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.
Experienced the exactly same problem as this web page describes, and my Honda Accord has only 75000 miles on it. Cost me about $100 for diagnosis and was quoted $2500 to fix. It definitely changed my opinion about Japanese cars. If you are reading this post, think again before you go Japanese.
I have previously owned three older Honda Accords that went to over 200,000 miles without ever having a problem. When I thought the transmission was starting to slip when I only had 60,000 miles, my husband definitely thought I was crazy. He borrowed my car in August when there was 64,000 miles on it and when he was almost killed driving it, he became convinced the transmission was starting to fail. We took it to the best Transmission place in Pittsburgh and the owner told us that 2001 was a bad year for Honda Accord trnasmissions. He had fixed several that had went bad for that same exact year. Since my car was bought used, not one dime was covered under warranty. This will be my last Honda Accord ever purchased.
I was traveling when the check engine light came on, and 3 hours from home my car made an awful racket and sounded as if I was dragging a body under my car while expelling the most putrid smell I have ever encountered. This break down, on October 22, 2010, left me stranded all weekend, as most body shops do not do repairs on Friday evening, Saturday, or Sunday. I also had to miss class and work the following Monday because of lack of transportation. After much poking and prodding to my poor little honda, the mechanics determined by torque clutch converter had failed, leaving terrible damage to my gears and other parts of my transmission. Diagnosis: new torque clutch converter, and because of that, a newly rebuilt transmission had to follow. Now, keep in mind that I said I had to miss WORK and CLASS. This means I am a poor COLLEGE student, in which case a $2050.00 auto repair bill is a death sentence and a collection notice all neatly wrapped as a package deal. Let me ask you this, at this point in time, if your transmission needed repair and replacing, are you in a stable financial condition at which point you could shell out over two grand for your auto repair bill? If you can, congratulations, and feel free to donate to my charity at any time, if not... welcome to the club. Honda has admitted that the torque clutch converters in my Honda and those similar to mine are defective but no recall is necessary because there is no direct safety hazard. With that said, if Honda knows they built my car with a defective piece of machinery, I would like them to pay for my new piece of machinery with no question, debate, sarcasm, excuse, anger, or any other type of negative reaction possible.
I am another victim of the honda transmission problem. it started jerking, not shifting, had fluid replaced, then total failure of the transmission. honda wants to pay 1/2 because they know there was a problem. bad thing is I am the second owner and just out of the 7 year replacement - figures - so in order to fix it I can have it rebuilt for $1600 to $2500, not sure what I want to do but I think there should be a class action lawsuit against Honda for this in some way.
- sogle,
Edgewood, MD, US
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transmission total failure. took to handa dealer and was tole would cost $3400 to fix and offered al;most no money as trade-in. took to transmission man and was fixed. he told me he had seen this problem several times and the clutch converter had burned out, leading to its' debris going into transmission and this, of coarse, ruined the transmission. he told me this before looking at the engine and this is whyat was wrong with the car. very angry about probloem and the way the honda dealer dealt with it. bought all my cars from this dealer---no more.
I have a 2001 honda accord ex (4 cylinder) and I had my transmission rebuilt on it. in June 2008 and now once again the transmission has failed again and my mechanic says it will cost another $1000 to repair my vehicle.. Honda has to be held accountable for the transmissions on these vehicles (just like Toyota was held accountable for there problems on there cars...and they took the blame and repaired there cars unlike Honda!!!)...everyone that have problems with there transmissions needs to file a complaint so maybe Honda will LISTEN!!!!
I bought my 2001 Accord from a friend with 130k miles on it.After spending a lot of money on timing belt,tire,and all that stuff I have already sent about 10k on this car on.Today my car broke down and after checking with a transmission shop I was quoted $2000 for a rebuilt transmission.Later I learnt Honda extended warranty only 100k miles and I have passed that by 50k.What guarantee do I have that the rebuit transmission ($2000) wont break in a year or so...and I will have to spend another 2 or 3k.???? I will never again buy a Honda....NEVER:(
My transmission failed. This is the 4th one that is in there now with 200K miles that is a new transmission every 50K miles.. I do not tow I only drive. Honda America replaced the first two but refuses any more. I paid $900 dollors in January for the one I have now and it just failed. Stuck in park and rolls backward. You can hear the linkage clicking. I am contact my attorney on Monday I have had it.
This is the second time my transmission has gone. The first time I had it changed by Honda and it has happened again. I always buy my cars new and use them for ten years. I called Honda and was informed this was my problem. They are sorry about it but there is nothing they can do. It will cost me $5000 to fix the transmission if I take it to the Honda dealership. My advice to anyone is to stay away from Honda. They are living off their past, the cars are not built like they used to be.
Warrantee was extended several times due to this known problem - but i put light miles (relatively) on this vehicle so the problem didn't occur until the time frame for the warranty extension had expired - even though I am well below the mileage warranty extension.
I bought this Honda new in 2001 because I wanted a reliable car (I had a Ford before this) and little did I know that the transmission would fail completely after 119k miles. I do not have the money for this - I am a single mother who is fighting cancer (do you know how expensive cancer is even with insurance?!). I put the repair costs on my mother's (85 year old living on Social Security) credit card and will have to pay this off over time with credit card interest rates. I called Honda and asked for a Goodwill repair and they said no. This will be the last Honda I ever buy.
The problem started with jerky shifts of gear for few days. There was sound while shifting the gear from parking to R or Drive. On the day of transmission failure, I drove back from work and as I reached home there were jerky movements in car and then the next morning the car didn't shift the gears from 1st to higher and it wont run above 40 mph. After I Parked the car at my work place , the reverse gear stopped working and I couldnt reverse the car. And found that it was a transmission failure.
this is the second time i had this problem with the transmission it was under warranty the first time but now its not covered,the car was purchased new in 2001.one year later itwas recalled for this problem i feel i bought a lemon car,i feel honda should be liable for repairs again they are aware of this ongoing problem.hondas are not cheap neither is their maintance they should extand there warranty.the car does not have that many miles to have a transmission problem.
I saw everyone complaining about repeat transmission failures on their V6 accords and I just had to chime in with something that I thought was obvious, but apparently its not. If your HONDA transmission prematurely fails then STOP replacing it with another HONDA transmission. Theres a reason they break. There are several aftermarket transmissions out there for this car that cost the same or LESS than what most of you reportedly paid!
If you put one of these aftermarket transmissions in your non modified accord it will NEVER break again and will drive so much better than the stock transmission that you will hardly believe its the same car! We put one in my girlfriends accord and the car drives incredibly now.
also I have a message to honda. WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING DESIGNING THE TRANSMISSION THE WAY YOU DID WITHOUT AN INDEPENDENT TRANSMISSION COOLER!, ITS A 30 DOLLAR PART THAT EVERY OTHER SIMILAR TRANSMISSION UTILIZES..... irresponsible behavior..
I started buying Hondas in 1970 . I've had 14 since then all OK. This one is s**t and will never buy another. 3 of my family members [who were Honda owners] will not buy another either. It appears they were OK when they were built in Japan but not since.
The service engine lights never gave any warning as to a problem. The engine would rev up but the transmission would not respond. When it went out my daughter was in heavy traffic which put her at considerable risk of being hit by other drivers. She limped into a garage to be checked out and was told the computer failed which was probably the cause of failure. The car was just paid off this last fall and now this. The rest of the car is not worth as much as a new or even rebuilt tranmission if I have to salvage.
If this has been a major problem of Accords Honda should, if they cared which I doubt, have a recall on ALL of these cars and replace the transmissions.
This will be the LAST Honda I will ever own thats for sure.
There was a class action suit against Honda for transmissions in the 2001 Accord that extended 93 months or something like 144,000 miles. Honda of America said they couldn't help because the suit was over. The dealer, to whom we have been taking our cars (we've had three Hondas) for years, said they would charge half and then came down 10 percent more. Clearly, the problem was in manufacturing. The car has less than 70,000 miles on it. We have always had the car serviced on time and at the dealership. We also have a 1997 CRV. When we have to replace either of them, we will look elsewhere.
So, I bought a Honda because of the name. I purchased the vehicle from a little old lady that bought the vehicle brand new. It had all the service records at the dealership. With knowing all this I figured this car was going to be great.
I WAS WRONG. The car was fine up to 80,000 miles. I go out to start the Honda one morning and the check engine light was on as well as the Traction Control Service light. So, I pull out of the parking lot and it tries to go into second gear approximately three times, I damn near fell out of the seat- It felt like i was riding with someone that didn't know how to drive a stick/manual. I turn around and it downshifts into first and I was almost slammed into the steering wheel. TRANNY DESTROYED. NOT SAFE, if I would have been on the interstate I would have been dead...
There are too many of these transmissions going out and Honda will not issue a recall. Never again will I buy a Honda. I will never step foot onto their car lot to even consider buying a used car from them that isint a Honda.
If I wanted to buy a piece of junk I would have bought a Suzuki. I should have bought a 2004+ Grand Prix. More room, safety and reliability and if anything does break its cheap. A used tranny for a Grand Prix is 600 bucks with less than 15,000 miles. And those transmissions never fail. Hey Honda--- everyone is on to the junk cars you make and don't stand behind. You have failed us. I will never purchase another Honda unless a recall is issued and you admit the defeat. I feel sick because of this...
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
http://www.hondaproblems.com/problems/transmission-failure.shtml
Experienced the exactly same problem as this web page describes, and my Honda Accord has only 75000 miles on it. Cost me about $100 for diagnosis and was quoted $2500 to fix. It definitely changed my opinion about Japanese cars. If you are reading this post, think again before you go Japanese.
- Eric S., Sammamish, WA, US