Other steering problem on the 2002 Honda Accord
2 crashes 1 fire 3 of the 11 reports for this failure mention a crash, a fire, an injury or a death. Those are the owner's words on the complaint form, not a verified finding, and one report can mention more than one.
When other steering problem gets reported
Owners of the 2002 Honda Accord report other steering problem at a median of 105,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 60,000 miles and a quarter after 175,000 miles, from 8 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 95,000 miles. It is the 18th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 45,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 220,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 172,100 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A spread this wide points at use rather than design. Towing, climate, service history and city mileage all move a failure like this, so the median is a weak guide to any individual car.
0% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 47,200 miles | 58,000 miles | 103,328 miles | 172,500 miles | 219,300 miles |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Of these reports, 2 a crash and 1 a fire are mentioned. Owners write their own complaints and the agency does not verify them, so read this as what the reports say happened rather than as a confirmed count.
Putting it right typically runs $350–$2,400 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 25 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2021, at a median of 600 miles, and latest on the 2000 at 140,000 miles.
By volume the 2013 carries the most reports, with 306; the 2002 has 11. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
While my 2002 honda accord coupe was still under warranty, my steering wheel got really tight probably around 20,000 miles which was around 2004. I took it to the dealership and they said there was a crack in my power steering fluid reservoir, so they replaced it. They also said I should never have to refill it, b/c you should never use that much power steering fluid for the life of the car. About 5 months ago, april 2008, I had brakes put on and the mechanic pointed out that my power steering reservoir was leaking, yet again. The car only has about 60,000 miles on it now. *tr
A steering stuck incident which could have become a major accident if it had happened on a busy road! While driving normally around 20mph in a 30 MPH speed zone and trying to turn right, the steering was stuck and could not turn right. After proceeding straight, turned right with a great manual effort in steering by making a very wide right turn at the next signal (almost endangering cars in the other lane waiting at the signal) then moved into a parking lot where I found the steering could be neither turned right or left. An emergency roadside assistance was summoned and he tightened some loose nut (which had resulted in the belt becoming loose). Reported the incident to american honda motor co (1-800-999-1009) on 12/28/09 after the christmas holidays. Had the vehicle serviced at mcdavid honda of irving. If this incident had happened on the major highway, it could have LED to an accident. Do not understand why a car being regularly serviced at an authorized dealer could have a steering failure? *tr
The middle of my steering wheel or where my airbag would deploy is sticky and the vinyl has lost its integrity. My center console under the dashboard has melted to the point I have had to cover it with felt because everything sticks to it. It's like tar. Approximately a year ago, I called honda and spoke to a representative who told me she never heard of such a problem, and that unfortunately I was not covered under warranty anymore. She would make note of it. I was to take it to a dealer to see what they had to say about it. Maybe they would have a cleaner to solve the problem. Knowing there would be no cleaner in the world to get rid of the goo, I did not make an appointment. I did, however, just recently see a segment on our local news featuring 'melting dashboards" which described my problem. My car is garage kept. I lived in new jersey and moved to florida in 2006. *tr
Also reported on the 2002 Honda Accord
Other powertrain problem
Complete transmission failure
Airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault
Other body or interior problem
Other electrical problem
Seat belt or retractor failure
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 11 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does other steering problem happen on the 2002 Honda Accord?
Across 8 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 105,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 60,000 miles and a quarter after 175,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other steering problem on the 2002 Honda Accord?
11 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.1 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed