Other brake problem on the 2003 Honda Accord
6 crashes 1 injury 7 of the 65 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 brake problem gets reported
Owners of the 2003 Honda Accord report other brake problem at a median of 12,500 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 7,500 miles and a quarter after 35,000 miles, from 50 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 88,000 miles. It is the 7th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 2,500 miles at the tenth percentile to 92,500 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 90,750 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.
78% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2,350 miles | 6,500 miles | 12,318 miles | 34,338 miles | 93,100 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, 6 a crash and 1 an injury 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 $300–$1,800 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 29 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2020, at a median of 5,000 miles, and latest on the 1999 at 165,000 miles.
By volume the 2008 carries the most reports, with 425; the 2003 has 65. 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.
Brakes make extremely loud grinding noise during first few uses of each drive. They seem to have less grip during the first few stops as well. Dealer states this is a problem with noise insulator pads on 2003 accords and that honda has no fix at this point. Dealer added temporary composite material until honda determines permanent fix. Called honda customer relations and I am waiting for a response. Dealer claims there is no safety risk. Jb
My vehicle has been in the honda dealer with problems with the front brakes(warped rotors) , after having the front rotors resurfaced and pads replaced twice it was found that the front calipers were hanging up.my car just turned 17k miles and it has had problems with the front brakes since in had 8k miles, at that time I was told by the dealer that I was "riding" my brakes and they would only take care of this problem for me at no cost just this "one time". I feel honda is knows that 03 accords have brake probles and honda puts the blame on everone else except themselves. My vehicle has now been in the honda dealer for two weeks because they are unable to locate new calipers. From talking with other 03 accord owners and reading information on other websites, I'm not alone with this problem.*ak
My vehicle has been in the honda dealer with problems with the front brakes(warped rotors) , after having the front rotors resurfaced and pads replaced twice it was found that the front calipers were hanging up.my car just turned 17k miles and it has had problems with the front brakes since in had 8k miles, at that time I was told by the dealer that I was "riding" my brakes and they would only take care of this problem for me at no cost just this "one time". I feel honda is knows that 03 accords have brake probles and honda puts the blame on everone else except themselves. My vehicle has now been in the honda dealer for two weeks because they are unable to locate new calipers. From talking with other 03 accord owners and reading information on other websites, I'm not alone with this problem.*ak
Also reported on the 2003 Honda Accord
Other powertrain problem
Complete transmission failure
Other body or interior problem
Other electrical problem
Other engine problem
Premature brake pad or rotor wear
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 65 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 brake problem happen on the 2003 Honda Accord?
Across 50 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 12,500 miles. A quarter were filed before 7,500 miles and a quarter after 35,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other brake problem on the 2003 Honda Accord?
65 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.2 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