CarComplaints.com Notes: The 2003 Honda Accord suffers from widespread transmission failure & problems with the stereo backlight failing. 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.
The stereo backlight problem has been an issue since these Accords were only a few years old. Honda eventually issued a recall which covered the repair for 7 years/100k miles, which was nice while it lasted but now that period is over. Honda initially was replacing the entire radio ($800) but eventually began replacing just the PCB which at ~$300 is much cheaper. That sounds like a deal, but keep in mind we're talking about a backlight bulb that costs $2 to fix in most other cars.
10.0
really awful
Crashes / Fires:
5 / 1
Injuries / Deaths:
7 / 0
Average Mileage:
108,851 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.
Transmission was replaced by Honda in 2007 at 115,000 miles. The Honda replacement transmission failed unexpectedly and catastrophically a few days ago despite meticulous maintenance by Honda dealers and top mechanics. This failure left the driver in a dangerous situation with oncoming traffic. This second transmission had 80,000 miles and does not address the original design defect.
My 2003 Honda Accord V6 original owner, transmission is switching gears into neutral while I am driving down the road. This has happened a number of times. If I pull over to the side of the road and turn car off and then back on, it goes back into the correct gear. This is very dangerous while I am on the interstate. This tends to happen when the car is warmed up (driven for more than 15 or 20 minutes). There is also a random vibration that seems to come from the transmission for some time now. I have spoken with the local Honda dealer and they have quoted me a price of $4600 to fix the transmission, but claim that this is normal for this car. The 2003 Honda Accord has 4 recalls on it already. This is very disappointing to have purchased what I thought was going to be a quality, top of the line Honda, only to have numerous problems.
The contact owns a 2003 Honda Accord coupe. The contact was driving approximately 50 mph when the vehicle began to decelerate and the engine rpms increased. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic for diagnostic testing. The technician stated the transmission would have to be rebuilt. After the transmission was rebuilt the failure recurred. The vehicle was taken back to the mechanic and the transmission was flushed but to no avail. The vehicle was not repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 120,000.
The transmission slipped out of gear while accelerating and merging onto a busy highway. The motor rpms went up but the vehicle was not being powered. This created a dangerous situation for my family and I. after the initial incident, the transmission has slipped out of gear on numerous other occasions. My mechanic advised that the transmission is in need of a rebuild. The vehicle currently has 59425 miles on the odometer.
- Lindenwold, NJ, USA
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A couple of weeks ago my automatic transmission started acting funny at low speeds - having trouble downshifting to speed up the car (I.e. going about 25 and then trying to speed up - it would just feel like it was in neutral and the car would rev but not speed up).the biggest issue then was that, at high speeds, the car would violently shift into 1st gear - thus causing the car to suddenly and severely slow down. This happened several times on the highway, and each time I barely avoided an accident - luckily no one was right behind me either time it happened. After doing some research, it looks like '03 Honda Accord with the V6 have major transmission issues - and it appears many other people have had this same issue.... but I was never made aware of it. My current car is an accident waiting to happen. I called Honda and they will not do anything about.
Car struggles to gain speed after stopping or slowing down to turn. The RPM will increase but the car does not accelerate. In order for car to accelerate I will have to place the gear in neutral and then shift to drive. I have taken the car to the dealership on several occasions but they have not been able to duplicate or identify the problem. My concern is that it may be related to the transmission which has previoiusly been recalled on this vehicle.
I was driving at about 45 mph and suddenly it felt like my car had downshifted. My car didn't move and the rpms went up to about 4,000. I tried to continue to drive as I was in the middle of three lane road in the middle lane and the car struggle to move. I had the car towed to a shop nearby and the transmission had failed. It was rebuilt in July of 2009. Four days ago, on 11/22/12 I was driving the same car, which has been kept up and well maintained, and a similar issue occurred- this time while I was on the highway. I was coming off a ramp and the car once again felt like it was downshifting. The only way I can explain is it felt like someone hit the brakes while I was driving. Luckily- I was merging onto the freeway so I was right next to the shoulder and got out of the way as soon as I could. Had I been traveling at 65 mph I firmly believe this would have resulted in a major collision. I have the car at the same shop that repaired the transmission, and it turns out this was due to another transmission issue, although it didn't fail this time.
This car had recalled for transmission. I bought this car in 2006. I got told the recalled has been fixed in 2004. I got problem with transmission again in 2007 when my car reach 45000. They fixed this problem using my extended warranty. Now since last 2 year I still getting the problem with transmission. And the dealership saying they can't fix this time because they have fixed this problem before. I can't pass the inspection without fixing this problem. Fixing this problem costing me more than what my car worth, about $5000. Please help.
The contact owns a 2003 Honda Accord. While driving approximately 25 mph, the transmission began to slip gears and then failed to respond. The vehicle was maneuvered to the side of the road where the engine was turned off. The vehicle was able to resume in operation after waiting for one hour. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic who advised the contact that the transmission would need to be replaced due to internal damage. The manufacturer was notified of the problem. The approximate failure mileage was 99,892. The manufacturer would not assist the consumer with replacing the transmission, because she was not the original owner. Updated 03/21/13
After about 45 minute ride out of my city on a major highway, my car violently downshifted from 65 mph to 0 and would not move out of first gear thereafter. This has happened everyday afterwards that I drive my car at least 20 minutes. It seems as if once a mechanism inside the transmission heats up or gets hot, this happens. I always service my vehicle as required, I am worried. This is a major transmission failure. I have read where over 200 other Honda owners have had this issue in the past but no recall has been issued. Please advise.
Vehicle downshifted in low gear at highway speed almost causing a crash. Took to transmission shop and they said transmission needs replacement. Transmission shop hooked up to diagnostic and read the following codes: PO747 A/T clutch pressure control solenoid valve a stuck on and PO752 shift solenoid valve a stuck on. Transmission shop states this is a very common problem.
I bought my Honda from the dealership 06/23/12, 1 owner completely serviced through the dealership then traded in at same dealership. When bought it had 101,793 miles, timing belt was done at 90K and power steering pump. Not even month later I had to replace throttle body. I've always felt something wrong with the transmission after bought car. On 11/10/2012 out of no where when I was getting off the freeway my car started to down shift really hard, was jerking while driving and then was stuck in first gear, luckily I was less than a mile from my house so I drove home then parked it and no indicator lights on. The next morning (today) called a friend who works on Honda and he looked at it and said the transmission fluid was very dirty and practically gone. Drove around the block twice and transmission was working fine. Then later drove about 8 miles and started hard down shifting and was stuck in first gear. Then parked and tried to put my car in reverse and it not move acted like was in neutral. Put it in park, turned it off then started it again and put it into reverse, reverse now worked. After that I had my friend look under the hood at the transmission fluid and it was practically empty again. So I went to the store got more transmission fluid and put some in and tried to drive back home. Everything seemed fine for about another 8 miles then it started to hard down shift all over again. After another 3 miles the car completely freaked out check engine light finally came on along with the ABS, tsc, and the light showing I was in drive started flashing. So I pulled over and put the car in park and everything was still doing the same thing, including the light indicating I was in drive even thought I was in park and the park gear light was on. So I turned off my car, sat for a min then restarted. Driving slow needed to stop and brakes started to go out.
Cannot drive the car over 40 miles/hour. Took to Honda service center in anaheim, ca, and they told me I needed to change the transmission. Car cannot shift into 3rd gear. It is very dangerous to drive and I might get stranded anywhere.
Driving at approximately 68 mph on interstate 5 when car felt like the brakes had been applied, hard. Luckily there was not a lot of traffic behind me because it was a very quick deacceleration to 30mph and a very dangerous situation. I was able to limp along the freeway with my flashers on at 35mph, top speed, until I could get off of the freeway. When I was putting the car on the trailer dolly we realized that I had no reverse gear. The next morning, the car reengaged with reverse while taking the car off of the car trailer. The car was brought to a transmission shop that diagnosed that the transmission had failed at 106,000miles. We had taken the car into the Honda dealer for the 2004 transmission recall repair. I had no previous warning that there was any problems with the transmission until this failure.
Coming to a stop sign, slowed car down to a stop. Pushed the accelerator and the transmission did not go into gear, felt like it was in neutral, but the shifter was set to "D". I had to put the shifter into "2" to get it to move. If it was a yield sign instead of a stop, and I had slowed down and the car did not accelerate, I could have easily been hit. Car also has problems shifting from 2nd gear into 3rd gear. The rpms jump between shifts.
The contact owns a 2003 Honda Accord. The vehicle was included and repaired under NHTSA campaign id number: 04V176000 (power train: Automatic transmission). After the repair the vehicle was parked with the key out of the ignition when the contact noticed the vehicle began to roll backwards independently. The contact entered the vehicle, applied the emergency brake, and inserted the key in the ignition in order to stop the vehicle. The contact stated that the gear was in reverse. Also, the contact mentioned that she was able to remove the key without the vehicle being in park. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer for diagnostic testing. The vehicle was not repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 75,000.
Transmission stopped working will entering on-ramp onto a major freeway (I-45 N) and I had to push the car off on to the median during rush hour traffic. Horrible incident and could have been ugly if it happened on the freeway!
While driving on busy street the car violently shifted into first gear at about 25 miles per hour, luckily there were no other cars behind me at the time, had there been this issue could have caused an accident. After this incident the car had intermittent issues with the transmission slipping out of gear. I took it to the Honda dealership and was told the transmission was failing, causing the issues. After researching, I found that this was a common problem with 2003 Accord.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Liberty Township, OH, USA