Mechanic

Yesterday morning I noticed an advertisement at the top of another Honda Accord board soliciting Accord owners to provide a California law firm information concerning Accord rear brake problems. Today it showed up here. Essentially, it's an attempt to recruit clients for a class action law suit. (Moderators: Please feel free to delete this post if you consider it inappropriate.)

For the benefit of those who are unfamiliar with class action law suits, the pattern is this: A plaintiffs' firm solicts potential clients for the "class" via notices in newpapers, trade journals, websites and direct "notices" mailed to vehicle owners. The firm then requests a court to "certify" (i.e. recognize) the class and name their firm to represent the class of plaintiffs. They then file a lawsuit, typically claiming millions of dollars in damages. What they really want, of course, is a financial settlement, which is supposed to be divided among the plaintiffs. The problem is that before the lawyers pay any sums to the individuals who made up the class, the law firm typically deducts enormous legal fees and all the costs associated with the suit, up to an including the postage on all correspondence sent the clients. In this manner, the firm makes a great deal of money, and the individual plaintiffs typically get mere pennies on the dollar, if that. It sounds great in the initial soliciation/notification letter (read the ad), but ultimately this sort of legal work is just a nickel shy of a scam created to benefit the lawyers involved.

MSchu

Chumming the water... my brakes are fine

Katana Pilot

And I'm sure your headlights don't dim, nothing rattles, your leather isn't wearing out, your steering wheel doesn't shimmy, your paint hasn't peeled or chipped off, etc. etc.

Maybe we should all get together, drink the Honda Kool-Aid and sing Kum Bay Ya.

honeygee2

I'll drink to that!

ReDemoN

Listen brake pads are a "Wear Item" and thats it.
Depending on how you use your brakes depends on when you will need to replace them.
Dont be mad cause you have to put pads on at 20k and you drive the living hell out of the car.
If your easy on your car it will be easy on your wallet plain and simple.
Just be glad you dont own a BMW and have to put pads AND rotors on at 30K.

1JDMFG

Brake wear everytime you press the pedal...everyone knows this..the only way the pads are breaking is if they get too low and you dont go and get them check when you squeel incator starts screaming in your ear or if you are a 2 footed driver who is on the brakes 24/7 and get everything extremly hot. This is a Croc of ****. Even if your rear break totaly failed you still would be able stop, you do have front breaks...its not like the brakelines are breaking...im with KATANA PIOLT....whos buyin?

1grex

I think its called driving with the parking brake on

1JDMFG

no when you have your parking brake on your regular pads are not engaged. The shoes inside the rear rotor are. Unless they have drum rear break which i am 99% sure they do not. I cant recall though

KidFrost

idk how many of you actually realize what is going on here...i work at a dealer and when you have a 90% of all 07- 08 accords with 7,000-10,000 miles come in for its first or second oil change or a 7250 mile service and the brake squeelers are touching already, making noise.. i dont think the customer should be responsible for a wear item at 7k.

thats like saying you should be fine with putting a new clutch in every 20k b.c. its a "wear item"

dont know that all 07 -08 accord owners will get new pads but i dont think it is right that they need to be replaced so soon ...

consitering most honda rear drum brakes average 120k miles before replacement.

just my 2 cents.. how about all you 08 crv owners putting new tires on before 15k no matter how much you rotate them

btw the rear deck has a service bulliten that fixes that real easy..

thaiphob

I just changed my pads and moved on with life. Its like $35 and 1 hour of your time. no big deal.

BLKFLSH

Why 07-08? What about 03-06? They have the same brakes as the 07. I found it odd that my rear pads needed changing before the front, but the pads lasted until 47k miles, and never squeaked, or anything else. I think a lot of people abuse their brakes, and SOME are having calliper issues.

Katana Pilot

I assume you mean the 8th Generation Accord which is 08-09?

George Knighton

Yes, that's what he means.

I think they just used too soft a compound. When owners come in to replace the brakes, considering the low expense of replacing the brakes (little labour, not much in parts), they should just replace them and send the otherwise happy owner on his way.

The class action thing is a little silly...unless Honda have some kind of universal plan in North America to deny that the brakes wearing out so early is a problem. If the brakes are really wearing out under 20K on average, everybody's complaining about it and they're not doing anything about it, then the lawyers stand a chance of getting enough people to sign up.

The Accord is a name brand that has one of the very largest followings as far as brand loyalty goes.

If somebody owns a 2009 Accord and he says the brakes are wearing out too fast, then it's entirely possible that he has gone from a 1998 Accord to a 2003 Accord to a 2009 Accord and he knows how Hondas are supposed to act.

:-)

It's not a big problem, but Honda might make it a big problem by waiting too long to issue the dealers a notice saying to just replace the damned brakes when people complain.

It's just a too soft compound.

It's not like it's a safety issue or a reliability issue.

We just expect a little better of Honda, after all these years, after knowing what they're supposed to be like.

George Knighton

https://honda-tech.com/forums/honda-accord-crosstour-2003-2012-118/2005-honda-accord-sedan-rear-brake-issue-wearing-out-fast-2334022/

It looks like G7 people asked some questions about why the rear brakes would wear out first.

The design of the rear caliper causes one brake pad to drag most of the time. It can introduce a wear issue if the rear pads are too soft a compound, or if the rear caliper was put together without lube, either initially at the factory or by a backyard mechanic or less adept mechanic.

I have never felt with my G7A that I had any particular issue with brake wear, but I admit that I thought it was unusual for my rear brakes to need replacing before the front brakes.

101,000 miles and brakes have only been replaced once. Now that I think of it, I believe I'm on the original rotors.

George Knighton

The other Accord, a G7A 6-6 Sedan with about 120,000 miles has also had its brakes replaced only once (just checked).

Texting with somebody who works at one of the highest volume Honda dealerships on the east coast, he says that they're replacing most rear brakes free of charge. If you come in with worn rear brakes under 20K miles, it's likely to be free with them.

honeygee2

Your right about the G7 people complaing but there are only 30 posts on that thread as opposed to literally hundreds on this forum and others about the brakes., not counting NHTSA. This problem is inherent to the G8 design and honda will not attempt an engineering fix. Same as the headlights. Once honda admits that there is a problem it will cost them millions upon millions to recall the cars and fix them.

George Knighton

Well... The dragging pad single-side pressure rear caliper is what almost everybody is using on their rear rotors.

I don't think it is an engineering fix as much as it is a simple recognition that either the compound is too soft or the calipers weren't lubricated correctly at the assembly point.

I do not see how we could reasonably expect them to have another kind of rear caliper design, because of the basic economy car nature of the Accord. Almost everybody making cheap and mid range cars is going to use this kind of caliper design...and I think if you give me a bit of time I could find them on some very expensive cars, including rather late model Porsche and Mercedes.

Honda should make a decision very quickly, before the lawyers get a-hold of the issue. If they take command of it, it's simply going to involve an inspection of the calipers and the application of a firmer compound.

If they wait, there's going to be hell to pay while they explain to judges and non-technical juries why it's not reasonable to redesign the calipers.

MSchu

Can you back up any of those claims with facts?

honeygee2

I already have..thats why honda gave me 25750.54.

George Knighton

Okay. It looks like Honda is allowing and reimbursing dealers for replacing rear brake pads on 2008 and 2009 cars that have to get rear brakes replaced under 20,000 miles.

If your Honda dealer doesn't know to do this, then they need to call regional to make sure they understand what is going on.

Supposedly (evidently but not apparently), the replacement brake pads are a different compound.

MSchu

yeah... they have been giving an allowance for a few months. there is nothing new in this, yet another, viral thread

George Knighton

Well, it's the first I've heard of it. Sorry.

TurboedEJ8

I have seen brakes on Accords go out at about 15k. Who's is driving these cars? Yeah, old people and people that know how to drive. If I run into someone because I am retarded, is Honda going to pay for my damages because I don't know how to drive. I have seen the rear brakes last as long as 35k which I think is still early, but that is the way the car is. It has aggressive braking to stop quicker. So sue Honda so you can have shitty brake pads that will last longer, but don't complain when you can't stop.

briq4

I've always found it interesting that my 93 Accord EX 4 Cylinder, had the exact same rear brake pads as my mom's 98 Accord EX V-6, and she now has an 04 EX V-6 and yup same size pads, are the current generation pads the same size? Becuase if I'm not mistaken the weight of the vehicle has gone up substantially from the 4 cylinder in 93 but yet, the pads stay the same... I would expect them to wear out faster since they have not been resized...just an observation.

CoreyR

the diameter of the rotor is much more important to stopping power then the size of the pad.