Same problem 2003 Accord EX with no lights on the radio and clock. I can't believe Honda does not have a recall issue for this problem.

It seems ridiculous for a radio light to die in less than 3 yrs and for that problem to cost the consumer >$300 to repair a lighting issue.

Anyone found a cheaper solution to getting our radio lights to come back ON?

Any suggestions on what to do first with this faulty radio situation. Mine just went out today and I called the dealer to make an appointment to check it out. He sounded as if he knew exactly what the problem was and said the whole unit would probably have to be replaced. He asked if the car was under warranty, which it isn't, and went on to say that maybe Honda would be able to "help me out" whatever that means. I go in a couple days, but I wasn't sure if I should call Honda of America first and try to get a case number or wait and see if the dealer will try to help me out.

I think you are doing what needs to be done - keep the complaint volume up to the dealers. This particular radio clearly has a fault, corrected on subsequent models, and needs to be rectified in all 2003 Accords so equipped. I have a hunch that Honda is betting most of the cars with the defective radio will be traded off or sold before the radio fails, thus saving on general recall costs. I was lucky in that mine failed while still under warrantee.

jmrmba: Call Honda America and get a claim number. I am the second owner of my vehicle and it was out of warranty when the radio backlighting failed. Honda still replaced the radio for free. You do still need to take the car in to your dealer to have the defect confirmed. So, in the meantime keep your appointment, call Honda and let them know which dealership you are taking your vehicle to, and Honda will work with the dealership from there. In fact, my dealership called me back the day after I brought my vehicle in to have it looked at (at no cost) to schedule the repair/replacement of my radio. Honda moves very quickly once they are aware of the problem. Trying to save you some time. Good luck.

I am going to call Honda now. Thanks for the advice.

I also had a problem with my Accord this past September. I bought the car used and three months afterwards the backlight failed. I took it to a Honda dealership thinking it was a fuse but they told me I had to replace the unit for $600. I told the dealership which I bought it from (not a Honda) and they said that they would change the radio with an aftermarket radio because the asking price was too expensive. I agreed to have it replaced being that my sister was their employer and she said that the radio they were putting in was nice, NOT TRUE. When I saw my car I wanted to cry. Anyway, I recently wanted to replace it back with the original radio and I ran into this forum. I called Honda America and they were willing to change my radio. But, this is the fun part, I needed the OLD RADIO. I don't know where that radio is and I am going insane. I was very disappointed because their own dealership wasn't able to tell me this was an ongoing problem and I trust their better judgement on replacing the unit then. Had I known this, I would be a happy camper, unfortunately I am not. Does anyone have any idea what should I do or say so that I can have the radio replace. I love my accord, I just hate the radio.

The lights went out on my stereo last night. It was very odd to me... nothing made them come back on. My first though was to check a fuse, but that didn't really make sense either since I would have expected the whole radio to be out if it were some kind of fuse issue. It also seemed weird that all of the lighting (including the stereo) would be on their own isolated circuit. Well... I hopped on the ol' net think it seem just weird enough that someone else might have seen something like it and this here forum is what I found. THANK YOU ALL FOR POSTING and letting everyone know what your experience has been and what SOLUTIONS you had found. Thanks to this posting I called Honda America today and then a dealer. I took it in for about an hour this afternoon so they could officially diagnose it. They topped off the fluids, adjusted the tire pressure and (for a small charge on my request) changed the oil for me while it was there. They ordered the new radio FREE OF CHARGE and told me it would probably be here in a couple of days and that it would probably just take about an hour to switch it out once it came in. THANKS NEIL HUFFMAN HONDA OF LOUISVILLE... YOU RAWK!! :) I am the second owner of my car. I bought it used from Carmax and it is out of Honda Warranty. The dealer authorized the swap out at no change with no problem at all. AWESOME. CALL HONDA AMERICA AND CALL THE BEST HONDA DEALERSHIP IN YOUR AREA. No worries...

I called Honda USA and I worked with a Brian Kumiyama. He was adamant about me visiting a dealer first to confirm the problem. I visited a Honda dealership to have them confirm the problem. Brian contacted the dealership. Brian called me back to inform me that Honda would replace my radio at no cost to me. Honda USA would cover 100% of the cost. I need to schedule a time for the dealer to perform the replacement. The dealer will have to order a replacement radio.

I also found out that the replacement radio is the same model and brand as my existing radio. I had some concerns that this may happen again. Brian told me that the issue has been brought up to their vendor, Alpine. Alpine has made changes to this model of CD/Radio to address this issue. The replacement radio is a rev-up. Hopefully we will not be experiencing this issue in the near future.

I have to give a lot of credit to Honda for addressing my problem at no cost to me. They people I spoke with at Honda USA were all very polite and easy to deal with.

I think the issues with posting a recall is something no car manufacturer wants to do as they leave a negative mark on the quality of their product. I really think this is the main reason they have not done a recall. The radio is not made by Honda but even so the negative publicity would harm them the same. At least we are getting the issue resolved.

Good Luck to all with the same problem.

Thanks to many of you. As many of you suggested, I called American Honda and now they are replacing my radio for Free of Charge. The dealer tried to charge me $139 for diagnostics. I told them I had called American Honda and wanted to talk to service manager. After that everything went smoothly.

Again, thank you all.

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Originally Posted by hlwanmoe

The dealer tried to charge me $139 for diagnostics.

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What?! Are they using PhD rocket scientists to diagnose your (well known and documented) radio problem?

Good thing he backed off on that one, sheesh!:eek:

I'm in a 2003 Accord Coupe with the same problem. Lights just went out one day at 39K. Of course, I was just out of warranty. Going to try the customer service route and expect they pay for the problem. I work for a TV station and will be willing to play that card if I have to! If they say "no", maybe a story on this problem would change the tune!

I own a Honda Accord 2003 EX V6, I was very happy with it until I found out there is this problem with the radio lightning pad, I called American Honda and they told me my guarantee has expired and there was nothing they could do. It is very upsetting that Honda will do this to their customers. I suggest writing a letter and sign by all affected, any comments?

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Originally Posted by mdanahey

I'm in a 2003 Accord Coupe with the same problem. Lights just went out one day at 39K. Of course, I was just out of warranty. Going to try the customer service route and expect they pay for the problem. I work for a TV station and will be willing to play that card if I have to! If they say "no", maybe a story on this problem would change the tune!

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I'm in , let me know how I can help.

Yup, I have same problem, anyway, I reside in Canada, and freaking honda canada do not and will not take the responsibilities of fixing this mess.

Is there anybody here that got there car fixed for free in CANADA? Please let me know how.


Also To those people who managed to fix it themselves, would you please be specific on how to go about fixing itt? As I read, I don't get the "solder a wire" part as to where to solder the wire to? And what kind of wire?

Thanks.

Hi everyone. I took my 2003 Accord EX V6 to the dealership this morning with the same problem. I'm very surprised it's a common problem, as the dealership told me "he has only seen this problem once". He estimated that the cost to fix is $900 and he showed me the bill from the other customer with the same problem - $900 + tax. He even showed me a diagram with the entire Radio unit / LCD and told me blah blah blah have to change this and that.

Thanks for all your advice and I will call Honda Canada now and see what they can do about it. I'm from Markham, Ontario. I'll keep you updated.


Stella

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Originally Posted by tgardner

My 2003 Honda Accord EX has a problem with the backlighting on the radio and the ac controls. All the lights have gone out, but everything else on it seems to work still. I have looked for a blown fuse but could not find one. Any suggestions?

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I just got same problem on my '04 accord ex. At 24,000 miles. Will take to dealer along with printouts of these posts and see what happens. It's a lease, so maybe they'll cover.

Where do you live and who is your dealer??

ANY TAKERS ON A CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT AGAINST HONDA OF AMERICA? I suppose that I am now, once again, in the "Accords Are Junk" club. A bit of background... I am now on my 5th Honda (4th Accord). Each time I swore that I WOULD NOT buy another Honda, each time I did with the hope that their quality had improved (I also took for granted that Consumer Reports knew what they were talking about!). I have (as evident by my name) a 2004 Honda Accord EX V6 2dr. I purchased it used with 43K on 12/29/05 (traded in by a preacher/teacher - I assumed it was well cared for!). About 20 days ago, the now infamous radio/dash lighting demon struck. I took it to my local Honda dealer (on US Route 60 in Huntington, WV - you know who you are!). I had purchased 4 of the last Hondas I owned from here (but not this one). Since it was bought at Ford dealer and not at their place, I was automatically treated like the bastard child at a family reunion. I informed the service advisor that I had an extended warranty (NAC) and that they paid claims "over the phone with a credit card". Reluctantly, she accepted the warranty, removed my radio to be "sent off" to New Jersey to be fixed. (( She also told me that Honda of America WOULD NOT replace the unit with a new or remanufactured radio unless the car was still under factory warranty - that they could only send my existing one off for repair... and that this problem was VERY common!)). After getting the radio back (10 days later) it was reinstalled. The backlighting for the dash was STILL not working. Of course, the service department neglected to check to make sure it was. I discovered it, thankfully, before I left the lot. The writer contacted the "radio repairer" in NJ; he supposedly forgot to check "another transistor" that "may have failed". So, again, I was without a radio for 5 more days. Today, I took the car back and had the radio put back in. YIPPEEEEE! Music and dash lights!! (I did have to pay my deductible;the service advisor informed me that her dealership WOULD NOT accept my warranty as NAC would only pay 10% of their markup for repair - the dealership charges 42% markup (BOOFLIPPINHOO! )) (She even wanted me to pay the 2nd freight charge for having the radio shipped - NOT!). So, I went out this evening, started my car, turned the lights on and guess what! NO DASH LIGHTING AROUND THE RADIO - AGAIN! I am of the mind set at this point, if the dealership will not REPLACE the unit, of getting an attorney and suing Honda of North America. I will be contacting the Better Business Bureau in my state, maybe even the attorney general of WV. I really am not in an equity position to trade the car right now so I am stuck with it. ANY TAKERS ON A CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT AGAINST HONDA?! My email is [email protected]. Let me know!

I too have this problem and have found this site invaluable in trying to work with Honda to resolve it. I keep geeting conflicting information from them however and am constantly reminded that I am the second owner and that the vech. Is out of warranty. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, file a complaint with the National Hiway Traffic Safety administration: http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/ivoq/

They are the ones who issue recalls and it is my feeling that this issue warrents one. I almost hit a curb when trying to read the clock.

Pressing and holding the CD/AUX switch (on the 6-CD changer) for 10 seconds makes my LCD lights go out. Pressing and holding the CD/AUX switch for 10 more seconds makes them come back on. Does that work for your lighting problem?