I bought a new Honda Odyssey in June of 2013. Early on there were times that the vehicle would hesitate for 1-2 seconds and then surge forward from a dead stop. This would happen maybe once a month. The dealer tried to explain it away as going from brake to gas pedal too rapidly. I never believed this, but I learned to live with it after two trips to the dealer with no fix.
Then on a two-week trip to Nashville, TN in late February 2017, the van would lose power when trying to accelerate at speeds of 35-65 mph. Twice I thought there was a real chance we would get rear-ended. Here is what happened on at least 20 occasions over a two-week period: 1) I would try to accelerate at highway speeds and usually when going uphill. 2) The van would not respond (accelerate), but rather the eco light would flash on and off 2 or 3 times and many times the RPMs would drop rapidly from 2000 down to 1000 or so. 3) Even after 1-3 seconds, no response. 4) If I removed my foot from the accelerator and then depressed the accelerator again, it would then respond normally. As far as I can recall, the cruise control was not engaged when any of these incidents occurred. Also, all the problems were in and around the hilly areas of Nashville. There were no problems at all on the 800-mile trip down or back, or the 450-mile side trip to Memphis. However, most of the time, the cruise would have been engaged while on open road freeway.
After returning from our trip, I took the van to the Honda dealer in Battle Creek, MI. They could not find any problems. The dealer said they re-programmed the transmission and changed the transmission fluid, thinking that might take care of it. No problems for the next two weeks, but there are very few hills in this area. We then took a trip to Florida, and the van ran fine all the way down, including through the mountains of West Virginia. However, on our return trip, after driving 1700 miles with no problems, the van starting doing the same thing as described above. This time we were on the West Virginia Turnpike, with many twists and hills, in heavy traffic and heavy fog. Again, a great concern for our safety when the van was slowing down when we needed to be accelerating. It did this four times over a 90-minute period. Then the next 450 miles were without incident. Again, the cruise control was not on when the van was acting up, but was under cruise the rest of the trip. However, even with cruise on, there were many times I would accelerate, then let it drop back to the cruise control set speed with no problem.
The next day, once back home, it did it one time and has not done it since. It has been six weeks. Again, I took the van into the dealer only to have them say they couldn’t find anything, and maybe it is the floor mats. There is no way it is the floor mats!!! The next steps are to file a complaint with NHTSA and Honda Corporate. I'm not delusional. I don't expect this to change anything, but I want it on the record. Also, if anyone else out there has had similar problems and got it fixed, PLEASE, PLEASE post what the fix was. And if you have any of these problems and did not get it fixed, I urge you to file a formal complaint with Honda. The address is: American Honda Motor Co Inc., 1919 Torrance Boulevard Mail Stop 500-2N-7A, Torrance, CA 90501-2746.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
I bought a new Honda Odyssey in June of 2013. Early on there were times that the vehicle would hesitate for 1-2 seconds and then surge forward from a dead stop. This would happen maybe once a month. The dealer tried to explain it away as going from brake to gas pedal too rapidly. I never believed this, but I learned to live with it after two trips to the dealer with no fix.
Then on a two-week trip to Nashville, TN in late February 2017, the van would lose power when trying to accelerate at speeds of 35-65 mph. Twice I thought there was a real chance we would get rear-ended. Here is what happened on at least 20 occasions over a two-week period: 1) I would try to accelerate at highway speeds and usually when going uphill. 2) The van would not respond (accelerate), but rather the eco light would flash on and off 2 or 3 times and many times the RPMs would drop rapidly from 2000 down to 1000 or so. 3) Even after 1-3 seconds, no response. 4) If I removed my foot from the accelerator and then depressed the accelerator again, it would then respond normally. As far as I can recall, the cruise control was not engaged when any of these incidents occurred. Also, all the problems were in and around the hilly areas of Nashville. There were no problems at all on the 800-mile trip down or back, or the 450-mile side trip to Memphis. However, most of the time, the cruise would have been engaged while on open road freeway.
After returning from our trip, I took the van to the Honda dealer in Battle Creek, MI. They could not find any problems. The dealer said they re-programmed the transmission and changed the transmission fluid, thinking that might take care of it. No problems for the next two weeks, but there are very few hills in this area. We then took a trip to Florida, and the van ran fine all the way down, including through the mountains of West Virginia. However, on our return trip, after driving 1700 miles with no problems, the van starting doing the same thing as described above. This time we were on the West Virginia Turnpike, with many twists and hills, in heavy traffic and heavy fog. Again, a great concern for our safety when the van was slowing down when we needed to be accelerating. It did this four times over a 90-minute period. Then the next 450 miles were without incident. Again, the cruise control was not on when the van was acting up, but was under cruise the rest of the trip. However, even with cruise on, there were many times I would accelerate, then let it drop back to the cruise control set speed with no problem.
The next day, once back home, it did it one time and has not done it since. It has been six weeks. Again, I took the van into the dealer only to have them say they couldn’t find anything, and maybe it is the floor mats. There is no way it is the floor mats!!! The next steps are to file a complaint with NHTSA and Honda Corporate. I'm not delusional. I don't expect this to change anything, but I want it on the record. Also, if anyone else out there has had similar problems and got it fixed, PLEASE, PLEASE post what the fix was. And if you have any of these problems and did not get it fixed, I urge you to file a formal complaint with Honda. The address is: American Honda Motor Co Inc., 1919 Torrance Boulevard Mail Stop 500-2N-7A, Torrance, CA 90501-2746.
- Jerry H., Battle Creek, US