CSR

Honda · NHTSA safety record

2020 Honda Accord

Every safety complaint, recall and defect investigation the US government holds on this vehicle.

347

Complaints

13

Crashes

2

Fires

10

Injuries

1

Deaths

Owners of the 2020 Honda Accord have filed 347 safety complaints with NHTSA between January 2020 and August 2026. The most complained-about system is forward collision avoidance, named in 95 of them (27%). The typical failure was reported at 11,500 miles, the median across the 82 complaints that gave an odometer reading.

Complaints rose by half year on year: 121 in the twelve months to 2026-Q1, against 61 in the twelve before.

NHTSA has issued 5 recalls covering this vehicle. A further 1 defect investigation is open and unresolved.

Recalls (5)

AIR BAGS:SENSOR:OCCUPANT CLASSIFICATION:FRONT PASSENGER

26V332000 · May 21, 2026

The defect
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.
The risk
Air bags that deploy unintentionally during a crash increase the risk of injury.
The remedy
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.

Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) · up to 98,892 vehicles across all model years covered

AIR BAGS:SENSOR:OCCUPANT CLASSIFICATION:FRONT PASSENGER

24V064000 · February 1, 2024

The defect
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.
The risk
An air bag that deploys unintentionally during a crash can increase the risk of injury.
The remedy
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.

Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) · up to 750,114 vehicles across all model years covered

FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE:DELIVERY:FUEL PUMP

23V858000 · December 18, 2023

The defect
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.
The risk
Fuel pump failure can cause an engine stall while driving, increasing the risk of a crash.
The remedy
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.

Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) · up to 2,490,460 vehicles across all model years covered

FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE:DELIVERY:FUEL PUMP

21V215000 · March 25, 2021

The defect
Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) is recalling certain 2019-2020 Acura MDX, MDX Sport Hybrid, RDX, TLX, Honda Accord, Civic Hatchback, Insight, 2019 Acura ILX, Honda Accord Hybrid, Civic Coupe, Civic Coupe Si, Civic Sedan, Civic Sedan Si, Civic Type R, Fit, HR-V, Odyssey, Passport, Pilot and Ridgeline, and 2018-2019 CR-V vehicles. The low-pressure fuel pump inside the fuel tank may fail.
The risk
Fuel pump failure can cause an engine stall while driving, increasing the risk of a crash.
The remedy
Honda will notify owners, and dealers will replace the fuel pump assembly, free of charge. Owner letters were mailed May 18, 2021. Owners may contact Honda customer service at 1-888-234-2138. Note: This recall is an expansion of recall 20V-314.

Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) · up to 624,552 vehicles across all model years covered

ELECTRICAL SYSTEM:BODY CONTROL MODULE:SOFTWARE

20V771000 · December 10, 2020

The defect
Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) is recalling certain 2018-2020 Accord Sedan, Accord Hybrid, and 2019-2020 Insight vehicles. A software error may cause intermittent or continuous disruptions in communication between the Body Control Module (BCM) and other components. This may result in malfunctions of various systems such as the windshield wipers and defroster, rearview camera, exterior lights, audible warning of a stopped vehicle, and power window operation. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) number 103, "Windshield Defrosting and Defogging Systems" and number 111, "Rear Visibility" as well as FMVSS numbers 104, 108, 114, 118, and 305.
The risk
Various system malfunctions such as inoperative windshield wipers, defroster, rearview camera, or exterior lighting can increase the risk of a crash.
The remedy
Honda will notify owners, and dealers will update the BCM software, free of charge. The recall is expected to begin February 22, 2021. Owners may contact Honda customer service at 1-888-234-2138. Honda's number for this recall is X95.

Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) · up to 737,233 vehicles across all model years covered

Defect investigations (1)

An investigation means NHTSA has decided a pattern is worth examining. A preliminary evaluation is often closed with no action; an engineering analysis is the stage that usually precedes a recall.

Inadvertent Automatic Emergency Braking

EA24002

Still open engineering analysis · opened April 15, 2024

forward collision avoidance

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.  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 inadequate understanding of the CMBS and its limitations.  However, many consumer complaints allege that Honda dealerships were unable to reproduce the condition or state that they were informed that this is considered normal CMBS operation. To date, ODI has received a total of 1,294 consumer complaints of inadvertent activation of CMBS in 2017-2022 Honda CR-V and 2018-2022 Honda Accord vehicles. A total of 31 complaints alleged a crash and 50 alleged an injury.  The Total column in the Failure Report Summary removes duplicate reports and shows the total number of reports with unique VINs from all Manufacturer, ODI, and EWR data sources.  In some cases, there were multiple reports associated with a particular vehicle in which recurring failures were alleged.  In total, there were X,XXX reports, 93 injury incidents and 47 crashes involving vehicles with unique VINs that may relate to the alleged defect. PE22-003 has been upgraded to an Engineering Analysis to further assess the scope, frequency, and potential safety related consequences of the inadvertent AEB activations. The scope has been expanded to include assessment of model year 2020-2022 Honda CR-V and Accord vehicles. To review the ODI reports cited in the Opening Resume ODI Report Identification Number document, go to NHTSA.gov.

What owners report

Complaints naming each system. One complaint can name several, so these add up to more than 347.

FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 95 27%
ENGINE 69 20%
SERVICE BRAKES 54 16%
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 50 14%
FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 49 14%
UNKNOWN OR OTHER 40 12%
AIR BAGS 34 10%
STEERING 20 6%
LANE DEPARTURE 16 5%
POWER TRAIN 16 5%
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL 12 3%
FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE 11 3%

When the complaints arrived

By the year NHTSA received them, which is not the year the failures happened. They peaked in 2025 at 105.

2020 2025 2026
2020 to 2026, the last of them a part year

In owners' own words

Quoted from NHTSA's complaint file. These are unverified accounts by the people who filed them, not findings of fault.

UNKNOWN OR OTHER

1 death · fire · crash · towed

FOLLOWING A COLLISION, THE VEHICLE CAUGHT FIRE RESULTING IN OPERATOR DEATH

NHTSA complaint 11389984. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

AIR BAGS

4 injured · crash · towed

The contact owns a 2020 Honda Accord. The contact stated while driving at 25 MPH, the front driver's side air bag, the front passenger's side air bag, and the knee air bags were deployed unintendedly. Additionally, there was a significant amount of chemical smoke inside the vehicle. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact stated that she depressed the brake pedal to stop and exit the vehicle, but the vehicle failed to respond. The contact stated that the vehicle rolled for 30-40 seconds and stopped after hitting a bicycle pole. The contact stated that the front passenger's side seat was occupied by an adult and the rear seats were occupied by an adult and a baby in the car seat

NHTSA complaint 11583035, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

AIR BAGS

1 injured · crash · towed · 3,000 miles

The contact owned a 2020 Honda Accord. The contact stated that while driving at 40 MPH, the airbags deployed without incident and without warning. Due to the shock of the failure, the contact also stated that she then rear-ended an unknown obstacle on the road. Due to the failure, the contact stated that she was disoriented as a fellow motorist called authorities to the scene. The contact was arrested at the scene of the failure for reckless driving. After the contact’s release from jail, she sought medical treatment for a shattered sternum, a broken right thumb, and a hematoma on her left leg. The vehicle was towed from the scene as it was deemed a total loss. The dealer nor the

NHTSA complaint 11434263, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

STRUCTURE:BODY

1 injured · crash · 19,654 miles

I [XXX] AM WRITING THIS LETTER ABOUT MY 2020 HONDA ACCORD. VIN NUMBER [XXX]. I LEASED THIS CAR IN JANUARY OF 2019 FROM TAMPA HONDA. MY BROTHER'S NAME IS ON THE LEASE AND HIS NAME IS [XXX]. HE HAS BEEN LEASING CARS FOR ME OVER 5 YEARS, FROM HONDA. ON FEBRUARY 10, 2020, I WAS OUTSIDE CLEANING MY CAR, LIKE I ALWAYS DO FOR THE LAST 20 YEARS WITH THE CAR RUNNING SO I CAN LISTEN TO THE MUSIC. I WAS ON THE PASSENGER SIDE CLEANING THE INSIDE DASH BOARD, AND ALL OF A SUDDEN THE CAR ROLLED BACKWARDS. I WAS IN A STATE OF SHOCK AND DIDN'T KNOW HOW TO STOP IT. I WAS HALF WAY IN THE CAR, AND HALF WAY OUTSIDE WITH MY FEET ON THE GROUND. THE CAR ROLLED OUT IN THE STREET AND HIT THE CAR PARKED ACROSS

NHTSA complaint 11398952, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM
The fueling system is/has failed. The car randomly stops accelerating while on the highway. Yes, it's available for inspections. The car has stopped accelerating while I was on I95, causing others to have slammed on breaks & swerved to avoid hitting me. Yes. Not yet. No, they only appeared after the failure cause the automatic functions to be disabled as well.

NHTSA complaint 11757413. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

ENGINE
I was driving on the hwy going about 75 mph which is the posted speed when all of a sudden my car went into limp mode almost causing a 18 wheeler to run over top of my car with me and my child in it no warning or anything and the car would only go about 20 miles per hour after of that and now all the lights are on in the dash only have a 115000 miles on the car at this time very unsafe and gonna cause someone to get killed because of something falling on this car

NHTSA complaint 11757316. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

ENGINE
The car has a blown head gasket at 72k miles the odometer. This seems to be a major problem with 2018-2022 honda accords with the 1.5 turbo engine. it also has a bad fuel pump.

NHTSA complaint 11755895. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
I was driving on Route 42 today at around 3:45 and my brake light flashed across my dashboard like I needed to step on my break because there was something in front of me but there was nothing in front of me. This has been going on for over a year now I have reported it multiple times and I'm just trying to see if you guys are going to fix it or inspect it I've cleaned off my radar also to make sure that wasn't the problem and it still does it

NHTSA complaint 11754325. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

UNKNOWN OR OTHER
1) The infotainment system/8-inch LCD touch screen that controls the system settings is exhibiting ghost/phantom touches and is faulty since July 7th 2026. I tried to self-diagnose it but could not fix it. Yes, the vehicle is available for inspection provided I get a loaner car to drive that day. 2) These random touches are constant and are very distracting and when a driver is distracted, it could lead to accidents and more catastrophically, death of one or multiple people due to a crash. I have tried hard to not get distracted but it sure isn't helping. 3) No, it has not been confirmed by a dealer as they want to charge me 200 USD to diagnose an issue for something I have hard evidence

NHTSA complaint 11753766, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM
The car keeps giving me misfires

NHTSA complaint 11753856. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

Compare

Other years of the Honda Accord

Model year Complaints Recalls Deaths
2025 77 0
2024 135 3
2023 84 5
2022 228 4
2021 219 4
2019 667 6
2018 1,838 6
2017 531 3 2
2016 594 4
2015 599 5
2014 976 4
2013 1,418 5 1
2012 373 8 1
2011 296 9
2010 579 12 2

Other 2020 Honda models

Every Honda on this site — 187 vehicles, 362 recall campaigns and 10 open investigation s.

If this is your car and a dealer keeps failing to fix it, your state's lemon law may require the manufacturer to replace it or buy it back. What each state asks for , read from the statutes.

Where these numbers come from

A complaint is one owner's account and has not been verified by NHTSA or by us. A vehicle with more complaints is not necessarily worse: models that sold in larger numbers collect more of them. How this is counted.

Compiled and maintained by
Independent developer and analyst