2013 Honda Accord
Complaints about this year name steering far more often than the other years of this generation — 36% of them, about 3× the usual rate of 11.4%.
First year of a new generation. The Honda Accord was redesigned for 2013. A first year carries problems nobody has found yet, and they are found by the people who buy it — which is worth knowing before you become one of them.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 1,418 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 530 |
| Involving a crash | 67 |
| Involving a fire | 9 |
| Recalls | 5 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 26 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- steering — 36.3% of this year's complaints, against 11.4% across the other years of this generation (3.2×).
- wheel — 20.2% of this year's complaints, against 7.7% across the other years of this generation (2.6×).
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
Also unusual this year
- power steering — 20% of complaints, 4× usual
- steering wheel — 16% of complaints, 3× usual
What owners wrote
POWER STEERING WHEEL FAILURE. POWER STEERING WHEEL WARNING LIGHT CAME OUT AND CAN'T CONTROL THE STEERING WHEEL WHILE DRIVING. EXTREMELY DANGEROUS!! RECALL IS MANDATORY.
MY POWER STEERING WENT OUT. CAN'T STEER THE CAR. IT A FINE YESTERDAY. STEERING WHEEL WARNING LIGHT IS ON. I WAS PARKED LUCKILY WHEN THIS HAPPENED. I CAN'T USE MY CAR NOW.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 17V418000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 13V297000 FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE Fixed free of charge.
- 20V769000 POWER TRAIN Fixed free of charge.
- 23V858000 FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE Fixed free of charge.
- 25V422000 POWER TRAIN Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Honda Accord was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2013 Honda Accord? What happened to yours?
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