NHTSA Complaint #10415616 — 2003 HONDA ODYSSEY

AT 101,500 MILES AND LESS THAN 2 YEARS AND 20,000 MILES AFTER THE FIRST TRANSMISSION REBUILD, OUR 2003 HONDA ODYSSEY VAN IS ONCE AGAIN IN NEED OF A COMPLETE TRANSMISSION REBUILD. THIS IS THE SAME PROBLEM THAT THOUSANDS OF OTHER HONDA OWNERS ARE REPORTING. WE PURCHASED THE VAN NEW FROM HONDA IN DECEMBER 2002 AND HAVE RELIGIOUSLY MAINTAINED IT (OIL CHANGES, TIRES, BRAKES, TUNE-UPS, CHECK-UPS, ETC.). AT 82,289 MILES, THE ORIGINAL TRANSMISSION "CAME APART" WHILE MY WIFE WAS DRIVING ONE DAY. PRIOR TO THAT, THE GEARS SEEMED TO BE SLIPPING. FRUSTRATED WITH THE POOR SERVICE FROM THE DEALERSHIP AND THE RUN-AROUND HONDA HAS BEEN GIVING THEIR CUSTOMERS (SPECIFICALLY WITH ODYSSEY OWNERS), WE HAD THE TRANSMISSION REBUILT BY AAMCO ($3500) AND WERE "ASSURED" THAT WE WERE GETTING A BETTER TRANSMISSION THAN THE ORIGINAL. HOW IS A TRANSMISSION THAT LASTS 1/4 OF THE TIME THAN THE ORIGINAL A BETTER ONE? THIS 2ND TRANSMISSION WAS FINE UNTIL FRIDAY 7/22/2011, WHEN WE WERE TAKING A TRIP DOWN TO NAGS HEAD, NC. SUDDENLY, I NOTICED WHEN WE WERE APPROXIMATELY 45 MILES AWAY FROM HOME (ON I-95) THAT THE RPM WAS UP AROUND 6X, THE VAN WAS NOT SHIFTING GEARS, AND THERE WAS SMOKE COMING OUT THE BACK. I QUICKLY GOT OFF THE INTERSTATE, CAME TO A STOP AND THEN IT WOULD NOT SHIFT AT ALL. WE HAD IT TOWED BACK TO FREDERICKSBURG, VA AND WERE INFORMED THAT THE TRANSMISSION FLUID WAS "BURNT," THE TRANSMISSION ITSELF WOULD HAVE TO BE REPLACED, AND THE RADIATOR WOULD NEED TO BE REPLACED. WE ARE ONCE AGAIN LOOKING AT SPENDING $4-5K FOR A VEHICLE WE BOUGHT NEW, KEPT WELL-MAINTAINED, AND HAS RELATIVELY LOW MILES FOR ITS AGE (101K). WHEN WE BOUGHT THE ODYSSEY, WE ALSO PURCHASED A CR-V AND DECLARE WE WERE HONDA PEOPLE. THIS IS WHY WE ARE NO LONGER HONDA PEOPLE. THE HONDA ODYSSEYS HAVE A WELL DOCUMENTED HISTORY OF PROBLEMS WITH THEIR TRANSMISSIONS, AND HONDA HAS NOT STEPPED UP TO TAKE CARE OF THEIR CUSTOMERS. HONDA OWES EVERY ODYSSEY OWNER AN APOLOGY! *TR