What ownership is like, what breaks at what mileage, what the repairs cost, and what to check before you buy one.
← All Honda Odyssey generations
NHTSA complaints per catalog listing run from 0.55 for 2017 (39 complaints across 71 listings) to 1.69 for 2011 (235 across 139), against a generation median of 1.17. The highest year, 2011, is 1.4 times that median. No year reaches the 2.0x our rule needs together with an above-median ad share and 30 or more listings, so nothing is flagged. 2017 needs a caution: NHTSA holds only 39 complaints for it, against 271 for 2016 and 1,011 for 2018. We checked for a name split (NHTSA's Honda model list for 2017 has no other Odyssey spelling, and NHTSA's bulk complaint file has only 48 ODYSSEY rows for 2017), so this looks like what NHTSA holds, not a gap in our counts. We leave 2017 unflagged on that basis. Its ad figure also looks distorted: the ad reader logged 107 problem mentions across 63 enriched 2017 ads (engine replaced 35, timing chain 36, transmission 34), and several 2017 ads carry an identical list of parts (battery, engine, spark plugs, tires, transmission, water pump, windshield) in their service notes. We infer that is repeated dealer text rather than 35 replaced engines, and we do not read the figure as failures.
| Miles | Item | Cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| No mileage given in the sources | Transmission judder, 2014-2017 (torque converter lock-up) | About one hour of labor plus ATF-DW1 fluid out of warranty (Samarins); free under the bulletin's 8 years/80,000 miles per Samarins | Honda service bulletins 17-043 and 17-044 cover 2014-2017 Odysseys for torque converter lock-up judder: update the software, then flush the transmission with Honda ATF-DW1 (Samarins; the NHTSA-hosted bulletin title and a Go-Parts snippet say the same). Samarins lists the bulletin warranty at 8 years/80,000 miles and says out of warranty the work is about one hour of labor plus fluid. Judder is a driving symptom, not proof of a failed converter. We did not open the bulletin PDF. |
| About every 100,000 miles (Samarins); Honda: 105,000 miles or 7 years | Timing belt and water pump service (V6) | $600-$900 at a shop (Courtesy Automotive); $1,076-$1,522 (RepairPal estimate, search snippet); owners report about $800 to $1,700 depending on what is bundled | Honda specifies the belt and water pump at 105,000 miles or 7 years, whichever comes first; the J35 V6 is an interference engine, so a broken belt can mean $2,500-$5,000+ or a replacement engine (Courtesy Automotive). Samarins confirms the 2011-2017 V6 also uses a belt. Prices cover Odysseys in general, not this generation alone; the two owner posts are one 2024 report and one estimate on a 2016 car. |
| any | Recalls on file (14 campaigns in our records): 11V180000 (2011), 11V181000 (2011), 11V602000 (2012), 13V016000 (2011-2013), 13V143000 (2012-2013), 13V382000 (2013), 14V175000 (2014), 16V417000 (2015-2016), 16V932000 (2016), 16V933000 (2011-2016), 17V725000 (2011-2017), 18V170000 (2014-2016), 23V858000 (2013-2017), 25V876000 (2015) | Free at a Honda dealer when open | Includes 13V382000 (2013 engine piston hardness), 13V143000 (2012-2013 shifter interlock in freezing weather) and 17V725000 (second-row outboard seats, 2011-2017), plus other seat campaigns. Confirm by VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls. |
No year in this generation was flagged. A year is flagged by our rule only when all three hold: (1) its NHTSA complaints per catalog listing is at least 2.0x the median for its generation, (2) the share of ads that mention a problem is above the generation median, and (3) we track at least 30 listings for that year. The cutoff was fixed before we looked. Ad mentions are not failures, and a flag is a reason to inspect harder, not a verdict on any one car. We also re-ran the ad test with the 'rust' flaw left out, because the ad reader counts phrases like 'no rust' as mentions, and publish a flag only if it passes both ways.
| Year | Complaints | Top components | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 235 | Electrical System, Service Brakes, Structure | |
| 2012 | 245 | Service Brakes, Electrical System, Structure | |
| 2013 | 210 | Engine, Service Brakes, Structure | |
| 2014 | 310 | Power Train, Engine, Service Brakes | |
| 2015 | 207 | Engine, Power Train, Unknown Or Other | |
| 2016 | 271 | Engine, Power Train, Seats | |
| 2017 | 39 | Engine, Unknown Or Other, Power Train |
source: NHTSA complaints database (api.nhtsa.gov). Complaints are owner reports, not confirmed failures.
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We don't tell you to skip a year; we flag by a fixed rule, and it flags 2005 (829 complaints across 61 listings, 13.59 per listing against a 2005-2010 median of 4.59). Third-party lists name the second generation (1999-2004) for its transmissions, and some posters name 2018 onward. In our data the second generation flags nothing, but its years rest on small listing counts, and 2018 and 2019 run 7.02 and 7.12 per listing, under our cutoff.
For the 1999-2004 automatics, one fetched repair guide says owners outside the extended coverage paid $2,000-$4,000; CarComplaints' own summary lists a $3,470 average repair at 98,450 miles, and one forum owner was quoted $3,000 for a refurbished unit. These are blog, owner and press figures for the early years, not a price list. We found no repair cost for the 2018-2019 9-speed.
For 1999-2001 Odysseys, yes. A fetched repair guide says a 2006 class action extended transmission coverage to 93 months/109,000 miles, and search snippets say it had earlier been extended to 7 years/100,000 miles. Those limits have long passed for every car on the road. Honda also recalled 2002-2004 Odysseys under 04V176000 for second-gear heat build-up. We did not find a Honda document for the extension itself.
Honda specifies the timing belt and water pump at 105,000 miles or 7 years, whichever comes first, per a fetched shop page and a Go-Parts snippet; Samarins says about every 100,000 miles. A shop job is listed at $600-$900 on the fetched page, $1,076-$1,522 in a RepairPal estimate, and owners report about $800 to $1,700. The V6 is an interference engine, so a broken belt can cost $2,500-$5,000+ or an engine.
Cylinder deactivation (VCM) arrived on the Odyssey V6 in 2005. One fetched blog links it to oil consumption of about a quart per 1,000-1,200 miles, misfires and failing active engine mounts, with mount repairs listed from about $564 to $1,735 and 'often over $2,000' with labor. That mileage and oil figure rest on one blog and owner posts, and we have no failure rate for them.
A class action over the ZF 9-speed in the 2018-2019 Odyssey and other Hondas was allowed in part to proceed by a California federal court in October 2022, and a later filing in 2024 alleges software updates masked the defect. These are allegations, not findings, and an earlier Odyssey transmission suit was dismissed in 2021.
We don't rank generations. Our own numbers: the median NHTSA complaints per catalog listing is 1.17 for 2011-2017, 4.59 for 2005-2010, 4.90 for 2018-present, 29.29 for 1999-2004 and 23.58 for 1995-1998. Those rates are not directly comparable across generations, because older cars have had more years to collect complaints and our listing counts for the oldest years are small.