oonowindoo

Honda Expands U.S. Auto Recall for Transmission Flaw (Update2)

June 30 (Bloomberg) -- Honda Motor Co. is widening a recall of vehicles in the U.S. and Canada to 1.14 million units, among its largest, covering Accord and Acura cars that have the same transmission fault that triggered a light-truck recall this year.

Japan's third-largest automaker is voluntarily recalling 536,950 vehicles, with V-6 engines and 5-speed automatic transmissions, in addition to those already announced in April. The company is also recalling 79,531 units in Japan to fix faulty transmissions and fuel tanks, starting tomorrow.

The inspections and repairs will cost Honda about $63 million, in addition to the $153 million being spent on the light-truck portion of the recall, spokesman Andy Boyd said. In Japan, Honda is spending about $8.5 million on its recall.

Honda was runner-up to Toyota Motor Corp. in an annual reliability study of three-year-old cars and trucks by J.D. Power & Associates in the U.S. Honda, Toyota and Nissan Motor Co., which benefit from consumer perceptions that they build better vehicles, increased their U.S. market share to 24.1 percent last year from 22.2 percent, according to Autodata Corp.

Honda's North American recall includes 2003- and 2004-model Accords, 2000- through early 2004-model Acura TL sedans, and 2001- through 2003-model Acura CLs, Boyd said. In April, the company recalled 600,000 U.S. and Canadian Odyssey minivans, and Pilot and Acura MDX sport-utility vehicles with the same transmission.

Shares of Honda, which ranks fifth in U.S. sales, fell as much as 1.1 percent to 5,230 yen in Tokyo and were traded at 5,250 yen as of 2:52 p.m.

Japanese Recall

The Japanese recall covers 68,000 vehicles with gearbox defects, including Odyssey and Lagreat minivans. The Tokyo-based carmaker will also take back 11,531 Inspire sedans with faulty fuel pumps, spokesman Kazuhiro Suda said.

The problem results from insufficient lubrication of a transmission shaft that can overheat, potentially damaging gear teeth or causing the gears to break, Honda said in a statement.

The U.S. unit of Tokyo-based Honda has had only one reported incident of a transmission failing in the car models recalled and no reported accidents or injuries, Boyd said.

``We are acting out of an abundance of caution to ensure that this doesn't become an issue for our customers,'' Tom Elliot, Honda's U.S. executive vice president, said in a statement. Customers will be notified by letter starting mid-July.

In most cases, the gears will be inspected and the flow of transmission fluid will be modified, Honda said. If damage from insufficient lubrication is found, the transmission will be replaced
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Read the 6th paragraph...
WTF is Honda thinking??? r they trying to go bankrupt on purpose?
good thing they r doing a recall, calling every car in their lineup for tranny problem is going to hurt them BAAD....

DivinDude

well .. the good news is .. the question has been answered .. the 04 TL uses the same series tranny (perhaps an updated Gen 3 or something) .. but same series .. guess I can write off the auto-version of the new TL

efx

Ya Right:
The U.S. unit of Tokyo-based Honda has had only one reported incident of a transmission failing in the car models recalled and no reported accidents or injuries, Boyd said.

ruski_RENAMED

so much for some people trying to prove in the forums that 04 transmission was different.

EricL

If you'd like to read the "blurb" your way -- fine. Believe what you want...

However, the recall is for 2001-2003 Acura CL, TLs, 2004 models, etc, and the "one" instance of failure was referring to the "gear tooth problem during part throttle operation receiving insufficient shaft/gear oiling and causing only one failure and that was after 60,000 miles.

Sorry, but they never said: "... there has been only a single transmission failure in a 2004 Acura TL."

And the US models recalled include the 2001-2003 Acura CLS. There has been more than one failure reported.

AND:


Head over to the Acura TL forum and check the forum out, there have been more than one failure reported there – and, I’m talking about the ’04 model. I believe the number is around four, which doesn't seem to be a bad number. (Well, at least it has an electronic throttle to reduce the load on the clutch packs during shifts. However, the number is greater than ONE *and* the cars has low mileage. I'll leave the speculation on “how long will our cars last since we only have new and low mileage cars?” for someone else).


So, I suppose all of the people reporting were "haters" and just had to trash the car?

efx

May have misread the reference, it just seemed the wording was to give impression only.

DivinDude

Having been thru the 2nd gen tranny mess not once but twice before the extended warranty back when Acura's response was even worse than it is now (Having the district rep sit in the back seat of my car and claim that Honda's trannies are 'different' than other manufactures and they feel more reliable .... and then have him tell me that there was nothing wrong with the 2nd one in my car - 2 months later .. the car was limping home on the highway with lots of flare). I dumped the thing for a 6er after they put in the 3rd tranny - I offered Hond $2k and my 02 CLS car (with 16k on the clock) for an 03 6er.. and they called back and accepted it after the 3rd tranny install.

Giving all that .. there is NO way I'd consider another Honda vehicle with a questionable tranny .. which now the '04 has .. hence my reference to same series as the 2nd gen ...

I've also talked members of my family out of buying Honda products .. I just show them newspaper clippings about the 'investigations' .. 'extended warranty' .. 'recall' .. 'recall' .. Honda just makes it easier and easier to convince people to think carefully before buying one ...

It's kind of sad as I really don't know what brand of car to consider for a future purchase .. Honda (Acura) had a car in every segment that I would possibly want .. but given this whole mess (and previous treatment) .. they are off the 'short-list'

carquest

the only way to know if a past problem has been fixed is to wait 2 or 3 years and see if people continue to whine about it. honda didn't make it one year with the "new" TL/Accord trans design. so write off the '05 TL/Accord as well. who wants to be the crash test dummy for the '06?

EricL