Honda Accord
Problems & Worst Years

The Honda Accord's complaint record splits into two distinct eras. Earlier cars, 2015 through 2017, are dominated by electrical gremlins: starter failure and battery problems piled up on the 2015 model (106 and 96 occurrences respectively), while 2016 brought an odd and widely reported issue of severe static noise from the speakers, cited 96 times as a routine complaint and another 83 times as a safety concern, alongside headlight assembly failures and steering problems tied to loss of control. Those years carry recalls 15V121, 17V418, 19V060, and 23V858.

The 2018 model year is the clear outlier in this data, with 1,128 total complaints and six safety-rated problem clusters — nearly triple any other year in the lineup. Engine misfires and stalling top the list at 399 occurrences, followed by blown head gaskets (174), unintended braking during highway driving (134), and a fuel-system recall issue (111). A related but separate cluster of random emergency braking without any obstacle present added another 111 reports. Recalls 20V314 and 23V858 apply here. The following two years stayed hot on safety: 2019 logged 369 complaints with seven safety clusters, led by automatic emergency braking malfunctions (121 occurrences) and delayed fuel-system recall repairs (62), adding recalls 20V771 and 21V215 to the pile, while 2020 posted the highest safety-cluster count of any year — eight — despite a much lower total complaint volume of 152, again centered on forward collision system malfunctions under those same four campaigns.

By 2021 and 2022, complaint volume settled down considerably, though infotainment glitches remained a recurring theme (27 and 63 occurrences) alongside lingering automatic-braking malfunction reports. If you're looking at a 2018-2020 Accord specifically, get the fuel system and head gasket service history and confirm all four recall campaigns were completed. Remember that these numbers reflect what owners chose to report to NHTSA, not a measured failure rate, and newer model years simply haven't had as much time to accumulate reports — a pre-purchase inspection and full service history tell you more than the model year alone.