2013 Honda Accord

Problems, recalls and owner-reported issues

Steering is the leading concern among 1,421 owner complaints filed for this model year. This is the 4th highest complaint count among 25 Accord model years with reports.

Complaints by model year
  1. 1,421

Of the 2013 reports, 67 involved a crash and 9 involved a fire. 59 people were injured and 1 person died.

Primary concernSteering499 reports · 35% of complaints
Owner complaints1,421Filed with NHTSA
Recall relationship5 safety recallsNHTSA campaign records

What owners report most often

  1. Steering499
  2. Electrical system415
  3. Engine179
  4. Other or unspecified119
  5. Service brakes115
  6. Power train109
  7. Air bags51
  8. Vehicle speed control50

Recalls and investigations

  1. Power train, driveline, driveshaftJun 19, 2025

    Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) is recalling certain 2013 Honda Accord vehicles equipped with a 4-cylinder engine and a continuously-variable transmission. The affected vehicles were originally sold, or ever registered, in Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. The driveshaft may corrode and break, due to damage from road salt or other contaminants.

    A broken driveshaft can result in a loss of drive power, or a vehicle rollaway when the vehicle is in park without the parking brake applied. Both scenarios can increase the risk of a crash or injury.

    Dealers will inspect and replace the driveshaft assemblies as necessary, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed August 11, 2025. Owners may contact Honda's customer service at 1-888-234-2138. Honda's number for this recall is OM2. This recall expands previous recall number 20V769.

    Campaign 25V422000 on NHTSA.gov

  2. Fuel system, gasoline, delivery, fuel pumpDec 18, 2023

    Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) is recalling certain 2013-2023 Honda Accord, Civic Coupe, Civic Sedan, Civic Hatchback, Civic Type R, CR-V, HR-V, Ridgeline, Odyssey, Acura ILX, MDX, MDX Hybrid, RDX, RLX, TLX, 2019-2022 Honda Insight, Passport, 2020 Honda CR-V Hybrid, 2018-2019 Honda Clarity PHEV, Fit, and 2015-2020 Honda Accord Hybrid, Pilot, Acura NSX vehicles. The fuel pump inside the fuel tank may fail.

    Fuel pump failure can cause an engine stall while driving, increasing the risk of a crash.

    Dealers will replace the fuel pump module, free of charge. Owner letters were mailed September 6, 2024. Owners may contact Honda customer service at 1-888-234-2138. Honda's numbers for this recall are KGC and KGD. This recall is an expansion of NHTSA recall numbers 21V-215 and 20V-314.

    Campaign 23V858000 on NHTSA.gov

  3. Power train, driveline, driveshaftDec 10, 2020

    Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) is recalling certain 2013-2015 Accord vehicles equipped with a 4-cylinder engine and a continuously-variable transmission that were originally sold, or ever registered, in Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. The drive shafts were assembled with a lubricant that may have degraded the drive shafts' protective coating, making it more susceptible to damage from road salt or other contaminants, and potentially cause it to break.

    A broken drive shaft may cause a sudden loss of drive power. The vehicle could also roll away if the parking brake has not been applied before the vehicle has been exited. Either condition can increase the risk of a crash or injury.

    Honda will notify owners, and dealers will inspect the drive shafts, replacing both the left and right drive shafts, if necessary, free of charge. The recall began February 4, 2021. Owners may contact Honda customer service at 1-888-234-2138.

    Campaign 20V769000 on NHTSA.gov

  4. Electrical system, 12v/24v/48v batteryJun 29, 2017

    Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) is recalling certain 2013-2016 Honda Accord vehicles. The case for the battery sensor, part of the battery management system, may allow water to get in, potentially causing an electrical short.

    An electrical short increases the risk of a fire.

    Honda will notify owners, and dealers will replace the sensor, free of charge. Dealers will perform an interim remedy of applying adhesive to the case to prevent water intrusion. The recall began November 8, 2017. Owners may contact American Honda Customer Support Center at 1-888-234-2138. Honda's number for this recall is KG0.

    Campaign 17V418000 on NHTSA.gov

  5. Fuel system, gasolineJul 8, 2013

    American Honda Motor Co., Inc. (Honda) is recalling certain model year 2013 Accord vehicles that are Low-Emission Vehicle (LEV) II rated that were manufactured January 15, 2013, through April 5, 2013. The fuel tank neck may be out of specification causing the fuel pump to not properly seal to the fuel tank.

    An insufficent seal may led to a fuel leak which increases the risk of a fire.

    Honda will notify owners, and dealers will replace the fuel tank, nut and O-ring gasket free of charge. The recall began during August 2013. Honda's recall number is JA9. Owners may contact Honda at 1-310-783-2000.

    Campaign 13V297000 on NHTSA.gov

Representative owner complaints: steering

499 reports, newest first. Show all

  1. Steering, Jul 2, 2021

    Same problem described in this article: https://www.consumerreports.org/car-recalls-defects/honda-accords-under-investigation-for-steering-problems-a4542071576/. About two weeks ago it just started pulling dramatically to the right with no warning - no icons lit up on the dashboard. It is such an aggressive pull that I almost went into the highway median a handful of times. Once I turned the wheel a bit to the left it would lessen or stop only to reoccur a short time later. It is at my Honda dealership now and the part is ordered and they said it's under warranty. Amazingly the head technicians didn't know anything about it. I had to google it to find out how big of an issue it is. Anyway, it is real and is a major issue.

  2. Steering, Jun 26, 2021

    My car’s steering automatically wants to turn to the left. This started a while back and has continued. I have to keep both hands on the wheel firmly to be prepared at all times for it to turn on its own.

  3. Steering, Jun 26, 2021

    Car steering pulled heavily left without any warning and nearly resulted in a head-on collision with oncoming traffic. The steering wheel also turns hard left with no assistance when the ignition is turned on. This is a very serious safety risk and in need of a recall so that Honda can inspect and correct whatever engineering defect is causing this and to preemptively repair the problem before any injuries/fatalities occur

  4. Steering, Jun 25, 2021

    The power steering just gave up while I was driving. It made my car shift to one side. It was shaking. I was able to safely bring the car to a complete stop. But I really scared me. I’m glad it was not worst. According to a mechanic is the steering wheel. But they said they are not sure why it happened. I’m reporting this because is very dangerous and could eventually be a fatality. I also notice that there are other people that have had the same problem. I need this to be recall. Is very dangerous.

  5. Steering, Jun 24, 2021

    The steering will act on its own, sometimes fighting against the input of the driver. There aren’t any trouble lights on the dash or anything indicating a problem. Sometimes the steering wheel will turn fully in one direction completely on its own. If you don’t have a tight grip on the steering wheel at all times, it can push the vehicle in directions you don’t intend it to go. Has been happening regularly since it started in July 2019.

  6. Steering, Jun 24, 2021

    Loss of steering control

  7. Steering, Jun 23, 2021

    2013 Honda Accord Sport steering pulling to the right. Not pulling very hard, but am afraid condition will worsen. I understand that you are looking into numerous complaints concerning problems with electric power steering on this model year Honda Accord. I have had tires rotated, suspension and components checked for wear, alignment checked with no problems found. Hope I don't have any severe steering problems that some Accord owners have reported. My issue started about two months ago, about the same time I noticed a low whistling sound coming from the steering column. Don't know if that is related to the steering issue but unusual to have the noise happen at the same time. Thanks.

  8. Steering, Jun 22, 2021, crash

    The contact's daughter owns a 2013 Honda Accord. The contact stated that while his daughter was driving at unknown speeds she veered off the road, to the right for unknown reasons and crashed into a tree. The driver received medical attention however, succumbed to her injuries at the scene. There was no report of fire or air bag deployment. A police report was filed. The vehicle was towed to an independent lot. The local dealer was not contacted. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified. The failure mileage was unknown.

  9. Steering, Jun 21, 2021

    The contact owns a 2013 Honda Accord. The contact stated while slowing down to making a left turn, the steering wheel independently turned completely to the left. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. The contact took the vehicle to the local dealer, where it was diagnosed with needing the electronic power steering (EPS) gearbox to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired but was pending repairs. The manufacturer had been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 44,618.

  10. Steering, Jun 21, 2021

    The electric steering turns the vehicle without any input from the driver. The car will automatically turn to the left if the wheel is not corrected. This is not a pull left as in a bad wheel alignment. This happens even if no one is in the car and the car is stopped. It makes the car useless to drive because it is so unsafe.

  11. Steering, Jun 20, 2021

    On June 10, 2021 while pulling into my driveway the power steering went out on the Honda. The steering wheel spun around and the car made an immediate left turn. Tested car on cul de sac by my house and the steering wheel fights to go straight and pulls hard to the left resulting in immediate left hand turn. When trying to drive, the steering fights to go in any other direction than left and if and you do not have a tight grip, the car will turn left.Took Honda to my independent car repair on June 11. He was able to replicate the issue & told me it was the EPS and should be covered by Honda on extended warranty from a Federal Recall. Appointment made for June 16 at Coggin Honda Orlando and was car towed there on June 15, 2021. June 16, Honda called and said the EPS and outer tire rods were broken. The parts were the parts included in the recall and extended warranty but the car was not showing trouble codes 5301 or 5302 so car was not covered, and they would have to charge me $2,730.25 for the repair. In fact, car was showing absolutely no trouble codes or potential coeds of any kind. Service advisor Gus Ramirez & his boss Fadi Alzeideh both agree the part that is covered under the warranty is the part the needs replaced but their hands were tired due to no 5301 or 02 codes. Case started with Honda Corporate on June 17, 2021. Case number 12296417. It shouldn't matter if there are trouble codes. The steering issue wasn't fixed during the initial recall in 2015 and should be covered now. Had this happened 10 minutes earlier I would have been on the freeway during heavy traffic and people could have been seriously injured. Car was taken into Rick Roush Honda in Ohio for the initial recall on November 11, 2015. Awaiting case manager and decision on warranty coverage from Honda.

  12. Steering, Jun 11, 2021

    Steering has a mind of its own. Wanders lanes and driver has no control for several seconds. Have drifted into other lanes while trying to control / steer but no response. This lasts for just a brief time but it's extremely unnerving. Recently the car turned hard right with no notice. Luckily had both hands on the wheel and steering worked enough to pull left before I ran off road. Frankly, I am afraid to drive it. Took the car to local dealer yesterday. They ran diagnostics and test drove but found no issues with steering. I advised that I could not retrieve the vehicle late yesterday but would do so this morning. Several hours after that conversation, having heard that they found nothing wrong, the same rep called me and said "you can't drive this car". He relayed that technician was moving the car from the bay to the lot when the car took a hard right and nearly collided with another car parked in their lot. The tech brought the car back to the shop and up on the rack where they observed the car again make a hard right turn. No one was behind the wheel when this occurred. I just rcvd an estimate for repair ~ $3,700.00. Electronic power steering rack assembly accounts for $3,140.00 of this cost. Alignment & some other diagnostic costs take it up from there.

  13. Steering, Jun 7, 2021

    Power steering shut down twice in two days. Orange warning light came on each time. Problem cleared after engine turned off for a minute or so, but returned after 20 further miles driving. Dealer verified there was an error code, said it would be covered under a warranty, and has kept the vehicle until repairs can be made. Dealer stated that there are many problems like this, and cannot yet give me a date when it will be repaired, or even a date by which they can give me that date!

  14. Steering, Jun 5, 2021, crash

    On a clear, rural, dry blacktop county highway at approximately 10:00AM December 19,2018 while driving at 50 miles per hour I suddenly lost steering control of my 2013 Honda Accord. This was instantaneous causing car to move to the right. When I steered to the left the car over-corrected and drove into the left ditch. My effort to straighten the car caused it to hit the frozen ditch bank parallel to left side of car. Side air bags deployed and car came to rest in adjacent hay field. My T-12 vertebra was broken, among other injuries. Cost to repair the car was $8,802.16. I always thought this was my fault, but recently I have experienced strange and unsettling steering glitches with this car. My spouse has also recently mentioned that he has noticed steering glitches while driving this Honda Accord.

  15. Steering, Jun 4, 2021

    I had called up NHTSA earlier also to report the problem but they said - report that to Honda America. Nevertheless, I'm putting it here. My 2013 Honda Accord that had ~36000 miles on it gave me a hard time; as I was driving on the highway with my family; the power steering gave up, it became super heavy and I almost lost control of the vehicle. Luckily, I was able to get off the highway and save my family. Off the highway, I turned off the engine and started it back; and now the steering was back to normal. As I was not far from home, I drove slowly and carefully back home. On reaching home, I called up American Honda and they said - they never heard of such an issue and nothing could be done as the vehicle was out of warranty. The following days, I called up nearby Honda dealers but could not get anything concrete and so took it to one of the dealers who simply changed the Power Steering Electronic Module and the issue was sorted.

  16. Steering, Jun 2, 2021

    In January 2021 we took in my 2013 Honda Accord into my local Honda dealership because the steering wheel would jolt to the left while driving. It was very unsafe. My husband found information about an extended warranty having to do with the steering. Honda said that the car was not registering the specific code to fix it under the extended warranty so we would have to pay out of pocket which was over $3,000. We had read some comments from people experiencing the same issue but their Honda's fixed the issue. Ours would not. We took it back to our local Honda again and I called the corporation, again Honda said they can only fix this safety issue with payment. We then took the vehicle to a reputable mechanic in town and they too agreed that this issue should be covered by Honda. Our Mechanic outreached to our local Honda AGAIN and a Honda 30miles away and both said they cannot do anything without payment. We were shocked by how Honda clearly knew about the safety issue and concern but still would not do anything without payment and clearly the extended warranty impacted the steering. We had no choice but to pay for the repairs. The day we got the car back from being repaired ($3,772.35 later) we see that NHTSA opened an investigation for a safety recall on the steering! I will be contacting Honda for a full refund.

  17. Steering, Jun 1, 2021

    The effort required to make a turn is very inconsistent and can change abruptly in the middle of the turn. For example, while making a left-hand turn, the steering wheel can, without warning, jerk back to the right. While this has primarily occurred at lower speeds, it has been severe enough that it has almost caused us to not make our turn and as a result nearly run off the road, or into a curb or into vehicle next to us (pulling into a parking spot). To be honest, only good luck can be credited for the fact we haven't gotten into an accident up to this point. As stated before, this issue primarily occurs at slower speeds (< 30 mph), and while we've been fortunate enough that we've been able to recover from the momentary loss of control, if this issue were to occur at higher speeds or in a traffic-dense area, there is a very real possibility of a serious accident occurring. None of the vehicle's warning lights have ever indicated that there is an issue with the power steering system. Out of concern, the car was taken to a Honda dealership where they were able to reproduce the issue and recommended replacement of the entire steering rack and control unit at a cost of several thousand dollars. As we believe that the rack and/or it's control unit have a design flaw that would also still be present in a brand new non-revised rack, we have elected not to replace the rack in hopes of Honda taking ownership of it's defective product and offering a real solution to those of us who are affected by this problem. The vehicle still has the original steering rack and can be made available to the NHTSA to demonstrate the abnormal steering behavior.

  18. Steering, Service brakes, May 28, 2021

    Intermittent activation of vehicle stability assist, electrical power steering, and tire pressure monitoring system lights. Diagnosed as yaw rate sensor failure requiring replacement of anti-lock braking system modulator.

  19. Steering, May 27, 2021

    Car pulls to the right, actually will jerk the steering wheel out of your hands. Only at low speeds and very intermittent. Dealership said I must have hit something and I didn’t. Cost to fix is more than the vehicle is worth. I believe this is a manufacturing defect.

  20. Steering, May 27, 2021

    Driving 40-45 miles per hour when steering felt unstable. Pulled in to parking lot when steering wheel symbol came on, car was very hard to steer at this point. Total loss of power steering. No damage or injury.

  21. Steering, May 22, 2021

    The steering turns left. As soon as you start you car, with hands off the steering wheel the entire steering system turns left. Opened 2 cases with Honda and NO RESPONSE. Case # 11941086 and 12222896. Hillside Honda informs us that the codes don't show up so the only thing they can do is replace the steering gearbox and alignment for a customer cost of $3592 + tax. This was a sudden onset incident, no accident to the car. It is a safety hazard and Honda refuses to do anything about it.

  22. Steering, May 22, 2021

    Steering began pulling hard to the left within a relatively short space of time, 2-3 days. After checking the tire pressure on all four tires and discovering no variants, we knew there was a serious problem! Our safety and that of others was at risk! The problem was confirmed when the local Honda dealer said they could not perform an alignment on our vehicle until the steering system was fixed. Then, in order to make the vehicle safe to drive, the dealer said our only option was to replace the rack and pinion/power steering system in order to make it possible to align the wheels on the car. The dealer replaced said components on April 6, 2021. The component in question was not inspected by manufacturer, police or insurance representatives. However, it was inspected by our dealership who replaced the faulty steering system. There was no warning of any type before the steering began pulling to the left! We were surprised that this should happen with a Honda and especially one with less than 100,000 miles.

  23. Steering, May 19, 2021

    When I'm driving, my car will periodically steer itself to the right unless I forcefully hold the steering wheel against the direction it's trying to turn. This issue can also occur when idling at say a red light, or stop sign. This puts mine and others safety at risk because at any point my car could steer itself into another car without input. I have taken the vehicle to the authorized Honda dealer in my city and was told that it was an "alignment" issue. Funny thing is, I went ahead and got an alignment when purchasing new tires a few weeks later and on my way home the issue happened numerous times (with videos to prove it) and continues to happen to this day. My vehicle gave no warning or messages prior to the issue happening. This has been an ongoing issue for close to two years now so I'm very happy to see that the news that this is an issue that the NHTSA is probing. Honda insinuating that this is an alignment issue is an insult to mine, and my families safety.

  24. Steering, May 19, 2021

    This morning noticed the steering felt a little stiff. I started driving down the street and it would randomly pull to the left hard.. all of a sudden it would yank the car left into the other lane. Vehicle has not been to the dealership yet.. just saw this on the news the other evening

  25. Steering, May 17, 2021

    The steering began pulling to the left. The alignment was examined and adjusted without fixing the problem. I lifted the front of the vehicle off the ground, started the engine and the steering turned slowly by itself to the full left stop. Took the vehicle to the Honda dealer for repair. They reset the error codes and examined everything. Upon leaving the dealer repair depot the steering pulled very hard to the left. I returned and complained. The manager helped out and contacted Honda Factory support. A 4 wheel alignment was performed and adjusted to factory specs. The electronic steering system was fully reset and reprogrammed. This seemed to fix the problem. About 1 month later the steering system began to act erratically and continues to do so. Sometimes when turning a corner the steering system pulls in the direction of the turn, right or left. Sometimes it acts normally. All oddities seem to related to accelleration and braking. When driving in a straight line there is no deviation left or right however it is always harder to turn the wheel left than right.