In 2004, Honda recalled 1.1 million vehicles to update certain gear components on cars with under 15k miles and inspect and evaluate cars with over 15k miles and take appropriate corrective action up to possibly replacing the transmission.
The recall covered the 2002-2004 Odyssey, 2003-2004 Pilot, 2001-2002 Acura MDX, 2003-2004 Accord V6, 2000-2004 Acura 3.2 TL and 2001-2003 Acura 3.2 CL.
A large class action settlement followed in 2006 and included a warranty extension for the replacement transmissions. Within one-year of the extended warranty expiring, tens of thousands of covered vehicles suffered failure of their replacement transmissions and Honda did nothing to help in any way. A lot of those owners paid $3-$4k out of pocket for yet another transmission!
A large number of recalled vehicles, conservatively estimated at well over 30,000 by a Honda insider, experienced multiple failures during the car’s original warranty period! One of those would be my 2001 Acura 3.2 TL! The original transmission failed at 11k miles and was replaced under warranty after waiting two weeks for parts. They provided a loaner after I demanded rather forcefully that they do so- a rental Dodge Neon that smelled like a dead goat!
At 18k miles, just 7k miles later, the tranny failed yet again! This time they had to wait for someone to fly out from Torrance, CA and they even alluded to the possibility that it might not be covered under warranty a second time. They implied that I might be abusing the car since it had two transmission failures within such a short time. The engineer flew out from CA and looked at my car and, unknown to dealership management or the engineer, I showed up 15 minutes after he arrived. The receptionist was a drinking buddy at a local karaoke bar that I had known for years and she was my inside, double-agent who called when the guy showed up! I confronted the GM, Svc Mgr and Corp Engineer and didn’t really give them an option other than to warranty the repair! Sometimes you have to commit to what is right no matter the consequences and I did just that- my receptionist friend said that I was “freaky scary” and I probably walked a fine line between getting what I wanted and getting arrested that day!
After five weeks and 1200 miles, the goddamn transmission failed yet again! I was on my way to the office at 6:30am and I had it towed to the dealer before the service dept even opened. When the Service Manager arrived, I was sitting behind his desk in his chair and told him I wasn’t leaving until he did whatever it took to terminate my lease immediately even though it had 10 months left on the 36-month term. Again, I had to act a little scary/crazy and two hours later, I left with a stack of papers legally terminating my lease with no penalty of any kind and guarantee that it would be reported to the credit bureaus as if I had fulfilled all lease obligations as agreed. They also cut me a check on the spot for my security deposit and there were no pleasantries or handshakes as I flung the door open and walked out the damn place!
A good friend of mine has worked for North American Honda for 28 years. He transferred to the Torrance, CA N.A. Headquarters for five years in the late 2000s before moving to their Ohio site in 2011. According to him, off the record and under the influence of alcohol, the claimed number of ‘around’ 600,000 failures that Honda admitted in an internal document was total bullshit. They were actually claiming at least 600,000 vehicles were affected and many of those had multiple failures like mine for a total of at least 900,000 failed transmissions. But that was only the ones covered under warranty and recorded as such in their corporate financials! My friend swears that an executive once admitted to him that the true number was probably north of 2-million transmission failures and less than half were covered by warranty! Honda owners were left to pay for the majority of them, often as much as $4k.
I was so thankful that I leased that TL because I knew my nightmare would end in 36-months in the worst case scenario! I didn’t own the car and they had to take it back after the lease expired. If I had owned the car, I don’t think I could have sold it to another person knowing that the transmission would fail again anytime and still be able to sleep at night! Insurance fraud would probably have been my only other resort, which would not have been a great idea since I work in the insurance industry!
I lost all respect for Honda after that nightmare and, after learning the real truth and the extent of the problem (and the way they treated their customers), I developed an intense hatred for the company! I don’t disagree that they make some excellent cars today and they have returned to the level of quality and reliability that was synonymous with the Honda name for decades. But I don’t intend to forgive or forget what happened in the early/mid 2000s and I’ll never buy another Honda or Acura!
BTW, just in case you might be curious, the problem affected their newly designed 5-speed automatic introduced in 2000-2001 on models with V6 engines. 4-cylinder models were totally unaffected. My dad’s 2004 Accord 4-cylinder has 308k miles on the original tranny and no signs of stopping.
I really wish Honda had done the ‘right’ thing and taken care of their customers. They lost tens if not hundreds of thousands of devout customers over the course of a decade because of their deception, ambivalence and hubris. They probably don’t care because they’ve replaced those customers by now.
I suppose I take it very personally because I grew up with a deep respect and admiration for a scrappy young Japanese self-taught mechanic and engineer named Soichiro Honda. He did everything his own way and accomplished some amazing things despite having no formal education. He insisted on doing things the most efficient yet honest way possible. He was a truly superior human being and would be ashamed of how the company bearing his name behaved.
Then again, even after detailing Honda’s sins, they can easily defend themselves by simply pointing in the general direction of Detroit- instantly deflecting all dispersions cast toward them! Just the things I know to be true about GM’s past would raise an eyebrow amongst the Nazi Party and could make Enron appear ethical! =?
