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2020 Honda CR-V Hybrid Problems and Recalls
Owners filed 84 complaints with NHTSA about the 2020 Honda CR-V Hybrid, most often about the engine (27% of complaints, typically around 64,500 miles). It is 4th of 7 CR-V Hybrid model years by number of complaints and has 5 recalls.
Most common 2020 Honda CR-V Hybrid problems
Engine
23 complaints · 27%Half of these problems showed up before 64,500 miles.
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…
The contact owns a 2020 Honda cr-v. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle stalled, with several unknown warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was able to be restarted; however, the failure recurred. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where the dealer informed the contact that the…
Brakes
18 complaints · 21%Half of these problems showed up before 33,000 miles.
The contact owns a 2020 Honda cr-v. The contact stated while driving 40 MPH, the brake pedal stopped the vehicle the independently without the contact depressing the brake pedal. The brake warning light illuminated. A dealer or independent mechanic was not contacted. The vehicle was not the dealer or independent…
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…
Driver assistance
15 complaints · 18%Parts named most often: automatic emergency braking, warnings, adaptive cruise control, assist.
The contact owns a 2020 Honda cr-v. The contact stated while driving at speeds up to 50 MPH, the forward collision-avoidance alert was heard however, there was no vehicle nearby. Additionally, while driving and exceeding 70 MPH, the forward collision avoidance: adaptive cruise control independently activated, and the…
The contact owns a 2020 Honda cr-v. The contact stated that while driving approximately 60 MPH, the forward collision avoidance: automatic emergency braking system erroneously activated without a person or other vehicle nearby. The contact was able to immediately release the brake pedal and the vehicle accelerated…
Electrical
14 complaints · 17%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 unavailable. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The contact stated that…
While driving my 2020 Honda crv hybrid the check engine light came on and my speed reduced to 30mph on the highway. This first happened 5/31/2024 and I had it towed to Honda and Honda could not find the problem. I was told to bring it back in if it happened again. I asked Honda to report to their corporate…
Other or unspecified
12 complaints · 14%New vehicle with approx. 3,000 miles became completely disabled on highway and exposed occupants to extreme danger. Dealership reported that a "faulty brake sensor" was the cause of the vehicle becoming inoperable. Vehicle was being driven at 60 MPH and engine died on an underpass turn barely visible to traffic behind…
Fuel system
10 complaints · 12%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…
While driving my 2020 Honda crv hybrid the check engine light came on and my speed reduced to 30mph on the highway. This first happened 5/31/2024 and I had it towed to Honda and Honda could not find the problem. I was told to bring it back in if it happened again. I asked Honda to report to their corporate…
Transmission
5 complaints · 6%I was driving at about 35 MPH and a message flashed on my display of a problem with my transmission. I was able to pull over and turn the car off. When I restarted the car it seemed ok. The cast has about 5000 miles on it.
While driving on the i70 to go skiing with 3 passengers, during portions of the road with steep grades, the car was unable to go the speed limit. Despite applying 95 to 100% power, cars were passing. This is a new car and is clearly a design flaw - as a hybrid once the assistive batteries are depleted, it is only…
Air bags
4 complaints · 5%
Complaints are owner reports to NHTSA, not verified defects. One complaint can name several components, so shares add up to more than 100%.
2020 Honda CR-V Hybrid recalls
Air bags: front passenger
Risk: Air bags that deploy unintentionally during a crash increase the risk of injury.
Fix: Dealers will replace the seat weight sensors, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed july 7, 2026. Owners may contact honda's customer service at 1-888-234-2138. Honda's numbers for this recall are bol, wo9, ooa, wom, xoh, noc, pod, boe, uof, pob, eog, aoi, qo8, toj, do7, and sok. This recall expands previous NHTSA recall number 24v064. Vehicle identification numbers (vins) involved in this recall will be searchable on NHTSA.gov beginning may 29, 2026.
Full defect summary
Honda (american honda motor co.) is recalling certain 2018-2021, 2023 acura tlx, 2019-2024 rdx, 2017-2020, 2022-2026 mdx, 2017-2021, 2023, 2025 honda ridgeline, 2017-2022 pilot, 2019-2021 passport, 2018-2026 odyssey, 2019-2022 insight, 2019-2021 hr-v, 2018-2020 fit, 2020-2022 cr-v hybrid, 2017-2022 cr-v, 2017-2018, 2021 civic type r, 2017-2021 civic hatchback, 2016-2020 civic coupe, 2016-2022 civic, 2017-2022 accord hybrid, and 2016-2022 accord vehicles. The front passenger seat weight sensor may crack and short circuit, which can cause the air bags to deploy unintentionally during a crash.
Air bags: front passenger
Risk: An air bag that deploys unintentionally during a crash can increase the risk of injury.
Fix: Dealers will replace the seat weight sensors, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed march 28, 2024. This is a phased recall. Owners may contact honda customer service at 1-888-234-2138. Honda's numbers for these recalls are xhp and vhq.
Full defect summary
Honda (american honda motor co.) is recalling certain 2020-2022 pilot, accord, civic sedan, hr-v, odyssey, 2020 civic coupe, fit, 2021-2022 civic hatchback, 2021 civic type r, insight, 2020-2021 cr-v, cr-v hybrid, passport, ridgeline, accord hybrid, 2020 acura mdx, 2022 acura mdx, 2020-2022 acura rdx, and 2020-2021 acura tlx vehicles. The front passenger seat weight sensor may crack and short circuit, failing to suppress the air bag as intended.
Fuel system: fuel pump
Risk: Fuel pump failure can cause an engine stall while driving, increasing the risk of a crash.
Fix: Dealers will replace the fuel pump module, free of charge. Owner letters were mailed september 6, 2024. Owners may contact honda customer service at 1-888-234-2138. Honda's numbers for this recall are kgc and kgd. This recall is an expansion of NHTSA recall numbers 21v-215 and 20v-314.
Full defect summary
Honda (american honda motor co.) is recalling certain 2013-2023 honda accord, civic coupe, civic sedan, civic hatchback, civic type r, cr-v, hr-v, ridgeline, odyssey, acura ilx, mdx, mdx hybrid, rdx, rlx, tlx, 2019-2022 honda insight, passport, 2020 honda cr-v hybrid, 2018-2019 honda clarity phev, fit, and 2015-2020 honda accord hybrid, pilot, acura nsx vehicles. The fuel pump inside the fuel tank may fail.
Electrical: cables
Risk: An overheated battery cable or short circuit can increase the risk of a fire or injury in a crash.
Fix: Dealers will replace the battery cable, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed january 29, 2024. Owners may contact honda customer service at 1-888-234-2138. Honda's number for this recall is fgb.
Full defect summary
Honda (american honda motor co.) is recalling certain 2020-2022 cr-v hybrid vehicles. The 12-volt battery cable routed outside of the body frame is missing a fuse on the power circuit, which can allow the battery cable to short circuit or overheat during a crash.
Electrical: software
Risk: A loss of drive power can increase the risk of a crash.
Fix: Honda will notify owners, and dealers will update the power converter unit (pcu) software, free of charge. The recall began february 12, 2021. Owners can contact honda customer service at 1-888-234-2138. Honda's number for this recall is k9e.
Full defect summary
Honda (american honda motor co.) is recalling certain 2020 cr-v hybrid, accord hybrid, and 2020-2021 insight vehicles. The dc-dc converter may shut down and prevent the 12-volt battery from recharging, possibly resulting in a loss of drive power.
Recall repairs are free at any franchised dealer. Enter your VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls to see which recalls are still open on your car.
NHTSA defect investigations
Loss of motive power
Summary
The office of defects investigation (odi) has received 48 vehicle owner questionnaire (voq) reports and some early warning reporting (ewr) field reports alleging intermittent loss of motive power in model year (my) 2020â2022 honda cr-v hybrid vehicles. â these incidents are alleged to occur without warning at highway speeds and are accompanied by a flashing check engine light immediately before the loss of motive power occurs.â motive power can be restored by turning the ignition off and back on.â however, this action also clears the check engine light and any fault codes that were set.â the faultâs intermittent nature, combined with the lack of fault codes, often results in many visits
Inadvertent automatic emergency braking
Summary
On february 21, 2022, the office of defects investigation (odi) opened preliminary evaluation (pe22003) to assess reports of inadvertent activation of the collision mitigation braking system (cmbs), an automatic emergency braking (aeb) system, in model year 2017-2019 honda cr-v and 2018-2019 honda accord vehicles.â the reports allege that activation of the aeb system occurs while driving with no apparent obstruction in the vehicle's forward path, resulting in sudden vehicle deceleration. Honda indicated that they were aware of a total of x,xxx reports that may relate to the alleged defect. Honda provided analysis of the alleged defect and alleges that some customers possibly had an inadequat
Pedestrian alert sounds
Summary
Nhtsa received a petition on or about july 18, 2022, requesting that federal motor vehicle safety standard (fmvss) 141 be applied to all electric and hybrid vehicles operating in the united states. The petition can be reviewed at NHTSA.gov under odi number 11486072. Fmvss 141 establishes performance requirements for pedestrian alert sounds for motor vehicles. The standard applies to hybrid and electric vehicles that have a gross vehicle weight rating of 4,536 kg or less or are defined as low-speed vehicles. The standard became fully applicable to all such vehicles manufactured on or after march 1, 2021.on january 27, 2023, NHTSA opened defect petition (dp) 22-005 to evaluate the subject matt
Questions about the 2020 Honda CR-V Hybrid
- What are the most common problems with the 2020 Honda CR-V Hybrid?
- By NHTSA owner complaints: engine (23 complaints, typically around 64,500 miles); brakes (18 complaints, typically around 33,000 miles); driver assistance (15 complaints).
- How many recalls does the 2020 Honda CR-V Hybrid have?
- 5 recalls listed by NHTSA, the latest from May 21, 2026 (air bags). Check your VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls to see which ones are still open on your car.
- Is the 2020 a bad year for the Honda CR-V Hybrid?
- It is 4th of 7 CR-V Hybrid model years by number of complaints, with 84 complaints. Complaint counts are not adjusted for how many cars were sold, so popular years collect more of them, and the newest years have had less time to.