2020 Honda CR-V problems: recalls, complaints and whether this is a year to avoid
The 2020 Honda CR-V has 355 owner complaints on record with NHTSA, which ranks it 8 of 8 Honda CR-V model years by complaint volume. That is the lowest of any year in the run — the 2017 car has 1,773. 7 recall entries cover this year.
Is 2020 a good year for the Honda CR-V?
The spread across this nameplate is wide: the 2017 draws 5 times the complaints of the 2020. On a run like that the model year you buy matters more than the badge, and 2020 sits near the bottom of it.
| Model year | Owner complaints | Recall entries |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 ← this page | 355 | 7 |
| 2019 | 1,102 | 8 |
| 2017 | 1,773 | 7 |
| 2016 | 393 | 3 |
| 2014 | 587 | 1 |
| 2012 | 403 | 3 |
| 2011 | 554 | 13 |
| 2010 | 481 | 15 |
Older years have been on the road longer and collect more complaints for that reason alone, and a year that sold in higher volume collects more while being no worse.
This retrieval holds 8 of the nameplate’s model years. 2013, 2015, 2018 are absent, which means no records came back for them — not that they were clean. The ranking above is among the years shown.
The 2020 accounts for 6% of every complaint filed against the Honda CR-V in this retrieval, which works out to 59.2 complaints per year on the road across the 6 years since it was sold new — the figure to compare against other years, because it removes the advantage a newer car gets simply from having had less time to accumulate reports.
Complaints fell against the preceding year: the 2020 carries 32% of the 2019’s reports. Some of that is age, but a drop this large between consecutive years often marks a fix.
Which recalls cover the 2020?
NHTSA records 7 recall entries against the 2020 Honda CR-V. The campaign text for this year was not part of the stored sample — check the VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls, which is the only way to know whether a specific car’s campaigns were carried out.
What do owners report on the Honda CR-V?
Across every Honda CR-V year, not the 2020 alone — NHTSA does not split component totals by model year.
- Electrical System — 835 reports
- Engine — 769 reports
- Air Bags — 699 reports
- Unknown or Other — 564 reports
If your 2020 is doing something now, these are the guides for that system — each opens with whether it is safe to keep driving:
Which other Honda CR-V years should you compare?
← 2019 Honda CR-V · All Honda CR-V years
If you are deciding between years, the table above is the short answer and the Honda CR-V page carries the full run with the component breakdown. Before money changes hands, run the VIN for open recalls and read the inspection checklist — ten minutes in the seller’s driveway finds most of what matters.
Check a 2020 before you commit
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