2013-15 Honda Accords are under investigation by The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) for a steering issue. Allegations of Accords suddenly losing control without warning have led to 107 complaints. According to a Motor1 report, there are as many as 1,120,470 Accords in the US that could be affected.
This condition occurs under normal driving conditions, without driver input. NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) uncovered 77 complaints to the automaker and another 30 to NHTSA. Two NHTSA complaints included crashes or fires, and two had injury allegations. None of Honda’s complaints had crashes, fires, or injuries reported.
The next step is an engineering analysis to look at the cause, scope, frequency, and consequences of the purported steering control loss. ODI then decides if Honda needs to recall and fix the vehicles after completing their investigation and issuing a report.
Elsewhere, drivers described their Accords veering or jerking out of their intended path, without warning. NHTSA has also begun looking into vehicle owner questionnaires to see if a safety defect does exist.
The difficulty for Honda is the continuing Takata airbag inflator issue, which we commented on previously. Millions of vehicles with the airbags are still on the road, despite increased efforts by the automaker and the NHTSA to make owners aware of the danger. Now, three years of production are under scrutiny for this potential steering issue.
[Images: Honda]
This is obviously a belated April Fools joke, because Honda builds perfect cars.
Agreed. Japanese cars are magic.
Accord is not a Japanese car. At least not anymore. May be Civic.
@slavuta
Not really. The Civic sedan is American Honda’s baby; the eighth and ten-generation versions took an early shower in Japan. Japanese R&D lent a hand with the hatchback, but since the Civic isn’t a crucial model in their market anymore (Japanese consumers have migrated to subcompacts and MPVs), the UK and the US collaborate to assemble it.
I have often wondered why the Honda dealers need Service Bays ???
They can use all those empty service bays to chill out with the Maytag man. He’s supposed to have nothing to do either (ha ha).
and the panel gaps are all straight. Well, until it hits something.
Cannot agree more. Tesla is much more dangerous. Because of panel gaps.
>Tesla is much more dangerous. Because of panel gaps.
…and Tesla cultists…
“…and Tesla cultists…”
while extremely annoying, they’re not as bad as other cultists. They haven’t stormed the Capitol or voted members that stray from the party line out of leadership positions (although, if they could, they probably would).
No, just some maintence of Takata airbags. Probably a short in the clock spring from replacing the Takata airbags so many times.
Not sure why we couldn’t have had a “straight” headline like “NHTSA Investigating 2013-15 Honda Accords For Reported Steering Malfunctions”.
Way too long. It doesn’t SEO either.
“Way too long”? My suggested headline is nine words; yours is eight. Perhaps the attention span of a TTAC reader ends after eight words?
I have no idea what “SEO” is, but back when I was in j-school, I seem to remember my professors saying stuff like “write headlines that are clear and accurate.” Well, what I wrote may not be cute, but it’s clear and accurate; yours is cute but could mean any number of different things.
“NHTSA Investigating 2013-15 Honda Accord Steering Malfunction” Boom, seven words and it still conveys what the article is about.
SEO means search engine optimization in other words, phrases and words that people often search for. It isn’t just about getting hits though it is about getting the right hits.
Using this little tool https://app.wordstream.com/fkt/app
Shows that steering is the winner with lots of searches that are automotive related. NHTSA is second again people looking for car related things. Meanwhile wrong, heading and direction suck but at lest do rank ahead of malfunction.
So yeah Mike you won at the SEO game this time, even though you don’t know what it is.
I’m guessing this is some unwanted random inputs from the electric steering assist?
That’s my guess.
My 2013 Accord Touring was the subject of a recall to flash the EPS software because there was a possibility of losing all assist in the system, if memory serves. Trying to turn the steering wheel on an EPS car when the engine isn’t running takes takes more effort than a similar vehicle with hydraulic assist!
I wonder how much of an input ended up going to the system? Enough to make the car veer out of the lane is one thing, but anything more than that would be pretty bad indeed!
I might have gone with “Unintended Acceleration (Lateral Edition)”.
This can’t be!!! The Accord made Car and Driver’s 10 Best list 37 years in a row. Their other 10 Best mainstay, the Mazda 3, turns into a rust bucket in 5 years.
Yup, ad revenue just dropped at C&D.
Well, at least it didn’t win Motor Trend’s Car of the Year award.
And now for the downside of Honda parts interchangeability: the potential for other models to be affected. Acura published a TSB (#B19-021) for EPS failure in the TL (2012-2014) and TSX I4 (2011-2014) roughly two years ago (May 31, 2019). Rather than gambling on whether or not they’d be sued this time out, they went ahead and put a 15-year/unlimited mileage warranty on the control unit. But I can imagine savvy owners pushing to see if there’s sufficient commonality to force additional action for their cars.
I don’t believe. It is a fake news. Don’t believe everything you read on Internet. Especially if it is about Honda or Hunter Engineering.
Wow, Y’all are pretty lame. Maybe you can name the car brand that you like, so we can see how their record of recalls looks. I’m pretty sure it’s not a ‘Murrican brand, because you bash those too.
I was just telling someone that Republicans are those kids who waited until you weren’t looking when they’d come in and destroy any cool thing someone made. Looks like Honda’s reputation is another thing that you’re jealous of. Yup, Honda, Toyota, and most of the Asian brands are pretty incredible with their quality and reliability. How upsetting!
Or maybe you’re angry that they didn’t try harder to thwart the evil government’s intervention…
Toyota is so much better than Honda that I’m embarrassed for the Honda fans that try to conflate the two companies.
Toyota probably is. However, they also had big big issues. Neither brand is exciting. But Toyota has trucks, rear drive sports cars, 8 cylinder vehicles.
I was actually surprised how well my Highlander was put together. Way better than Accord in question here. Both would lose fit and finish to Mazda (Japan) though.
I like that Toyota adds port injection and does not go too crazy with turbos. And Honda still has that $800 timing belt in the v6s. I drive my cars way passed 100K, so for me this is a big deal. But last highlander couldn’t take it too much. 131K, I had to trade-in. I wouldn’t even privately sell that thing.
Thanks, ajla. I was going to post this if you didn’t.
Honda and Toyota are different companies, with different histories and corporate cultures. Honda’s reliability and quality have been slipping for years, as the messianic ferver of deceased founder Soichiro Honda fades into history and the bean counters have inevitably taken over.
Some Honda models—ironically including this generation of Accord—have remained above average in reliability, but may others (Odyssey, all Acuras) have dramatically tanked. They still have some terrific (and yes, some not-so-terrific) engineering, but in consistency of quality they’re just not the company that earned the reputation they still enjoy.
The 2014 Accord I test drove, a “Sport” manual, had the most awful ride I ever encountered on a mainstream sedan. On brand new smooth asphalt it jiggled vertically incessantly, never settling down. The big four was loud and very four-cylindery with a deep thrum. So when I ventured all the way to a lofty 4500 rpm, the sales dude cowering in the passenger seat accused me of “racing”. I reminded him this was the “Sport” model, but already knew the car was a loser, so drove him back immediately to the safety of his sales cubicle where he could work out lease deals for losers in peace and quiet. My seven-year-old at the time Subaru Legacy GT was in a different universe of far superior on every count that mattered to me. I have yet to come across a Honda product that has what I consider decent long travel suspension, it seems to be in their genes to “not do that”, like the four inch travel they gave cars in the ’80a with the magic “wishbone” suspension. On a miniscule four inch travel, double wishbones are no better than anything else. For decades on the way to work across a long suspension bridge, I’d follow and watch Hondas of all kinds slam into the expansion joints with excessive vertical body travel on bumps that the suspension could not absorb properly. As a driver, you get used to anything, and Honda fans who never bought anything else would never know that better existed outside their hallowed brand.
What has this got to do with possible EPS failure? Nothing. I just wanted to vent about the fact that Honda believes its own hype, when objective impressions tell an opposite story. Take the current Accord Sport 2.0t — it has a 10 speed auto with a crap pushbutton selector, and no way to hold an intermediate gear. Very Sporty. Probably has a version of the dud EPS to boot.
Ha! And I tested same car of 2017 version. And was totally unimpressed. The seats. They were big and did not hold me well. Bad bolstering. The gear shifter was too far away for comfortable shifting. Numb brakes. Steering/clutch/shifting gears – nothing special. Big car, and it felt big. And, usual Honda issue – the packaging. And you’re right – very unsettled if there is a small up-down hill and turn at the same time.
apparently no math majors here
divide 107 by 1,120,470
statistically insignificant
The GM ignition switch fiasco recalled 30 million cars for 4,432 claims.
STATISTICALLY INSIGNIFICANT
https://www.freep.com/story/money/2015/05/04/general-motors-ignition-deaths/26864231/
I hope Takahiro reads this, bro.
Well, by that logic, why even pursue murderers? Their victims will surely be a statistically insignificant portion of our population, no? /s