NHTSA Complaint #11476210 — 2008 HONDA CIVIC

Car experiences 'judder' which is identified in the Honda Civic Hybrid Service Technician's Manual as an identified issue with this transmission. Their suggestion is to change the transmission fluid, which does not fix the problem. When the car starts from a complete stop it shudders and shakes and does not engage the transmission so there is no acceleration, leaving the car in a position to be hit by traffic. This car has had this problem from about 50k. There is a TSB 08-014 which Honda will not allow a consumer to access, even though this is a documented problem. There are numerous complaints on this website regarding this issue. The dealership and Honda corp state there is no safety recall for this VIN and therefore the problem does not exist, even though it does. There are no warning messages and the vehicle does not recognize there is a problem. It is worse when going up a hill or accelerating rapidly. If the transmission fluid is changed it improves slightly for a limited time, usually less than 1,000 miles.