I was passing a large truck, downgeared into third gear, let out the clutch, and

the transmission popped out of third gear. I found myself in neutral facing on

coming traffic, and had to slam on my brakes and pull in behind the truck (almost

had a head on collision). This popping out of gear, and difficulty shifting into

gear has been going on for over a year and occurs perhaps 3 or 4 times a month.

After this near miss I decided to get it fixed. Before going to the dealer this

morning I did an internet search on "3 gear accord 6 cylinder manual" and one of

the results was Honda Service Bulletin 08-020. This bulletin covers my 07 Accord

and is for "Transmission Grinds When Shifting Into 3rd Gear, Pops Out of 3rd

Gear, or is Hard to Shift Into 3rd Gear, Note: These symptoms can be intermittant

and sometimes more noticable in colder climates. Faulty 3rd gear synchronizer or

shift sleve" Sounds exactly like my problem so I went to the dealer today to have

it corrected. The dealer went for a test drive and couldn't duplicate the problem

(it can go for over a week without showing up), he said Honda's policy was unless

they could see the problem Honda would not authorize any repairs to be made. I

called up US Honda (800 999 1009) and spoke to a Mr Jimmy Rudner who verified

what the dealer said. So Honda has found a problem with their transmission (the

one that almost caused me to have a head on collision), released a Service

Bulletin on how to fix it, but refuses to do any repairs until this 3 or 4 times

a month intermittant problem starts to fail often enough for it to fail while the

dealer is actually driving the car. Meanwhile the problem continues.