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Honda · NHTSA safety record

2020 Honda FIT

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

Owners have filed 36 safety complaints about the 2020 Honda FIT with the US government. Of those, 1 describes a crash, 1 person was injured and no death is recorded. 4 recall campaigns are open against it, covering the air bags and back-over prevention.

The most complained-about system is forward collision avoidance, named in 8 complaints, 22% of the total. The typical failure was reported at 7,262 miles, the median across the 6 complaints that gave an odometer reading.

Compiled from NHTSA's complaint, recall and investigation files · Covers January 2021 to August 2026 · How this is counted

What is on file

36 complaints on file

36

Complaints

1

Describe a crash

0

Mention fire

1

People injured

0

Deaths

A complaint is an unverified account by the person who filed it, not a finding of fault. One complaint is one ODI number, which is how NHTSA counts them.

Complaints fell 45% year on year: 6 in the twelve months to 2026-Q2, against 11 in the twelve before.

A recall is the manufacturer conceding a defect, and the repair is free. Whether one covers your particular car is a question only its VIN can answer, because a campaign covers a production range rather than a model year.

Which system owners named

Complaints naming each system
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 8 · 22%
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 7 · 19%
UNKNOWN OR OTHER 7 · 19%
ENGINE 6 · 17%
FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 4 · 11%
LANE DEPARTURE 4 · 11%
AIR BAGS 3 · 8%
SERVICE BRAKES 2 · 6%
STEERING 2 · 6%
VISIBILITY/WIPER 2 · 6%
FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE 1 · 3%
SEATS 1 · 3%
0 4 8

Red marks a system with a recall campaign against it. One complaint can name several systems, so these add up to more than 36.

When the complaints arrived

By the year NHTSA received them

By the year NHTSA received them, which is not the year the failures happened. They peaked in 2024 at 11.

12 9 6 3
21 22 23 24 25 26

This is the year the complaint was filed, not the year the failure happened. The range runs from 2021 to 2026, the last of them a part year, which is why its column is drawn faint.

Crash test ratings

NHTSA New Car Assessment Program

NHTSA crashes a car into a barrier and a pole and measures what happens to the dummies inside. This is what it awarded the 2020 Honda FIT, and it is a separate question from what owners report going wrong later.

Test 5 HB FWD
Overall
Frontal crash
Frontal, driver
Frontal, passenger
Side crash
Side barrier
Side pole
Rollover
Chance of rollover 14.7%
Stability control standard Forward collision warning standard Lane departure warning standard

A dash means NHTSA did not rate that test for this vehicle.

Recall campaigns

4 on file

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

BACK OVER PREVENTION:DISPLAY FUNCTION

24V384000 · May 31, 2024

The defect
Honda (America Honda Motor Co.) is recalling certain 2018-2020 Fit and 2019-2022 HR-V vehicles that were previously recalled under NHTSA recall number 23V-046. The rearview camera image may not display when the engine is started with a key, due to a design error in the audio display power circuit. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard number 111, "Rear Visibility."
The risk
An inoperative rearview camera display can reduce the driver's rear visibility, increasing the risk of a crash.
The remedy
Dealers will update the display audio unit software, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed July 8, 2024. Owners may contact Honda service at 1-888-234-2138. Honda's numbers for this recall are TIQ and DIR. Vehicles previously repaired under recall 23V-046 will need to have the new remedy completed.

Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) · up to 114,686 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

BACK OVER PREVENTION:DISPLAY FUNCTION

23V046000 · February 2, 2023

The defect
Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) is recalling certain 2018-2020 Fit and 2019-2022 HR-V vehicles. The rearview camera image may not display when the engine is started with a key, due to a design error in the audio display power circuit. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard number 111, "Rear Visibility."
The risk
An inoperative rearview camera display can reduce the driver's rear visibility, increasing the risk of a crash.
The remedy
Dealers will update the display audio unit software, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed March 13, 2023. Owners may contact Honda customer service at 1-888-234-2138. Honda's number for this recall is 6DW. This recall has been superseded by NHTSA recall number 24V-384. Vehicles previously repaired under recall 23V-046 will need to have the new remedy completed under recall 24V-384.

Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) · up to 114,686 vehicles across all model years covered

In owners’ own words

Quoted from the complaint file

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

AIR BAGS

1 injured · crash · towed

A Nissan pickup towing a trailer ran a red light and crashed into the front middle driver’s side area of my 2020 Honda Fit. The driver who ran the red light was traveling at an approximate speed between 40-50 mph. At the moment of impact the left side of my head hit the driver’s side window. The entire left side of my body was forcefully thrown against the door. After my body went left, the force of the impact caused my body to flail to the right. My car is equipped with front, side curtain and side airbags, for a total of six airbags; none of which deployed during or after my car was struck. According to the diagram located in my Honda Fit’s owner’s manual, there is an airbag sensor

NHTSA complaint 11506791, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
The Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) system and multipurpose camera unit (part of Honda Sensing) on my 2020 Honda Fit malfunction intermittently. On some engine starts the camera and ACC function normally. On other starts the camera does not work at all and ACC is completely unavailable. The vehicle and the camera/related components remain available for inspection upon request. When the multipurpose camera fails at startup, Adaptive Cruise Control and associated Honda Sensing features are completely unavailable. This removes automatic distance control, forward collision warning, and related driver-assistance functions, creating an increased risk of collision, especially during highway driving

NHTSA complaint 11759882, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

SEATS

81,000 miles

The contact owns a 2020 Honda Fit. The contact stated that while attempting to retrieve an item from behind the driver's side seat with the rear seat folded flat, the contact attempted to raise the seat back to lock the seat in place, but the seat bottom failed to operate as intended. The contact reached for the item and the seat back unexpectedly snapped backwards, nearly pinching the fingers in the tracks. Later, while reaching behind the passenger’s side rear seat, the seat back suddenly snapped closed with violent force, trapping the contact between the seats while being folded. The contact was pinned inside the vehicle until the daughter manually pried the seat off to free the contact.

NHTSA complaint 11750431, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

ENGINE
On June 10th 2026, my 2020 Honda Fit EX-L with approximately 20,000 miles began misfiring while idle at a light. Error codes started appearing on my dash, no check engine light. Honda of Short Pump diagnosed a cylinder 2 misfire (DTC P0302) caused by a carbon buildup on the intake valves and quoted ~$1200 for valve cleaning. This is the identical failure mode described in Honda Service Bulletin 21-007, whose affected vehicles list includes 2015-2020 Honda Fits, and which Honda covers under warranty extension bulletin 23-042 for 10 years/150,000 miles - but only for 2018-2019 model years. My 2020 vehicle is excluded by VIN range despite an identical defect at far lower mileage. An engine

NHTSA complaint 11743275, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
Upon startup, dashboard display of time, mileage, and outdoor temp is scrambled. After a few minutes, display corrects on its own. This first happened during a severe cold spell (-20F overnight temps) but has continued into the summer at least a couple of times per week. Pressing the button to cycle through the other screen options doesn’t solve the problem. All are scrambled until the display corrects itself.

NHTSA complaint 11739899. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
My dashboard, specifically the area with my odometer and gas mileage reader, has been flickering and scrambling numbers. This seems to be an issue with many 3rd generation Honda Fit models (2015-2020). This issue makes traveling unsafe as I am unable to see what my odometer is reading and likewise cannot predict when I will need to add gas. The only solution that was offered by my Honda dealership was to replace the entire dash electrical component for $1700 which is not acceptable for an issue that is well know to Honda.

NHTSA complaint 11727163. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

VISIBILITY/WIPER
The back windshield shattered, and seems to be buckling in on its self.

NHTSA complaint 11723196. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

Compare

Other years of the Honda FIT

Model year Complaints Recalls Deaths
2019 136 6 —
2018 117 4 —
2017 43 0 —
2016 120 1 —
2015 283 4 —
2013 176 10 —
2012 113 11 —
2011 113 11 —
2010 183 12 —

Other 2020 Honda models

Every Honda on this site — 192 vehicles.

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. How many repair attempts it takes, and how long you have to file, is set by the state you bought in and by nothing on this page.

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