Headlight failure or clouding on the 2014 Honda Accord
When headlight failure or clouding gets reported
Owners of the 2014 Honda Accord report headlight failure or clouding at a median of 100 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 33 miles and a quarter after 10,000 miles, from 12 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 88,000 miles. It is the 21st most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 5 miles at the tenth percentile to 35,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 36,095 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
Reports bunched into a band this tight usually mean the component has a life of its own: it goes at roughly the same mileage regardless of who owns it.
75% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 miles | 33 miles | 51 miles | 10,150 miles | 36,100 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
Putting it right typically runs $150–$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 15 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2008, at a median of 33 miles, and latest on the 1999 at 140,000 miles.
By volume the 2016 carries the most reports, with 60; the 2014 has 13. 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.
Second day I had the vehicle I was driving at night and had no issues on the highway but turning onto a rural highway with no lights I found that the visibility thru the windshield was relegated to the bottom third. The rest of the windshield appeared dark and almost impossible to see thru. I contacted the dealer and returned the vehicle and was told that what I encountered was normal because honda uses a look down headlight system, in fact the service manager said his wife only drove with the brites on in dark areas because she could not see thru the windshield. I said this was unacceptable and the service manager said he could try to mitigate the effects by raising the headlight adjustment, but he warned me that at some point the headlights might blind oncoming traffic. He raised the level of the lights and I then inspected the results later that night. I found that I had almost half of the windshield clear and the rest was shaded very dark. I believe that this is a safety defect in this vehicle and I have asked the dealer to make repairs. So far there seems to be no repair available. I drive a lot on these back roads and I hope…
Second day I had the vehicle I was driving at night and had no issues on the highway but turning onto a rural highway with no lights I found that the visibility thru the windshield was relegated to the bottom third. The rest of the windshield appeared dark and almost impossible to see thru. I contacted the dealer and returned the vehicle and was told that what I encountered was normal because honda uses a look down headlight system, in fact the service manager said his wife only drove with the brites on in dark areas because she could not see thru the windshield. I said this was unacceptable and the service manager said he could try to mitigate the effects by raising the headlight adjustment, but he warned me that at some point the headlights might blind oncoming traffic. He raised the level of the lights and I then inspected the results later that night. I found that I had almost half of the windshield clear and the rest was shaded very dark. I believe that this is a safety defect in this vehicle and I have asked the dealer to make repairs. So far there seems to be no repair available. I drive a lot on these back roads and I hope…
Just purchased my 2014 honda accord lx. I live in a rural area with many small hills. While driving home I noticed the low beam headlights seem to be out of focus, not illuminating objects on the side of the road within 25 feet from the vehicle, nor can you see street signs within that distance. Worse, when going up and down the small hills the roadway visibility changes rapidly depending on the angle of the car, often dropping the visibility to a scary 10-50 feet at 55 MPH. Yes, you can use you high beams to help "if conditions permit". Nevertheless, when this happens it is very unnerving and undoubtedly unsafe! I did notify honda america and open a case #n012014-08-2801669, however, I was informed that nothing could be done, as that was the design of the headlights. This is very unsafe and needs to be addressed quickly!!!! *tr
Also reported on the 2014 Honda Accord
Other electrical problem
No-start or intermittent start failure
ABS module or sensor failure
Other engine problem
Other steering problem
Other body or interior problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 13 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 headlight failure or clouding happen on the 2014 Honda Accord?
Across 12 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 100 miles. A quarter were filed before 33 miles and a quarter after 10,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is headlight failure or clouding on the 2014 Honda Accord?
13 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