Honda makes some of the best cars on the market for the average person. Honda models like the Accord are generally well-liked because they’re reliable, affordable, and more often than not, really practical. That said, Honda is not perfect, and the 2009 Honda Accord didn’t seem to learn many lessons from the worst Accord model year.

The 2008 Honda Accord was the worst model years

According to Car Complaints, the 2008 Accord had, by far, the most complaints of all Accord model years. The 2008 Accord has over 2,400 complaints on Car Complaints, and that is about 50 percent more complaints than the second-most complained about model year, which is the 2003 Accord. That model year has over 1,600 complaints, in comparison.

The 2008 Accord had many issues, and Car Complaints even gave it the “Avoid Like The Plague” badge. The 2009 Accord, on the other hand, had significantly fewer complaints than the 2008 Accord had as it had just under 1,000 complaints. That said, Car Complaints still gave the 2009 Accord the “Beware Of The Clunker” badge since many of its most common issues were also found in the 2008 Accord. 

The 2008 Accord’s main issues

The most common issue on the 2008 Accord had to do with its brakes, and this wasn’t an uncommon issue on the Accord in general. Many 2008 Accord owners reported that their brakes were wearing down faster than normal. Owners suffered these issues after putting about 26,000 miles on their Accord, but they were frequent issues too.

It cost on average $230 to replace those brakes, but many owners reported having to replace their brakes constantly. As a result, Car Complaints said that this was a “pretty bad” problem.

The second most common issue on the 2008 Accord had to do with its engine. For some reason, the 2008 Accord’s engine would eat up more oil than it should. This started happening after owners had logged about 67,000 miles on their Accord, but it was a costly problem to fix. That’s because many owners bought more oil to refill their cars, but then, when they finally diagnosed this issue, they had to pay a lot of money for a fix.

On average, Car Complaints said that this problem cost about $1,300 to fix. As a result, Car Complaints also said that this was a “pretty bad” problem.

The 2009 Honda Accord suffered the same main issues

The Honda Accord is typically considered as the best Honda on the road, but that wasn’t true for these two model years. Sure, the 2009 Accord did have fewer issues overall than the 2008 Accord, but the two most significant issues still stuck around, according to Car Complaints.

Premature brake wear was still the most common issue for the 2009 Accord, and its statistics were relatively similar to those of the 2008 Accord. The average mileage on these 2009 Accords was about 29,000 miles, and the average cost of repairs was about $290. Once again, these brakes needed to be replaced constantly. As a result, Car Complaints said that this issue was still “pretty bad.” 

Similarly, excessive oil consumption was still a common issue on the 2009 Accord. And, just like the 2008 Accord, the statistics were about the same. Owners started experiencing this issue with about 72,000 miles on their odometer, and it cost them about $1,000 to fix. Car Complaints also said that this issue was still “pretty bad.” 

The fact that these two major issues weren’t fixed between the 2008 and 2009 model years probably means that they were hard for Honda to fix. That said, Honda eventually did fix them, and now, the Accord is rightfully one of the best cars on the market today.