I recently had a transmission go out on a 2001 Accord at 74,000 miles. The dealer offered to put a new one in for $3,152.97 (out of warranty). The dealership person mentioned that this a common problem and not associated with the way I drive. When I bought the car 10 years ago I expected the transmission to last a lot more than than 75K. Was I mistaken? Aren’t Honda’s supposed to be reliable?. Time to dig for facts.
Well the dealership person is correct. My ’01 Accord does have a high rate of transmission failure according to fellow Accord owners. Los Angeles Times did a story on crappy Honda transmission back in 2002.
Consumer Reports confirms that my perception about the reliability of Honda cars is correct. This survey in 2009 lists Honda as the 2nd most reliable car company. Since the survey was conducted before the “Toyota unintended acceleration” issue, my guess is that Honda would now be at the top.
However reality is the exact opposite. Here is a list of 20 worst problem vehicles taken from CarComplaints (as of 28-Sep-2010)
CarComplaints.com uses inputs from the users and the following factors to come up with the ranking
- average mileage at failure
- cost to fix & repair
- total number of complaints
- owners’ ranking of how bad the problem was
Let us consolidate the list by brands
| Brand Name | Number of Cars |
|---|---|
| Chrysler | 2 |
| Dodge | 5 |
| Ford | 4 |
| Honda | 7 |
| Nissan | 1 |
| Toyota | 1 |
Notice that Honda has the highest number of models on the list. In other words, Honda makes 35% of the worst cars in the list. Now that is something I would never have expected based the perception of reliability of Honda’s.
What makes this number even more shocking is that Honda has only a 10% share of the US car market (as of 1-Oct-2010). So a company that only sells 10% of the cars contributes 35% of the worst cars on the market. Does that mean by selecting Honda you are 3.5 times as likely to end up with a worst car as opposed to selecting a car at random??
Another way to look at the same information is to see the average age of the worst cars by Brand.
| Brand | Average Year | Average Age |
|---|---|---|
| Chrysler | 2001.5 | 8.5 |
| Dodge | 2000.8 | 9.2 |
| Ford | 2003 | 7.0 |
| Honda | 2003.8 | 6.2 |
| Nissan | 2002 | 8 |
| Toyota | 2002 | 8 |
Again Honda has the youngest cars on the list. i.e. A Honda ends up on the worst car list after only 6 years. Yikes!!
So the next time you see the Honda commercial guy knocking on your TV screen,remember he wants to sign you up for high repair bills.
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I can state from experience that you should not assume that because it is a Honda it will be reliable. My 2001 Odyssey transmission failed at around 70,000 miles and had to be replaced and the replacement transmission just failed on me at 130,000 miles. My 2003 Accord also has had its share of problems: I had to resurface the rotors and replace the rear pads at only around 15,000 miles (I have many cars over 30 years and I have never had replace the pads so early), the headliner came loose and had to be completely replaced a few years ago, as well as the sun visor, and I had to spend $2,000 to fix the air conditioner last year, the traction control warning light keeps coming on, and the steering is starting to make a groaning sound, and I’m worried that the automatic transmission may fail so as the 2003 accord transmissions have a reputation for premature failure. As I no longer consider Honda’s reliable I think my next car will be a Sonata or Optima as both are better looking and offer more features than the Accord and I get a superior warranty (if Honda had any confidence in the reliability of its products it would offer a longer warranty).
I have a 2002 honda crv and the thing has been unbeleible, never skips a beat and runs just as good as the day i bought it. 370,000km on it. GF even rearended someone, they fixed it and it runs just fine. Honda quality rules.
My 2000 Accord is a 5-speed manual. It has 180k miles on it and runs better than any other car ive owned. My last car was a 93 accord 5-speed and it had 235k miles and ran as good as my 2000 until i wrapped it around a telephone pole. My girlfriend has a 2000 Accord 5 speed with 280k miles that runs flawlessly. Her parents have a 2003 accord with 170 on it and its an automatic with zero problems. These are the most reliable cars I have ever seen. This forum is obviously biased and trying to ruin the good name of Honda Motor Company. By the way, automatic transmissions go, buy a 5 speed! 5 speed hondas pretty much always approach 300k with minimal problems.
The real test of reliability is racing them in the 24 Hours Of LeMons.. where production cars are subjected to rigors of endurance racing. What one discovers about Honda cars in general.. while they many be reliable as street/road cars, they have a awful record at LeMons racing. Honda Accord, Civic, Prelude and related Integra cars tend to pop cylinder head gaskets, spit connecting rods, digest CV joints & axles, toast transmissions and more..
Do keep in mind the class action law suite settlement regarding failed Honda Transmissions.
Toyota cars are not much better at LeMons racing than Honda. Toyota had a similar class action law suite regarding engine failures (many under 30,000 miles) engine oil sludge.
It turns out one of the most robust and reliable LeMons racers is the Volvo 240 series, Orginal GM Saturn and Alfa Romeo (totally counter to what the US car buying public believes.
Read about the findings here:
http://jalopnik.com/5450420/results-of-the-lemons-torture-test-volvo-alfa-saturn-the-most-reliable-500-beaters
Honda Civic Reborn is my favorite car.
100km at 10 sec……. GooD Pickup
Thanks.