2019 Honda Accord Hybrid: intermittent “brake system” light and on-dash warning

[Andy F]

Not sure if anybody had similar issue and has any tips on dealing with it...

I have 2019 Honda Accord Hybrid, bought in April 2019, 5K miles on odometer, gentle driving

It had under a thousand miles on it, when it showed a yellow “brake system” light on the dash as I started it in the morning, then info-system showed two messages I will post below for the second incident. Warning cleared itself in one minute, brakes were “strange/mushy” when message was present, then working fine, brake fluid level was normal, so I went to dealer and they found sound NOTHING, performed “system reset” and sent me out their door.

The second incident happened around 3.5K miles, this time after 15 miles drive, when backing up to parking area, the same things: yellow light, warnings, cleaned itself in 1 minute.
This time, I grabbed the cell phone immediately and documented what was happening:



20190717_075931.jpg3840×2160 2.82 MB

20190717_075942.jpg3840×2160 2.73 MB

Once again, brake fluid level was normal, brakes had some strange feeling and pedal was mushy, then it recovered and I drove to a DIFFERENT dealer, who once again found precious NOTHING, but then asked if I can leave the car with them overnight for the technician to drive it longer with some electronic diagnostic tools attached, which I OK-ed. Once again, it was NOTHING, but they escalated to the corporate Honda and a case was opened there, with no good resolution or any change to the vehicle.

Since Virginia Lemon Law recognizes “critical safety system failures” as a type of incident qualifying for the vehicle to be covered under the law from the first failure, and since no repairs was done and since it was a repeating issue occurrence, I notified Honda via a certified mail about all these facts and asked for the vehicle to be replaced.

By now, Honda makes a very surprised facial expression and fails to see any issues (per them, safety, use and value are not compromised at all), so I’m on the second stage, in a non-binding arbitration with NCSD, which is their arbiter of choice.