CarComplaints.com Notes: The 1998 Honda Accord suffers from widespread transmission failure, peeling paint, & subframe rust. We recommend avoiding this model year like the plague.
The transmission begins slipping & eventually has to be replaced, typically soon after 100,000 miles & with a repair cost of over $2,000.
Peeling paint has also been a huge issue for these Accords. Most of the complaints are with darker paint colors -- especially green & blue.
Subframe rust near the front passenger side wheel has become a problem recently, due to the poorly positioned A/C drain hose directly above that area. Repair cost to the subframe is over $2,000.
10.0
really awful
Crashes / Fires:
2 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
4 / 0
Average Mileage:
113,000 miles
About These NHTSA Complaints:
This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
I'm in the right lane on exit 41 highway my car kept jerking then someone jumped in front of me as soon as I hit the breaks the breaks sent out and hit the lady who jumped in front of me and then there was something wrong with the wheel before then my car was leaking.
My car kept jerking it also had stop while my feet was on the metal while on exit 41 my car spin around and almost collided with another car after the accident
The contact owns a 1998 Honda Accord. While driving approximately 55 mph, the front driver side wheel detached. The contact mentioned that the tires were rotated prior to the failure. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic where it was diagnosed that the front wheel stud was fractured. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The VIN was invalid. The approximate failure mileage was 240,000.
While I was changing the passenger side drive axle of a broken cv joint boot last year (July 2014), I noticed that the subframe had rusted out (about 60% came through and off when I punched the area with a screw driver) where the stabilizing bar bracket and lower control arm pivot are mounted to the frame. The problem area of the subframe is right under the drain hole for the A/C evaporator. The subframe to the driver side is clean and has no rust issue. The location of the rust area suggests that it may be related to the drain hole of the A/C system or/and something similar (such as rain) that had led to water staying in the area. The rust is getting worse over time. I checked it today (July 23, 2015) after noticing yellowish dripping marks left on the driver way. My wife drove the car the day before when there was a heavy rain. The car was parked on the drive way (up hill about 15 degrees) over night. When she pulled the car out of the drive way the next day, we saw yellowish water dripping from under the car. So, I looked at the area. For sure, it's getting worse than last year. I punched around and got about a couple of spoonfuls of rust off the frame. I used my pry bar to pry around the area and I can see that the frame is getting very weak. Now I can see the rust is progressing over time. As the area is getting more rusted, the structure is losing its strength. The lower control arm and/or the stabilizing bar will come off the frame, causing disaster on the road. I searched the inernet on the issue ("Honda Accord subframe rust"). the issue seems very common. There must be a design flaw (A/C drain or rain water) with the car. It seems that the issue had not been understood and taken care of by Honda. I am urging somebody looking into the issue and have Honda do something about it before it's too late. Thanks.
Rear bearing had been whining for almost a year, but I was blaming the tires since the possibility of bearing failure with such low mileage did not occur to me. Bearings usually last at least 100,000 miles. This could have resulted in seizure in the bearings and a resuling accident.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Charlotte, NC, USA