Found out the 2000 Accord I was thinking of trading for has already had the trans replaced. The car has 60,000 miles on it. I wonder if the new trans falls under the extended warranty? Makes me think of sticking with my manual trans 2001 Civic. It is still going strong at 102,600 miles.
Honda extends transmission warranty on 1.2 million models
September 23, 2002
BY JEFF GREEN
BLOOMBERG NEWS
TORRANCE, Calif. -- Honda Motor Co.'s U.S. unit extended warranties on automatic transmissions on about 1.2 million cars and minivans because the components may fail or wear out early.
The move includes 2000 and 2001 Accord and Prelude cars and Odyssey minivans; 2000 to 2002 models of the Acura 3.2 TL car; 2001 and 2002 Acura 3.2 CL cars; and some 2003 models of both Acura models, spokesman Kurt Antonius said. About 2 percent of those vehicles have experienced the transmission problems, which include slow or erratic shifting, Honda said.
The transmissions will be covered for seven years or 100,000 miles. The standard full warranty is three years or 36,000 miles for the Honda vehicles and four years or 50,000 miles for the Acura cars. Honda doesn't plan a recall, Antonius said.
"If this is the only instance, it's not a big issue because it's unusual for Honda," said Alan Baum, an analyst at automotive forecaster Planning Edge in Farmington Hills, Michigan. "If it became a pattern, then it might hurt them."
Honda finished second to Toyota Motor Corp. in the most recent J.D. Power & Associates study of initial quality, an auto industry benchmark. Between 1990 and 2000, the most recent year for which full statistics are available, Honda had 32 safety recalls, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. General Motors Corp., the largest automaker, had 334 in that period, the agency said.
Owners will be sent letters informing them of the warranty extension, and consumers who already had a repair done after their warranty expired will be reimbursed, Antonius said. Vehicles that have transmission problems will have the transmission replaced, he said.
This was written over 2 years ago so the percentage rate of failures could be higher than 2% by now.