2020 Honda CR-V
Problems, recalls and owner-reported issues
Forward collision avoidance is the leading concern among 353 owner complaints filed for this model year. This is the 21st highest complaint count among 26 CR-V model years with reports.
Of the 2020 reports, 21 involved a crash and 2 involved a fire. 17 people were injured.
What owners report most often
Recalls and investigations
Air bags, sensor, occupant classification, front passengerMay 21, 2026
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 that deploy unintentionally during a crash increase the risk of injury.
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.
Campaign 26V332000 on NHTSA.gov
Air bags, sensor, occupant classification, front passengerFeb 1, 2024
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.
An air bag that deploys unintentionally during a crash can increase the risk of injury.
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.
Campaign 24V064000 on NHTSA.gov
Fuel system, gasoline, delivery, fuel pumpDec 18, 2023
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.
Fuel pump failure can cause an engine stall while driving, increasing the risk of a crash.
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.
Campaign 23V858000 on NHTSA.gov
Equipment, other, labelsJul 27, 2023
Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) is recalling certain 2017, 2020, and 2022 CR-V vehicles. The certification label on the driver's side door states incorrect Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR), Gross Axle Weight Rating (GAWR), and tire size information. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard number 110, "Tire Selection and Rims."
An incorrectly sized tire may cause premature tread wear, or a tire blow out, increasing the risk of a crash.
Dealers will install a new corrected label, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed September 18, 2023. Owners may contact Honda customer service at 1-888-234-2138. Honda's number for this recall is CF7.
Campaign 23V524000 on NHTSA.gov
Seat belts, front, buckle assemblyMar 9, 2023
Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) is recalling certain 2017-2020 CR-V, 2018-2019 Accord and Accord Hybrid, 2018-2020 Odyssey, 2019 Insight, and 2019-2020 Acura RDX vehicles. A manufacturing issue with the front seat belts may cause the seat belt buckle channel to interfere with the release button, preventing the seat belt buckle from latching.
An unlatched seat belt cannot properly restrain the seat occupant during a crash, increasing their risk of injury.
Dealers will replace the driver and front passenger seat belt buckle release buttons or the buckle assemblies as necessary, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed April 18, 2023. Owners may contact Honda customer service at 1-888-234-2138. Honda's numbers for this recall are NDA, QDB, BDC, MDD, LD9. TDF, FDG, ODH, YDI, ZDE.
Campaign 23V158000 on NHTSA.gov
Fuel system, gasoline, storage, tank assemblyMay 26, 2022
Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) is recalling certain 2020 CR-V vehicles. The clip for the absorber inside the fuel tank was not secured properly and may detach, which can cause an inaccurate fuel gauge reading.
An inaccurate fuel gauge may result in the vehicle unexpectedly running out of fuel and stalling, increasing the risk of a crash.
Dealers will replace the fuel tank, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed July 5, 2022. Owners may contact Honda customer service at 1-888-234-2138. Honda's number for this recall is RCB.
Campaign 22V380000 on NHTSA.gov
Structure, frame and membersDec 5, 2019
Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) is recalling certain 2019-2020 CR-V vehicles. The rear subframe bolts were improperly manufactured and may loosen, allowing the rear subframe to separate.
A separated rear subframe reduces vehicle handling and can suddenly disable the vehicle, increasing the risk of a crash.
Honda will notify owners, and dealers will inspect the rear subframe bolts and retorque them or replace them, as necessary, free of charge. The recall began January 27, 2020. Owners may contact Honda customer service at 1-888-234-2138. Honda's number for this recall is R6M.
Campaign 19V865000 on NHTSA.gov
Representative owner complaints
353 reports, newest first.
Electrical system, Other or unspecified, Jul 3, 2022
I just leased my crv 2020 on May of 2019 and after a week or 2 I had my car battery die on me. Jump started it and took it to Honda and they said they will change the battery. After 2 weeks it happened again and they changed it again. Around March of this year 2022 it happened again and they changed it again. And today it won’t start again. Since it’s 4th of July weekend I have to take it to them Tuesday.
Forward collision avoidance, Jun 29, 2022
On 5 separate occasions the CRV has automatically braked HARD while driving down the highway. On none of the occasions has another vehicle or obstacle warranted this automatic braking. We were about rear-ended while on the interstate driving 70 when the car automatically braked. I am including the latest automatic braking incident in this report.
Other or unspecified, Jun 29, 2022
At 41,000 miles, my 2020 Honda CR-V door lock actuator on the driver’s side rear door quit working. When I would come to a stop at a stop sign/light, it would attempt to engage and make clicking sounds. I attempted to manually lock the door and use the key fob with no luck. The door lock absolutely would not lock. I have small children in the backseat so this had to be fixed ASAP. The dealer confirmed and I had to cover all costs.
Forward collision avoidance, Jun 2, 2022
The contact owns a 2020 Honda CR-V. The contact stated while driving 35 MPH, the vehicle unexpectedly came to a complete stop. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact was able to drive the vehicle home safely. The vehicle was not taken to a dealer or independent mechanic to be diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 26,000.
Electrical system, May 31, 2022
While driving the vehicle on an interstate, the dashboard and infotainment system screens both went completely dark. Pulled the vehicle off the highway; shutting it off and restarting it did not resolve the issue. After using the steering wheel controls and screen brightness rotary control on the dashboard the displays eventually came back on. So far this is a one-time occurrence; however, a friend with the same year and model (2020 CR-V Ex) just experienced a similar problem. In his case the dashboard display continued to work but the infotainment system went dark. I took the vehicle in to a local Honda dealer. They were unable to find any issues with the vehicle displays and said there are no active recalls. Note that a similar problem resulted in a recall for 2017-2019 Honda CR-Vs. Apparently the 2020s have the same or similar issue which to date Honda has not addressed.
Tires, May 22, 2022
235/55/p19 tire blew ou,t and split on edge of tread at 65 miles an hour about all way around between tire tread and sidewall
Forward collision avoidance, May 16, 2022
Car brakes on its own when no vehicle in front of or around my vehicle.
Vehicle speed control, Forward collision avoidance, May 13, 2022
The contact owns a 2020 Honda CR-V. The contact stated while driving approximately 30 MPH with the cruise control engaged, the vehicle began to brake suddenly. The contact deactivated the cruise control and the vehicle began to function normally. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. The contact had not taken the vehicle to a local dealer. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer had not been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 8,000.
Forward collision avoidance, May 10, 2022
My car has been braking on its own the last 5 months. Today it braked for no reason. There was no car in front of us or to either side of us. There was nothing in front of us either. It braked super hard and there was someone behind us who luckily slammed on their brakes and didn’t hit us. It gave me and my kids whiplash. Other times it will brake on its own if there’s a shadow from a bridge or something. Again when it does that there are no cars in front or next to us or even remotely close to us. This is beginning to be a frequent thing happening once or more a week. It’s super dangerous and I don’t feel safe with it braking for no reason.
Vehicle speed control, Apr 8, 2022, crash
The contact's mother owned a 2020 Honda CR-V. The contact stated that while her mother was driving at under 10 MPH, the accelerator pedal was stuck and the brake pedal failed to stop the vehicle while depressed. The vehicle went over an embankment and crashed into a house, then came to a complete stop after crashing into several trees. The air bags were deployed upon impact. There were no injuries to the residents inside of the house. The contact's mother suffered soreness in her right leg, but no medical attention was received. No police report was filed. The vehicle was towed to a body shop and was not yet deemed totaled by the insurance company. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 7,000.
Tires, Apr 5, 2022
In September of 2020 I purchased a brand new 2020 Honda CR-V Touring with 235/55R19 CrossContact LX Sport M+S tires. On April 3, 2022 I was on a trip away (several hundred miles) from home when my 17 year old daughter (who drives the CR-V) contacted me about one tire that was low on air. She sent me a photo. I informed her to put air in the tire to see if it continued to leak and I would fix it when I got home. Taking initiative, she asked me if she could fix it while I was away. I gave her inspection instructions. She carefully inspected the tire and found no outside defects such as screw/nail/puncture foreign material. Since the leak was very slow, she filled the tire with air and safely drove the car to Firestone Tire at 395 Eisenhower Dr, Hanover, PA 17331. Once she got there the tire technician attempted to find the leak. He was unable to find any outside defect or leak and continued by removing the tire from the rim. I then got a phone call from my daughter who had the technician on speakerphone. He described the issue to me as a tire manufacturing defect that he has never seen before. My daughter then texted me photos of the issue. The defect is easily seen on the inside molded lines in the sidewall. It is where the bead rolls into the sidewall. In the molded lines there are areas where the lines are interrupted/missing and with what appears to be several small holes in the rubber. Firestone could not advise how to proceed. The tire was remounted. The technician put a little extra tire sealant on the bead. She then drove the vehicle home. I have since also read the these tires, of other sizes, have had a vulcanizing problem. My tire clearly has this issue and Continental needs to update their recall list to include these as well.
Electrical system, Vehicle speed control, Mar 27, 2022, crash
I was attempting to park in front of a medical professional building with my foot on the brake slowly rolling between the parking lines when the car experienced sudden unintended acceleration. Although I realized the car was accelerating and lurching forward, the brake was not stopping the vehicle. The car jumped the parking curb and crashed into the building causing damage to both the exterior and interior wall of the doctor's waiting room. While neither myself, my passenger, nor any patients in the waiting room were injured, someone could have been. The air bags did not deploy, and the Collision Mitigation system did not engage preventing the collision. Damage to the vehicle consisted of mostly front bumper and grill damage. When I called the local Honda dealership service department asking if I should have them evaluate the car before having body work completed, I was told that the dealership does not accept damaged cars until the body work has been completed. Consequently, I had the car towed to a body shop even though it was technically drivable. I did not feel safe driving the vehicle fearing it would suddenly accelerate again. I reported the incident to the Honda corporate office and a case was opened. I was again told that damage to the car had to be repaired by the body shop before the car would be evaluated by Honda. When the body shop completed the repairs, I had the car towed to the local Honda dealership for evaluation. I specifically requested that the Event Data Recorder be evaluated, but I received conflicting answers when I asked if it had been accessed during the inspection. I was told that the Honda District Representative reviewed the data from the inspection and invoice states, "no defects in materials or factory workmanship were found (NAME of tech) inspected and found no issues, relayed information to Honda and they advised the vehicle is ok to drive at this time". The vehicle was released back to me, but I refuse to drive it.
Forward collision avoidance, Mar 6, 2022
While driving the Automatic Braking System engaged even though there was nobody in front of me. The first time was on a freeway, it suddenly engaged even though there wasn’t a vehicle anywhere close to the front of my vehicle. This could have been bad and I could have been hit from behind if a driver behind me wasn’t paying attention and my vehicle stopped all of a sudden without warning. The second time it happened I was driving on a city road. My lane was empty ahead of me. The system automatically engaged and stopped my vehicle. I noticed the vehicle behind me had to stop quickly because of this. I have not had this checked by Honda yet. I did see that Honda has recalled other year model vehicles for having the same issues. If my vehicle is having the same problems then I would hope Honda would inspect it at no charge. There were no warning lights or advanced warnings that this was going to occur. I feel it is very dangerous because the vehicle just stops all of a sudden and as the driver you are jerked forward. The first occurrence was not very long ago, within the last month. The latest incident was 3/5/22.
Electrical system, Mar 4, 2022
What component or system failed or malfunctioned, and is it available for inspection upon request? Infotainment display. Yes it is available for inspection. How was your safety or the safety of others put at risk? The display periodically freezes in rear camera view when the vehicle is moving forward. It also freezes in other views and crashes. Has the problem been reproduced or confirmed by a dealer or independent service center? No, dealer could not reproduce. Has the vehicle or component been inspected by the manufacturer, police, insurance representatives or others? No Were there any warning lamps, messages or other symptoms of the problem prior to the failure, and when did they first appear? No.
Forward collision avoidance, Feb 28, 2022
I have a 2020 Honda CR-V that is having a Phantom Braking issue. It has happened several times, 3 of which were while on the expressway and a tractor trailer was behind me. The CR-V warning system would flash "BRAKE" and then stop suddenly, there was nothing in front of me, nothing to either side of me. When I took it to the dealership, the technician could not replicate the issue and said 'it was a common issue with all vehicles' and recommended that I 'just turn it off, I did so on my vehicle.' After seeing the news I now know that I am not the only one with this issue. I purchased this vehicle from the dealer in June 2020, and this began in September 2021.
Visibility/wiper, Feb 27, 2022
Windshield has a significant refraction causing issues with visibility at night. Light passing through windshield is variably refracted depending on eye level and viewing angle. Issue has existed since car delivered. Vehicle was taken to dealer and advised of this several times with no fix attempted to date. Will continue to seek remediation from manufacturer and will consider lemon law if not resolved. This is becoming a common issue with more windshields as there are no real standards for windshield light refraction.
Forward collision avoidance, Feb 27, 2022
On multiple occasions during highway or other driving, the automatic emergency braking has engaged causing the car to either slow quickly or attempt to come to a stop which required immediate intervention to avoid potentially being rear ended. Driving was occurring during daylight hours and not in traffic.
Service brakes, Forward collision avoidance, Feb 26, 2022
On several separate occasions our Honda 2020 CRV has applied braking in circumstances where it should not have. On one occasion the vehicle ahead was maintaining the same speed and distance and our car applied brakes although the vehicle ahead was more car lengths ahead than 1 per 10 MPH. On other occasions there were no vehicles ahead or beside, while we were traveling at highway speeds on open highway and the car abruptly applied brakes. In each instance the braking stopped after a short jerk. In other words, it behaved as if the driver had lightly tapped the brakes, although that was not the case.
Service brakes, Forward collision avoidance, Feb 25, 2022
We were cruising along Rt 130 in New Jersey when suddenly the Automatic Emergency Braking System "Brake" flashed on my dashboard and my vehicle braked for a while (from 50mph to 30mph) although there were no cars or any obstacles ahead of us. I had to step on the gas pedal to avoid any rear-end collision on me. Luckily, there were no vehicle behind me at that time.
Other or unspecified, Feb 25, 2022
The vehicle battery drains if parked for a week without driving. The battery needs to be boosted to start the vehicle if parked for a week without driving.
Service brakes, Forward collision avoidance, Feb 25, 2022
Almost 2 weeks ago I was driving on the Florida Turnpike (about 77mph) and suddenly the gas quit on the car. It slower down to about 50mph as I kept trying to give it gas but to no avail. Meanwhile I was lucky enough to be able to steer it into the right lane. This seemed to last a long time but in. truth it was probably only about 5 - 7 seconds. Then suddenly the gas came back on. This happened two more times during the same trip but these were shorter in duration amounting to a big hiccup on the gas. It has never happened to me again. I took it to the Honda dealer. They said they took it out for a spin and couldn't replicate it and had no idea what was wrong. Now I rarely drive on roads that are high speed so perhaps that is why it has not happened again. I see that you are investigating a similar issue for CRV's that are 2018 -19 but mine is 2020. It sounds as though it's the same problem. Luckily I was never in an accident with the car so the police and insurance was never involved.
Service brakes, Forward collision avoidance, Feb 25, 2022
My car has applied the automatic emergency braking 4 times with no emergency needed as no other cars were around. All events included shadows from either a highway sign or a group of trees and occurred throughout the summer/fall of 2021.
Forward collision avoidance, Feb 24, 2022
Automatic Braking applied even when nothing in front of vehicle, on freeway at freeway speeds.
Forward collision avoidance, Feb 24, 2022
Following a car that then pulled over in to the breakdown lane the automatic braking engaged when there was nothing in front of us reducing the speed causing other cars behind us to have to lockup their brakes for no reason. This was very dangerous to myself and the cars behind us. The system does this often with nothing in the lane.
Electrical system, Other or unspecified, Jan 26, 2022
My car was parked in my driveway all day and all night. At some point during the evening all of the windows and moon roof were opened without my knowledge (my keys were on the counter). It rained all night and my car obtained substantial water damage which cost approximately $18,000.00 to repair. I couldn’t drive my car until the repairs were made due to risk of electrical incident while driving. Honda has taken no responsibility. My car is a 2020 Honda CRV. It was recently brought to my attention that windows opening unexpectedly on Honda CRVs has been an issue since at least 2017 with the most recent incident that I know of happening on a 2021 model. Honda has been aware of this “glitch” for at least five years but has done nothing to correct it. It is a safety issue for many reasons. I would like this “glitch” to be corrected so that others will not have to suffer the loss and damages that I did. Insult to injury is I purchased my car from Honda in 2020 for $33,000.00 and then in 2021 I had to pay Honda almost $18,000.00 to fix damages sustained due to their negligence in addressing an issue that they knew about for at least 5 years.