I have purchased Honda vehicles since 1978. My first was a 1978 Accord hatchback for $5100. Since then I have purchased a 1984 Civic wagon, 1985 Accord LX sedan, 1995 Civic EX sedan, 2000 CRV EX, and 2006 CRV EX. With the exception of the last purchase I have never had any unscheduled maintenance concern. The 2006 CRV has required the rear differential burnishing and fluid replacement at my cost and now I have a rumbling sound from somewhere unidentifiable. I will factor these issues into my next vehicle purchase. Its a shame that such an excellent automobile manufacturer has gotten to this point.

Bought 2006 CRV new from Honda. CRV was regularly serviced by Honda. Problem surfaced when I would begin turning steering wheel while in a parking space pulling out and rear end would begin making noise and vibrating then noise goes away when driving straing down road. Found Honda service bulletin for this problem. Neither BOB MONTGOMERY HONDA Dealership nor North American Honda would fix the problem of changing out $12.00 bottle of differential fluid. Reason there was no recall is there were no reported accidents or deaths due to this issue. Vehicle was 500 miles out of 3 year warranty. Dealership sent me checklist where fluid was ok at 30K miles. Honda states reason for problem was contaminated differential fluid. After draining fluid myself I discovered Honda had not used correct viscosity weight fluid at the factory causing early failure. Spoke to Honda parts department for special differential fluid. Parts manager indicated this fluid had been through three revisions due to this issue known back in 2006. Bottom line is Honda admitted issue and would not resolve. This event pretty much paints a clear picture of why Manufacturers and Dealerships are closing. Neither would work with customer to resolve their known issue. What's ironic is when I go to list this complaint on our local BBB website it has the North American Honda VP as head of the BBB. Oh well it took me 20 minutes to change fluid and everything works ok now. Honda recommends changing their fluid every 10-15K miles because of this issue. More than that North American HONDA and BOB MONTGOMERY CHEVROLET in Louisville lost a customer over a $12.00 bottle of fluid.

At 20000 miles the rear differential started making a grinding noise so I took it to the dealer. I was told the fluid had broken down and they would need to flush it and replace it with an updated fluid. They did, and I asked them if the problem would reoccur and was told, "no, it is a new fluid and it will not breakdown prematurely.

Well, the vehicle now has 43000 miles and it started to make the same noise again. It is still under warranty but Honda refused to do anything under warranty because they say it is a maintenance issue. I asked how it was a maintenance issue when the manual states it should be replaced at 90000 miles and yet it's in need of being replaced for the second time at only 43000 miles. The service manager basically told me to either pay them $149.95 to replace it or do it myself.

I should not have to pay $149.95 for a fluid change every 20000 miles or so, let alone have to pay for a new rear differential should it happen to fail after the warranty expires which it probably will. I called Honda headquarters and they are just as ignorant about the situation. It seems that Honda is rapidly headed toward becoming a substandard brand in my opinion, and judging by the enormous number of complaints I came across doing a simple search, I assume many if not most would agree.