Transmission Not Engage problems of the 2003 Honda Odyssey

The transmission disengaged at 65 mph and I had to keep cycling the gas pedal until the trans caught on at 40 mph and this went on until I brought it home. I was able to take it to the Honda dealer and they said I need a new transmission.

At lower speeds automatic transmission goes into neutral. The transmission will not reengage unless you place the transmission in neutral and back into drive. Unfortunately this happens during periods from completely stopped thru 2nd gear. Once past 2nd gear shifting patterns are always normal. This has been happening for over a year, yet the transmission still continues to operate, (ie. . Not completely failed yet) I have noticed that there has been a recall on my particular model (recall# 12v-573) however my dealer says that my vehicle is not part of that recall. I feel since this is a daily driver, that the malfunction of transmission will eventually cause an accident due to the fact that it happens during initial acceleration. I believe that if this was not a defect, then the transmission would have completely failed long ago. I merely think Honda should make corrections as stated in their recall notices.

While driving my transmission would not engage. This caused an extremely unsafe situation due to the car being suddenly unresponsive while driving in 40 mph traffic. It could have easily caused an accident resulting in serious injury or death. Thankfully I was not hurt, however others might not be that lucky. The transmission no longer functions. After doing further research I see that Honda has had many issues with their transmissions that they have not addressed. Someone at the NHTSA needs to look into this before people get killed due to a faulty transmission design.

Hi, Honda had a recall on the 03 Odyssey transmission for chipping of metal, over heating, etc. Right now my car will not engage from reverse to drive for 10-15sec and while driving will accelerate for no reason, which I believe are very major safety issues. Spoke to Honda customer care and they will not take care or fix these issues case# n012011-12-2800224 on 1229/2011. Thanks, a mathew.

No advanced warning for automatic transmission failure. Transmission failed while driving on busy parkway at about 9:00pm at night. Vehicle suddenly decelerated and had no forward drive. Fortunately, this incident occurred at night in light traffic as in heavier traffic the vehicle would have certainly been struck from the rear by a follwoing vehicle given the sudden and unexpected deceleration. Car was safety hazard as it was driven home in a single gear at no more than 25-30 mph. The transmission failed to engage it "limp-home" gear (1st??) on several occasions on the drive back home and became stuck in the middle of the intersections. This would occur when the vehicle would engage the "limp-home" gear for a moment (enough to pull into the intersection from a stoplight) and then fail or if the intersection was sloped downhill, releasing the brake would permit the transmission to "freewheel" like the trasnmission was in neutral (but it was not)and the vehicle would roll into the intersection. The car had to be turned off and restarted several times before the automatic transmission could re-engage the limp-home gear. Manual shifting of the gear lever was either impossible (I. E. Gear selector would not change) or ineffective (I. E. Limp-home gear would be selected but not engage and the vehicle did not move forward). Van has not been repaired and is located at my home as it is now dangerous even to drive on a public road.

About a month ago, I had two occasions when my 2003 Honda Odyssey would not shift from park to reverse. Each time I turned the car off and back on and then it would shift normally. On 12/23/10, I was driving down the street when suddenly the gears disengaged. The tachometer revved, but the van was just coasting. After a few seconds, the gears engaged again. The has happened several times over the past few days. Today I took my van to the dealer and was told the van has fault codes p0740 and p0780. I need a new (rebuilt) transmission and a new ecu. The cost is $5101. 80.

While driving on the interstate my 2003 Honda Odyssey started to put out smoke from under the hood and the transmission would not engage. Luckily we were able to pull out of traffic without hitting any other cars. We were towed to a repair shop where they said the transmission overheated and due to the damage had to be rebuilt. There is a recall in place (NHTSA # 04v176000) for our vehicle for this issue. In speaking with Honda it appears recall work was done in 2004 (a revision to the oil cooler return line), but we still experienced the transmission defect. I just wanted to file the complaint in case others had found that Honda's repair solution had not been effective for them either.

My 2003 Honda Odyssey transmission suffered sudden catastrophic failure while driving on the interstate in traffic. The vehicle could not be driven any further and was left in a dangerous spot and required towing to the Honda dealer. The vehicle could be cranked and placed in gear but the transmission does not engage and the engine revs the same in both park and in drive. There was no warning of a transmission problem until some erratic revs appeared on the tach going from normal cruising revs of ~2k up to 5k a couple of minutes prior to the failure. The only other indication was the "check engine " light which according to the manual indicates an emissions system problem. . . Not a transmission problem. This happened Friday night and the dealer called sat morning and said the transmission required replacement. After researching the problem on the internet I see many other people have the same problem with their 2003 Odyssey transmission and in fact their has been class action suit on prior year and maybe another one that covers 2003. I am very concerned that Honda is aware of this problem and not doing anything. There was a recall and I took my vehicle in but the changes they made were not effective. Additionally, I understand that the filter is internal and cannot be cleaned or changed.