get out of the old one (2 reports)
  3. replace the transmission (2 reports)
  4. (1 reports)
2001 Honda Accord transmission problems

transmission problem

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2001 Honda Accord Owner Comments

problem #9

Apr 102013

Accord LX V4

  • Automatic transmission
  • 82,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

This is the second transmission that has failed in my 2001 accord. The first one died at 48000 miles and now the second one 34000 miles later. The dealer offered to put in a new Honda transmission for 7000 or an after market transmission for 3600. I complained and said that Honda should stand behind their product and 2 transmissions should not fail in 80000 miles. The manager felt bad and said he would knock 600 off the after market transmission. I told them that was still over twice the price of a rebuilt transmission. He told me that according to their master technician you could not use a rebuilt transmission for that model. Now I know I can't believe a word they say. I used to be loyal to Honda but nevermore. This dealer was David McDavid Honda in Irving,Tx if anyone wants to stay away from them.

- Cary S., Grand Prairie, TX, US

problem #8

Apr 212012

Accord LX 2.3L 4 cyl

  • Automatic transmission
  • 104,000 miles

The 2001 Accord was known for this issue- we received an extended warranty from Honda in 2002 due to many problems.

We had it to the dealer at 98,000 miles for slippage- but they could not duplicate the problem. So at 104000 miles we are replacing the tranasmission.

The dealer wanted $4000 (AAmco is doing it for $2700) and offered no help other than to take it to AAmco or someplace cheaper! A call to Honda of America got the response of "tough"- you are 4 years beyond the extended warranty- so we are punished for being low mileage drivers. I told them I would not buy another Honda and they could have cared less.

So be warned- if you own or are considering buying a model like this- budget accordingly.

- Richard B., McKinney, TX, US

problem #7

Aug 152011

Accord LX V4

  • Automatic transmission
  • 80,000 miles

I bought my Honda Accord LX new in September 2001. At about 30,000. Miles the transmission started going out. Honda has been the only place I have ever had my car serviced with and I have been faithful with servicing. Honda replaced my transmission at about 40K at no charge. Now my car is a little over 80K miles and the 2nd wonky transmission has failed. This time Honda corporation claims I'm out of warranty and according to "Latonya" who says she is the ultimate authority and she has no supervisor says my only recourse is to pay for a Honda dealer to diagnose at my expense ($115.00) and then offered absolutely nothing. I am more upset with my encounter with her than anything else. LaTonya's tone, demeanor and uncaring customer service made me look elsewhere to have my car repaired. I hope our conversation was recorded and her supervisors can review it for training purposes.

- Stephen W., Temple City, CA, US

problem #6

Jul 012006

Accord LX V6

  • Automatic transmission
  • 76,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

I'm 55 years old and I bought this in Columbus, Ohio. My 82 year old mother lives in Marysville, Ohio where they make Hondas. I will never buy a Honda ever again. The person I called to take my complaint at Honda in California was Denise, she was not nice at all. Her supervisor's name was Wally, they told me I was out of time. My wife was driving this car on Friday, she is a nurse, and she almost crashed on 270 northbound. This car almost killed my soul mate.

I'm telling the world, don't buy Honda because they lie and don't stand behind their products. Hugh White Honda was my dealer and I will never buy a honda again ... sorry for being mean spirited ... but the world needs to know that Honda is not being truthful to "Joe Public". Please beware and thank you! Sincerly, jj.

- kristofeldj, Columbus, OH, US

problem #5

Jun 012011

Accord EX

  • Automatic transmission
  • 68,700 miles

I spoke to a Honda representative today on a transmission problem. American Honda has known that they've had bad transmissions in their Honda and Acura vehicles since 2002. I own two Honda vehicles, a 2001 and 2005 Accords. My 2001 Accord just recently starting experiencing transmission problems that we could not identify until recently when the check engine light came on. I took my vehicle to a repair shop and the torque converter in the transmission was quickly identified as the problem. The same problem Honda has known about for years! I called American Honda and they stated that they know they had a problem with this transmission but they needed a dealer to look at it. I took it into the dealer and they agreed and concurred that it was indeed the torque converter in the transmission. This cost me additional money for the diagnostic testing! They also advised me that Honda had to replace many transmissions. Today, the representative from American Honda called and stated that they would not do a goodwill repair and I was on my own. Interpreted, Honda doesn't care about it's loyal customers! I asked to speak with his supervisor and he told me "it wouldn't do any good". I'm floored! What arrogance!

- sherman2, Kettering, OH, US

problem #4

Nov 222010

Accord V6

  • Automatic transmission
  • 82,000 miles

2001 Honda Accord V6 with only 82000 miles had transmission failure. Honda knew of this problem and chose not to honor repairs for the defective transmission. I had it repaired at an independent shop (Honda dealer wanted $1200 more) with a 2 year warranty. I have two years to get rid of this car and buy another. Needless to say, it WON"T be a Honda.

- jblodi, Lodi, CA, US

problem #3

Oct 282009

Accord EX-L 4

  • Automatic transmission
  • 31,500 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

This is my in-law's Honda. He is 80 year old, and two weeks ago he asked me to bring the car in for a recall service. I noticed that the trans slips between 1st and 2nd so I asked the Tech to run some diag., and was informed that he needs a new transmission. Since the car has only 31,500 miles, I filed goodwill repair application. A few days later, this guy (Dan) from Honda Corp informed me that the application is denied. Reason? No record of transmission service. I asked why a tranmission needs service at this mileage.He said the transmission is VERY sensitive and therefore needs fluid change after 72 month. I told him that the reason he switched to Honda from Toyota is because he believes Honda is a more reliable car. He was wrong. Will not buy from Honda again and will tell everyone to stay away from Honda.

- John L., Lisle, IL, US

problem #2

Sep 012009

Accord

  • Automatic transmission
  • 95,000 miles

So, my 2001 honda accord has had somewhat of a problem with the transmission for about 2 months now. Sometimes it would jerk me around sometimes it wouldn't but it would always slip gears and recently it has started to get really bad the d4 light started to blink and the engine light turned on ( strange how it took this long for the freakin light to turn on since it was freaking out a week before it turned on) anyway now it won't go past 2nd gear so I tried to drive to a family friend who has his own shop and since it wouldn't go past 2nd gear I had to park it and tow it to the shop. $70.00 later I figure okay i'll just get the transmission fixed it sucks but oh well I have to. Now, I'm not in any way a person that knows about cars. So at this point I'm debating to just get a rebuilt from another honda unaware of the good service extended warranty that honda had going on or put in a new 3500.00 transmission in it. But being the good friend he was he told me about the "recall" and told me to call on it to see if they would do anything about it. After numerous calls to honda.I finally get a case number and get a regional manager to call me to tell me that unless I have proof of my transmission being serviced he can't do anything. Now, I don't want to buy another transmission I will be in the same situation I'm in right now. SO let me back up. I bought the car a year ago and still owe 5,500 dollars on it. This is my first car and I just got married last month so it couldn't be better news and on top of it all I'm under the miles I'm at 95,000 miles and 3 months over warranty. I told honda on the phone that its not the customer that's driving it any certain way its honda making faulty transmissions. meanwhile, I took my car to the dealership to have them look at it spent 175.00 for a diagnostic so I could even have a case number to have my case looked at and was still at square one. So at this point unfortunately, maybe honda will buy my car off me and I can get into another that I can drive till I pay it off. My advice to anyone with a honda that drives. GET RID OF IT AS FAST AS YOU CAN!! I tried to sell my honda 6 months ago but decided not to because I thought it would be better financially to stay in it and now look where I'm at. 5,500.00 in debt with a broken car that I have to put more money into! Honda sucks I will never buy another ever again, I am going every where possible to try and raise the awareness of this problem. I hope that honda will eventually be responsible for this problem and stop blaming their customers for their crap cars.

Update from Sep 24, 2009: So I know I just wrote about my horror story and that is exactly what it was. BUT, Honda of kirkland told me they would give me 4,000 for my car. Now, I know the games they play and they might have tagged to the other end but if they did they did a good way of hiding it. Today, I did go into the dealership to meet with the used car sale manager not expecting to start looking at new cars. I am so stupid sometimes. I of course still have a chip on my shoulder and did tell him that I dont want another honda, he asked me why, I told him and he had the nerve to say it was so rare for honda transmissions to go out. I wanted to tell him he was an idoit and to learn a bit about the car he is selling from that point on I knew he was a load of b.s.. Anyway long story short, I have given in to another honda 07 ex-L its the nicest car you can get into with a honda but I also am paying a nice junk of change for it. The only reason I went for it is because I still have 5 years left on the warranty for the transmission and the engine. So I will hopefully not have to revisit this problem again. I PROMISE though if I did have another choice of trading my car in somewhere else and it was able to drive I would have choose a mazda 3. That will be my next car that I trade this in for BEFORE the warrany is up.

- Lindsey R., Renton, WA, US

problem #1

Jan 012009

Accord EXL 2.3L

  • Automatic transmission
  • 57,000 miles

I am currently fighting with Honda to fix my trasmission that went out under 60,000 miles. I am too tired to go into it all now but my story basically sounds like all the rest. What I am looking for is some information on my legal rights. Any lawyers familiar with Honda transmission suits and willing to hear me, please contact me. Any pissed off Honda customers who feel they have been shafted by Honda and who know where to start a class action or who have already started one, please contact me... I will definitely join or help to start it up. We all need to stand up to the injustice and it has to start somewhere. Let's get the ball rolling. Thanks for your time.

missymaryjane at sbcglobal dot net

- Missy M., Stockton, CA, US

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