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.
The contact owns a 2003 Honda Accord. The contact stated that while driving 70 mph, the transmission failed. The contact stated that the vehicle's speed dropped from 70 mph to 25 mph very quickly on its own. The contact shifted the vehicle into neutral and coasted to the side of the road. The vehicle was then towed to an auto repair center. The repair center stated that there were metal shreds everywhere around the transmission and the transmission needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was notified and informed the contact that she should notify NHTSA and file a complaint. The failure mileage was 130,000. The VIN was unavailable.
Driving up a slight hill. Car started jerking and revving up. Car would not move. Had to coast to side of road and pull off. Problem was a complete transmission failure. Very low mileage and trans mission had all scheduled maintenance. Could of been major safety issue since traffic was heavy and car all of a sudden slowed down and caused a stopping of traffic.
Starting the car from a stopping point and slowly increasing the speed to 40 will result in slight jerks in the car. As the speed increase beyond 45 into the 60 the car will jerk repeatedly and try to shift down. RPM revs into the 5 or 6 zone, near redlining while only going 40 mph. Sometimes the car will shift down while on the highway causing car to jerk driver forward. Could lead to major car wreck. This car model already had a defective transmission, which was fixed by Honda, yet it seems to have another transmission issue now.
Seven days ago, the car suddenly began shifting very hard at mid-levels speeds (between 30 and 50 mph). After four incidents in two days, I took to the dealership, but they were unable to recreate the problem. Over the next several days, the problem continued intermittently, shaking violently, but now also at very low speeds. Today, the rpms randomly spiked while driving, then violent shook at a modest (40 mph) and constant speed, then the car would not shift properly (e.g., at 40 mph, the rpms were about 4100; pushing to 50 mph only raised the rpms to 5000). I stopped for gas on my way to the dealership, and upon re-starting the car, the "check engine" light, the tcs (traction control system) and the green light next to "D" were all lit up. I made it to the dealership, where they diagnosed the problem as a bad transmission that needed to be replaced (cost quoted was $4281 plus tax).
While driving approx. 40mph the transmission suddenly acted as if it was in neutral. There was no warning light or anything that showed a failure of any kind. I slowly nursed it to my Honda dealer who checked it out (charged $108 just to tell me I needed a new transmission which would cost $4400.) I took it to aamco who said basically the same thing but charged only $2900. This seems to be a serious problem with the 2003 Accord V6 5sp transmission. Honda seems to deny there is a problem...hundreds of complaints say otherwise.
Terrible and dangerous transmission failure. I have taken my car to every regularly scheduled maintenance visit at the Honda dealership, including a visit one month ago. The transmission abruptly failed while driving on a freeway. I almost caused a car crash involving multiple cars due to the abrupt failure of the transmission.
Transmission failure. While driving to work, the car shifted out of gear causing the car to violently reduce speed from 30mph to 5mph. Due to this jerk of motion, the car was forced off the road. It's important to note that I was within a mile of the I-66 highway on-ramp and could have not only been severely rear-ended and injured but a major accident could have also occurred.
2003 Honda Accord V6 with transmission recall work completed in 2004 complete transmission failure in 2011 with 63K miles no warning when transmission failed. Potentially dangerous situation.
Transmission suddenly downshifts without warning. I was driving on the highway at 63mph and my car suddenly downshifted to 1st gear causing me to hit the steering wheel and bleed profusely from my face. The car behind me almost hit me. Now my car has serious problems between 2nd and 3rd gear and is downshifting randomly. I am not the only one with this issue, there should be a recall for this. I could have died because of this, the worst part is that Honda knows about this problem and wont help save lives. Shame on you Honda. Many other people are having the same exact transmission problem and it seems quite widespread. Perhaps Honda will get involved once enough people die, and it will be cheaper to replace all of these faulty transmissions vs. All of the money people get from lawsuits. Or possibly Honda will value lives over profits, but im not going to hold my breath.
Transmission down shifts from 4th gear to 1st gear abruptly and will not re-engage 4th gear until I turn the car off and back on. This occurred today on my way home on the highway. After turning the car off and back on, it happen 2 more times before I got off the highway and went home on 1st gear locally. I came real close to being rear ended a truck due to the sudden downshift of the transmission.
The transmission on the Honda Accord V-6 went out at 115,000 miles. The car had been slipping out of gear and was causing problems while driving that made it very unsafe. We were afraid to drive it for fear of it not running as we accelerated.
While driving on I-4 cars begun to accelerate by itself and them decelerate, keep doing this for 30 second, I stopped on the side turn of the car. Again turn on keep going and it happened again., Honda Accord 3.0 V6 2003.
The contact owns a 2003 Honda Accord. The contact stated that the vehicle hesitated when driving at any speed and would exhibit a grinding noise. The failure recurred intermittently. The vehicle was taken to the dealer and a diagnostic was performed, but the dealer was unable to generate a failure code. The dealer also test drove the vehicle but the failure could not be to duplicated. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 93,000 and the current mileage 108,000.
The contact owns a 2003 Honda Accord. While driving approximately 55 mph, the vehicle began to decelerate and jerk abnormally. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic for diagnostic testing. The mechanic advised that the transmission would have to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 125,000.
I was driving approximately 30mph on a long straight road when for no reason the car started downshifting on it's own. The vehicle lurched. I came to a stop and while I was braking, the car suddenly stopped on it's own as if I slammed on the brakes. I stopped at a light, and then turned onto a side road. I was driving approximately 20mph when the car started downshifting on it's own again. I pulled over to the side of the road and once again, the car stopped suddenly as if I slammed on the brakes. After a few days at a personal mechanic, it was decided that the vehicle should be taken to a Honda dealership. Personal mechanic stated he at one point took my vehicle out on a side road where the vehicle suddenly went into a neutral speed and lost power. While on the freeway driving around 50mph to the dealership, car downshifted on it's own causing me to almost get rear ended. I pulled off freeway and came to a stop on the side of the road. Once again, the car came to a quick sudden stop as if I slammed on the brakes. Once at the Honda dealership, test were ran and it was decided the vehicle had transmission failure and the transmission needed to be replaced. They quoted me $4500 for repairs. Ended up calling Honda customer service, they were willing to only cover $1100. I ended up with a total bill of $3406.26.
I was driving at 65mph on the freeway when the transmission failed and the car shifted into a lower gear causing immediate deceleration of the vehicle. Since the initial incident back in August 2010, the vehicle has only be driven 8 miles and each time someone dares to "test it out" it only takes a few miles before the vehicle is lurching and the driver is fearing for their life. This problem is real and if it hasn't already it will eventually result in someone(s) losing life or limb.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Hazlet, NJ, USA