Honda Accord Headlights

The Honda Accord is known for its reliability. However, like other vehicles, some of its parts may fail over time due to factory defects, road accidents, and natural wear and tear. One such part is your Honda Accord headlight.

Your Honda Accord’s headlight assembly is essential to your safety. It helps you navigate at night and during rainy, foggy, and snowy days, reducing the risk of road accidents. If it fails, it’s important that you replace it immediately.

Honda Accord headlights are usually replaced instead of repaired when they stop working or become faulty. Keep an eye out for these telltale signs to determine if you need to replace yours:

Busted bulb

This typically happens when only one bulb in the entire assembly stops working. Visually inspect the bulbs. Take note of the color, form, and shape of the filament bulbs. A blown-out bulb usually has dark markings on the glass. The filament also looks burnt.

Both headlight bulbs are not working

If both bulbs stopped working, the problem may be caused by a burnt fuse, a defective switch, or busted bulbs. Visually inspect these parts. Then, check if the switch is working properly using a voltmeter. If there’s no voltage reading, then the switch must be replaced. Finally, replace your current headlight bulbs with new ones to check if the issue was caused by busted bulbs.

Flickering headlights

If your Honda Accord displays this symptom, you need to check the wire connections immediately. The electrical cables deliver the needed power supply in the headlight assembly to keep the bulbs lit. If the lights sputter, it's possible that there is not enough electricity in the headlight assembly.

Check the wires if they are corroded or if the plastic insulator is chipping. Replace any damaged wires. Test the car battery and the alternator as well. If the battery has no enough power, the alternator might be severely damaged. This entails a more costly repair.

If you’re not confident with your auto repair skills, take your Honda Accord to your mechanic for expert inspection.

The Honda Accord earned its status as one of the best-selling cars in the U.S. since 1989. But even the latest year models of this legendary mid-size sedan have fallen prey to issues involving its headlights.

The 2013 Honda Accord debuted a strip of LED lights that ran along the bottom of the headlight assembly. The light strip automatically switches on when the engine starts running. It proved popular enough to appear on the headlight assemblies on later (2014-2019) year models. Unfortunately, the lights soon proved defective.

Usually, LED lights last several times longer than incandescent and halogen bulbs, which more than makes up for their higher price. But the Accord’s daytime running lights can stop working as early as 10,000 miles.

In most cases, the entire strip refuses to switch on. Some customers report that the issue only affects half of the strip.

Because of the way the Honda Accord headlight assembly integrated the LED lights, the only way to fix the bad LEDs was to replace the whole assembly.

Replacing the headlight assembly can cost more than $1,400. The expense greatly exceeds the value of the daytime running lights that caused the problem, especially since LEDs don’t cost much.

While the problem hounds the 9th and 10th gen Accords, the 2016 Honda Accord headlight appears to suffer the most from blown daytime running lights.

The standard Honda 3-year/36,000 mile-warranty covers the headlight assembly. Once the vehicle exceeds either limit, the manufacturer will no longer replace the headlights for free.

Further, Honda extended the warranty of the affected Honda Accords to 10 years. They’ll recycle the faulty lights for the raw materials.

First, you’ll need to decide what type of headlight to get for your Accord. Take your pick between halogen, LED, HID headlights.

Halogen bulbs cost less compared to LED  and HID. These kinds of Honda Accord lights use halogen gas mixed with tungsten-halogen filaments to generate light.  However, they don’t last as long as their counterparts, usually only lasting around 18 to 24 months.

Newer car models use LED bulbs for their forward lighting. This type of bulb is slightly expensive compared to Halogen, but it is more energy-efficient. LED bulbs can last years without replacement and are easy to install and upgrade.

High-density discharge (HID) lights do not use a metal filament to produce light. They are filled with Xenon gas, which ignites to produce a bluish shade of light. This produces a brighter light compared to Halogen and LED. Some states ban the use of HID since it can be irritating to the eye.

Aside from the bulb type, you also need to take note that there have been ten generations of Honda Accord since its debut in 1976. To make sure you are getting the most accurate fit for your Accord, input the correct year, make, and model into our search engine.

You can get direct fit replacement headlights for your Honda Accord for prices that range between $23 and $1,100. Sold individually, in pairs, in sets of two, and as part of a replacement kit with other parts, our headlights match or even exceed their factory-issued counterparts.

By entering the year, make, and model of your vehicle in the filter bar, you can quickly go through the extensive list of halogen and LED headlights. Whether intended as a replacement for bad or failing headlamps or an upgrade to overcome unsatisfactory performance, you can find headlights that fit your Honda Accord and your budget here at CarParts.com.

Your Honda Accord headlight assembly is composed of several components. If one of them gets severely damaged, expect that your headlight won't function properly. That's why in maintaining your headlight assembly, you should not just focus on one part alone. You have to provide extensive maintenance to make sure that your headlights won't succumb to stress, deterioration, and failure.

Combat rust

Corrosion can make the bulbs flicker and blow off. It targets and damages the bulb sockets first, and then it spreads to the electrical wires and harnesses. To prevent rust, there are two things that you should do: first, make sure that the headlight lenses are tightly closed to prevent rainwater from getting inside the headlight assembly. Second, apply dielectric grease onto the socket openings to inhibit corrosion.

Clean wires

Keeping the electrical cables clean will help you fight corrosion. It also increases their potential to conduct more electricity for an unimpeded headlight operation. In cleaning the wires, don't forget to wipe the pins. Check the rubber insulation as well for chips and flakes. Apply a coating of dielectric grease to prevent future corrosion.

Replace in pairs

Always keep this in mind when replacing your headlight bulbs: replace in pairs. Even if only one bulb in the assembly is busted, you should replace both lights. This is to make sure that both lights will have the same level of brightness.

Ensure an adequate supply of electricity

The car battery and the alternator also play a huge part in the headlight operation. They supply electricity to the light fixture to make it work. When there's not enough power, the light bulbs may suffer from stress. To prevent this, inspect your battery regularly. Make sure that the alternator is capable of charging the battery to guarantee enough supply of electricity.

Clear headlight lenses

Hazy headlight lenses block the light beams coming from the bulbs. As a result, your headlights will appear dim and faint. Remove oxidation from your glass or plastic lenses by applying glass cleaner. This product efficiently clears the haze on the lenses to make them look brand new.