Comments: 1-15, 16-18
What hasn't gone wrong with my Honda. The worst thing that happened was the ball joint broke causing the half shaft to break. This caused an accident causing me to hit another car. I had no control over the car. Also, I had a previous Honda which the same thing had happened to me, causing me to almost kill my best friend as we skidded across the highway at 70 mph!!!
I have had to replace the front end of this car 3 times since I had it. Tires only last approx 30,000 miles. New brake pads ever 15,000 miles. Air always needs recharged. I have needed a new radiator, gas lines, brake lines, alternator, starter, 4 batteries (maintence). Fuel pump, water pump, master cylinder, clutch, clutch cylinder needs brake fluid added every 500 miles or the clutch will stay on the floor. My interior is falling apart. The headliner has gotten banged up just with little things hitting it.
I have also needed to do body work to my honda. Both rear wheel wells have needed rust cut out of them, bondo put in and repainted. I needed to replace my drivers side fender as the tire of the car flew up and dented the fender when the half shaft broke. Because I hit another car, not due to my driving ability, but due to the front end breaking on the car, I also needed to replace my hood, passenger door and passenger fender.
I do keep up with maintenance. I follow the schedule in the owners manual and always have my oil changed every 3,000 faithfully. I do not run my car hard, my car never has seen over 70mph.
I have always liked the style of the car, and it gets good gas mileage. I have had problems with it stalling and it has left me stranded on the side of the road. Once it left me in the middle of the intersection, stalled as usual, and a policeman had to help push me out of the intersection so that other cars could pass. To date, no mechanic has been able to find out why my car is stalling.
I know that everyone feels that hondas are the greatest cars out there. If my car is the greatest car out there, I am very scared to see what the other car companies are offering. Tin box on bicycle wheels?
That really is quote frightening... it is possible that you just bought a lemon, however considering the problem has recurred on two different vehicles, It would almost seem like an endemic manufacturing defect, and one which should at least be investigated by Honda. True the car is now going on 12 years old, however Honda should ensure that the general public are at least made aware of such dangers, just as they were with the Ford Explorer and Hyundai Excel issues.
My mother had a 1980's vintage Accord, which was a rather good vehicle, however it consistantly developed coolant leaks, and the accelerator had a very unpleasant and dangerous habit of sticking in.
On that note however, the Accord is not the only vehicle to lose wheels on the road... about 3 or 4 years ago, my father's 1986 Mitsubishi Pajero 4WD had the left rear axle slide out of the diff whislt driving up the driveway... with a trailer full of furniture... had it happenened any later, a serious accident could have resulted due to the wheel departing at highway speeds.
I would be urging Honda to at the very least publicly warn owners that a danger may exist, even if it turns out your car was a lemon... cos there could be more lemons where it came from.
Hmmm, a manufacturing failure? I think not. You seem to be the only person on here with this problem. Ball joints and things tend to go out because of wear and tear. As far as the other parts are concerned, they go out as the car is older. All cars have problems and Honda's are no exception, but the Japanese have an advantage. Since you said you are not going to be another Honda again, I feel sorry that you will have to drive something worse, something more boring to drive, and more ugly.
I would rather drive a more "boring" car, than to have the excitement of slamming into another car on the freeway because of a malfunction of my car. I am not the only one who has had this problem, and yes, balljoints are wear and tear. However with the honda, as opposed to other cars, the load of the car is on the balljoint. When the balljoint fails, the car can fall apart without any clues that it is happening. This doesn't occur on some other cars. I would only consider buying another Honda if they beef up their front ends of their cars so that if one part breaks, your car doesn't fall apart and fly out of control.
I had a 1994 Accord EX for 6 years and 114,000 miles, and had ZERO problems with it other than the climate control knob breaking, which was replaced for free. My first set of tires lasted 60,000 miles. Just wondering if the guy who had all the problems followed Honda's standard maintenance schedule, including tire rotations. I am currently on my fifth Accord since 1988, and aside from one minor automatic transmission problem (covered under warranty) with my 1990 and the above mentioned climate control knob problem on the '94, I haven't had any problems. The only things I had to spend money on is new tires every 60,000 miles or so and normal break wear. I keep all of them for 100,000 miles and more.
I am noticing a very interesting trend in all those that claim their accords have suffered catastrophic failures and have cost them large amounts of money to maintain: they were all built at the North American plant. As I am from Australia, my 1994 accord vti-s (ex) was built in Japan which I firmly believe equates to better build quality than their American built counterparts. None of the Australian accord owners I know have had any of the problems described by American owners here. Comments like 'I'd rather have a chevy' just go to show how naive they are as a well put together japanese car will, most likely, outlast and American one if properly maintained.
It all has to be maintenance! My 1994 does have 232,000 on its clock and it was built in Japan. Many would argue that it is more reliable than the same car built in Marysville, but that is unlikely. Though the car is built all over in Japan, Marysville, Maybe even East Liberty in the future, South America, and Canada factory production is probably in the works, they all share the same parts. The only difference I have noticed was that the mirror on my 94 was made from a different company than the mirror on my other 94 that was built in America, which has 270,000 miles on it. If you buy these things new you will find that the way they manufacture Honda's; parts in Japan to build the car will be the same as ones used to build the car in America. No difference. As it has been said by research, Honda owners are just more anal about things breaking on their cars.
I'm glad I got on this site, because if these are all the things that go wrong, I don't want to chance having an accident. I have a soon to be 11 month old, and don't want things falling off any car that I get. Thanks for letting me know, and this is one car marked off of my list. Thanks.
Terina.
Yeah buy an Expedition and have it destroy your house... again, reasoning that has to do with operator failure.
1994 Japanese Built Accord Ex owner here. The build quality is indeed higher in the japanese built Accords. You can see it in the perfectly aligned doors/trunks/hoods/etc. I cornered my mechanic one day and he himself admitted in all his years of Acura/Honda only repair, the japanese built ones had slightly less problems than the US built ones. He was quick to add he would still rather buy an Ohio built Accord however - keeping Americans working is good thing.
My Japan built Accord just turned 186k driven hard with few unforeseen problems (i.e. not brought about by my motorsports-esq driving habits).
My 94 LX was built in America, and poorly maintained. But after 160k miles and being beat on rather severely I am afraid to say, it still runs like a champ. Actually, just two weeks ago I decided to replace the clutch as I did not want to get stranded at school with a $1000 repair bill, but when I took out the original clutch I was shocked. Very little wear. I also took the opportunity to replace all the front balljoints, 1 driveshaft and some seals. The balljoints were actually just fine until I screwed them up though.
I am considering buying a 94 Accord EX. I am just wondering if this problem with the ball joint mentioned is exclusive to 94's or is it much of a problem in general? I am a fan of Accord's as they are quiet, solid vehicles. Still looking in Atlanta.
I have never had a problem with this on my 1994. At 260,000 miles I have found other things to worry about such as timing belts, tires, and valve covers. Ball joints are serious if they are affected, but I have found them to be just as prone to need replacing as much as any other car we have owned. we have had GM's and Ford before. I take my car in every 6,000 miles for oil changes at Honda and they test things like ball joints at my quick lube. If you never do any maintenance or do not know what ball joints are than there is a good chance you will be driving down the road and into a guard rail you will go!
I just bought a '94 accord with 133k miles it had been crunched in the front and hit in the rear. Yet as soon as I fixed the cosmetic damage (nothing else) the car goes down the road great! how much more would you want from a car??? I highly recommend this car
A balljoint should be replaced at about 125k miles. Please do not blame Honda, who knows how hard it was driven.
I have a 94 Honda Accord LX with 179,000+ miles on it.
I have had only 1 problem with my car, which lead to me getting a new radiator... But that happens to a car that is 13 years old. I think Hondas are great cars. Nobody will ever find a car that doesn't have problems eventually, its the brutal truth. Its how companies make money.