CarComplaints.com Notes: The 2004 Honda Accord suffers from widespread transmission failure & problems with the stereo backlight failing. We recommend avoiding this model year like the plague.
The transmission begins slipping & eventually has to be replaced, typically soon after 90,000 miles & with a repair cost of over $2,000. Transmission failure has been a huge problem for the Accord & several other Honda models all through the early 2000s model years. Honda extended the transmission warranty to 93 months/109k miles for the 2000-2001 Accord as a class action lawsuit settlement, but owners of other Accord model years with transmission problems are out of luck.
The stereo backlight problem has been an issue ever since these Accords were only a few years old. Honda eventually issued a recall which covered the repair for 7 years/100k miles, which was nice while it lasted but now that period is over. Honda initially replaced the entire radio ($800) but eventually began replacing just the PCB which at ~$300 is much cheaper. That sounds like a deal, but keep in mind we're talking about a backlight bulb that costs $2 to fix in most other cars.
10.0
really awful
Crashes / Fires:
1 / 1
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
66,355 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 was driving on the parkway and the gas pedal engaged itself and accelerated by itself. I was trying to break but the break pedal also was locked and I had to move away from car to car so that I would not hit them and then finally the pedal released itself and reduced the speed. I took the car to Honda and I am waiting for them to tell me what to do next.
I was driving down the road and noticed that the air conditioner was not cooling. I took the automobile to the dealership to be checked and was told that rocks had hit the condenser and damaged. Supposedly, it was replaced but less than 7 months later the same thing occurred (no cooling) and rocks had again damaged the condenser. Fall was coming up, so the A/C was not used again until April '06. I feel the car is equipped with a design defect that is costly and potentially harmful. The lower front grill bumper is designed in a such a way that any road debris can enter and damage a fully exposed and unprotected A/C condenser. The design of the grill and condenser material leaves it vulnerable to be easily damaged by small gravel. There is no screen or deflector in place for the condenser to prohibit any road debris from damaging the condenser: Therefore, the clearing and defogging of the inside window is difficult without the dehumidifier effect. An investigation should be conducted on the vulnerability of damage to the A/C condenser system. Honda should be held responsible for repairing the problem, especially if this part is inferior and/or defective.
I brought this car and the dealership lied to me. They told me that I would be making certain payments which at the end were not the payments that I ended up making. I went to the dealership and tried to talk to somebody about my problems but nobody would pay attention to me. Nobody would do anything to help me with my problem. The dealership is a fraud. I want to cancel the problem of this car.
Ac condenser failure - allegedly punctured by road debris. My wife was behind a truck carrying gravel traveling on an interstate highway. Gravel may have spilled out and entered front of car, puncturing condenser unit. Extended warranty will not cover - they claim issue was caused by road debris. I claim that if the car was properly designed, a simple pebble could not cause $500 worth of damage.
- Boynton Beach, FL, USA
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On July 6th, 2004, I took possession of our new 2004 Honda Accord sedan with 132 miles on the odometer. I scheduled to have Honda accessories installed by the Honda dealership on July 15th-16th, and picked up my vehicle on July 17th. Upon picking up the vehicle (369 miles on odometer) the driver's side seatbelt would not retract. The seatbelt was completely pulled out and still would not retract. It took the dealership several hours, but they managed to replace the driver's side seatbelt which had failed. The replacement unit retracts very slowly and has to be manually maneuvered into place. Will need to schedule another appointment to have it looked at again. In addition to this major safety incident, the outside temperature gauge has malfunctioned and no longer reads the correct temperature.
Possible safety hazard with 2004 Honda Accord. (nar) while driving on the freeway at night with the cruise control activated, as the consumer approached the off ramp, he attempted to deactivate the cruise control by pressing what the consumer thought was the cancel button on the steering wheel but was unable to view the three button that was in conjunction with the cruise control and accidentally pressed the (res/accel) button and immediately began to speed up. The consumer felt that Honda should add illumination to the three buttons on the steering wheel that activate and deactivate the cruise control.
I own a 2004 Honda Accord ex V6 sedan. I have approximately 9000 miles on the car. Since I have had the car it intermittently will not start. I have taken it to the dealer three times for this problem and it still is not fixed.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Delano, CA, USA