Honda Trails Only Toyota in NHTSA Braking Complaints

Honda Trails Only Toyota in NHTSA Braking Complaints

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration yesterday said it will consider a request for the agency to investigate complaints about braking for 2005-model Honda Accord Hybrid and Civic Hybrid models, while NHTSA data analyzed by Edmunds.com indicates that since 2005, Honda has trailed only Toyota Motor Corp. in the number of braking-related complaints to NHTSA.

The incidence of braking-related complaints to NHTSA appears to be outsized for Honda, because while the company is second only to Toyota in the number of braking-related complaints per 100,000 vehicles, since 2005 Honda has the lowest number of overall complaints per 100,000 vehicles among seven largest-selling automakers.

The NHTSA said yesterday it is considering opening an investigation of the Honda hybrid vehicles after a complaint was registered by the driver of a 2005 Accord Hybrid who was in a 2005 crash that involved fatalities and allegedly left the driver disabled. The complaint says that after attempting to brake on highway rumble strips, the brakes were ineffective and the Accord Hybrid accelerated uncontrollably and entered oncoming traffic.

Honda Braking Complaints Exceed All But Toyota

Although Edmunds.com data analysts point out that the aggregate number of braking complaints in the NHTSA database for all automakers' hybrid vehicles is small, Honda's number of total braking complaints of 15 per 100,000 vehicles, for the 2005-2010 model years is second to Toyota, which thanks to the recent spate of unintended-acceleration complaints, has surged to 26 braking-related complaints per 100,000 vehicles.

Toyota's hybrid-related braking complaints also are the industry's largest, by far, because its Prius was involved in a variety of unintended-acceleration-related recalls. The Prius has by a vast margin been the industry's best-selling hybrid vehicle for a decade.

Edmunds.com analysts said braking-related complaints make up about 12 percent of total complaints recorded by NHTSA for the major automakers in the 6-year period encompassing the 2005-2010 model years.

For Honda, its number of total braking-related complaints well exceeds that of the rest of the Big 7 automakers, most of which sell many more vehicles each year than Honda. It total complaints to NHTSA, however, remains the lowest among the Big 7 automakers at just 63 per 100,000 vehicles, while Toyota, Nissan, Chrysler and General Motors all are in excess of 100 complaints per 100,000 vehicles.

Edmunds.com has a comprehensive new analysis, updated monthly, that reports the latest activity in the NHTSA complaints database.

Photo of 2005 Accord Hybrid by Honda

Bill Visnic:  is an AutoObserver Senior Editor. Follow @AutoObserver on Twitter