2019 Honda Accord Hybrid: intermittent "brake system" warning light and on-dash warnings

Thank you for sharing this. I have the same car and have been in the same situation. My dealer says there is no issue and since they cannot duplicate this there is nothing they can do. Today I thought of looking on the internet if this is a common issue and found your post.

Do you have any update on this? Were you able to get your car replaced or did you happen to go to court?

So far I clocked 7200 miles and problem did not reoccur after it was in Honda hands for 2 days.
If you get 3 occurrences, presumably you can sue them on Lemon Law grounds, but the rules of this game are different state to state.
I’m in Virginia and for me I would need one extra occurrence within 18 months from when I took the possession on this vehicle to have a clear case.
I was not successful arguing that it is safety-related (which is a second alternative qualification under Virginia law) without going to lawyers, but I did not want to shell out some $$ out of pocket either, at least for now.
The “arbiter” Honda lists in their “dispute resolution” is a complete joke, they have as much knowledge in car engineering as a penguin in playing violin, they threw my photo-evidence and dismissed the case on the grounds that “parking brake is not a safety related item”.
It was never mentioned a single word about the parking brake other than in reply testimony from Honda, so the arbiter clearly threw their claimed impartiality out of the window and sided with manufacturer who clearly misstated the problem definition, what a joke.
I did not stand a chance there, it was a preset failure.
Still, I’ve carefully collected every piece of communications and evidence for the case if I would need to go after them for real.
So far, I filed complaint with the NHTSA and posted my case on CarComplaints.com, just to spread the word.
Good luck with your quest!

Thank you for the update. I am here in Washington and lemon law is very similar here. I think lawyers will be able to prove this as a safety related issue because it clearly looks like one. I am not convinced myself if everything is ok with the braking system.

Having said that I will also start documenting all the evidences. If this warning appears a couple of times more I am going to involve a lawyer. I will keep this thread updated.

great, let’s keep this topic going

actually, since you reminded me, I’ve found that I can file a complaint in Consumer Affairs Branch of my county government… why not :slight_smile:

That should be 3 repair attempts. Dealers are cautioned not to attempt to repair problems that can not be verified or duplicated, the intent isn’t because they don’t want to pay for repairs, the reason is that there are people that will set up problems in an effort to get out of a lease or car payments.

that’s great catch, @Nevada_545!

the second time, I did not want to go to the same dealer who did not find a thing at first occurrence, so I went to another one, where I was admitted since I had no history on their books…

I have 2 more Honda dealers around to make sure it stays this way if I get to the same problem again :slight_smile:

It was said “never trouble the trouble before the trouble troubles you”…

Here is my 3rd one:

Any shares and up-votes on the video would be greatly appreciated.

Dropped the car at the dealership.
Quite interesting exchange at front desk, where they asked what the problem is, and once they’ve heard it is “brakes error messages”, asked if I have it NOW, and when I said “no”, asked then how they can know if problem still exists (?!?!)
I came equipped with the video I took yesterday, including mileage and VIN, so they had no choice but to admit the car into the warranty service.
That’s the third “documented repair attempt” strike…
I will post here as I get more news.

so… they asked to leave the car in shop until next Thursday… not sure why, but whatever…
I made sure to extract a “comparable loaner” from Honda to keep them motivated.
they gave me “Accord Turbo Sport” of the same generation.
call me picky, but this car sucks big time to compare to the Accord Hybrid: I can count “1-mississippi-2-mississippi” from the point I kick the gas pedal to the point where turbo really wakes up, while in hybrid response is instantaneous.
first I thought it is 2.0, apparently my mistake, it’s 1.5, so 10 less horses, but I’m already missing my hybrid one, it’s way more refined

I’ve just picked my Accord up from the dealer, it is hilarious…

They replaced the “seat switch” (part 71692) causing code B1829, which is apparently pointing to “somewhere between the front axle and rear axle”, which per Honda explanation did not have a separate report, but rather a generic one… which thy decided to map to the brakes malfunction diagnostic message ???

I though French have really unorthodox engineering decisions, but I did not know about Japanese engineering at that time…

On positive side, they finally acknowledged the issue existence and attempted the first repair, after 2 work orders where they simply said “we see no issue, it’s in your head”.

Anyways, I have no idea if this is going to be a permanent fix or if this is just a “get away from our eyes until if fails next time” type of thing.

After this new incident, I sent another certified letter to Honda plus opened case in BBB and another one in the Farfax County / Virginia where vehicle was purchased. Maybe it will add some motivation if it fails again.

It will certainly be interesting to see if it resolves the problem. That is quite a stretch. I certainly hope for you it does as it would be better to get this over with but I suspect you may be back at the counter again in the future. So good on you to keep the pressure on in the event it does come back. Thanks for updating!

Virginia Lemon Law limits me to 18 months from the delivery date, but makes a provision that if problm was reported earlier, it extends the deadline.
By this language, I have all the time in the world now.

Do you have the “electronic parking brake”? Subaru is having issues with that.

How would that apply to the OP’s Honda?
And, just for the record, the electronic parking brake on my 9 1/2 year old Outback continues to operate flawlessly.

It does apply IF he has an electronic parking brake. How about for now we just let him answer the question OK?

I do have EP, it works flawlessly.
The problem reported by self-diagnostic system was about the main brake system, not EP.
EP presumably has its own bucket of error messages.
Here are ones I was getting:


Both messages are clearly connected to the work they performed, are they? :slight_smile:

I’ve got EP on my 14 Legacy and I haven’t had a problem with it either. But Subaru has had enough issues with it that they have extended the warranty on it for 15 years and unlimited mileage. I would not assume that EP has separate error messages, but like I said, I haven’t had an issue yet.

Got another question, has these occurrences happened during a cold snap?

Nop, always after the drive, as I’m heading for the “touch-down” on a parking lot, while still in motion.

I agree with @TwinTurbo, it is quite likely I will be back to their service counter soon, as problem was repeating itself and it looks like they simply tried to “so something” to silence my complaints for a while.
Moreover, my all complaints were insistent that it is a critical safety issue, making it subject to Virginia Lemon Law from the very first occurrence.
They denied it against all facts, and since now I have a video recording including the VIN of the car on the same video, they might have changed tactics and decided to make some repair, just to show “we tried”, specifically not anywhere close to the safety features of the car.
I’m not sure… merely speculating…

Since this type of intermittent problem is so often due to a contaminate in the system, I would think that they would at least flush the brake system. They should include a bleed of the ABS as well.