I purchased my first Honda in August 2008, and I'm at my wits end! Within 3 months, and less than 1,200 miles, the front brakes were replaced! I figured it was just a freak thing. I have now owned the car for 10 months, my current mileage is 8,310, and the rear brakes are screeching horribly. I brought the car to the dealer for service and they said there's a known issue with the breaks and it's not a "safety issue" so there was nothing they could do. They suggested I contact Honda directly, which I did. I was given a case number and spoke to several Honda reps to no avail. I contacted the dealer again and spoke to both the sales manager, and the service director and still they said there is absolutley nothing they can do to fix the problem. I requested a copy of my service record. I will follow the advise of both #239 and #236. The situation is completely unacceptable and yes, shame on Honda!

Add my name to the list. I have had my 2008 Accord for a year and a half and it needs new rear brakes already! My '97 Accord had its brakes done once in 10 years. At this rate the 2008 will need 6 brake jobs over the same 10 year period. I will contact Honda today (I live in Canada) and post whatever their response is.

Update from Jun 20, 2009: I took the car into a local Honda dealership and got the usual "Brakes aren't covered under warranty" "It's the way you drive" etc. I referred them to this site. They fixed the brakes under warranty. When I asked if it was a secret warranty or a call back all they would say is "We decided to give you the benefit of the doubt" which is a non-answer. I was just happy to not have to pay. I'm still concerned though. What will they say next time?

Update from Jan 8, 2011: Now at just under 33,000 miles (52,663 km) the rear brakes need doing again. The first time they reluctantly agreed to fix them for free. About 6 months later I received a letter from Honda Canada saying that while it was NOT a hidden warranty or anything they would reimburse people with early brake wear. Not sure if this will hold true for the second time around. I will have to see.

I too had the screeching sound of the metal brake wear indicator and took my Accord in for its 15k service. The dealer said the rear brakes were worn and needed to be immediately replaced. The "good news" was they would split the cost with me, so I only had to pay $78. I was still pissed. They said they've seen brakes wear out less than 12k and last over 30k. I told him one of the reasons I lease is to not have to deal with the major repairs. I plan to contact Honda corporate and get reimbursed for the out of pocket cost.

Just had rear brake pads replaced on my 2008 Honda Accord. I do drive a lot but I believe the premature wear is due to a defective brake system. My front pads still had plenty of life in them. I explained to the technician that I was hearing a loud noise from the passenger side front wheel. He guaranteed me that it was actual a sensor on the rear brakes and that the pads needed to be replaced. Apparently he has been changing tons of rear brake pads on the 08 model Accords. This was a $230 fix and if the new pads require changing in the next 30,000 miles I am going to boycott Honda and stick with Toyota! In fact we are shopping for a new vehicle for my wife and this is enough to make me not even consider a Honda.

Like most, my rear brakes went out at around 20,000 miles. For me, that was about 6 months into ownership. From what I have researched, it was a combination of a heavier Accord and Honda using softer pads. At the time I replaced them, I could only buy OEM, as the after markets were not being produced. I now have over 54,000, so I’ve gotten over 34,000 on the replacement pads. It is unusual for rear pads to go out before the fronts, but replacement costs are minimal as long as you take it someplace besides the dealership. Or better yet, replace the pads yourself.

Add me to the every growing list of unhappy Honda customers. I have owned 8 Hondas over the years. Most recently the 2008 Accord. The car began making a grinding noise a week or so ago, my husband rode in it and said it sounded like the brakes. How could that be the car had 26,000 miles on it!!. Sadly it was true. So I took it to Mike Patton Honda for service, since I always use them for dealer work. They said the back brakes needed to be replaced and the rotors turned. The cost would be about $250.00. What I could not believe they were not covering under warranty, no they told me the brakes were only covered for 12,000 miles. What a crock of S**T. The car is still new, just a year old. I did not buy it to have to replace brakes every year. If I wanted to do that I would have bought a Junker. The most disappointing part was that neither the dealer nor American Honda would make it good. Finially after I PITCHED ONE the service manager came back and told me the rotors were OK and that they could replace the brake pads for $147.00. What was the truth? Brakes and rotor or just the brake pads? At this point I lost all confidence in them. But they did get their freakin' brake job. I hope it is worth it Honda you have lost a loyal customer of over 20 years. P.S. I'm really loving my new 2009 TOYOTA CAMRY.

Sign me up with the other frustrated and agitated Honda Accord owners requiring new brakes when the car is essentially brand new. I owned a 2003 Civic prior to purchasing this Accord and seldom had car repairs. With the sterling reputation Honda has, am surprised this model has not been recalled. Considering today's economy and people extremely worried about finances, you would hope Honda would do the right thing and investigate all the negative press this site is receiving regarding premature brake erosion. When I called my local dealer,was bounced between the Sales and Service dept, more or less told me to contact Honda America directly. This in my view is not effective customer satisfaction. This is an outrage to require brakes and rotors being replaced with such low mileage. SHAME ON YOU HONDA!

I have 21,000 miles on my 2008 Honda Accord - just took it in to replace the back brakes - $209! At least 3 other people in the waiting had the same problem with the same miles. Dealer said with the 2008 model they changed with the braking system so the main braking is done by the back brakes to avoid forward pitch - instead of the front brakes as before. They try to tell you it wore out early because of the way you drive or use the ebrake. I had 40% life left on the front pads. This will get expensive having to replace the back brakes every year and probably the front pads every year and a half!

This site is really helpful! After hearing everyone tell me I ride my brakes I have proof that it's not me. I got my Accord in May of 08. It was an excellent car...at first. alot of my friends had Honda's and would rant and rave about how great they were on gas and they never had to spend money of fixing them. I believed that until 6months after buying my car I noticed a horrible screeching noise coming from my rear wheels.I took my car to the Honda dealership and come to find out, they don't cover brake issues with their warranty. I then went to Brakeway who charged me $100 to have my Brakes replaced. It is now May of 09' an exact year of having my car and 6 months from having my brakes replaced and it is needed again. I feel this is absolutely ridiculous, the only reason I bought a Honda is because they were supposed to be reliable. HAHA! I called the dealership again it took them days to even return my call. They acted as if they had never heard of the problem and it was "My Fault" because I "Ride my brakes." Once again they were no help. I feel that if Honda has such a good rep for their cars they should have a reliable warranty to back them up. I will never buy another Honda and hope they soon realize this is a serious problem that need to be addressed. I have contacted the BBB and feel that maybe the only way this may be resolved.

I found out during my first inspection that my rear brakes need to be replaced. Further, the dealer recomended that I have the brake disk sanded off. I was p-off as my car is barely a year old and has 22K miles. And it's only the rear branks that need change . . . the front will need to soon, per dealer. The last 2 weeks I had noticed that when I apply breaks at high speed there is a rithmyc bumping and even shaking. Once in a while when I hit the breaks a bit harded then normal I even hear a metal grind noise, but allways thought it was the anti lock breaks, not sure why. Now I'm finding that others are having the same issues.

Honda should defenetive recall the breaks in the car. These will lead to safety issues if ignored.

I am number 200+ adding to the complaint that the 2008 Honda Accord brake system is defective and unsafe. The rear pads are totally shot at 21,000 miles. The dealer wanted $345 to replace pads and turn rotors.

Honda has not established (or at least not released) the engineering/root cause of the problem which others have begun to identify. #174 below is correctly on the path with the analysis: "Possible causes could be emergency brake adjustment, undersized calipers or pad material that is too soft, electronic brake distribution system, "vehicle stability assist with traction control" or the ABS system. With exception to the emergency brake adjustment, the other systems selectively brake individual wheels to achieve the design goals of that system. A malfunction of, or design flaw in, any of those systems could potentially cause the rear brakes to be used more than normal. A defective caliper seems unlikely because both rears would have to be defective to cause this problem. "

Recall seems more than in order. I filed with the Better Business Bureau https://odr.bbb.org/odrweb/public/getstarted.aspx

Also, I am calling the Honda number now 1-800-999-1009, and am not giving up without a tracking number.

I will also send a copy of this webpage content in text format to

American Honda Motor Co., Inc. Honda Automobile Customer Service 1919 Torrance Boulevard Mail Stop: 500 - 2N - 7D Torrance, CA 90501-2746

Recommend all you new and old viewers do the same to keep the recall potential going.

Dropped off car this morning for 20k mile service (oil change, rotate tires, inspect brakes, top off fluids). Dealer just called to inform me of rear brake wear, rear brakes down to 2mm while front brakes have 8mm. I asked why, they said no mechanical issues with the brakes, just normal wear-and-tear, but they had no explanation how rear brakes wear faster than front brakes on a front-wheel drive car that is 90% highway driven with at most one passenger other than driver at any time and no cargo load in trunk. They are covering machining rotors and labor under the standard warranty, I get to pay on $75 dollars for the pads.

Sounds like I have a similar issue as the rest, except my 08 accord has about 6500 miles on it. I don't ride it hard, I don't drive with the ebrake on, I've had hondas before with no brake issues at all (i basically drive 20 min to and from work 5 days a week on the freeway). dealership originally told me it was 'moisture' in the mornings on the breaks - that's funny because its getting worse and happens mid day when its 75 degrees out even after driving for 20 minutes. I'm going back to dealership again, but this time with complaint numbers from BBB, NHTSA, and Honda Corporate. Replacing the brakes every year at my expense is unacceptable

I have been having problems when applying the brakes. I had the dealer inspect them and told them about the noise also. Nothing was supposedly wrong. Until a week later, I tried to stop suddenly when a deer ran in front of me. My brakes locked up (by the way the car has ABS) and only one skid mark was on the roadway. Needless to say, because I could not stop in time, I hit the deer. Then at 15,000 miles, during a routine oil change, I was told that my car needed the back brakes replaced. This FRONT WHEEL drive car needed new back brakes!! Why wouldn't the front brakes wear first?

Although the brakes were replaced, I still have had problems with the brakes grinding. Also when the replaced the back brakes, I was told I needed to have the rotors resurfaced. At 15,000 miles!!!!