2003 Honda CIVIC HYBRID: complaints, problems and recalls

IN AUGUST OF 2011, I NOTICED A BURNING SMELL WHILE USING THE LOW BEAM HEADLIGHTS. SOMETIMES THE SMELL WAS QUITE STRONG, BUT I COULD NOT FIND WHERE IT WAS COMING FROM. UNTIL I COULD FIND THE PROBLEM, I DECIDED ONLY TO USE THE CAR WHEN I DID NOT NEED TO USE THE HEADLIGHTS. A COUPLE OF TIMES I HAD TO USE THE LIGHTS. EVENTUALLY, THEY STOPPED WORKING AND I HAD TO FIND THE PROBLEM. WHEN I TOOK THE COLLAR OFF OF THE STEERING COLUMN, I NOTICED THAT THE CONNECTOR TO THE HEADLIGHT (COMBINATION SWITCH) WAS MELTED. THERE WAS A GREENISH/BLUE CORROSIO…

Owner-reported narrative. 98,345 miles reported. Look up ODI 10433076 at NHTSA ↗

TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 2003 HONDA CIVIC HYBRID. THE CONTACT STATED THAT THE VEHICLE WOULD VIOLENTLY JERK WHEN ACCELERATING FROM A STOP AND ALSO WHEN DRIVING AT VARIOUS SPEEDS. THE FAILURE RECURRED ON AN INTERMITTENT BASIS. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO AN AUTHORIZED DEALER NUMEROUS TIMES WHERE VARIOUS TRANSMISSION AND ENGINE REPAIRS WERE PERFORMED, BUT THE FAILURE CONTINUED. THE MANUFACTURER WAS MADE AWARE OF THE FAILURE AND OFFERED NO ASSISTANCE. THE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS 5. THE VIN WAS UNAVAILABLE.

Owner-reported narrative. 5 miles reported. Look up ODI 10444938 at NHTSA ↗

TRANSMISSION SLIP. *TT

Owner-reported narrative. 150,000 miles reported. Look up ODI 10445780 at NHTSA ↗

THE TRANSMISSION SEEMED TO SLIP, THE ENGINE RPM'S WOULD GO UP BUT SPEED WOULD NOT CHANGE. AS YOU DROVE DOWN THE ROAD YOU COULD SEE THE TACH WHICH SHOWS RPM GO UP & DOWN, UP & DOWN ALL THE TIME BUT THE SPEED WOULD STAY THE SAME. VERY POOR GAS MILEAGE AROUND THE MID 30'S NOT EVEN CLOSE TO THE 50 MPG THAT WE WERE TOLD. THEN ONE DAY THE CAR JUST MADE A BANG AND STOPPED, THE TRANSMISSION STEEL BELT INSIDE BROKE INTO MANY PIECES AND THE CAR WOULDN'T MOVE. $1800.00 TO FIX THIS THEN WE STILL HAD THE RPM UP & DOWN PROBLEM. THEN @ 80,000 MILES THE BATTER…

Owner-reported narrative. 65,000 miles reported. Look up ODI 10447728 at NHTSA ↗

CVT TRANSMISSION SLIPS AT 45K MILES. REPLACED TRANSMISSION AND PROBLEM REAPPEARED AT 75K. *TR

Owner-reported narrative. 45,000 miles reported. Look up ODI 10448575 at NHTSA ↗

THIS VEHICLE HAS A SLIPPING IN THE CVT (TRANSMISSION) AT LOWER SPEED AND WHEN COASTING. *TR

Owner-reported narrative. 132,000 miles reported. Look up ODI 10457252 at NHTSA ↗

I DROVE MY CAR TO HONDA OF SAN ANGELO DEALERSHIP FOR A RECALL, A SOFTWARE UPDATE CAMPAIGN WAS DONE, I PICKED UP THE CAR AND UPON DRIVING OFF THE DEALERSHIP LOT, I NOTICED IMMEDIATELY THAT THE ELECTRIC PART OF THE HYBRID WAS NOT WORKING, AT ALL, IT WAS WORKING WHEN I DROPPED IT OFF AND GETTING 47 MPG. UPON RETURNING TO THE DEALERSHIP, THE SERVICE MANAGER TOLD ME NOT TO BLAME THEM FOR HAVING A 9 YEAR OLD CAR WITH 100,000 MILES ON IT. I ARGUED THE POINT, THAT IT WAS WORKING WHEN I DROPPED IT OFF, AND IT ISN'T NOW, SIMPLE AS THAT AND AS I DR…

Owner-reported narrative. 126,205 miles reported. Look up ODI 10459822 at NHTSA ↗

IN 2006 THE CAR WAS JOLTING WHEN YOU TOOK OFF OR WERE TRAVELING AT LOW SPEEDS. THE DEALERSHIP BURNISHED THE STARTER CLUTCH/ENGINE AND THE PROBLEM WENT AWAY. NOW IN 2012 THE PROBLEM HAS BEGUN AGAIN AND READING THROUGH BLOGS AND POSTS IS SEEMS THERE MAY BE A DESIGN CHANGE IN THE TRANSMISSION FROM PLASTIC BELTS TO METAL...SO IF THIS FIXES THE PROBLEM, THEN MY OLDER MODEL SHOULD BE RETROFIT TO REPAIR THE FAULTY ISSUE. *TR

Owner-reported narrative. Look up ODI 10467160 at NHTSA ↗

Reported: 2014-11-04 (November 4, 2014)

American Honda Motor Co. (Honda) is recalling certain model year 2001-2005 Honda Civic, 2003-2004 Civic CNG and Element, 2002-2005 CR-V, 2002-2004 Odyssey, 2003-2005 Accord, Pilot, Civic Hybrid, and Acura MDX, 2005 Acura RL and 2006 Honda Ridgeline vehicles originally sold, or ever registered, in geographic locations associated with high absolute humidity. Specifically, vehicles sold, or ever registered, in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Saipan, Guam, and American Samoa are addressed by this recall. Upon deployment of the passenger side frontal air bag, excessive internal pressure may cause the inflator to rupture.

Consequence: In the event of a crash necessitating deployment of the passenger’s frontal air bag, the inflator could rupture with metal fragments striking the vehicle occupants potentially resulting in serious injury or death.

Remedy: Honda will notify owners, and dealers will replace the passenger side air bag inflator, free of charge. The recall began January 26, 2015. Owners may contact Honda customer service at 1-800-999-1009.

Reported: 2015-05-28 (May 28, 2015)

Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) is recalling certain model year 2001-2007 Accord, 2001-2005 Civic, 2001-2004 Honda Civic GX, 2003-2005 Honda Civic Hybrid, 2002-2006 CR-V, 2003-2011 Element, 2002-2004 Odyssey, 2003-2008 Pilot, 2006 Ridgeline, 2003 Acura 3.2CL, 2003-2006 Acura MDX, and 2002-2003 Acura 3.2TL vehicles. The affected vehicles are equipped with a dual-stage driver frontal air bag that may be susceptible to moisture intrusion and other factors, including manufacturing variability that, over time, could cause the inflator to rupture.

Consequence: In the event of a crash necessitating deployment of the driver's frontal air bag, the inflator could rupture with metal fragments striking the driver or other occupants resulting in serious injury or death.

Remedy: Honda will notify owners, and dealers will replace the driver frontal air bag inflator, free of charge. The recall began on July 1, 2015. Owners may contact Honda customer service at 1-888-234-2138. Owners may contact Acura customer service at 1-800-382-2238, select option 4. Note: Vehicles that have had their driver frontal air bag replaced previously as part of a recall remedy prior to September 12, 2014 need to have their air bag replaced under this recall as well. Vehicles that, on or after September 12, 2014, received a remedy for a prior driver frontal air bag inflator recall already received an inflator of a different design, and therefore are not included in this recall and do not require additional servicing. Note: This recall fully supersedes recalls 08V-593, 09V-259, 10V-041, 11V-260, 14V-351 and 15V-153. Honda's numbers for this recall are JQ9, JR0, JR1, JR2, JR3, JR4, JR5, JR6, JR7, and JR8.

Reported: 2015-06-15 (June 15, 2015)

Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) is recalling certain model year 2001-2005 Honda Civic vehicles manufactured March 21, 2000, to January 20, 2005, 2001-2004 Honda Civic GX vehicles manufactured June 14, 2000, to August 19, 2004, 2003-2005 Honda Civic Hybrid vehicles manufactured February 24, 2002, to January 18, 2005, 2003-2007 Honda Accord vehicles manufactured February 21, 2002, to August 28, 2007, 2002-2004 Honda CR-V vehicles, 2002-2003 Honda Odyssey vehicles manufactured June 19, 2001, to July 12, 2003, 2003 Acura MDX vehicles manufactured September 19, 2002, to June 19, 2003, 2003 Honda Element vehicles manufactured June 25, 2002, to July 31, 2003, and 2003 Honda Pilot vehicles manufactured November 26, 2001, to August 21, 2003. The affected vehicles have a passenger side frontal air bag that may be susceptible to moisture intrusion which, over time, could cause the inflator to rupture upon its deployment.

Consequence: In the event of a crash necessitating deployment of the passenger's frontal air bag, the inflator could rupture with metal fragments striking the passenger seat occupant or other occupants possibly causing serious injury or death.

Remedy: Honda will notify owners, and dealers will replace the passenger air bag inflator, free of charge. The recall began on July 1, 2015. Owners may contact Honda customer service at 1-888-234-2138. Honda's numbers for this recall are JU4, JU5, JU6, and JU7. Note: Vehicles that have already received a replacement passenger air bag inflator as part of the recall remedy for an earlier campaign such as 14V353 or 14V700 (Honda recall numbers S95, JH6, JH7, JH8, JH9, JJ0, JJ1, JJ2, JJ6, JM5 and JM6) are not included in this recall. However, this recall does supersede 13V132 and 14V349. Note: On December 18, 2015 Honda informed NHTSA of an expansion of this recall to include certain model year 2004 Honda CR-V vehicles in addition to additional model year 2003 CR-V vehicles.

Reported: 2019-03-06 (March 6, 2019)

Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) is recalling specific 2003 Acura 3.2CL, 2013-2016 ILX, 2013-2014 ILX Hybrid, 2003-2006 MDX, 2007-2016 RDX, 2002-2003 3.2TL, 2004-2006, and 2009-2014 TL, 2010-2013 ZDX and 2001-2007 and 2009 Honda Accord, 2001-2005 Civic, 2003-2005 Civic Hybrid, 2001-2005 Civic GX NGV, 2002-2007 and 2010-2011 CR-V, 2003-2011 Element, 2007 Fit, 2002-2004 Odyssey, 2003-2008 Pilot, and 2006-2014 Ridgeline vehicles. The affected vehicles received a replacement driver air bag inflator as part of a previous Takata inflator recall remedy or a replacement driver air bag module containing the same inflator type as a service part. Due to a manufacturing error, in the event of a crash necessitating deployment of the driver frontal air bag, these inflators may explode.

Consequence: An explosion of an inflator within the driver frontal air bag module may result in sharp metal fragments striking the driver, front seat passenger or other occupants resulting in serious injury or death.

Remedy: Honda will notify owners, and dealers will replace the driver's air bag inflator with an alternate inflator, free of charge. The recall began April 10, 2019. Honda owners may contact customer service at 1-888-234-2138. Honda's number for this recall is O41. Acura owners may contact customer service at 1-888-234-2138. Acura's number for this recall is U40.

Reported: 2019-06-27 (June 27, 2019)

Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) is recalling certain 2003 Acura 3.2CL, 2002-2003 3.2TL, 2003-2006 MDX, 2001-2007 Honda Accord, 2001-2005 Civic, 2003-2005 Civic Hybrid, 2001-2005 Civic GX NGV, 2002-2006 CR-V, 2003-2011 Element, 2002-2004 Odyssey, 2003-2008 Pilot and 2006 Ridgeline vehicles. These vehicles are equipped with driver frontal air bag inflators assembled as a recall remedy part or replacement service part, that may explode due to propellant degradation occurring after long-term exposure to high absolute humidity, temperature and temperature cycling.

Consequence: An inflator explosion may result in sharp metal fragments striking the driver or other occupants resulting in serious injury or death.

Remedy: Honda will notify owners, and dealers will replace the driver frontal air bag inflator, free of charge. The recall began August 12, 2019. Owners may contact Honda customer service at 1-888-234-2138. Honda's numbers for this recall are Q5A and Y58.

Reported: 2019-06-27 (June 27, 2019)

Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) is recalling certain 2003-2006 Acura MDX, 2005-2012 RL, 2003-2007 Honda Accord, 2001-2005 Civic, 2003-2005 Civic Hybrid, 2001-2005 Civic GX NGV, 2002-2006 CR-V, 2003-2011 Element, 2007-2008 Fit, 2002-2004 Odyssey, 2003-2008 Pilot, and 2006-2014 Ridgeline vehicles. The vehicles are equipped with passenger frontal air bag inflators assembled as a recall remedy part or replacement service part, that may explode due to propellant degradation occurring after long-term exposure to high absolute humidity, temperature and temperature cycling.

Consequence: An inflator explosion may result in sharp metal fragments striking the driver or other occupants resulting in serious injury or death.

Remedy: Honda will notify owners, and dealers will replace the passenger frontal airbag inflator, free of charge. The recall began August 12, 2019. Owners may contact Honda customer service at 1-888-234-2138. Honda's numbers for this recall are E5D and X5C.