Wiring harness or short circuit on the 2004 Honda Accord
1 injury 1 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 wiring harness or short circuit gets reported
Owners of the 2004 Honda Accord report wiring harness or short circuit at a median of 90,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 50,000 miles and a quarter after 95,000 miles, from 9 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 88,000 miles. It is the 27th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 40,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 100,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 61,492 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 38,620 miles | 50,000 miles | 90,000 miles | 97,000 miles | 100,112 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, 1 an injury is 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 $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 2014, at a median of 5,000 miles, and latest on the 2007 at 125,000 miles.
By volume the 2005 carries the most reports, with 12; the 2004 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.
On may 14, 2008, I brought my 2004 honda accord ex to my local honda dealer because the SRS (airbag) indicator came on and remained on during operation. The dealer charged me $263 for replacing the wiring harness under the driver's seat. I believe that the repair should have been completed at no charge because there is an outstanding NHTSA recall (07v001000) that specifically refers to the SRS indicator and problems with the wiring harness for 2004 honda accord models. My service rep at the dealership said that the VIN on my car did not fall in the VIN range for the recall, but the documentation for NHTSA recall 07v001000 does not specify a range of vins for 2004 models, only for 2005 models. I am asking that the NHTSA clarify and/or expand the VIN range for 2004 honda accords to include my vehicle and that the dealer reimburse me for the charges I have already paid. *tr
On may 14, 2008, I brought my 2004 honda accord ex to my local honda dealer because the SRS (airbag) indicator came on and remained on during operation. The dealer charged me $263 for replacing the wiring harness under the driver's seat. I believe that the repair should have been completed at no charge because there is an outstanding NHTSA recall (07v001000) that specifically refers to the SRS indicator and problems with the wiring harness for 2004 honda accord models. My service rep at the dealership said that the VIN on my car did not fall in the VIN range for the recall, but the documentation for NHTSA recall 07v001000 does not specify a range of vins for 2004 models, only for 2005 models. I am asking that the NHTSA clarify and/or expand the VIN range for 2004 honda accords to include my vehicle and that the dealer reimburse me for the charges I have already paid. *tr
Air bags: frontal:sensor/control module indicator light came on suddenly on july 22, 2008. Subsequent examination by honda dealer service department revealed that the wiring harness for the sps which was attached to the seat frame was broken. Dealer denied any responsibility, as had honda america, despite the fact that a recall announcement for this very problem was issued 1/2/2007 (NHTSA campaign number: 07v001000). They claim that my car's VIN # was not part of the recall which makes me responsible for fixing the problem. *tr
Also reported on the 2004 Honda Accord
Other powertrain problem
Complete transmission failure
Other electrical problem
Airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault
Seat belt or retractor failure
Other steering problem
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 wiring harness or short circuit happen on the 2004 Honda Accord?
Across 9 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 90,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 50,000 miles and a quarter after 95,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is wiring harness or short circuit on the 2004 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