Three problems related to transmission failure have been reported for the 1997 Honda Civic. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
Transmission failure at less than 50,000 mi. Honda says too bad, the consumer was offered a new transmission for 4,000 dollars by dealership. The transmission was rebuilt, however the consumer was responsible for the bill.
I fought for 2 years about a bad ctv transmission in a 1997 Honda Civic hx which I purchased new. I was in and out of the dealership at my expense on a continual basis. They finally agreed to replace the transmission after many visits and much money out of my pocket for rental cars and unnecessary services that never corrected the problem. Honda did agree to give me an extended warranty of 7 years or 75,000 miles. The transmission was replaced with a remanufactured transmission in July 2001. I did not want a remanufactured transmission or a ctv transmission. I believe the design of the transmission is defective, but I was given no choice. In may 2002 I started reporting problems with this replacement transmission -- less then a year after it was installed. Like the first transmission, the problem is intermittent, the dealers could not reproduce the problem. I just had to drive the car until it got so bad there was no way they could miss the problem -- just like with the first transmission. Well, finally as of August 1, 2003, they confirmed the transmission was the problem and that several parts have to be replaced. In the meantime, while waiting for the parts, I'm stuck driving a car over 100 miles a day to commute to work. Ultimately the problem I have is the transmission is bad. Period! it's a bad design or I would not have had two of the same transmission type failing in the same car. When I was looking at this car to purchase the salesman told me this ctv transmission was so great that it was going to be in all of the Honda accords starting the next model year. That never happened, I wonder why! I feel very strongly after reading many similar complaints filed with the NHTSA this model year transmission should be under defect investigation. It won't take much to show that the design itself is defective and Honda has hung owners out to dry and refuses to admit their error.
Transmission failed.