Braking Performance

The Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) received a defect petition requesting that it open an investigation and recall MY 2005 Honda Accord Hybrid vehicles for a possible safety defect related to braking performance. The petitioner in a defect petition letter and in a complaint filed with ODI under Vehicle Owner Questionnaire (VOQ) 10329383 alleging ineffective braking performance of the Honda Accord Hybrid vehicle while driving over rumble strips along side of the highway and simultaneously attempting to the brake. The petitioner alleges this began a chain of events, where the vehicle accelerated uncontrollably, the passenger attempted to stop the vehicle by pulling the parking brake and eventually the vehicle crossing over into traffic flowing in the opposite direction. The result was a crash fatally injuring the passenger and severely injuring the petitioner and two occupants of another vehicle. During the defect petition review, ODI analyzed complaints involving similarly equipped Honda Accord Hybrid vehicles and first and second generation Honda Civic Hybrid vehicles, reviewed data provided to ODI by Honda in response to an information request letter and performed testing of braking performance of a 2005 Honda Accord Hybrid vehicle at NHTSA's Vehicle Research and Test Center in East Liberty, Ohio. Based on this review, ODI does not believe additional investigation is likely to result in a finding that a defect related to motor vehicle safety exists. Therefore, in view of the need to allocate and prioritize NHTSA¿s limited resources to best accomplish the agency's safety mission, the petition is denied. This action does not constitute a finding by NHTSA that a safety-related defect does not exist. The agency will take further action if warranted by future circumstances. For more information, see the Federal Register notice in the DP10-004 file (www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/defects).