general problems of the 2003 Honda Accord - part 2

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.

2003 Honda Accord. First transmission began to slip at 50,000 miles. Took to dealer for evaluation and was told nothing was wrong. About a week later, driving on west side highway going from brooklyn to home in NJ. Transmission failed and finally got it into first gear. Brought to dealer and transmission replaced at 50,000 miles. It was still under warranty at this time and did not have to pay anything. At 108,000 miles again I felt the transmission start to slip. Again, brought to mahwah Honda and told that there was nothing wrong. One week later, driving on major highway in NJ (route 17 south) the transmission failed. Luckily, at cars going 60 mph around me I was able to coast into a parking lot and not get rear ended or in an accident. Car was flat bed trucked to dealer. When we discussed the issues we knew that Honda 2003 Accords/transmissions were having, they ignored the comments. This was now the third transmission for the car, the original, the replacement at 50,000 miles and the event that just occurred. They did not want to hear anything of it. In the end, the "deal" they gave was to pay close to $3000 for the transmission (they gave a 20% discount, how kind). The service was awful. As a life long Honda customer with at least 25 years of Honda cars, I will never go back. What a shame that Honda will not live up to their prior great reputation and back up the cars and obvious defect that could have killed me driving. Shame on Honda.

My 2003 Accord ex v6 completely failed. I was driving on the freeway at 65mph and the transmission went out with no prior warning and no warning lights. I was lucky and safely coasted off the freeway to the shoulder.

I was driving to work today and my car began to downshift into 1st gear when I was running about 45 miles per hour. It began jerking and after pulling over it would not go into reverse. If I had been on the freeway, this could have caused a serious accident. This is a major complaint with 2003 Honda Accord owners. Something needs to be done.

While driving at a constant speed, the engine suddenly started accellerating and then decellerating in quick succession causing the car to jerk back and forth uncontrollably. As I attempted to come to a stop on the side of the road, the car continued to accellerate/decellerate. Honda dealership diagnosis is transmission failure. Cost of repair is $3800. The car was just at the dealership in October for service and there were no issues then.

Transmission problems.

My transmission failed while driving on my way to work the morning of Nov. 16th with no warning whatsoever. Luckily I was not in an accident due to the fact I was unable to control the car because the rpm's were all over the place and the vehicle would only rev but not go any further. Therefore I immediately had to pull over in fear of causing an accident. I have researched the past few days how many other 2003 Honda Accord owners have had the same problem with their transmissions and there should really be a recall done by Honda. The transmission should not be going out at 76,000 miles. My car is currently being repaired at an independent transmission shop with an estimated cost of around $3400. I hope to recover some of that cost from Honda but further action needs to happen to ensure more people with similar year vehicles do not have to experience this as well.

My car seemed to drive fine when the transmission was cold, but when it warmed up after a few minutes of highway driving, the transmission would down-shift violently into first gear, regardless of the current speed. I could smell of ¿burnt rubber¿ in the car after such a forced down-shift. This seemed to be quite dangerous. Once this happened, the transmission would fail to shift into anything but first gear. It wouldn't go past 20mph on the freeway and almost caused an accident. When I tried calling the Honda corporate and dealership that said they had the oil jet kit looked at during the recall of 2004 but said there was nothing wrong with the transmission. There is obviously something wrong with the transmission because it shouldn't die this quickly. I know other people with the same car have had problems, which is very dangerous and nothing is being done about it. This is very disappointing. I guess it's ok to allow Honda come into this country, charge what they want and kill innocent lives. If they have made a mistake, instead of trying to cover their tracks, they should fix the problem. If you look online, thousands of people have this same problem with this year make (2003 Honda Accord v6) but nothing is being done about it.

I was having problems shifting gears and it seemed my car couldn't shift into 3rd gear. It's an automatic and when it would reach 3rd gear, the engine would just rev. It would drive fine at first but as soon as the car warmed up, it progressively got worse. I had to have my battery replaced prematurely (after 3 years) last week and I mentioned the gear shifting problem to the Honda dealership. The gear shifting problem happened right around the same time my battery died so I thought it may be related. They told me the gear shifting problem would be fixed when I replaced my battery. They paid for 60% of the cost of the battery. Over the next few days it progressively got worse to where I couldn't even drive and I had to coast into a parking lot because the engine would rev and the car would jerk. It seemed to be dangerous. I then shut off the car and tried to restart it. I wasn't even able to reverse at all - like it had no reverse, just rev. I had to call a tow truck and have it towed to the dealership. I have a 2003 Honda Accord ex v6 with less than 100k miles - right around 97k - and the dealership told me I needed a new transmission and motor mount. A rebuilt transmission is $4500 and a new transmission is $6400. I bought a Honda because it was suppose to be a reliable car that would last years without expensive maintenance repairs. And now it's less than 10 years old and 100k miles on it and I have a huge repair. It seems many others have had the same problems with the 2003 Honda Accord.

My transmission failed while driving today. Driving across the hwy the car suddenly downshifted violently. After that, the car would skip gears and downshift at will. I drove home with the car stuck in first gear. The car is an automatic.

Honda service manager said he was "almost killed on the highway" driving my car: first incident: 9/19/2011 (mon evening) car lurching irregularly at highway and town speeds; difficulty getting into gear and trouble reversing. Took it to dealer that night. 9/20/2011 (tues): dealer reported not being able to detect a problem. Nothing came up on diagnostics. No service light was on. Dealer asked to keep it one more day. 9/21/2011 (wed): dealer still unable to detect a problem, they drove it around but claimed nothing unusual. Service manager asked if he could drive it home. I ok'd. Employer annoyed. Second incident: that night the service manager, drove it home, because it wasn't acting up at the garage, and diagnostics showed nothing. There were no warning lights. He, [xxx], said he "almost went through the windshield on the highway" on his way home. He said repeatedly that he was almost killed. That's right the Honda service manager said he almost was killed!!! which is what could have happened to me or any other Honda Accord owner. If this happened in inclement weather, I'd be dead in a ditch (it's new england so those days are coming). The car lurched at highway speeds and at low speeds. It lurched speeding up and slowing down. If I put the car in neutral, and just applied some gas to the pedal, the tachometer (rpm) needle jumped around all over the place. Only until the service manager got it back to the service garage (9/22) did any service lights come on. How convenient. Their proposed solution: step one: replace transmission fluid (material, parts, labor) = $120 step two: replace transmission solenoid (parts labor, etc) = $500 failing that: step three: replace entire transmission. Est. Cost: $4300 total potential cost: approx $5. 000. . . . Or my life. This is a significant safety issue and a recall is in order and ASAP. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

I bought this car in June 2003 with 2 miles on it from jim coleman Honda in clarksville, MD. I have only driven the car 88,000 miles and the transmission is dead. According to chryswel dealership in germantown MD, the issue was not the transmission but the clutch pressure control which is responsible for shifting gears. That is what went bad which then caused debris in the transmission causing it to fail as well. The car runs fine when it is cold but once you dive it for about 20 minutes, it will automatically downshift to the 1st or 2nd gear and drop your speed for 60 to 20 or less with a big jolt on the passengers in the car. We are very close to getting into a major accident on the highway when it happened. The dealership quoted me $5000 to fix the transmission and also informed me that they have seen many other 03 Honda's with the same situation. I was really surprised that there has not been an official case against Honda to fix the issue or provide a recall. I am very disappointed with the service and support for Honda. This is one of the 4 Honda's I own but it will def be the last Honda I ever own. I have also submitted a complaint to Honda with the issue. I would appreciate any follow up on this issue. Thank you.

At around 107,000 miles, I noticed my transmission leaking fluid very rapidly. In addition, the front end of the car started vibrating violently between 50mph and 60mph.

While traveling at speeds approximately 45-55 mph, the engine initially would rev up and after gas pedal released, would return to normal within seconds. This happened approximately three times on separate days over a 3-4 week period. Yesterday, the transmission revved once as described previously. Within a few minutes of that episode, it then started to suddenly downshift from overdrive or drive into 2nd causing the car to suddenly lurch forward, rapidly decelerate and the tires to squeal. This happened several times and occurred regardless of whether we were going up or down a hill and at various speeds. We narrowly avoided an accident with a tractor trailer before we had the car towed.

I have a 2003 Honda Accord ex v6. About two months ago I started feeling the car wasn't feeling right. As I was driving, it felt like the gear shift had been knocked down in to neutral, but was still actually still in drive. When this happened, the rpm's would go up and the car felt like it wasn't going anywhere, just coasting, then it seemed to just jolt back to where it should be. The problem wasn't happening every time I drove, but recently it started happening more often and for longer periods of time. I take the car to one place to have all my work done on it, so I took it there, but they felt the problem might be internal and recommended I take it to a transmission shop. They did diagnostics on the car and drove it. The result, the car is going into transmission failure. The transmission fluid is black and burned and has debris in it, and they said that the clutches are also burned. They won't know the complete picture until they take the transmission apart and get a good look. It is 5 days before christmas, I don't have the money to fix it or we will not have any christmas and now I have no transportation to do anything! soooo frustrated. I thought Honda's were suppose to be such good cars, but I have had nothing but problems with this one. It doesn't seem like a transmission should go out at 113,000 miles and I have had so many people say the same thing. Now that my transmission is going out, I read up on it and find out there was a recall in 2004 for the 2003 Honda Accords. Why, am I just finding out about this??.

At approximately 56,000 miles, we had to replace the rear main oil seal. At 68,000 miles, we had to replace the fuel pump and as of June 4th, 2011, we were informed that we need to replace the transmission at 78,000 miles. The transmission failed going approximately 70 mph and proceeded into "limp mode" to 30 mph. It proceeded to then return instantly to 70 mph and within 30 seconds repeated the same and as we were trying not to fly off the highway it again repeated this same behavior at which point we pulled off to the side of the highway, which was approximately 2 feet wide, and as traffic, which was thankfully not right on our tail, flew by we were able to drive on the side of the highway for the next 20 miles at approximately 30 miles per hour into the next town. At this point, there wasn't anyone available to look at the vehicle so we left it and rented a vehicle. Our Honda would not even go into reverse at this point. We then towed the Honda back to our home town and dropped it straight to Honda of tri-cities. There they diagnosed that their was a transmission failure and it had to be replaced. They offered to pay half of the cost ($2000. 00) but we feel there is a life threatening problem with that transmission and after seeing all of the additional customers of Honda's, the years between 1999 and 2003, that have had the same life threatening experiences, we are appalled that the public has not been notified of this. Not just by a check on your transmission but a complete recall. I am very surprised that we were not fatally injured.

My transmission is shifting hard on my 2003 Honda Accord and I was told that I had to have the entire transmissin replaced. Transmission failure with the Honda Accord and civic is a widespread problem in models made from the early 2000s. The 2003 Honda Accord and 2001 Honda civic appear to be the worst years for transmission failure. Currently there is no recall for the transmission defect, because it is not a safety issue (according to the NHTSA). The cost to replace a transmission is incredible and I think that Honda should take care of this repair when they know it's a problem with their product. It may not be listed as a safety issue According to NHTSA but the transmission can go out at any time (while driving on a highway at a high rate of speed) and cause danger to all those involved, not to mention the inconvenience of being stranded!.

Control panel display (audio-hvac display) failure. I have a 2003 Honda 4 door (w/o navigation)accord ex. About 2-3 months ago while driving the display panel for the vehicle operating systems-radio, heat/ac, time blacked out. At-near the time of this occurrence I was on the new york state thruway. A flashing (emergency) sign -flashing 'emergency' 'check radio channel 530 or 1610 for details'- notifying an emergency. As I was driving and could not see the radio display. It was dark. I was unable to access the emergency notice. My vehicle was taken to Honda and was told this repair was a defect. This repair was part of a campaign to fix this display, per Honda service bulletin 04-027 but the program for my vehicle had expired. They mentioned the campaign was part of a campaign not a recall, even though they acknowledge safety was one of the issues in the program. I live in an area where the roads are equipped with emergency message signage' are frequent and commonplace. Not having the ability to access these messages due to a campaign program where no notice was received by me (I am the original owner of the vehicle). This problem, with potential safety implications seems to rise to the level of a defect. As I write, the display is dark and has not even flickered since the initial occurrence.

The contact owns a 2003 Honda Accord. The contact stated that the gas air flow to the engine disrupts the engine and causes the vehicle to drive slowly and sluggish. The dealer stated that the throttle body control was causing the lack of air and gas flow to the engine. The manufacturer acknowledges the failure, but will not address the issue. The contact feels that the vehicle will stop running if the issue is not resolved with the manufacturer. The current mileage was 38,000 and failure mileage was 37,000.

The contact owns a 2003 Honda Accord. While driving approximately 5 mph, the vehicle suddenly stopped. The contact waited a few seconds and restarted; the vehicle performed normally after the restart. The failure occurred five times. The vehicle was taken to a local repair shop where the timing chain and valve cover were replaced; however the abs light was illuminated. The vehicle had not been repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 53,000 and the current mileage was approximately 62,000.

The contact owns a 2003 Honda Accord. The contact took the vehicle to the dealer for its 70,000 mile service. When she left the dealer, the entire transmission failed. The vehicle was towed to the same dealer and they replaced the transmission. While parked, the entire vehicle caught fire and spread to some tree shrubs. The police and fire departments arrived on the scene and filed a report. The insurance company stated that the vehicle was destroyed. The failure mileage was 70,000. Updated 05/13/08. Updated 05/13/08.

On April 3, 2008 I took my car to kuhn Honda at 3900 west kennedy blvd, tampa, florida 33609. They did a routine oil change, tire rotation, regular maintenance service. Four days later my transmission fell out of the car on the highway and I had to have the car towed to the dealer. I had the 105,000 mile warranty and they replaced the transmission. As driving off the lot I notice the transmission would not shift from second gear. Next day I took it back to the dealership, they ordered another transmission and put the new one in. That was Wednesday April 16th, 2008. I left the dealership around 3:00pm and the traffic was horrible so I drove less than 3 miles to the mall to shop. Parked the car at the mall, when inside and was there less than 10 minutes when I was called by the tampa police department telling me my car was on fire in the parking lot and burnt the entire engine to a crisp. The car was melted like a piece of plastic nothing up to the windshield. The dealership claims no responsibility. They have no idea what happened or why! they claim these things happen and they do not know how it could have happened. They did not even apologize!.

Rotten eggs smell in garage when car is first put in.

Tl-the contact owns a 2003 Honda Accord. The contact stated while driving 30 mph the contact smelled sulfur inside the vehicle. The contact stated the smell was coming from the catalytic converter and took the vehicle to the dealer and dealer stated the smell was normal. The contact continued to driver the vehicle with the sulfur smell. The contact took the vehicle back to the dealer and the dealer stated the smell was normal. The contact stated the sulfur smell was becoming to harsh to drive the vehicle. The failure mileage was 60,000. Jo.

I purchased this Honda Accord 2003 in April 2003. From the very beginning I noticed a rambling noise on the engine, foul smell, vibration on the steering wheel and squeaking brakes. Also when I brake the car seems to accelerate like the idle is too fast. I reported it immediately to my Honda dealer and they told me to take it to any Honda dealer. I took it to Honda in gleandale and after inspecting it they told me there was nothing wrong with the car. However the problems continued to I kept taking the car to different Honda dealers but none could come up with a solution. When I asked them to replace the vehicle they told me that they all had the same problems and that I had to learn to live with it. ! I feel totally frustrated by this situation and very unsafe driving this piece of crap.