Total Complaints
6 filings
HONDA S2000 · model year
6 NHTSA complaints. A VIN lookup is required to determine whether a specific vehicle has an unrepaired recall.
NHTSA overall rating
Not crash-tested
New Car Assessment Program
The 2004HONDAS2000 carries 6 consumer safety complaints in NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation database for this specific model-year cohort. Within that volume, owners reported 0 crashes, 0 fires, 0 injuries, and 0 fatalities. No NCAP 5-star crash-test rating is available for this model year in the federal database.
The most frequently selected component label in reports for the 2004 S2000 is power train:manual transmission with 2 filings, followed by visibility:sun/moon roof assembly (1) and power train:automatic transmission (1). Complaint categories reflect owner reports and intake categorization; they do not establish a defect pattern or cause.
NHTSA currently has 79 investigation files overlapping the 2004 S2000, and 9 remain open. Owners comparing this cohort against neighboring years should read the complaint-by-year trend as report volume, not a causal diagnosis. Use the related-complaint feed and the official recall lookup when researching a specific vehicle.
Total Complaints
6 filings
Crashes Reported
0 reports
Source
NHTSA ODI
Federal complaints database
At or below the fleet median complaint volume.
| Component | Count |
|---|---|
| POWER TRAIN:MANUAL TRANSMISSION | 2 |
| VISIBILITY:SUN/MOON ROOF ASSEMBLY | 1 |
| POWER TRAIN:AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION | 1 |
| STRUCTURE | 1 |
| POWER TRAIN | 1 |
THE DIFFERENTIAL WENT OUT. I KNOW THIS MAY SOUND LIKE A MAINTENANCE PROBLEM, BUT THIS IS VERY COMMON IN THE HONDA S2000 COMMUNITY. THE METAL (GEARS) IN THE HOUSING BEGIN TO BREAK APART. ALL IT TAKES IS A CHUNK OF THAT METAL TO LODGE IN TO THE WRONG GEAR AND YOUR WHEELS COULD LOCK UP AND IT DOESN'T CARE IF YOU ARE DOING 30 MPH OR 90 MPH. THIS IS POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS OR EVEN DEADLY. MY CAR HAS APPROXIMATELY 130K MILES ON IT. I WAS TAKING A RIGHT TURN FROM A DEAD STOP/STOP SIGN WHEN MINE FAILED, FORTUNATELY. AGAIN. THIS IS VERY COMMON FOR THESE (DIFFERENTIALS) TO FAIL. I WAS ABLE TO GET IT OFF OF THE BUSY ROAD AND ON TO A RESIDENTIAL ROAD. IT HASN'T DROVE SINCE. TO MAKE MATTERS WORSE, THE RIGT TURN I WAS MAKING WAS AT THE END OF A CURVE MAKING VISIBILITY OF MY BEING THERE VERY LOW. AGAIN. GOOD THING I WAS ABLE TO LIMP IT IN TO A U-TURN AND BACK TO THE RESIDENTIAL ROAD WHERE TRAFFIC WAS SIGNIFICANTLY LOWER.
Mileage: 130,000
ABOUT A YEAR AGO I PUT MY SOFT TOP DOWN ON MY 2004 HONDA S2000 WHEN ALL OF THE SUDDEN I HEARD A LOUD POP. I COULD NOT FIND ANYTHING WRONG AT THE TIME UNTIL I STARTED DRIVING WITH MY TOP UP AND HEARD A LOT OF WHISPERING SOUNDS. THERE WAS A FINE CUT RIGHT ABOVE THE RELEASE LATCH/HINGE ON MY SOFT TOP. I BROUGHT IT TO THE ATTENTION OF THE HONDA DEALERSHIP OF WHOM I PURCHASED THE CAR FROM. THEY SAID THAT THERE WAS A KNOWN ISSUE WITH MY EXACT PROBLEM FROM THE YEAR FROM 2005 TO 2008 FOR THE HONDA S2000. SEEING THAT I BOUGHT MY CAR USED (FROM THEIR LOT), OUT OF WARRANTY, AND NOT WITHIN THE YEARS THE SERVICE BULLETIN WAS FOR, THEY WERE GOING TO CHARGE ME OVER $2500 TO REPLACE THE TOP FOR A DEFECT THAT WAS ON THE CAR. I AM PROVIDING THE HONDA SERVICE BULLETIN NUMBER FOR YOUR RECORDS: 09-033. HONDA CAN PULL UP THAT SERVICE BULLETIN AND THERE IT WILL EXPLAIN THE ISSUES AND WHAT ACTIONS NEEDS TO BE TAKEN PLACE. I HAVE DONE MY RESEARCH AND THERE ARE A LOT OF CAR OWNERS WITH HIS CAR THAT HAV
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
I HAVE AN 04 HONDA S2000. THE TRANSMISSION WILL SOMETIMES POP OUT OF 1ST OR 2ND GEAR WHEN YOU LET OUT THE CLUTCH. ALMOST LIKE IT WAS NOT IN GEAR TO BEGIN WITH. THIS IS A KNOWN ISSUE ON THE 04 S2000. THE SERVICE ENGINEER THAT WORKS FOR HONDA KNOWS ABOUT THE PROBLEM BUT HONDA REFUSES TO MAKE THE REPAIRS. THIS IS ESPECIALLY DANGEROUS IN A HIGH TRAFFIC AREA BECAUSE YOU COULD TRY TO ACCELERETE THROUGH A SMALL BREAK IN TRAFFIC, MAKING A LEFT HAND TURN AND DRIFT RIGHT INTO ONCOMING TRAFFIC WITH THE ENGINE REVVING AND NO ACCELERATION AND GET KILLED.*AK
Mileage: 20
TRANSMISSION IS ROUGH AND SOMETIMES "POPS" OUT OF 1ST GEAR. DURING HIGHER ACCELERATION SHIFTING GEARS OCCASIONALLY BECOME HARD TO DO. AS IF THEY ARE NOT LINED UP CORRECTLY. ALSO THE CLAMPS THAT HOLD THE CONVERTIBLE TOP UP BECOME DETERIORATED RATHER QUICKLY. THIS WEAKER LOCK BEGINS TO RATTLE AND MAKE ALL KINDS OF SOUNDS DURING DRIVING. *AK
Mileage: 25,000
TRANSMISSION IS ROUGH AND SOMETIMES "POPS" OUT OF 1ST GEAR. DURING HIGHER ACCELERATION SHIFTING GEARS OCCASIONALLY BECOME HARD TO DO. AS IF THEY ARE NOT LINED UP CORRECTLY. ALSO THE CLAMPS THAT HOLD THE CONVERTIBLE TOP UP BECOME DETERIORATED RATHER QUICKLY. THIS WEAKER LOCK BEGINS TO RATTLE AND MAKE ALL KINDS OF SOUNDS DURING DRIVING. *AK
Mileage: 25,000
Inadvertent Deployment of Air Bags
Inaccurate Rear Passenger Seat Belt Warning Status
Loss of Motive Power
Inadvertent Deployment of Side Air Bags
Loss of braking force
Data vintage: August 2026. Sources: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) complaints database, NHTSA recall campaign API, NHTSA NCAP crash-test ratings, and NHTSA FARS for fatality cross-reference.
Every figure on PlainCars is rendered directly from NHTSA complaint and safety data, no number is typed in by an editor. This year-specific record is rendered from NHTSA ODI, recall, and NCAP rows for the 2004 HONDA S2000; no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of August 2026.
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.