Home · 2020 Honda CR-V Hybrid Hev · Complaints

What 72 owners told NHTSA about the 2020 Honda CR-V Hybrid Hev

These are the actual owner complaints behind this car’s reliability verdict, filed with the federal government, unedited. They’re unverified reports, not confirmed defects: read them as leads for your pre-purchase inspection, not a diagnosis.

All (72)Crash / fire / injury (5)Engine (16)Brakes (14)Driver assistance (12)Electrical system (12)Fuel system (8)Transmission & drivetrain (5)Airbags (4)Body & structure (3)Steering (3)Engine & cooling (2)

Newest first · 72 complaints · page 2 of 3

Sep 25, 2024BrakesDriver assistance

Brakes stopped working suddenly. All of the brake system started flashing warnings. electric parking brake light is on when parking brake is not engaged. Warning lights all flashed: Electric Parking Brake Problem, Brake System Problem, Brake Hold System Problem, Adaptive Cruise Control Problem, Collision Mitigation System Problem, and Road Departure Mitigation System Problem. This car has 50k miles and just out of warranty. It was a $6k repair!!!!! Honda said faulty parts.

NHTSA ODI 11616485

Aug 29, 2024Engine & coolingFuel system

The contact owns a 2020 Honda CR-V. The contact stated while driving 65 MPH, the vehicle lost motive power. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The contact was able to pull to the side of the road. The contact stated upon attempting to continue driving, the vehicle failed to respond as needed while depressing the accelerator pedal. The vehicle was towed to the dealer, where the contact was informed that a cylinder had misfired; however, the dealer informed the contact that the cause of the failure could not be determined. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact stated that the failure recurred while driving. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and informed the contact that the VIN was not included in NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V858000 (Fuel System, Gasoline); because of the plant where the vehicle was manufactured. The failure mileage was approximately 59,018.

NHTSA ODI 11611541

Aug 23, 2024BrakesDriver assistance

Yesterday (XXX) while starting my car the warning lights came on notifying me of a potential issue with multiple safety systems including the brake system.  My parking brake would not show that it was released and when put in gear the brakes were very mushy and the vehicle did not feel that it could be driven safely.  I requested Triple AAA to tow the car to the Honda dealership in Lumberton North Carolina this morning (XXX) as I did not feel that it was safe to drive.  A diagnostic test was performed that indicated that the Electric Servo Brake System / Electric Brake Booster System Malfunction was found and that the vehicle needs an Electric Servo Pedal Simulator Unit replaced. This component functions cooperatively with the Regenerative Brakes together with a structure in which pedal force is not influenced by braking pressure control. I have researched this issue and found that this particular problem and the associated part has been recognized as an ongoing problem with some Honda Hybrid models and that it has recently been recalled in Japan, and many Honda owners in the UK have also been experiencing the same malfunction to this part.  This appears to be a systemic issue with a part involving select Honda Hybrid models that appears to occur as early as after 20,000 miles and oftentimes shortly after the vehicle involved is out of warranty.  American Honda has not officially recognized this problem as a safety issue. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

NHTSA ODI 11610539

Aug 20, 2024BrakesDriver assistance

2020 Honda CR-V Hybrid servo brake electrical malfunction has led to braking inconsistencies, unprompted emergency brake application, and numerous dashboard errors. Electric servo brake component needed to be replaced entirely for the vehicle, roughly $2,200 for parts and labor.

NHTSA ODI 11609612

Aug 12, 2024Brakes

The contact owns a 2020 Honda CR-V Hybrid. The contact stated while driving out of the driveway, the brakes became inoperable. The contact stated that several unknown warning lights were blinking on and off. The vehicle was towed to the local dealer, where it was diagnosed that there was a faulty electronic turbo brake control unit simulator. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was approximately 36,000. The VIN was not available.

NHTSA ODI 11607940

Aug 3, 2024

On July 25, 2024, at approximately 2:30 pm I was driving on NM 528 on my way to the airport. I was driving at about 50 miles per hour when I suddenly heard an explosion as if a window had shattered. I looked all around my vehicle to see if a window was broken but I did not see anything. I continued driving and, as I entered I-25 going south, I heard another explosion, again as if a window had shattered. There were no other vehicles near me on either occasion. I continued driving to the airport, picked up my wife, and on the way home I happened to open the inside cover to the sunroof. I saw the sunroof was shattered but there were no shards of glass inside the car. The explosions seem to have thrown the glass shards outside the vehicle. See my photos. I believe my safety was put in jeopardy since I could have lost control of my vehicle upon hearing the explosions. Also, when returning home, my wife and I could have been injured from falling shards of glass when I opened the cover to the sunroof. I reported this incident to my local Honda dealer and I received an appointment date of August 13, 2024 for possible servicing. The service advisor told me that a manager would make a determination at the time of service as to what Honda will do to remedy my problem. No one at the Honda dealer inspected the damage, nor have the police nor insurance representatives done so. There were no warning alerts from the vehicle itself prior to the incident. You may inspect my vehicle, just let me know prior to August 13.

NHTSA ODI 11606292

Jul 31, 2024Seat belts

Driver's seat belt frequently fails to solidly latch and may come unbuckled after the driver believes its positively engaged. Honda dealer has inspected it and claims they cannot replicate it. This is similar to the open campaign on this model, but this particular car is not covered by the range in the recall.

NHTSA ODI 11605751

Jul 15, 2024AirbagsDriver assistanceCrash1 injury

I was pulling into a parking space and to stop but suddenly the vehicle just accelerated forward jumped the curve, straight through some bushes and crashed into a tree. The airbag deployed caused injuries to my right arm, head, chest contusion. Mostly passenger side front and front damages on the vehicle. Police, ambulance, and firefighter came to investigate and to help with my injuries.

NHTSA ODI 11602347

Jul 8, 2024Engine

4 times now I have been driving on the freeway and my vehicle just slows down when putting Foot down on gas pedal nothing car comes to a complete stop with engine light on I turn off and on the engine an d the car goes again I have taken it at the time of incident to Honda dealerships and they keep telling Me There is nothing wrong with the car I tell them that there is something seriously wrong with My Car the engine light comes on and they said there is nothing showing The last time I was on freeway and it stalled in the lane I could of been killed All the times it happened I was on freeways doing between 65 and 70 miles per hour

NHTSA ODI 11600158

Jun 19, 2024Wheels

Honda was using an "indirect" tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS) for several years, from at least 2020 to 2024. This indirect system shows a Low Tire indicator on the dash when a change in tire pressure on any of the four tires changes. It does NOT indicate which tire is affected. Thus, you are forced to check all four tires manually. This requires that you find a safe place to pull over and check the tires. You have no way to know if you are getting a flat without exiting the car. The system is VERY sensitive and will indicate Low Pressure if the change is even for a couple of pounds. I recently met someone who had the exact same vehicle as mine. We compared notes. Her CRV does the same thing and we both have experienced a bit of anxiety from it. Honda will tell you to "just recalibrate the system", but that does nothing but tell the vehicle that the tires are now OK at the new levels--even if one is low. This is a safety and performance issue. A Honda salesman told me today that they have gone back to a Direct system with individual tire pressure indicators on the new models. Apparently there have been a LOT of complaints.

NHTSA ODI 11595254

Jun 19, 2024

I received notification from Honda of a recall on my battery cable harness. The defect increases the likelihood of a fire during a crash. The notification was revevied in January so I called to make an appointment to have it repaired. I was told the part was not available and to call back in 30-days. I contacted another dealer in my area and they told me the same thing. I've been calling every 30-days and get the same response, "call back in 30-days." The notifiation states if I can't get the repair done within 60-days of trying to make an appointment, I could file a complaint with your agency. Therefore, I'm doing just that. It's been almost 5 months.

NHTSA ODI 11595288

Jun 6, 2024Electrical system

The contact owns a 2020 Honda CR-V. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V844000 (Electrical System) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue. The contact had not experienced a failure. Parts distribution disconnect.

NHTSA ODI 11592894

May 22, 2024Driver assistance

Brakes being applied with apparent no reason. It gets applied automatically even when there is no obstruction in front.

NHTSA ODI 11590101

May 20, 2024

In the past 4 months car stalled on expressway 3 times. on the first occurrence dealer informed us that no error code were found. Second time repair shop (dealer) found body control module error code and replaced the body control module. On the third occurrence we are waiting for repair assessment. In all three occasions check engine light will blink and pressing accelerator won't give any power to the vehicle. Restarting the engine usually will allow us to drive normally. But in the third occurrence restarting didn't resolve the issue.

NHTSA ODI 11589796

May 15, 2024Electrical system

The contact owns a 2020 Honda CR-V. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V844000 (Electrical System) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The dealer was made aware of the issue and confirmed that parts were not yet available. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue and confirmed that parts were not yet available. The contact had not experienced a failure. Parts distribution disconnect.

NHTSA ODI 11588937

Apr 30, 2024Driver assistance

Driving at 35-40 mph the automatic brakes "Panic" stopped. No car, person or animal in front of car. This happened once before but I thought a construction crew on the roadside may have caused it the firs time.

NHTSA ODI 11586107

Apr 30, 2024Electrical systemWheelsBrakes

The part that failed is called the "ELECTRONIC SERVO PEDAL SIMULATOR UNIT", aka "SET, BOS ASSM." aka "BRAKE PEDAL SIMULATOR (SIMULATOR SET, PEDAL FEEL)" aka "BRAKE PEDAL OPERATING SIMULATOR". The Honda (OEM) part number is 01469-TPG-A95. The part failure was diagnosed at Buckeye Honda in Lancaster, Ohio, in coordination with the Tech department at Honda corp., and was replaced at Buckeye Honda in Lancaster, Ohio. The Buckeye Honda (service department) said that they had not seen this problem before, so they contacted the Tech Dept. at Honda to seek assistance in the diagnosis. The safety of the vehicle occupants was put at risk by the almost complete loss of brake functions and the interacting functions. At first the Brake warning and AVS warning lights would illuminate on the driver's display, and then they would go off and everything would function normally. But the driver' display warnings got more frequent and the brakes would not function normally. Finally, all of the driver's display warnings would sequence through, one by one, and the brakes were almost entirely gone. The Honda dealer did not give me the faulty part because he said it would have to be sent to Honda. I do not know if Honda America will inspect the part to determine the cause of the failure. I did take a cellphone picture of the part. The problem began approx. [XXX]. I picked up the repaired vehicle at Buckeye Honda on Monday [XXX]. The part was out of warranty by about one month: The "In-Service date" was [XXX]. The mileage on the vehicle was 12,920 miles at the time of repair and I am the original owner. Honda America did give me a "Goodwill" authorization number, in coordination with Buckeye Honda in Lancaster, Ohio, which lowered my out of pocket cost to $l457.73. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

NHTSA ODI 11586136

Apr 23, 2024Electrical system

The contact owns a 2020 Honda CR-V Hybrid. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V844000 (Electrical System) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The local dealer was contacted. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was not made aware of the issue. The contact had not experienced a failure. Parts distribution disconnect.

NHTSA ODI 11584791

Apr 17, 2024Driver assistance

Some time in 2021 is the estimated date of occurrence of the event I am describing next. I was cruising on a freeway [XXX] ), traveling at about 65 miles an hour. It was a clear day with light traffic, around noon. There was no car in front of mine. There were no cars adjacent to mine either. Then I saw with my eyes a partially deflated mylar balloon (silvery and shiny) floating across (left to right) my path of travel. I estimate that the vertical position of the balloon was less than the height of a typical bus or a semi-truck. Its float path was rather random - up and down. Its distance from my car was about 5 to 10 car length (very rough estimate) when I first noticed it. Since I easily recognized it as a light-weight balloon (typical party balloon), I determined that it would not do any harm to my car even if timing was such that my car came in contact with it. So, I did not take any evasive action - I did not apply brakes and I did not change to another lane. But this is when my CR-V's automatic braking system engaged with a sudden deceleration, "BRAKE" warning light on the dash along with a series of beeping. The whole event lasted a few seconds after which the car responded normally to my gas-pedal input. Luckily there was no car following me when this automatic braking occurred. This was a one-time occurrence to date. Since then I have not had similar unexpected automatic braking due stray objects. I did have had several occurrences of "BRAKE" warning light and beeping due to my car coming in close proximity to other cars in front of me. In these instances, I cannot say with certainty whether or not brakes themselves were automatically applied. In these instances, I applied brakes myself (albeit later than what the car's computer determined to be appropriate). INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

NHTSA ODI 11583601

Apr 10, 2024Engine

Car stalled twice on highway going 55 miles to zero.pressing accelaerator wont make any difference. Thw malfunction infmdicator starts blinking when it happanes. Once the car comes to a complete stop and restart the engine then only we can continue to drive. Also malfunction infdcator goes away after restarting.We brought the car dealer and since there is no diagnostic code they wouldnt repair.

NHTSA ODI 11582146

Apr 7, 2024Body & structure

Driving down the highway on April 6, 2024 I hear a loud explosion and the passenger rear window had exploded sending glass flying everywhere. The window is completely exploded. Today was the first warm day that I had to turn the air conditioning on in the car and 5-10 min after I turned the air-conditioning on, the window exploded.

NHTSA ODI 11581530

Mar 28, 2024Airbags

The contact owns a 2020 Honda CR-V. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 24V064000 (Air Bags) however, the part to do the recall repair was unavailable. The contact stated that the manufacturer exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The dealer was contacted. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue. The contact had not experienced a failure. Parts distribution disconnect.

NHTSA ODI 11579865

Mar 14, 20241 injury

Back hatch closes on me when I am putting stuff in the back. This has happened at least 6 times. The very last time on March 10, 2024, it the hatch door came down on my head & arm. It almost hit my eye. I got bruised on above my eye & my arm. The sensor thinks I am setting it off.

NHTSA ODI 11577297

Mar 13, 2024

Central display screen goes blank at random times at start up. May or may not reactivate with a reboot or restart of car. Display screen controls heating / cooling as well as provides access to other features such as reset of the tire-pressure monitoring system. I don't think it is safe to operate without heating or cooling when the weather is extreme. (It also provides the audio controls and smart-phone interface which includes navigation--which is on a much larger screen than a phone making for a safer experience)

NHTSA ODI 11577053

Mar 12, 2024Transmission & drivetrainEngineFuel system

While driving in the freeway at 65mph, car starts to loose power, the accelerator does not respond to the push of the pedal. Even if I press the gas, the car just shows in the dashboard that the car is receiving power but speed lingers in 50mph but it clearly is way below this speed and keeps decreasing even if it shows the 50mph, the car just cruises with it’s own momentum. The hybrid battery depletes completely and warning lights start flashing to check engine. The car will also jerk front to back and the main motor will make a loud noise as if at high power with a hint of rattling. It’s difficult to maneuver between high speed vehicles passing by while not having any power in the vehicle. The only thing I can do is turn on my hazard lights and cruise to the right lane and look for the first exit and safely park. As soon as I park the vehicle, it will continue to keep with the rattling and the warning lights and high power noise. If I turn off the vehicle and turn it on again, the hybrid battery will reappear with charge and it doesn’t make any sound (hybrid standby). It will drive normal after this. My vehicle was purchased from dealership in 2021 and the first incident was in December of 2022, it did not repeat this incident until February 2024 where it did it twice, one week exactly apart from each incident under the exact same circumstances and the same area of the freeway as soon as I hit the first top speed of 65mph in the freeway.

NHTSA ODI 11576988

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Working with the data? Download all 72 complaints as CSV · fetched from NHTSA July 14, 2026

How to use these: a complaint is one owner’s report, filed voluntarily and published unverified. Patterns matter more than any single story. If several owners describe the same failure at similar mileage, put that system at the top of your pre-purchase inspection list. Back to the full 2020 Honda CR-V Hybrid Hev verdict →