The dealer replaced our 2000 Honda Odyssey transmission @70K miles. The transmission went bad again @140K miles. Honda refused to pay for the transmission. It is ridiculous that despite us servicing the car through dealership all the time, transmission gave up on us 2 times. What are our options?
Did the dealer replace the transmission the first time with a factory new unit, reman or rebuilt unit, or a used one? The first 2 of those are acceptable; the last 2 can be iffy.
Assuming this was a new or reman unit and Honda has now denied you this time around I would say your options are hovering around zero.
They’re only going to stand behind something for so long and eventually they will wash their hands of the problem.
The only thing I can see right now is possibly having an attorney send them a letter at least insinuating some legal action on your part and there is a glimmer anyway that the bean counters there may take it seriously and help you out on this; either in full or partially. Or not, because they’ve got more lawyers than you.
Well, whatever the disposition, DO NOT HAVE THAT DEALER GET ONE DIME OF SERVICE WORK for THIS trans …or anything else. Do not reward bed policy with good money.
I’d explore the initial consultation with a lawyer.
Transmission failure in the Honda Odyssey is unfortunately pretty normal. They just don’t hold up. Find the cheapest fix you can, a used transmission from a salvaage yard, and then unload the vehicle.
They say the newer Odyssey’s don’t have the problem, but I wouldn’t buy another one. It is a big, heavy vehicle that pushes a lot of air. I think the transmissions in them are under engineered and are still prone to failure.
After owning the van for 10 years Honda is saying you are on your own. They have the right to say that, and you have the right forget buying any more Hondas. That’s about all you are going to get from Honda.
I fail to see why Honda should pay for a transmission after 10 years and 140K miles.
Your options are to install another transmission or trade the van “as is” for something else.
If you install another transmission you can pretty much be sure how long it will last.
At 10 years and 140k miles you are well beyond the warranty period and no manufacturer would cover the cost of a transmission at that point. Honda should not have to pay for a new transmission and they did replace it for you once under warranty just like they said they would when you bought the car (when they said the warranty was 5 years/60,000 miles) which means they already went above and beyond by replacing it the first time 10,000 miles after the initial warranty should have expired.
In essence, since you didn’t pay for the first transmission you got 140k miles and 10 years out of what you paid for and in any make or model it is not unheard of to have to replace the transmission at that point and no dealer/manufacturer/seller will pay for it at that point.