No-start or intermittent start failure on the 2013 Honda Accord
When no-start or intermittent start failure gets reported
Owners of the 2013 Honda Accord report no-start or intermittent start failure at a median of 52,500 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 40,000 miles and a quarter after 67,500 miles, from 95 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 88,000 miles. It is the 3rd most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 30,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 90,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 59,522 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A window that narrow is the signature of a part that fails on its own schedule rather than on how the car is driven — which is usually a design or supplier problem rather than wear and tear.
19% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30,000 miles | 40,000 miles | 52,031 miles | 67,500 miles | 89,522 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 $200–$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 20 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2018, at a median of 30,000 miles, and latest on the 2006 at 210,000 miles.
By volume the 2014 carries the most reports, with 147; the 2013 has 119. 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.
It's been over 2 moths and 5 visit to dealer still got same problem car is honda accord 2013 and it's smart start car won't start sometimes it takes 20 min 40-50 try to start the car lost of same year honda owners are having same exact problem you can see it in google search or youtube dealer always told us the car got no problem but were having same problem 2-3 times a day we get stuck every where we go since car does not start. *tr
I was driving s on I-55 a few miles n of west memphis. As I attempted to change lanes my steering wheel was very hard to turn. I looked all over the dash & found a small light shaped like a steering wheel on the far left of the dash. Fortunately I was near an exit and was able to get to a station. Turning in & parking was almost impossible. The owners manual said to turn car off and on. This corrected the problem and I drove the approximate 200 miles to my home. I planned to get it checked out at honda. Two days later the keyless ignition failed about ten times before finally starting. The dome lights had come on but no dash lights came on & it just beeped at me. Previously I had a low battery (listened to music too long) which failed to start but even then the dash lights lit up & flashed. It seemed like both incidents indicated an electrical or ecu problem. I drove to the dealership and reported the problem. I was told they would have to recreate the incidents. They have had my car 3 1/2 days with no word. I finally called today. Was told they couldn't recreate it so couldn't do anything! I told them I didn't feel safe driving…
I have a honda accord 2013 (just 2 years old) with 59209 miles on it. Car sometimes clicks and will not start. Sometime it will start after about 5 to 10 tries, or waiting for a while. Sometimes the car starts fine on the first try. I talked to honda of america on 7/20/2015 and they said it might be the starter or ignition going bad and should be covered under the 5 year/60k power train warranty. I took it to the dealer yesterday and they diagnosed it to the starter motor and replaced it and said that it is not covered under the power train warranty. I then talked to honda and they said that they are sorry for the misinformation I received and it is not covered under the power train warranty. The new car warranty is covered only by the 3 yr/36k which ever comes first. The car is only 2 years old and the starter motor shouldn't go bad.
Also reported on the 2013 Honda Accord
Other steering problem
Other electrical problem
Other engine problem
ABS module or sensor failure
Steering rack, gear or tie rod failure
Other body or interior problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 119 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 no-start or intermittent start failure happen on the 2013 Honda Accord?
Across 95 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 52,500 miles. A quarter were filed before 40,000 miles and a quarter after 67,500 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is no-start or intermittent start failure on the 2013 Honda Accord?
119 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.4 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