JeffK

I've read through much of the posts on this subject on the board. I've actually just joined this board as a result of wanting more information on the transmission problem as I am now a member of that 'club' now. 2002 TL-S, 39,000 miles.

I have a few comments on various other posts I read on the subject.
1. One of the guys at the service counter at the dealer thought that Acura's 2% stated failure rate was low, but that the failure rate was higher among basic TL's than S-types. I think that Acura's 2% number has to be problematic, from the standpoint that each car may fail at different mileage. For the 2002 model year, given that my failure came at 39,000, how many cars have this mileage. If you bought your car at the same time I did, and have 25,000 and your transmission hasn't failed, it doesn't mean it wont. A lot more than 2% are going to fail. A lot.
2. The guy at the dealer indicated that some rebuilt transmissions have failed. (I was surprised the guy admitted this) When my next transmission fails at 78,000 miles, am I to hope that they've fixed those transmissions??
3. The problem is not a direct consequence of driving style, most of my miles are cruise control, although I do occasionally 'make the jump to light speed' it's clear to me that this is a product defect. The S-type is a performance auto, should not matter if you work it.
4. I do think that the failure can happen with very little notice. I was on my way to go skiing and on my 1 hour trip, only in the 15 minutes prior to failure had I ever felt the transmission begin to slip, and since I had never felt this before, I thought I might have bumped the shift lever to N. When the failure happened, I was in the boonies, and Acura's 'Total Luxury Care' Roadside Assistance took 6 hours to get to me. That said, from a safety standpoint, it was the equivalent of running out of gas - it didn't lock up or jerk to a halt - it just gradually lost power to the wheels, while revving the engine - it was possible to milk out a few miles after experiencing the problem.
5. And finally, I feel like this really could be bad from a financial standpoint - I'm a year and a half into ownership, and I have no confidence that a "Rebuilt" transmission will be a long term answer, and I have no confidence that I will be able to recoup the value (that you expect from a luxury vehicle) from the car at resale with this problem. Has anyone investigated the implications under various states Lemon Laws?

I love my car otherwise, but this really sx.