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

Is the loaner a Hybrid?

no, it was a 1.5-liter turbo “sport” trim, consider it a barebone trim with 45-profile tires

That makes me wonder how many other Accord owners have this problem. It’s hard to believe that you would be the only one, and it would happen with two different Accords.

I was under the mistaken impression that the loaner was also one of their hybrids. If it is a “conventional” model, but it also displays warnings of brake system failure, that tells me that Honda has a massive problem with several of their newest models.

It’s beginning to make more and more sense that Honda’s reliability ratings in Consumer Reports have dropped drastically. For a couple of years, their Odyssey vans were having lots of problems, but now it also applies to Accords?
Yikes!

1 Like

yep, my impression as well

I bought the car with perspective “it can not be bad, plus it has no complicated transmission they used to have problems with…”

I was dead wrong apparently

This “conventional” loaner also had another message warning that ABS is disabled because of the brake problems.
Both cleared after a minute.
Honda tells me defect is not safety related… huh?

"The brake system has a problem or the brake fluid may be low. If there is no resistance from the brake pedal, downshift to lower gears to slow the vehicle. Immediately stop in a safe place and contact Roadside Assistance."

"Immediately stop in a safe place…"
Right! (Without pedal pressure?) :laughing:

"….contact Roadside Assistance."
That’s it! Problem solved!
You’ve followed those instructions with each incident, right? :smirk:

The way this company has reacted to this situation is nothing short of… Well… nothing.
I’m surprised the dashboard warning and/or a company representative doesn’t recommend buying a helmet and a Life Insurance Policy.
CSA
:palm_tree: :sunglasses: :palm_tree:

2 Likes

Helmet… hm… great idea to bring it up as I talk to them Monday :slight_smile:

That would depend on if there is really a problem or that was an erroneous message.

If the brake system accumulator pressure was low at any time a fault would expected to be stored in the ABS control module. If no faults are recorded, the question is why was the failure not recorded or was there ever a failure?

the way I pay attention to these messages is by noticing that pedal feel is slightly different when it happens: pedal seem to require slightly longer press, to the point where I pay attention, move my eyes to the panel and another arm starts searching for the cell phone to document all this nonsense

so, I assume it is some kind of real performance issue present what warning system detects

I’m shocked the vehicle does not seem to care to store this condition/code anywhere

I hope that you are prepared to file a Lemon Law complaint as soon as it is legally possible in your state. When I composed a Lemon Law-based Demand Letter to Toyota in regard to my friend’s Rav, it clearly woke the corporate folks up.

They contacted my friend, and humbly asked when it would be convenient for him to bring the vehicle in for its third (and FINAL) repair attempt. On the appointed date, Toyota’s Regional Service Supervisor and a Japanese engineer were present, and they managed to–finally–fix the vehicle within a few hours.

An artfully-crafted Demand Letter can work wonders!

Stop it! Please stop! :smirk:

You’ll shatter my mental image of Asian Car Superiority! :lying_face:
CSA
:palm_tree: :sunglasses: :palm_tree:

I’ve already wrote a certified letter to them demanding replacement/repurchase, but it was after the second occurrence, where they were battling me on the grounds that it is “not safety related”

now I have 4 occurrences on my hands, carefully documented with my cell phone and visits to the dealer, so by Virginia Lemon Law, even if it was a cup-holder falling to the ground, it qualifies as 3 repair attempts to fix the very same problem (I have #4, so #3 failed).

I did not yet write a demand letter after occurrence #4, but I’m totally ready to do that.
if you could please PM a copy of yours, I might steal an argument or two from there.

I’m giving them a chance to get things right this week before using heavier artillery

I no longer have a copy of that letter from 2008, and it might not have helped you because it was based on NJ’s Lemon Law, which might differ from the statute in your state. However, I will give you this tip:
Have the text of your state’s Lemon Law in front of you when you compose your Demand Letter. By essentially mimicking the language in the statute, you can help to give yourself an ironclad case.

And, any claim that a brake system malfunction is not “safety-related” is so bizarre that you would clearly prevail in court–if you had to go to that extreme. Hopefully they will see the futility of their case if your letter is crafted to mimic the language of the governing statute.

I just hope for your sake that your state’s Lemon Law gives you the option of a full refund. In my Demand Letter, I stated that my friend would require a prompt refund of the purchase price–including all taxes and MV fees, as is provided in the NJ Lemon Law. Unfortunately, in many states, the mfr is only required to provide an “equivalent” replacement vehicle, and I am assuming that you don’t want another new Accord at this point.

I’ve actually carefully read VA law and made my letter to specifically follow the spirit and the language, but as I said, their only defense was “it is not safety related, so you are not eligible”.

VA law actually gives me a choice of refund or replacement, although I will need to double-check on any time limits for the processing.

the problem so far was: I was making the argument, they were clearly ignoring it, I was asking questions in writing, they failed to reply to any, making only generic reply “we see no problems, nobody but you see it as a problem”.

at this point, it is clear that lawyer would make it work through the court system, especially considering that in VA any legal expense will be on the guilty party, I want to see if I can get them to agree on that faster and with no additional expense (on their side mostly)

Wait… What? Am I interpreting this the wrong way?

You receive warning messages of active or imminent brake problems and instructions to park the car ASAP and then are told basically to ignore this because it isn’t safety related?

How is one to determine which warning admonitions to heed and which ones to ignore?

Perhaps an addendum to the Owner Manual/Information should advise driver/operators to “Disregard all dashboard warning messages.”

I’d suggest it at Monday’s meeting. Perhaps the addendum could include a helmet. :wink:
CSA
:palm_tree: :sunglasses::palm_tree:

2 Likes

Is there anything you tend to do that’s dissimilar to how most car owners use their car? For example do you place a briefcase on the rear seat before starting a drive? Something like that. I’m asking b/c something like that could be causing the software in the computer(s) to enter a section of code that has a bug in it. I mention the briefcase on the rear seat b/c I’ve heard of a case where that caused a problem that the dealership never experienced. They’d keep using it for weeks, the problem never happened. So the owner would come back, pick up the car, and the problem would happen within 2-3 hours. One day the manager noticed when the owner came to get the supposedly repaired car the owner placed his briefcase on the back seat. The dealership staff never did that of course. The briefcase on the back seat somehow confused the car’s software, it sensed the weight but no seatbelt applied.

I can assure I drive as a typical driver, just the middle of the pack between the “jack rabbit” and “tortoise” drivers, nothing very fancy :slight_smile:

One more re-occurrence…

---------- Snapshots from the 5th incident, 1/27/2020, 7420 miles on odometer -----------

Sure enough, this is 8:40 in the night, I’m just out of the gym and dealer repairs shop already closed.

It seems that you got your car back, was there a repair performed this time?