Power steering pump or fluid leak on the 2003 Honda Accord
When power steering pump or fluid leak gets reported
Owners of the 2003 Honda Accord report power steering pump or fluid leak at a median of 145,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 135,000 miles and a quarter after 165,000 miles, from 15 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 100,000 miles. It is the 29th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 105,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 195,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 92,200 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 103,800 miles | 133,237 miles | 147,000 miles | 164,700 miles | 196,000 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 $350–$1,600 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 7 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2010, at a median of 1,000 miles, and latest on the 2007 at 165,000 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.
Similar to the recent acura tsx recall, my 2003 honda accord has the same similarities with the power steering hose. I was told by an honda dealership that a hole has developed on my power steering hose. Any time I turn the car there is a noise that the car makes, this is extremely noticeable in cooler weather. Due to the high quote my honda dealership quoted me on, I have yet to fix the problem that my car has had for the past two years. In addition they told me, I would need a new power steering pump, hose, and fluid. *tr
Tl*the contact owns a 2003 honda accord. The contact stated that the vehicle made a very loud noise from under the hood when it was started. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer who stated that the power steering pump needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 85,000.
Tl* the contact owns a 2003 honda accord. The contact stated that while driving approximately 20 MPH, the contact was making a turn and the steering wheel was extremely difficult to maneuver. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer for diagnosis and they detected the power steering fluid was leaking from the power steering hose. The vehicle was not repaired. The power steering pump was replaced previously by the dealer. There was a recall under NHTSA campaign id number 12v222000 (steering: hydraulic power assist: hose, piping, and connections); however the VIN was included. The manufacturer was made aware of the problem. The approximate failure mileage was 155,000.
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 16 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 power steering pump or fluid leak happen on the 2003 Honda Accord?
Across 15 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 145,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 135,000 miles and a quarter after 165,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is power steering pump or fluid leak on the 2003 Honda Accord?
16 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.0 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