NHTSA Complaint #10292608 — 1999 HONDA ACCORD

CHECK ENGINE LIGHT CAME ON. BROUGHT TO THE DEALER AND THEY SAID THE CODE INDICATED A TORQUE CONVERTER CIRCUIT MALFUNCTION. DEALER SUPPOSEDLY CHECKED AND ROAD TESTED AND SAID THEY COULDN'T FIND ANYTHING WRONG. THEY RESET THE WARNING LIGHT AND SAID THE TRANSMISSION MAYBE GOING BAD. I WAS CHARGED THEIR TYPICAL OUTRAGEOUS LABOR COST. I SHOULD HAVE BROUGHT IT TO AN AUTO PARTS STORE WHO COULD HAVE TOLD ME THE SAME THING FOR FREE. BUT I THOUGHT THEY WOULD KNOW MORE ABOUT WHAT IS WRONG WITH THEIR CARS THAN AN AUTO PARTS CODE READER, I WAS TOTALLY WRONG. THE WARNING LIGHT CAME BACK ON DURING MY DRIVE BACK HOME FROM THE DEALER. ALL THE REQUIRED MAINTENANCE HAS BEEN PERFORMED BY THE DEALER SINCE THE TIME I BOUGHT IT NEW. THE CAR HAD AROUND 98,000 MILES WHEN THE WARNING LIGHT FIRST APPEARED. I BROUGHT IT TO A TRANSMISSION REPAIR SHOP NEXT AND THEY REPLACED THE LINEAR SOLENOID AND CHECKED THE OTHERS WHICH WERE ALL FINE, BUT THE WARNING LIGHT CAME BACK ON. THE TRANS. SHOP SAID THIS IS A PREDOMINANT PROBLEM WITH 99 AND 2000 ACCORDS, BUT THE MFR ONLY RECALLED THE 2000 MODELS. I KNOW THIS IS TRUE BECAUSE I ALSO OWN A 2000 ACCORD WHICH WAS RECALLED BY THE FACTORY FOR TRANSMISSION PROBLEMS. THE MECHANIC SAID THAT HONDA SHOULD HAVE RECALLED THIS MODEL YEAR ALSO SINCE THE 99 AND 2000 MODELS WERE ESSENTIALLY IDENTICAL. NOW THE ONLY RECOURSE IS TO OVERHAUL OR REPLACE THE TRANSMISSION WHICH WILL COST LOTS MORE MONEY. THE MANUFACTURER SHOULD RECALL THE 99 ACCORDS AS WELL OR AT LEAST SHOULDER HALF OF ALL THE EXPENSES BECAUSE OF THIS DEFECT. I HAVE OWN SEVERAL VEHICLES OTHER THAN HONDAS AND I HAVE NEVER ENCOUNTERED ANY TRANSMISSION PROBLEM AND ALL HAVE GONE OVER 150,000 MILES. GOOD BYE HONDA! ALL MY FAMILY AND FRIENDS WILL SURELY KNOW ABOUT THIS. *TR