Dive Brief:
- American Honda Motor Co. has recalled nearly 257,000 Accord Hybrid models for a software error that can result in a loss of drive power while the vehicle is moving, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
- The vehicles include certain 2023-2025 Accord Hybrids produced between Nov. 11, 2022, and Oct. 24, 2025. Honda estimates that just 0.3% of the recalled vehicles have the software defect.
- Dealers will reprogram affected vehicles with updated software, free of charge. Owners are scheduled to be notified on or around Jan. 5, 2026.
Dive Insight:
The defect stems from the software that monitors the operation of the integrated control module (ICM) in Accord Hybrid models, which manages the vehicle’s powertrain and coordinates power delivery from the electric motor and internal combustion engine.
According to the recall report, the fault can cause the ICM to unexpectedly reset while the vehicle is in use, cutting off drive power that can increase the risk of a crash.
Honda said the problem was due to “improper software programming by its supplier,” per a Nov. 18 statement.
According to the NHTSA report, Honda’s Tier 1 supplier, electronics manufacturer Astemo Indiana, did not fully understand the component specifications and the software it developed misidentified routine communications as abnormalities, leading to unintended ICM resets.
As Honda added more features to the ICM over time, the increased electrical loads resulted in additional communication errors — leading to a higher number of false abnormality detections and resets.
Honda received the first report of the issue on March 8, 2024, and subsequently launched an investigation. By June 2025, Honda and Astemo Indiana identified a potential cause of the problem and began further investigating the defect.
On Oct. 23, Honda pulled potentially affected vehicles from the market to further investigate the issue and “began to analyze the regulatory requirements in affected countries,” according to the report.
Honda’s investigation eventually confirmed that the safety defect was related to software and approved the recall on Nov. 6. As of that date, the automaker received 832 warranty claims potentially related to the issue between Dec. 14, 2022, and Oct. 31, 2025, but no reports of injuries or accidents.
The updated software to correct the issue was incorporated into Accord Hybrid production on Oct. 24.
Last month, Honda also recalled more than 400,000 Civics due to a risk of wheel detachment. It was the automaker’s largest recall so far in 2025.
