[Tim]

Good topic. I have friends that tow a 2002 Odyssey with no problem. Somewhere in the years, the flat tow of the Odyssey was no longer possible. What changed??? Did Honda actually change the tranny or just some translation in the owners manual that recommended no towing. Without generating a new conspiracy theory, it would be useful to have some “real news” on this as opposed to “fake/fraud news” on the engineering involved. Whatever the truth is, the Odyssey, in my opinion is a great platform to tow. Please Honda, keep the features like flat towing. I’ll be happy to give up the vacuum system and even a cup holder or two. Just sayin.

[Archived]

George,

Terri’s parents had flat towed a 2002 Honda Odyssey from 2002 until 2011.

We have flat towed it ever since. It has about 110,000 driven miles on it now, and who know how many towed

miles. We had the transmission rebuilt two years ago, and it is still going strong.

Her parents bought a new 2011 Honda Odyssey and it had been flat towed back and forth to Florida until last year.

The owners manual says it cannot be flat towed. We left it in Florida because it was having transmission

problems. The Honda dealer in Titusville, repaired it under warranty even with the tow base plate attached.

We are not towing the 2011 four wheels down anymore.

Hope to see you guys soon.

[Archived]

From what I’ve read, the Odyssey with the five-speed was originally towable, Odysseys with the six-speed, like ours, is not. With the introduction of the CVT, new Hondas are no longer towable.