The Honda Accord has 8,116 owner complaints across fifteen model years in this dataset, which is a moderate figure for a car that sells in the hundreds of thousands. What matters is how they are distributed: 1,418 in 2013, 1,844 in 2018, and between 200 and 1,000 in every other year. The two spikes are the first years of the ninth and tenth generations, and each has a specific cause.
2013: the ninth generation
The 2013 Accord introduced a direct-injection 2.4-litre engine, a continuously variable transmission on the four-cylinder cars, and a new touchscreen. The complaints split three ways. The CVT judders on take-off and hesitates; Honda updated its software and, on some cars, replaced it. The starter motor fails, which Honda addressed with an extended warranty. The infotainment and Bluetooth system freezes and drops connections. None of these is the kind of failure that strands a car in the way the Nissan CVT or the Hyundai engine does, which is why the 2013 Accord scores 48 rather than 25 — but the 2014 car scores 64 and the 2015 to 2017 cars around 70, and they are the same design with the early faults addressed. The V6 cars, with a conventional six-speed automatic, have a cleaner record than the four-cylinders in every year of this generation.
Honda Accord: the record, year by year
| Year | Score | Verdict | NHTSA complaints | Recalls |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | — | DATA PENDING | 0 | 0 |
| 2024 | 86 | BUY | 0 | 3 |
| 2023 | 82 | BUY | 0 | 5 |
| 2022 | 69 | CAUTION | 248 | 4 |
| 2021 | 76 | BUY | 231 | 4 |
| 2020 | 68 | CAUTION | 352 | 5 |
| 2019 | 48 | AVOID | 671 | 6 |
| 2018 | 30 | AVOID | 1,869 | 6 |
| 2017 | 73 | BUY | 534 | 3 |
| 2016 | 70 | BUY | 604 | 4 |
| 2015 | 74 | BUY | 599 | 5 |
| 2014 | 65 | CAUTION | 977 | 4 |
| 2013 | 49 | AVOID | 1,418 | 5 |
| 2012 | 73 | BUY | 380 | 8 |
| 2011 | 73 | BUY | 296 | 9 |
Live from the federal record as of 2026-10-04; linked years have their own page. Full table and repair costs on the Honda Accord model page.
2018: the tenth generation, and the 1.5-litre turbo
The 2018 Accord replaced the 2.4-litre engine with the 1.5-litre turbocharged unit that also went into the CR-V and the Civic, and it inherited that engine's oil-dilution problem: fuel washing into the sump on short cold trips, rising oil levels, misfires, and a heater that would not warm. It also had its own complaints about the infotainment system and a ten-speed automatic on the 2.0-litre turbo cars that shifted harshly when new. The 2018 Accord scores 30, the lowest in the nameplate's modern record. Honda extended the engine warranty and issued the same software and injector updates as on the CR-V; the 2019 car scores 48 and the 2020 car 67.
The 2021 and 2022 cars, with the updates in production and the launch faults gone, score 77 and 71. The eleventh generation from 2023 has a small record so far and no pattern.
The Accord Hybrid
The Hybrid, sold from 2014 and continuously from 2017, uses a 2.0-litre naturally aspirated engine with two electric motors and no conventional transmission. It does not have the turbo engine's problem and does not have a CVT. Its record on this site is separate and generally stronger than the petrol car's in the same year; if you want a 2018 to 2020 Accord, the Hybrid is the version to want.
What to check
On a 2013 to 2015 four-cylinder: the starter (a slow or reluctant crank), the CVT from cold, and the Bluetooth. On a 2018 to 2019 1.5-litre turbo: the oil level and smell on the dipstick, the software update history, and where the car has lived — the dilution problem is a cold-climate, short-trip problem, and a southern highway car will rarely have seen it.
Summary
Buy: 2015 to 2017, 2021 to 2022, and any Accord Hybrid from 2017. Avoid: 2013 and 2018. Acceptable: 2014, 2019 and 2020 with documented updates.