2003 Honda Accord Equipment Problems

Which parts fail

• Electrical › Radio/tape deck/cd etc.
  17
• Electrical
  1
• Electrical › Anti-theft devices
  1
• Recreational vehicle/trailer
  1

Components named in complaints (accessories, trailer hitches and other equipment).

Mileage when the problem started

• Under 25k
  827%
• 25k–50k
  620%
• 50k–75k
  310%
• 75k–100k
  1033%
• 100k–150k
  13%
• 150k+
  27%

Owner reports

Selected complaints filed with NHTSA by 2003 Honda Accord owners, lightly cleaned up (personal details are redacted by NHTSA).

Since owning this car January 2003, the following has happened to it: ABS harness caught on fire (car was saved, but Honda refused to give me another car after writing them), radio has gone out, clock gone out, trouble starting vehicle - this is apparently a fuel pressure regulator - tech notice but no recall. The front brakes were silently recalled only if you state your having problems. This car has been one big problem.

2003 Honda Accord recall on tranmission. Consumer learned of recall on the internet. Recall automatic transmission second gear inspection was performed. Alarm key remote no range, must be right up on car to work. Front brake noise and/or judder. Front brake discs were refinished and new front brake pads. Tires were rotated and and rear brake service was performed.

Cd player malfunction, not a mechanical failure, 2003 first model year of the Accord lx makeover, high heat builds up in the dashboard when on the freeway with heater and player on. Cd are very hot. Digital display "err" or "busy",this happened at 18,000 miles,(covered by warranty) when driving on vacation in late fall, 2nd fix at 75,000,dealer reduce charge of new installation, at 100,000 miles burned out again, on freeway each week since I owned the car at least 2 hrs. Dealer denial of any responsibility, service-person,acknowledged problem with this model year, but on third visit denied he made such statements. Not a boombox problem, I play mostly classical music, when I do, not from overuse! No computer cd ever played, only commercial cd's played. It still loads and rejects as normal but displays error message, and busy message. …

Tl contact owns a 2003 Honda Accord. While attempting to pull out of a driveway, the contact depressed the accelerator pedal, but the vehicle failed to move. Suddenly, the vehicle shot backwards into the street at 45 MPH. She then attempted to place the vehicle into drive once again, but it would not move. Suddenly, the vehicle sped forward. She heard a loud noise, but did not know the origin. The contact attempted to drive home, but the vehicle failed again on a main road with moderate to heavy traffic. She aimed the vehicle toward the nearest curb and restarted the vehicle. Pointed in the direction of a curb, she was able to move the vehicle towards the curb with one jerk. The previous week, the contact noticed the transmission banging into gear when shifting. …

We were driving south on the interstate highway with myself, wife and granddaughter who was in the back seat, in our 2003 Honda ex Accord v6 with 78,000 miles on the odometer. The traffic congestion was moderate to heavy with semi-truck and trailers in front of us and behind us. We were traveling at 65mph in drive when the automatic transmission failed and went from drive to low gear. The automobile locked up the back tires and made a screeching sound and the smell of burnt rubber and heat was prevalent inside the car. After nearly being hit in the back of the car, we put on our emergency flashers and proceeded to the next off ramp. Although an attempt was made to drive in the high gear, the drive transmission would go back to low. …

Purchased 2003 Honda Accord used from Toyota dealership October 2005. Noticed strange sound coming from vehicle and gears would shift strangely within a year later. Took Honda according to dealership for servicing and questioned sound several times, Honda insist it was other items that was wrong with vehicle but never referenced transmission. Gears on car started slipping and the shift changing got worse as if it did not want to shift into 2nd gear. As I was driving on interstate, car stop pulling and when I would push the gas, the engine would rev up and the RPM would basically go off the meter (high). Car would not pull in drive or reverse, as if it was in neutral. When checking transmission fluid, it was greatly discolored (black). I turned car off and restarted car and was able to get car to pull before jerking strongly then going back in the rev engine/not pulling state. …

Transmission failure - gears would not engage in a 2003 Honda Accord. Gears shifted and revved back up then shot back down. Almost got killed by tractor trailer that was behind me. I was on thornton rd. Which is a two lane major roadway, which is heavily traveled by large trucks for industrial purposes. The area of roadway is very dark. I am a police officer and what I just experienced in my 2003 Honda Accord scared me half to death. I can't even imagine what May have happened to me if I didn't think quickly. Thank god my children were not in the car with me at the time of the incident. Honda needs to seriously address this problem immediately before someone gets killed or badly injured. A teenager with minimal driving skills would have panicked and May not have known what to do. This is very serious situation and someone needs to be held accountable. …

2003 Honda Accord. Consumer writes in regards to vehicle factory installed radio, components and back light defect issues. Consumer sent additional correspondence. The consumer stated recently, the cd player would not function properly and most importantly, the radio began to malfunction and drain the battery. The radio would flash on and off while both the radio, all components and vehicle were turned off and the key out of the ignition. After sitting overnight, the vehicle would not start the next morning. On two occasions after driving, the consumer shut the vehicle off for five minutes and it would not re-start. The consumer stated the vehicle would stall and it was all because of the defective radio. A mechanic informed the consumer, they had recently come across numerous 2003-2007 vehicle with the exact same problem. …

Driver's car (left front) keyhole won't accept my key, electronically. I went to different auto services and have the same comments that most of the complaints were the same. I checked the internet, youtube.com, many owners of the same make, model & year have the same issues and problems, even the Honda chat room help site. I thought this is an isolated problem, but it's not, if there is some ways that your company could do something about this matter/issue concerning the manufacturer's (Honda) defect issue, please let us know, we don't want to shoulder to expenses on their behalf. Thank you very much for your concern and looking forward to hearing from you the soonest and for the immediate response to repair the problem for the inconvenience that we are experiencing for a long time. I have tried cleaning the inside of the keyhole by air pressured and wd 40, nothing happened. …

My airbag light came on in my 2003 Honda Accord. The dealership told me that this was due to an open circuit in the driver's side airbag inflater as well as a the drivers side seat belt buckle switch. I had these fixed and the light came on again on my way home. The dealership checked again and could not find out what was wrong and sent me home after resetting the light. The light came on the next day that I drove my car and when I called the dealership wants to charge me for another diagnostic fee. American Honda said that there is no recall on my model, although there are recalls on other years for the same problem. P.s. The model number for the equipment is not in the dropdown menu, but on my paperwork it has 06788-sda-a82. Once I started writing 0 in the field it automatically picked something else beginning with a 0.

Equipment complaints in other Accord years