CarComplaints.com Notes: The 2002 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 90,000 miles & with a repair cost of over $2,000. Transmission failure has been a huge problem for the Accord & several other Honda models all through the early 2000s model years. Honda extended the transmission warranty to 93 months/109k miles for the 2000-2001 Accord as a class action lawsuit settlement, but owners of other Accord model years 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.
5.3
fairly significant
Crashes / Fires:
0 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
18,000 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 not crashes or injuries have been related to the Honda vehicle I own, there are a number of engineering and manufacturing defects on the vehicle which are a cause of serious safety concerns. I have a 2002 Honda Accord with about 131,000 miles which has had the following issues: 1. the transmission went out around 60,000 miles and was replaced by Honda. At around 100,000 miles the transmission started to exhibit same symptoms. I took the car in, but, of course, Honda dealer said there is nothing wrong. Then around 116,000 miles a Honda mechanic said that my model of a car has an issue with transmissions and that it would need to be replaced. The transmission issue is bad enough to have a website dedicated to it. While a transmission failing is not necessarily a safety issue, loosing vehicle control and drivable on the highway could be. 2. now the vehicle starts to vibrate at highway speeds despite having new and balanced tires on it. I took the car in to get new struts. Since then I took the car to a mechanic of very high integrity (not the Honda dealer) and they said that unfortunately, the problem may simply be "impossible" to fix since everything they could see indicated that car should behave normally, I.e. the tires were fine, the alignment was fine, and the cv joints were fine. This is becoming more and more of the issue and indicates a possible design flaw with the vehicle. 3. the lights on the vehicle are horrible. This is a safety issue as it seriously impairs the vehicle drivability. 4. the rails for the driver's seat had to be replaced around 32,000 miles and now (at around 130,000 miles) the seat seems to wobble again. This could be a potential safety issue as it seems that the seat could simply detach in the case of an accident. Updated 05/07/10.
Vehicle pulls right onto another lane when breaking to slow down to a stop at any speed on any surface even after two alignments were performed. Advised by james R marsh (service advisor), don F. decker (service manager), and jeff may (district manager) that the pulling is normal even after test drove other vehicles with the exact model which did not showed this problem.
- Westminster, CA, USA
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