Investigation PE86066: 1984–1986 Honda Accord

Status

CLOSED

Opened

Jul 28, 1986

Closed

Nov 3, 1986

Model years

1984–1986

Subject

Sudden acceleration

Component: Vehicle speed control › Linkages

Summary

Summary of information from manufacturer:information from honda relevantto this pe was provided by letter dated 8 september and a presentation tonhtsa on 2 october.honda has issued no technical service bulletins orother notifications to dealers relating to fuel flow and delivery, throttlecontrol, or engine malfunctions that may result in unintended suddenacceleration.the affected vehicles are equipped with a carburetor designwhich, according to honda's evaluation, will not permit engine rpm toexceed a fast idle condition of 2000 rpm without driver actuation of thethrottle. Test data were provided to show that an engine speed of 2000 rpmwith the transmission in the park position would, when shifted intodrive, yield a vehicle speed of 8 mph after approximately 10 seconds.other test data were provided to support honda's position that failedengine mounts would not contribute to sudden vehicle acceleration asalleged in this pe.analysis:the following are considered significant observations and/oranalytical assessments of the facts in this pe file: othe alleged incidents are similar to those from other pe/ea filesin that they tend to emphasize occurrence of the phenomenon whenthe transmission is shifted from park into another gear. Oa high percentage of the reported occurrences also involveaccidents,but the relatively low percentage of injury accidentssuggests that most are low speed collisions. Ohonda has not identified, and odi's analyses have not discovered,a trend of mechanical or electrical component failure with acausal relationship to the alleged occurrences.in addition to the above, analysis of the rates of alleged incidents,accidents, and injury accidents with respect to the total vehiclepopulation of 746,000, shows that the honda accord compares favorablyto other vehicles reported to have experienced similar occurrences.this analysis, together with other information acquired, shows that nodefect trend exists to justify continuation of investigative activity.proposed action:close this preliminary evaluation.===

An NHTSA investigation looks into whether a safety defect exists. Opening one is not a finding. Outcomes can include a recall, closure without action, or further inquiry.

Model years covered

• 1986 Honda Accord54 complaints
• 1985 Honda Accord13 complaints
• 1984 Honda Accord22 complaints