2022 Honda Accord: What to check before buying

The touchscreen registers ghost touches. It switches audio sources, exits navigation, opens menus, places phone calls, and ignores real input while driving. Dealer screen replacements often fail to fix it, and dealers say Honda has no fix. A frozen screen also blocks tasks routed through it, such as tire pressure sensor calibration. A second pattern involves misfires, a flood of dashboard warnings, and limp mode that drops the car to 20 mph, sometimes on the interstate. One crash with 2 injuries followed a stutter while the car pulled into an intersection.

Automatic emergency braking clamps down hard with nothing ahead. Reports cover speeds from 30 mph up to highway speed, usually with only a brake warning or BRAKING message at the moment it happens. Lane changes, merges, rain, and snow come up often. Two complaints describe rear-end crashes after the car stopped on its own, and many more describe near misses. Dealers usually find no stored codes and offer no fix. Switching the system off does not last, because it turns back on at restart. Some cars also show intermittent radar obstructed errors that disable adaptive cruise.

Head gasket failures and cracked cylinder heads make up most of these complaints. Symptoms include a sudden engine temperature warning, coolant leaking near the exhaust manifold, white smoke, misfires, and loss of power while driving, often with no earlier warning. One hybrid failed at about 93,500 miles, with a repair quote over $4,000. Other reports cover cylinder 1 misfires, stalling at highway speed with several warning lights on, and a VTC replacement. Overheating or losing power in fast traffic creates real crash risk.

Brakes fail to respond in the most serious reports, which include crashes into a wall and through a busy intersection, with one injury. A related pattern shows the brake system light alongside a long list of driver-assist warnings, sometimes leaving the car unable to start. Dealers often reset the codes and find nothing. A milder but common issue is loud squealing or grinding from the rear brakes in reverse, worse in humid, wet, or cold weather, starting within the first year. False automatic braking at highway speed also shows up here.

The wheel turns sticky or stiff, needs extra force to correct, or fails to return to center in one direction. Some cars click when turning at low speed or at a stop. Dealers often cannot duplicate it at first, then blame the steering rack or a failed electric power steering module with no repair available. One module failure came at 24,686 miles, and sticky steering tends to worsen over time. Other complaints cover steering and brake warnings that light up together while speed is limited, rusty rear control arm bushings, and shuffling on concrete highways.

Reports split between unintended acceleration and sudden loss of power. Some describe the car speeding up on its own, including running past the cruise control set speed on the interstate and surging in a parking area before a crash. Others describe a blinking check engine light, a misfire code, and limp mode that cuts highway speed to 20 mph. Dealers often cannot reproduce either problem. The rest cover aggressive false automatic braking and clusters of traction control and system warnings, especially on cold starts.

Lane keeping assist steers when the car is already centered, and in some cases it jerks the wheel toward the road edge. Several complaints pair this with sudden automatic braking lasting 1 to 2 seconds during lane changes, off-ramps, and open highway driving with nothing nearby. Problems start early, within the first weeks or months of ownership. Dealers test the system and find nothing wrong. No crashes are reported, but unexpected steering and braking inputs at highway speed carry clear loss-of-control risk.

Tire pressure problems keep coming back, with slow leaks, repeated service visits, and in one case a flat with no sensor warning. Other reports describe sudden failures: tread separation at highway speed on a factory Michelin tire around 1,200 miles, and a tire cut all the way around near the rim. These failures happen early in ownership. Tread separation at speed carries crash risk. Some complaints are about tire shop work rather than the car itself.