Had to have new transmission at 15,000 miles.
Front end has given problems since day 1. Steering wheel has a terrible vibration in it. Dealer says it's the brakes and that the brake rotors are warped. When I asked what caused that, I was told that on a hot day driving in a rain storm could warp the rotors. I suppose I'll just have to pick the right days to drive this car. I have had the brakes lined once and the rotors turned twice now.
Brakes have been problem since day 1, always making a grinding noise.
Steering wheel locked in a parking lot on flat ground, and I could not get it unlocked for a long period of time.
Gas cap lid locked and could not get open. Had to use a knife to open it.
One remote has now gone bad and they want over a hundred dollars to replace it.
One time my brake caliper was left loose and the wheel almost came off. Had to be towed back to the dealership.
Had a popping noise in the front end when I would start up and back out of my driveway.
Rear windshield wiper just dropped down one day in a rain storm.
At 49,000 miles I am so disgusted with this car, and to think that I have to keep it for a long time just sickens me, because I never know what is going to go wrong next.
I would never, ever buy another Honda automobile.
I will recommend against it if anyone asks my opinion.
I sometimes feel very afraid to drive this car with my grandchildren in it because I don't feel safe with the front end and the brakes doing the things they do.
Dude, you think maybe driving 49,000 miles in a year might have a little to do with wearing out brake pads & rotors?? C'mon now, lets be a little more honest here or are your neighbors getting on your nerves 'cause you didn't buy an "American" branded minivan? Last time I looked Canada (GM minivan/Chrysler minivan plants) is NOT the USA and Marysville Ohio IS IN THE USA (Honda plant).
My rear windshield wiper dropped down after about 8 months since new. Found that the nut backed off. Pried up the cover and installed a lock washer. No problems since.
JaKa.
We need to clear up some actual facts. The person who added the comments two above this about where the Honda Van is built is wrong. The Honda Oddessy is built in Alliston, Ontario, Canada - not Ohio as is stated. The Accord and some Civics are built in Ohio. Some Civics, the Oddessy and the Acura MDX are built in Ontario.
However, recently (Dec. '01), Honda has started to build the Oddessy in a new plant in Alabama too. They still continue to build them in Ontario as well, but needed the Alabama plant to add capacity and to make room for a new V6 powered Honda SUV based on the MDX to be built in Alliston.
They were correct in saying that the Chrysler van's are built in (Windsor) Ontario, but GM makes no mini-vans in Canada. They only make cars (Lumina, Monte-Carlo, Regal, Century, Impala) and full-size trucks in Oshawa. GM also makes the Camaro and Firebird in Quebec - for about one more year anyway until they are discontinued.
Thanks.
We own a 2000 Honda Mini Van and it has been great ---until last week. It has 38,000 and suddenly, it began overheating, and A.C. stopped working. Dealer thought it was thermostat and replaced that. When that didn't work, they recommended putting in new radiator. This will cost $660.00 for radiator, plus $200.00 for thermostat. Should a radiator die at 38,000 miles? Should dealer be responsible in spite of fact we are over warrently by 8,000 miles? Dealer blames it on poor maintenance. However, this van has been services regularly by an excellent mechanic, and radiator was flushed at 30,000 mile check up and it was fine then.
I also own a 2000 Odyssey, which I purchased new in May or June of 2000. I have 35,000 miles on this van and have followed the maintenance schedule regularly.
Starting at about 1,000 miles and continuing to this day I have had a constant and recurring problem with the van pulling hard right on acceleration and with a terrible vibration in the steering wheel. The dealer has re-aligned and rebalanced the tires so many time I can't recall the number. The dealer replaced the original tires at about 23,000 miles and had the tire shop perform their own alignment. The alignment and vibration problems continue. At the first scheduled rotation of these new tires,7,000 miles, the tire shop noted irregular wear.
This continues to be a problem and major concern for me. I will be returning to the dealer to make what arrangements I can to recoup what I can from this vehicle and move on to something more reliable. When purchased, I pictured this being my vehicle for at least 10 years.
To say I'm disappointed is an understatement. Honda missed something on this one.
Unlike many of you Americans, Australians get the Japanese Made Odyssey and I have a feeling this makes a big difference in reliability. 80,000km 50,000 miles of absolutely trouble free motoring, if you're going to buy Japanese Brands make sure they're made in Japan first.
We own a 2000 Honda Odyssey with the Navigation System. And since day 1...Besides the electric sliding doors, sometimes (once in a GREAT while 6-7months) would jam or not connect with the connectors just right. I have not regretted it one bit!!
I currently have about 37K miles on it and still going strong.
The only thing I recommend to future buyers of an Odyssey is not to buy the tow package, just the transmission cooler and from that a Honda mechanic that can install it cheaper that the dealership.
I just got a Reese Class 3 trailer hitch installed, it's a Monster hitch!!, and if I had the factory Honda (or whatever they use) I would have to remove that one to install the new one.
The only thing that I would ask Honda to do is, make a heavy duty spring and shock for the rear wheels. I have been seeing a lot of Odyssey's with their top part of the rear wheels "bending" in toward the wheel wells.
Overall, I would rate the Odyssey a 9.8 out of 10,.2 for the spring/shocks.
I was searching the web for a solution to my 99 Odyssey problem (s) when I stumbled across this webpage. Well, here is my story. Like the rest of you Odyssey owners out there, I remember how proud I was when I first purchased my van. After months of searching, I found an EX with 14k miles at a dealership in Augusta, GA in September 2000. It didn't have a scratch on it and it still had the remaining warranty and most importantly...it's a Honda! Right? On the way home that evening the interior lights came on for no reason and the sliding door warning light came on. I stopped the van and opened and closed the doors, but the lights stayed on. Mad and upset... not wanting to believe my "new" van was defective, I drove the 50 miles back to the dealership the next day to resolve this problem. They fixed it and it my problem was solved for about oh...2 hours. The lights didn't come back on, but the doors would not open and shut correctly. The nice service man who was way too busy to keep fooling with me said that I was probably not doing something right so he came out to show me the "proper" way to work the doors. Needless to say, he couldn't get them to work and kept the van for a few days. The service department upgraded the door mechanism and since then, I have had only a few minor problems with them.
#2 My wife drives the van for her job and I noticed that the Firestone OEM tires on front were balding on the edges prematurely (25000 miles) so I replaced them and had the alignment checked. It was A-OK. I put 4 Goodyear Aquatread 3 tires on it which are 80000 mile tires. Its been just over a year now and these tires ride like rubber bricks with only 30,000 easy highway miles. The steering wheel vibrates no matter how many times I balance and rotate them. So I am now faced with buying yet another set of tires. To add to this headache, the brakes make a metallic grinding noise at slow speeds. I had new pads put on and the problem persists. I finally took it back to Honda a few months ago because when I called, the service lady said only Honda brake pads are recommended for the Odyssey. So with $140 worth of new Honda pads the noise is back worse than before. Even with these setbacks, my wife likes the van OK. It now has about 60000 miles and knock on wood, runs fine. In my opinion however, the Honda quality that I became accustomed to in my 3 previous Accords is no where to be seen in this Odyssey.
From 16,000 miles on my 2000 has had major brake problems. After fighting the dealer and corporate Honda, they replaced the entire braking system. Now, at 43,000 miles, the problem is back. As of tomorrow, I've traded it in for a 2003 model. The fact is, I love everything about the van except the brakes. The newer model has a different braking system.
I own a 2000 Odyssey with 50,000 miles on it. At about 30,000 miles I noticed a vibration in the steering wheel at 70+ MPH. I ignored the vibration for another 8,000 miles and replaced the factory Firestone tires with 80,000 mile Goodyear Viva tires. The vibration got worse. Still, only at 70+ MPH. Over the next couple of months I had the alignment checked and had the tires balanced and rotated four (4) times by (3) different shops. No help!! Finally Wal-Mart exchanged the Goodyears for a set of 80,000 mile Douglas Touring tires. Last week I talked with a rep. with Honda, and he told me that they have had a "few" Odyssey's with similar problems. He told me that the tire is not mounted on the "steel wheel" properly, and that a Volvo dealer down the road had a special machine that could "true-up" the tire with the wheel. For $120.00 I asked him if he thought the wheels were bad? He danced around that question, but said that they had no problems with the aluminum alloy wheels on Odysseys. Luckily the Douglas tires took care of 95% of the vibration, or maybe I just got lucky and they got mounted in the right spot.
At 36K miles I brought my 2000 Odyssey into the dealer because of front wheel vibration. I had to have both front tires replaced and a realignment done.
I started noticing a noise after the tires were replaced. I thought it would go away so delayed going back to the dealer. I returned to dealer at 41K miles. They replaced my front driver side wheel bearing, but the noise remained. They are now replacing the transmission at no cost to me. Apparently they have seen this before.
I also have a 2000 Odyssey, and have some of the same problems with the brakes, though a trip to Auto Zone and $21.00 later I replaced the brakes myself and the noise stopped. Honda said they would put new brakes and turn the rotors, while in the shop for sticking doors, for around $250.00. The rotors were fine and besides that they didn't even take the tires off to check.
The tires are another thing, Firestone's worn slick at 37000, poor tread life for a $26,000 car. I am going to replace the tires this week with Douglas tires (Goodyear made for Wal-mart) and hopefully that will help the extreme vibration at 65 mph. I had a 95, and a 98 Accord with virtually no problems so what happened with the OVERPRICED Odyssey.
Have a 1999 Odyssey which has steering wheel vibrations since 35,000 miles. The tires have been balanced four different times and aligned twice. Honda keeps telling me the steel belts on the tires are too tight and to replace the tires.I'm glad I have found out that I'm not the only one with this problem before I waste my money on new tires. A Honda dealer in Georgia thinks the problem is in the steering column shaft.
I have a 2000 Honda Odyssey. It Have 62,000 miles on it.
I had no problems on it. I just had to take it in for a recall. Honda fixed it at no charge.
I am also a guy with $29,850 regret.
We have a 2001 EX model with 42k miles (purchased on 11/2000). I started to hate this van after 2 weeks of ownership, the quality of materials through out the whole van are the lowest you can find plus countless of problems we had/have there is not a single thing I like about this van except its size. This van does not worth the amount of money Honda is asking for.