Does a Honda Accord have a timing belt or a timing chain?

It depends on the engine: Four-cylinder: none (chain). V6: replace the timing belt at about 105,000 miles.

Honda Accord 2008 - 2017

This is the one split in our catalog worth checking your own trim for. A four-cylinder Accord of this era has no timing belt to budget for. A V6 does, and skipping it risks valve damage on this interference engine - the water pump is normally replaced at the same time because the belt has to come off either way.

Honda Accord 2018 - 2026

No replacement interval - this engine uses a timing chain, not a belt

Timing chains are designed to last the life of the engine and carry no scheduled replacement interval. If a shop quotes a "100k mile timing belt service" for this vehicle, that is a quote for a part it does not have. On this model the 1.5T, 2.0T and hybrid four-cylinders are all chain-driven (no V6 was offered from 2018). This covers US-market engines - overseas versions of some of these models were sold with belt-driven diesels, so if yours is an import, go by its own handbook.

Why the interval is not a suggestion

Whether a snapped belt costs you a tow or an engine comes down to one design decision. In an interference engine the valves and the pistons pass through the same space at different moments, and only the belt keeps them from meeting; break it and the pistons hit open valves, which bends them and sometimes cracks a piston. In a non-interference engine they never share space, so a broken belt strands you and nothing more. Almost every modern engine sold in the US is an interference design - it is how you get compression ratio and valve lift out of a small engine - so unless you can confirm yours is not, assume it is. That is what turns the belt interval from a maintenance suggestion into a deadline.

If a shop has quoted you a timing belt

Start by confirming which engine you have, because the answer differs inside this model. If it is the belt-driven one and you are anywhere near the interval above, the quote is doing its job - this is scheduled work, not an upsell.

Two things are worth asking about. The water pump is normally replaced at the same time, because the belt has to come off to reach it and doing it twice costs far more than doing it once. And ask whether the quote includes the tensioner and idler pulleys, which wear on the same clock as the belt.

If yours is the chain-driven engine, say so and ask what the line item is actually for. Most of the time the honest answer is the accessory drive belt - the serpentine belt that turns the alternator - which is a genuine wear item, and "drive belt" and "timing belt" get shortened to the same word on both sides of the counter.

The rest of the Honda Accord schedule

All maintenance schedules - timing belt or chain, model by model