Automatic Transmission Recall Accord Sedan 2007

[WDHewson]

Hi:

I just took my daughter’s 2007 Accord sedan into the dealer to address the automatic transmission recall that has something to do about second gear bearings failing from shifting back and forth too quickly from D to R, such as rocking to get unstuck from snow.

This was a massive recall involving over a million Honda’s, but does anyone really know what it is about?

Are these bearings really failing?

What does the Honda dealer actually do to the car?

Is the “fix”

Topic

[fitone]

The 1998-2007 Accords are known for transmission problems and yes there was a recall. Not sure if the age and possible mileage of your car that the Honda recall warranty would still come into play. Try to Google search and see what you can find. Added see this link for some info : http://blogs.cars.com/kickingtires/2011/08/recall-alert-2005-10-honda-accord-2007-10-honda-cr-v-2005-08-honda-element.html

Problem with trans. was overheating and then clutches failing resulting in slipping when shifting. Fix unfortunately is replace tranny with either a rebuilt or reman. transmission.

Eric is a Honda guy and could provide more detailed insight I am sure.

[WDHewson]

Thanks fitone.

The blog was interesting.

One of the difficulties I’m having with learning about my specific recall is that there are so many Honda automatic transmission problems occurring over the last 15 years, that it seems near impossible to sort it all out.

The automatic transmission has about 70 years of research and development, so they should be at this point an extremely reliable device. They should be about as reliable as a wheel. Not tire, but wheel.

However, I’m am not naive, as I spent the last 10 years of my career removing (yes removing!) product quality from commercial goods so that they could be more cheaply manufactured, and so be more profitable for the organization. This was rationalized by thinking that we were just removing “quality give away” which would never be noticed or appreciated by the customer. For example, why make a transmission that lasts 800 000 kilometers, when most are being trashed and recycled at 300 000 km?

However, management gets hooked on the financial savings of quality removal, and they demand more and more removal until the product is no good.

I have no idea of the internal workings at Honda, but “quality de-contenting” was widespread across many industries for about two decades.

[EricTheCarGuy]

I don’t know about that specific recall but it’s not the ‘bearings’ that are the problem but rather the clutches as suggested. When Honda changed their shift strategy back in 1999 it pretty much spelled the end of their transmissions. Before this time the complaint was that shifting into second particularly on turns was too harsh so since that time they’ve changed the strategy so that the shifting was smoother, the downside to this is that it causes the clutches to slip before engagement which can cause heat as well as wearing out the clutches prematurely. Back in the early 2000’s they had us install an ‘oil jet’ kit into these transmissions to help cool 2nd gear but it was in vein as those transmissions oil jet kit or not would fail wholesale. The rule with automatics is that the harder it shifts the longer it will last.

[Trcustoms719]

a big +1 on the above post.
I my self like a transmission that shifts nice and firm.

[WDHewson]

Interesting. I never thought about the soft and hard shifting and clutch life.

Normally you’d think that a quick and abrupt clutch load would been more wearing than soft, but gaining softness with slippage rather than speed matching is a lousy strategy.

I suppose that if these transmissions are fussy about their fluids, then they must be generally “high strung” and hard to please. Or as we say in relationships, “high maintenance”. In my mind good engineering practice would have this transmission run well on any oil thrown at it.

[Author]

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