I’ve heard a couple theories. Most are design flaws that have to do with poor lubrication. One problem is that air will get into the fluid which causes a decrease in lockup presure, thus causing the transmission to slip. This is most noticable at highway speeds. This is usually causesd by the forward clutch piston (an aluminum part) cracking. From there it’s a more or less a chain reaction. The valve body cracks, then accumulators fail. And then you are looking at a $1500 rebuild.
Well, if that means you’re planning to head to Disney soon, then I think I speak for everyone when I say a virtual postcard posted to the board would be nice. 
Let us know if the whole deal really works out as they have promised.
The best thing about a Honda replacement is you get a 3yr/36k on parts & labor for the entire transmission at ANY honda dealer across the USA.
If the unit fails they simple typically get another rebuilt sent and put it in vs trying fix or band-aid it after.
Get some quotes for independents too. See if this piece of mind is worth it.
I seriously doubt you are going to get this less than $2000 unless they can actually fix what you have without major incident.
The price and warranty are such that it would be a good deal to use the dealer. Where I live there is a private shop with a good reputation. Unless you can find such a shop, I would have the dealer do it.
I think you’ll be much happier that way. I was getting parts one day for a Honda transmission I was rebuilding, I was at the dealer parts department waiting for the parts manager to fill my order when he asked me “Why do you rebuild these things? We just replace them” I asked him How much he wants for one. He said $3500. I looked at him and said “Thats why”. The transmission that I was rebuilding was an Accord BAXA transmission which ended up going through my bench for around $2400, and I still made a decent profit on it. They’re offering you a good deal with a good warranty which you know will be honored at any Honda dealer.
Good luck
transman
What I’m having a hard time comprehending here is how you’ve managed to corner the market on all of the defective transmissions. I’m familiar with the aluminum forward clutch piston problem, but it’s my opinion that any valve body that suffers a crack has likely suffered some ham-fisted overtightening of the valve body bolts.
There has never been a vehicle made that has not suffered transmission problems due to design flaws. The vast majority of Tauri/Sabli (plural 
) transmissions will outlast the car so it’s puzzling for me to understand how you owned a truckload of problem children.
My old Sable trans (320k miles) was shifting like new when I sold the car and the last few years of my ownership this car got flogged, and flogged badly. It even saw a lot of towing.
Two neighbors of mine here (94 Taurus and 97 Taurus both put over a quarter of a million miles on their Tauri with no transmission failures. Regarding the 97 that mileage should be equivalent to half a million considering the lady who drove it. She flat beats a car into the pavement and I would never consider buying a used car that she owned.
Where did you get these theories from?? First of all, Lack of lubrication issues happen frequently. What they are referring to when they say lack of lubrication or poor lubrication as you stated is bearings, bushings or gearsets not getting adequate ATF to lubricate it. As far as air getting into the fluid, or pump cavitation as we call it, air will cause clutches and/or bands to slip due to decreased hydraulic pressure. The main cause of air is low fluid levels. A cracked clutch piston will do one thing, it will lower line pressures depending on the severity of the crack. A cracked piston does not have anything to do with air in the system. A cracked piston will reduce the clamping force of the clutch because basically, the clutch is bleeding. If the crack is not so bad, the Pressure control solenoid comes in and tries to compensate for the loss of pressure and you might not notice slipping. Now we get into valve bodies. Valve bodies are made of steel and aluminum both of which rarely crack just out of normal use. Wear that occurs mostly in valve bodies are from steel valves in aluminum valve bodies. Valves and valve bodies are machined for very close tolerances with a thin film of ATF between the two. Valves do not have rubber ‘o’ rings on them. It is mostly the busier valves such as the regulator valves which tend to wear the valve body bores faster. Accumulators serve one purpose, they cushion the shift. I have seen accumulator pistons crack but most of the time its the pin bore in the middle of the piston which wears and ovals out. All this will do is make a rough shift. Like ok4450 said, all automatics have some sort of flaw or upgrade which has been made for it to correct various problems.
transman
I don’t think replacement at 120k is reasonable…
However, this is the generation of Honda Accords that ate automatic transmissions for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It’s unfortunate, but it didn’t take abuse to cause these to fail, just like the AXOD-E and to a lesser extent AX4S in the Windstar and Taurus a decade or more back were susceptible to failure.
Remarkably similar root causes for failure, too.
Fortunately if you bought a later 96+ Taurus, you got a fixed AX4S that still needed babying (frequent fluid changes) or the AX4N, which statistically is actually very reliable. I knew to look for the latter, and at 120k, I still have never lost fluid, burned fluid, had any slippage, or had any debris in the pan or in the filter…