Faults:
The transmission was rebuilt at 120K miles. I know this is a lot of miles, but they were all highway miles and well it's a Honda. This was my 4th Accord, I sold 2 and my sister totaled 1. My first Accord had over 200k miles and was 15 years old, I never had a single issue with that car and thus became a strictly Honda owner. I had to pay for the labor to have the transmission fix because it was no longer under the extended 100k mile warranty for the transmission "recall". Why should I have to pay to fix a known problem just because my car was taken care of and therefore the transmission didn't break as quickly as the others- even though it's the exact same problem they extended the warranty for!
I had my timing belt replaced at 99K miles, I know I was late and that's bad. But then I had to have my timing belt and pulling system replaced again at 149k miles because the pulling system went bad and damaged the belt. I had to pay $800.00 again. 40k miles early!
At the same time as that, I finally had them check my SRS light. It had been on for years and the "recall" warranty is only until 150k miles so I figured it was now or never. I had put it off for so long because if its not something covered under warranty than they charge the $100 fee for diagnosing the problem, that's why I had put it off, I didn't want to get stuck paying for it. Turns out it was the seat belt sensor, and seat belt components are covered for life. Still comes on for no rhyme or reason, but if I shift in my seat it seems to go off and Honda says that normal. Whatever!
Two weeks ago I came home and my car was running fine. Two days later I go to leave and as soon as I start my car I knew something was wrong. It was idling very very hard. I put my car in reverse and it ran even harder, I moved all of 4 feet and my check engine light came on. Needless to say I didn't drive my car. I called Honda the next day and I had to wait a week for them to see it. They call me today to tell me that I need to have my engine completely rebuilt or replaced to the tune of $6,100. They have had my car twice in the last 3 months and were not able to diagnose what they say "is a problem that should have taken months to get this bad". My car has had its oil changed every 3K miles, okay, maybe sometimes it was closer to 4k, but I use fully synthetic oil.
General Comments:
My passenger side headlight burns out about every 6 months. I had to have the main relay replaced, Honda knows these have very short life spans. My dash lights like to go out and that's because I need my drivers side multiplex unit replaced and that another $300.00. My key doesn't unlock my trunk, that happened to about 200k models. Somewhere out there someone has an ignition key that will open my truck and my key opens someone else's. Brand new, I have a 30k dollar car, its fully loaded. I should not have all these other issues. I know this is not the normal wear and tear that needs to be replaced, I have owned many other Hondas along with others in my family. The newer the Hondas get the worse they get. Honda built a reputation with quality cars that literally last a lifetime, now they are living off that reputation and building cars that don't last past the lease.
28th Jul 2007, 17:29
Poorly maintained to the extreme. I have owned some new hondas that were never maintained and they had less maintenance. I must admit though there is something with the SRS system having to do with the seat belt, etc. I don't even think the dealer knows how to fix it. Better off going to an independent repair shop if the dealer charges an arm and a leg.