CarComplaints.com Notes: The 1999 Honda Accord suffers from widespread transmission failure, subframe rust, engine shuts off while driving, & peeling paint. We recommend avoiding this model year like the plague.
The transmission begins slipping & eventually has to be replaced, typically soon after 100,000 miles & with a repair cost of over $2,000.
Subframe rust near the front passenger side wheel has become a problem recently, due to the poorly positioned A/C drain hose directly above that area. Repair cost to the subframe is over $2,000.
Engine stalling while driving in the 1999 Accord is typically caused by a defective ignition switch -- inexpensive to repair (under $200) but dangerous.
Peeling paint has also been an issue for these Accords. Most of the complaints are with darker paint colors -- especially green & blue.
Inherited the 1999 Honda Accord LX with 154,000 miles from my mother. In Aug. of 2019 the engine would shut off randomly. Sometimes at highway speeds, in traffic at 65 mph, sometimes it would not start after sitting, sometimes at low speeds. Our Mechanic could not find any problems, the dealer said the electronic portion of the ignition switch recall has been done. This is a safety hazard, especially at highway speeds in heavy traffic.
I am the original owner of the 1999 Honda Accord LX. In summer 2015, around 119,000 miles, vehicle began stalled in parking lot, traffic lights at times. Brought to dealership and was told they could not duplicate the failure. The next day almost had crashes due to stalling several times while driving. Brought it back to dealership and another mechanic just juggled the car keys and then the engine cuts off. Dealership replaced the ignition switch and the problem solved but I had to pay for the repair. Honda should tell the world about this major safety failure.
PS. My dealership and Honda HQ told me that my VIN indicated the car was not part of the ignition recall. Go figured !.
AROUND AUGUST WAS RUNNING ERRANDS AND TURNED VEHICLE OFF AND WHEN CAME OUT TO START CAR WOULD NOT START. SO DRIVING THE CAR LESS NOT LETTING IT GET TO WARM TO AVOID THIS PROBLEM. FINALLY DID RESEARCH AND EVERYONE RECOMMENDS TO REPLACE MAIN RELAY. DID THAT, DROVE THE CAR AROUND FOR A WHILE, CAME BACK HOME AND FREAKING CAR WOULD NOT START AGAIN, SO PISSED, ANY OTHER RECOMMENDATIONS. I'm so close and junking this car.
My 99 Honda Accord LX was recalled for a faulty ignition switch in 2002. Two days after I received the recall notice, the car died on me in the middle of the freeway during rush hour traffic and had to be towed to the Honda dealer. They performed the recall, which fixed my concern, but would NOT cover the towing cost. I was livid as the expense was due to their FAILED RECALL PART! The dealer refused repeatedly to reimburse me for the towing expense and when I contacted Honda customer service, they specifically stated they do not cover towing expenses, only the recalled part and labor. Honda is the ONLY manufacturer who will NOT pay towing expenses for failed components that are recalled! I paid the towing expense although it burned my ass to do so.
Now the recalled ignition switch has failed again and guess what? Honda refuses to do anything about it even though they told me they can see where I had the recall performed. It was performed at Freeman Honda, Dallas Tx by the way.
First they refused to stand behind their piece of crap transmission and now they are refusing to stand behind another failed ignition switch that they recalled in the first place. Their customer service blows and I have purchased my one and ONLY Honda product! I understand that over time parts will fail and that car repairs are just part of owning a car. My problem is I'm paying out of pocket for KNOWN product issues!!
I bought my Honda Accord last year. Once it reached the 110,000 miles, my car is giving me tons of headaches. It stalls when and where ever it wants. This is especially very dangerous when driving on fast narrow lane with no shoulder. Since July 15, I started taking my car to the dealership, yet they could not diagnose the problem. I had taken to 3 other local shop mechanics and they all gave me different answers. So what I did was replacing timing belt, spark plugs, ignition wires, distributor cap, the ignition coil, the cali-exhausted pipe, and battery and I am still having stalling issues. I took it back to Honda dealership and they said i need to change the tranny which will cost me another $2500. I am very confused and have nightmare about this. This is the only car I own and it's very difficult to support a working family.
- Phou X.,
Saint Paul, MN, US
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I am having the same issue where my car randomly decides not to start. It has happened to me both when the car is in use and first thing in the morning. Weather makes no difference in mine. Either I stop somewhere and then get back in and it decides to "rest." I have to wait about 5-10 minutes and then it eventually "catches" again. Or, I get in first thing in the morning when I am about to go to work and it fails to engage which is always fun. The first time it happened I thought it was a dead battery and called AAA out for a jump. That got it moving, I replaced my battery, but now who knows if I needed any of that. I have also noticed since that the battery is fine since all my dashboard lights work, the windows work and the radio comes on. When I go to the mechanic, they cannot find what is going on bc they need to see the car when it is stalled because of the position of the starter. Well, with it stalled I obviously can't bring it in unless I tow it there. So we decided I would replace the starter when I get the chance, but after looking here I think I'll try the relay switch first. My ignition switch was already replaced under recall in 2005 by Honda so it better have nothing to do with that. Call Honda corporate at 800-999-1009 to see if you have the same recall on yours. There IS a recall for for the ignition switch THAT CAUSES THE ENGINE TO STALL WITHOUT WARNING but I was told my exact car did not qualify as it does not fall under the specific lot where that defective part was used. Ha! I beg to differ...
Similar to others in this category, except that car fails to start only when green "key" light on dashboard fails to come on. ALWAYS TURNS OVER. Acts like a key recognition problem, but is very intermittent and seems to occur more often in hot weather. Always starts first time each day, but will fail sometimes later after being off briefly. Dealer has no idea - they say they tightened connections to ignition switch, but observed no problem. Usually, jiggling the steering wheel gets the dashboard light on, but not when the vehicle has stalled. After stalling, it's a long wait before it will start again, and it only starts after the light finally comes on. Removing and re-inserting key has no effect.
my 99 accord coupe had a starter installed in the car in November 06, but when i would turn off the car after driving short or longer trips, it wouldn't start immediately. i read about Honda s not turning on when hot out, and the main relay was the problem. but in my car it also occurred when it wasn't that hot out either. i had a mechanic in a minute pull out the old main relay and put in the new one and haven't had the problem ever since. it is now dec. 2008.
The ignition switch problems with Honda's are well enough documented to warrant another NTSA action. This model year and others have had the switch recalled due to transmission related issues, however this switch had been recalled in 2002 and mine had been replaced in 2003-4 at about 60,000 miles. Initially, the problem was a difficulty in starting when the car was left in the sun and was very hot (after not having been run). I then started having intermittent electrical system cut outs while driving when increased in frequency over time. Once every few months became once every few miles when on a cross country tip, my Accord cut out on 40 West going 80! I wound up marooned in the desert 15 miles from Flagstaff with a smoking dashboard! The overnight, tow and service cost me well over $400. NOW... 5 weeks and 1000 miles later, I am experiencing the same symptoms with the new switch!
New Honda Ignition switch. With less than 5 weeks and 1000 miles on this new switch, a problem which is well documented on the internet as generally appearing in the 50-75k mile range, is plaguing my new switch. After putting my life at risk with this faulty and poorly engineered part, the new switch is starting to show signs of failure. I am contemplating starting a class action suit to force government action from Honda.
On request from J.A.W. , I am providing an update. I now have 152,000 miles on the car and I am $500 poorer. What ultimately happened was that the replaced switched didn't entirely solve the problem. On a good guess from the Honda service tech who wrote up the repeat complaint, he suggested that he had heard of an obscure problem where the master relay/switch could be cracked and the excessive heat of leaving the car in the sun triggers it. For $116 I had that part replaced and it cured the problem!!!! Ok so I should be happy that they found the problem, even it it cost $500 bucks before I spent the $116 I actually needed to spend. The problem is that after all the insults to the electrical system as a result of this faulty part, I had to replace my alternator (only had 50k on it) and a battery that was only 6 months old plus some other stuff that cost me an additional $370.
The car won't start in tot weather or if the car stay in the sun for a little while (30 mins), after almost 8 months of bringing the car to the mechanic (at least 5 times and different mechanics), now it's fixed, the last time it happened I noticed that the gauges in the dash did't work too (gas,temperature, etc.) and the switch was in the on position, so the mechanic change a cable from the switch (the one you put your key on to start the car), there are several cables in one, if you need a picture of this cable, send me an email
there should also be a recall on that. no one likes being stranded some where until the car or weather cools down how freaking embarrassing especially since i drive a "honda" and the dealership couldn't even tell me what was wrong with it. DUMB ASSES!
I was never able to correlate the problem to hot weather. It seemed that the car would malfunction in any weather, intermittently. First it started off with fluctuating RPMs while cold. That was the Idle Control Valve (IAC). I took care of that. Then the car started dying when I was stopping of slowing down. Then the car died completely while I was driving full speed on the freeway, with no advance notice and no engine check light. That was very scary. All other electrical was working but I could not restart the car for about 5 minutes. This problem began getting worse during the course of one year. The car began to die on the freeway and at slower speeds. Once it dies, I cannot restart it (engine turns but no spark). Also, once the car dies I cannot switch from Park to Drive while ignition is in the ON position, which I am able to do otherwise when the car is fine.
Today I turned on my engine and it fired right up, all electrical was working. Dashboard was completely off and I was not able to switch out of Park at all. After taking the car in to a few dealers and private shops, I'm about to give up, or even sue Honda for making a lemon and not being able to diagnose or fix the problem. All recalls were done on the car.
For about 2 years, there has been some sort of short on the panel -- light for A/C, heat etc. often will not appear, esp. in summer for A/C so car does not cool as it should. Now, it dies in traffic. Not a battery problem. Not sure what to do about it.
Intermittent problem with the car. Happens when the outside temperature is hot. So far, has started after 5-30 minutes of sitting after trying to start it initially. Mechanic friend thinks it is a bad ignition module but am not sure; another thought possibly a vapor problem. Started last year around June. Happens when parked in the sun. Anyone know of a cure?
I have a 1999 Honda Accord LX coupe. For over a year now, I have been having the following problems:
1. Inititially, the problem started with my car simply not restarting after I drove it for a little while. For example, if I was running errands, then shut my car off to get the mail. When I returned to my car like 1 minute later, it would not restart and it would take like 5-15 minutes before restarting. This began as an intermittent problem.
2. The problem then progressed to my car stalling while I was stopped at a red light or slowing down.
3. Now, the car actually stalls in the middle of the road WHILE I AM DRIVING straight ahead, for example. Then it won't restart for 10-30 minutes.
I notice it acts up more when it's really hot out here (over 95+ degrees).
I have taken it to get repaired SO many times... first to the Honda dealer, twice. They said they "could not duplicate". I then got it towed on 2 occasions to a non-dealer, who referred me back to the dealer. I then went to another Honda dealer who was SO confident they would be able to fix it. They didn't and then told me I needed a whole new computer for my car at a whopping $1260. I declined further service from them b/c I don't think that was right. I then went to another non-dealer who replaced 2 more things. That didn't work, and they are refusing to refund me the $600 I spent to "fix" the car. So far, the following items have been replaced and none of these "fixes" have fixed the problem.
1. Ignition switch
2. Immobilizer system
3. Ignition Module Control
4. Coil pack
I've read on other forums that the "main relay" may be the cause. What does the main relay do? Does anyone else have any other ideas? I will have to sell my car if I can't fix this soon! I am wondering if there are TWO different things causing each of these problems or if there is ONE thing causing both of these. Thank you so much for any wise words of Honda wisdom!
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
Inherited the 1999 Honda Accord LX with 154,000 miles from my mother. In Aug. of 2019 the engine would shut off randomly. Sometimes at highway speeds, in traffic at 65 mph, sometimes it would not start after sitting, sometimes at low speeds. Our Mechanic could not find any problems, the dealer said the electronic portion of the ignition switch recall has been done. This is a safety hazard, especially at highway speeds in heavy traffic.
- Roger G., Crown Point, US