Overheating on the 2003 Honda Accord
When overheating gets reported
Owners of the 2003 Honda Accord report overheating at a median of 130,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 80,000 miles and a quarter after 140,000 miles, from 13 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 102,000 miles. It is the 27th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 20,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 150,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 127,895 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
When the reports scatter this far, the mileage is telling you about how these cars were driven more than about the part itself.
15% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19,660 miles | 81,000 miles | 130,400 miles | 137,775 miles | 147,555 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
Putting it right typically runs $400–$3,500 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 14 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2018, at a median of 500 miles, and latest on the 1997 at 230,000 miles.
By volume the 2003 is the worst of them, which makes this a problem of this specific year rather than of the model as a whole.
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.
Only three days after having purchased a new 2003 accord, I noticed that the console was overheating. When I put my fingers under the console, it was so hot that it could blister skin. There was also a horrible intermittent burning smell. After the car makes this terrible burning smell, I get a headache. This burning smell is an indication of an extremely dangerous problem, that could cause the vehicle to catch on fire. Upon my second visit, the dealership acknowledged the problem and replaced the console. On the way home, the new console overheated again. Also, the horrible intermittent burning smell is still present. Honda america has refused to replace my vehicle or give me a refund. The sales manager at the dealership, hendrick's honda cars of hickory, has given me misinformation about my state's lemon law by telling me they are entitled to 10 repair attempts when the nc lemon law says they are only entitled to 4. The dealership now says that they are trying to reduplicate the problem. Further, even though three people at the dealership, including a mechanic, have witnessed the overheating and burning smell, the "master…
This is my third honda and after purchasing my 2003 accord coupe ex manual, I don't know if I will ever purchase another honda!! I bought it because my previous cars had no major problems, they only went to the mechanic for their suggested maintenance and oil and tire changes. With my new accord, I have only experienced problems. It began with a rattling in the rear speakers, then the side speakers. Which the dealer tried to fix to no success. Then the trim on the windows was bubbling, which they were able to replace. Soon after I began noticing my breaks shudder and went to the dealer to be told that "well ma'am, the problem has to get worse before we can see what's going on"! Great I have to break down on the side of the road before they can fix it. Lets not forget the recall on the intake air breather pipe. Then today, and this has sent me over the top, my car overheated. The temperature gauge was on the red-line for hot! I pulled over, opened the hood and noticed green fluid all over the engine. Called the dealer and they said they would have to tow it and take a look. I have owned the car since april (5 months) and been to…
Tl*the contact owns a 2003 honda accord. The contact experienced difficulty shifting from second to third gear while driving at various speeds. He stated that the vehicle also overheated. A local dealer stated that the transmission was the cause of the failures and it needed to be replaced. They further stated that the vehicle was previously repaired under NHTSA campaign id number 04v176000 (power train:automatic transmission). The dealer installed an oil jet kit instead of replacing the transmission. Because the contact purchased the vehicle from an unauthorized honda dealer, the dealer would not replace the transmission for free. The current mileage was 66,000 and failure mileage was 65,500.
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 18 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 overheating happen on the 2003 Honda Accord?
Across 13 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 130,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 80,000 miles and a quarter after 140,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is overheating on the 2003 Honda Accord?
18 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