Complaint volume
217 consumer-submitted complaints are matched to this model year. Treat the count as a research signal, then read the actual summaries for repeated symptoms.
Complaint records
2020 Honda Civic Complaints
217 consumer-submitted complaints on record for the 2020 Honda Civic, grouped by component category.
217 Total complaints
15 Crash reports
1 Fire reports
9 Injury reports
Complaint data reflects consumer-submitted reports. A complaint is not proof
of a defect, recall, or manufacturer fault. Enriched severity fields come
from official bulk records when the complaint can be matched by ODI number.
Buyer interpretation
How to use these complaints before buying
Complaint records are most useful when they turn into inspection points, seller questions, and comparison checks against nearby model years.
Pattern to inspect
The most common categories are power train, air bags, steering. Use those categories as a test-drive checklist instead of judging the vehicle from the total count alone.
Severity flags
Enriched records include 15 crash reports, 1 fire report, 9 injury reports, and 0 fatality reports. These fields come from complaint records and should be read in context.
Mileage clue
Mileage is available on 49 complaints, with an average reported failure mileage of 22,617 miles. Compare that with the mileage on the listing.
Questions to ask the seller
- Have you had any problems related to power train, air bags, steering?
- Can I see recent maintenance and repair records?
- Has the vehicle ever been towed, involved in a crash, or repaired for the same issue twice?
- Can we also check the recall record for this 2020 Honda Civic?
Used-car checklist
Use these complaints before the test drive.
Build a buyer checklist to turn these issues into questions and inspection points.
2020 Honda Civic
Build buyer checklist Compare with other years Sends year, make, and model to pre-fill your checklist.
How severe are the 2020 Honda Civic complaints?
15 Crash
1 Fire
9 Injury
0 Fatality
16 Towed
8 Medical attention
What are the most common 2020 Honda Civic complaint categories?
POWER TRAIN 25
AIR BAGS 23
STEERING 21
UNKNOWN OR OTHER 21
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 17
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 13
FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 12
SERVICE BRAKES 6
FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE 5
ENGINE,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 4
217 total complaints on record
Latest complaints
| Date | Component | Summary | Severity | Mileage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 2024 | STEERING,SUSPENSION,SERVICE BRAKES | my car has been grinding ever since I purchased the car. The vehicle only had 17,000 miles when I bought it. I took it to Honda of Hollywood and let them know that my car was grinding and they said that I needed to change my brakes. I changed my brakes and went back to the dealership and they said I needed to sand the rotors. I went to get my rotors repaired and my car was still grinding. I went back to the dealership and they said nothing was wrong with the car. I don't hear any other Honda grinding like my car. On the freeway my car is rattling. The tires in the back of my car move around they are not straight. I looked under my car and noticed that the wheel bearing is broken. I don't think the dealership should be putting my life in jeopardy like that when my car was under warranty when I reported the issue.i need help. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Apr 2024 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,UNKNOWN OR OTHER,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM | I was driving on 4/24/23 going 75 MPH. The car made a rev up noise and be RPM’s suddenly increased and the speed was decreasing. The car was losing power. I had to pull over to the side of the road and shut the car off and let it sit for awhile. The. When I started it back up it ran fine. This is a safety issue as I had to pull over on the highway and sit on the shoulder and could have been hit. No lights came on the dash at this time. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Apr 2024 | STEERING | Steering sticks while driving causing over correction in turns. And sticks in turnes Brought the car to doggett honda of beaumont and they found that the gear box eps has internal failure. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Apr 2024 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER,ENGINE,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM | Once again the car loses ability to accelerate after driving at highway speeds and driving for about an hour. The car won’t accelerate and has to be turned off and has to sit for awhile. Sometimes the car struggles to start back up. This may happen several times when I drive. This is a safety issue as the car isn’t reliable and can’t just not accelerate on the highway. I feel this is related to the fuel pump recall and that my kind of civic needs to be included in this. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Apr 2024 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Phantom braking, has occurred over a dozen times. Caused me to spill hot coffee all over my face and neck causing mild burns. | Crash: No Fire: No Injuries: 1 | Unknown |
| Apr 2024 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM | Again while driving at highway speeds the vehicle loses power. This is about the 10th time all this has happened. We have to pull over and turn the car off and let it sit for awhile. This time the oil light and the battery lights came on on the dash and then the air bag light and the electric power steering. After turning it off the car had a little trouble starting and then all the lights went away. This is my teenagers car and needs to be safe and reliable. I think this car needs to be included in the recent fuel pump recall. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2024 | ENGINE,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM | Car loses power when driving at highway speeds after driving for about 45 minutes. The car won’t accelerate when this happens and shows no warning signs on the dash. The only way to get the car to run right is to turn it off and wait for about 15-30 min and then start it again. Sometimes this happens 3 times in a trip and when it happens is random but always at highway speeds. This makes the car unreliable and unsafe. I see some Honda civics have a recall for this issue but mine does not. I feel mine needs included in that recall to fix the problem and make the car safe as the problem has occurred multiple times. Have brought the car to a Honda dealer and it threw no codes so they couldn’t fix anything but I have read a faulty fuel pump throws no codes. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2024 | AIR BAGS | The contact owns a 2020 Honda Civic. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 24V064000 (Air Bags) 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 dealer was contacted and confirmed that the parts were not yet available. The manufacturer was contacted, and the contact was advised to go to the dealer to pay for the recall repair out of pocket and then be reimbursed. The contact had not experienced a failure. VIN tool confirms parts not available. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2024 | AIR BAGS | In a Walmart parking lot I bumped into a curb stone with the left front tire at low speed (5 mph?). The passanger side air bag went off and blew out the windhield. I do not believe the air bag should have deployed at such a low speed. There was no damage to the car body. Total cost for replacing the air bag, windshield and both front seat belts was around $3,500. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2024 | FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE | The contact owns a 2020 Honda Civic. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V858000 (Fuel System, Gasoline) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The local dealer was contacted. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was not made aware of the issue. The contact had not experienced a failure. Parts distribution disconnect. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2024 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,AIR BAGS,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Was T bones September 3rd 2023 exiting the freeway by a Ford F-350. Injury to left side of vehicle mainly . Airbags not side airbags deployed. Went through insurance and was told to report it to the manufacturer. Due to this I now need double knee surgery as I have tears and fluid and now have spinal injury . | Crash: Yes Fire: No Injuries: 1 Towed Medical attention | Unknown |
| Jan 2024 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | PLEASE SE CASES 14345966, CASE 14345965 AND CASE 11565182.The report submitted verbally to NHTSA CASE 11565182 took place on 01/12/2023 at approximately 12:17pm. At one point, I requested from Ms. Lisa (NHTSA assistant) to read again back to me the particular report and she did. Consequently, I realized some miss interpretations. Therefore, I’m submitting this new information in order to be as accurate as possible. At approximately 49000 miles the air conditioning was checked and presented low in fluid. The system was refilled and the same problem reoccurred at approximately 52000 miles. On 12/29/2023 the vehicle was brought to be checked at Freeway Honda. The vehicle presents several different air conditioning leaks according to freeway Honda. It follows: A. Leak at A/C CONDENSER WA B. Leak at A/C COMPRESSOR SH C. Leak at EVAPORATOR. At one particular point, freeway Honda indicated that 2 of out of the 3 leaks would be covered under warranty. The particular freeway Honda dealer refused to fix the 2 A/C leaks unless if I would pay out of pocket the amount of $1,929.89+TAX to fix the 3rd leak as well. Furthermore, they charged me the amount of $175.00 to check for the leaks which should be covered under extended warranty. THE CAR HAS FACTORY A/C PROBLEMS PREVIOUSLY REPORTED BY THE HONDA AUTOMOBILE DIVISION. THERE ARE MORE PROBLEMS WHICH ALSO EXISTS AND IT SHOULD BE TAKEN UNDER CONSIDERATION. INITIALLY, HONDA STARTED EXTENDING WARRANTY FOR THE AIR CONDENSER. THEN, FOR THE COMPRESSOR. HOWEVER, THERE IS MUCH MORE. “The Civic AC systems are allegedly unable to withstand the pressures when circulating the R-1234yf coolant. Multiple air conditioning components allegedly cannot handle the pressure, including the condensers, compressors, evaporators and discharge and suction lines”. than the current used refrigerant, it is potentially dangerous as it is flammable and ignites 405 º C. When flammable- it also emits hydrogen fluoride- DANGEROUS SUBSTANCE FOR THE HUMAN HEALTH. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2024 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | The contact owns a 2020 Honda Civic. The contact stated while driving approximately 35 MPH, there was an abnormal odor coming from the A/C. The contact stated that there was a dangerous chemical called R1234YF leaking into the cabin of the vehicle. The contact stated that the odor from the leak made his daughter sick. No warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer and diagnosed with a leak through the evaporator in the cabin as well as a leak in the condenser and compressor. The vehicle was not repaired due to cost. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 49,000. | Crash: No Fire: No | 49,000 |
| Jan 2024 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | WHEN RIDING DOWN THE HIGHWAY AT THE SPEED OF 70 MPH THE CAR SLAMMED ON BRAKES ALL BY ITSELF, ALMOST CAME TO A STOP AND THEN EVERYTHING WENT BACK TO NORMAL . i AM AVAILABLE FOR INSPECTION OF THE CAR. MY GRANDAUGHTER AND I WERE IN THE CAR AND IT WAS A VERY SCARY ORDEAL AS THE CAR WAS TRYING TO OR DID SLAM ON BRAKES. THE PROBLM HAS NOT BEEN REPRODUCED OR CONFIRMED BY A DEALER, HOW COULD IT? HAS NOT BEEN INSPECTED NO WARNING LAMPS, MESSAGES, SYMPTOMS, NOTHING OF THE SORT | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2024 | FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE | The contact owns a 2020 Honda Civic. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V858000 (Fuel System, Gasoline) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The contact stated while driving 60 MPH, the vehicle stalled. There was no further information provided. The vehicle was taken to an unknown local dealer, who informed the contact that the parts for the recall repair were not yet available. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was made not aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 60,000. VIN tool confirms parts not available. | Crash: No Fire: No | 60,000 |
| Jan 2024 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | VIN [XXX] 2020 Honda Civic EXL 1.5 Sedan At approximately 49000 miles the air conditioning was checked and presented low in fluid. The system was refilled and the same problem reoccurred at approximately 52000 miles. On 12/29/2023 the vehicle was brought to be checked at Freeway Honda. The vehicle presents several different air conditioning leaks according to freeway Honda. It follows: A. Leak at A/C CONDENSER WA B. Leak at A/C COMPRESSOR SH C. Leak at EVAPORATOR. At one particular point, freeway Honda indicated that 2 of out of the 3 leaks would be covered under warranty. The particular freeway Honda dealer refused to fix the 2 A/C leaks unless if I would pay out of pocket the amount of $1,929.89+TAX to fix the 3rd leak as well. Furthermore, they charged me the amount of $175.00 to check for the leaks which should be under extended warranty. THE CAR HAS FACTORY A/C PROBLEMS PREVIOUSLY REPORTED BY THE HONDA AUTOMOBILE DIVISION. THERE ARE MORE PROBLEMS WHICH ALSO EXIST AND SHOULD BE TAKEN IN CONSIDERATION. I SHOULD NOT BE LIABLE FOR IT “A/C LEAKS”confirmed by Freeway Honda (714) 547-3555/ www.freewayhonda.com Service manager : Jamie Service advisor: Erick M. Zermeno INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6) | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2023 | POWER TRAIN | TSB 22-017 failing clutch on all M/T civic 2020&2021. Failed on highway almost caused severe accident. Honda is refusing to repair/replace under warranty. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2023 | POWER TRAIN | Over the last few months, I noticed that the vehicle had poor acceleration when merging onto the highway. When I tried to accelerate, the RPMs shot up as the turbo kicked in, but the car did not move any faster. Previous to this, I had trouble getting the car into 1st while sitting still (50+ times). The final incident occurred during a short trip to a local store. The engine revved high and I couldn't get over 35MPH. Upon stopping, there was a burning smell coming from the car. I was able to drive it a short distance to a local transmission shop which diagnosed clutch failure. I purchased the car new from a Honda dealer in 2020 and am the only person to drive the car. There are only 70k miles on the car and everyone that I've talked to was surprised that it went out so soon. I don't abuse the clutch (never burned one out before even while living in the mountains). I see that I'm not the only one who has had this issue. Honda should issue a recall and reimburse the owners affected by this defect. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2023 | SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | A lot of times the warning collision on dash will flash to “BRAKE” when going through caution lights usually around fire stations and also approaching steel bridges… I don’t know if it sees the steel deck and thinks it’s a car, but whenever I get in my car, I deactivate the automatic emergency braking system because I don’t want it to automatically brake for me like it’s done in the past. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Nov 2023 | STEERING,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | While driving 20 mile/hr. the car's steering wheel got extremely stiff and difficult to steer. Made an appointment with Hoda Village to fix the issue. After diagnosis, service manager told me that it was rates chowing on electric harness and informed me this was not covered under warranty. Repair cost me about $700.00. Unfortunately, now the same issue is occurring, I have check all over the engine and don't see any rodent caused harness issues. Again, I called the dealer and spoke to service manager explaining the situation, they indicated I need to pay additional diagnostic charge plush any parts/labor. It's unacceptable what the dealer is telling me. This issue is extremely dangerous, to my safety and others as it may cause serious injury or death. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Nov 2023 | EQUIPMENT | Purchased the vehicle on 3/5/2022 with less than 10k miles on it. Within the first 2 months of driving the vehicle, the infotainment screen would freeze while driving and reset. One of these occurrences happened while driving on the highway at which time when the screen froze, turned a different color, and all the lights on the dashboard turned on simultaneously resulting in me not having control of the vehicle mechanics. This lasted for a few seconds, however, driving at a speed of 65 mph without control of the vehicle mechanics was and is extremely dangerous which could have resulted in an accident causing damage, injury, and death. This occurrence happened a total of three times. After a few months owning the vehicle on the first attempt utilized the key fob to lower my windows which resulted in the battery draining and the vehicle inoprable. Since my vehicle is my kids and my only mode or transportation I had to go to the nearest open Autozone to purchase a new battery. Mind you this was on a Sunday night about 9:00 pm so I had to catch an Uber to the nearest open store about 25 miles away. Once I returned home I replaced the battery and the car started at which time I called it a night. The next morning when leaving home for work and taking kids to school the Infotainment Screen was frozen with a black Honda logo as well as a manlfunction with the reverse and side camera. I have taken my vehicle to the local Honda dealer twice on a Saturday since this is the only available free time I have, however, on both occasions both Service Associates conveyed they had not heard of this malfunction previously and that the vehicle would need a diagnostic test I could not afford. The incident occurred on 5/24/23. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Nov 2023 | FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM | Fuel Injectors!!! | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Oct 2023 | POWER TRAIN | The car has a problem where the clutch prematurely wears out and the cars acceleration cuts out. this happens at different RPM ranges and in all gears. it is very unpredictable. Several others have had to repair their drivetrains and honda claims its due to a production issue with the clutch. they have a dealer service bulletin for this issue however Honda needs to recall the part since this problem doesn't come on gradually. it is a sudden loss of a connection in the drivetrain which has caused several issues merging on the highway. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Oct 2023 | SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC | The contact owned a 2020 Honda Civic. The contact stated while driving approximately 65 MPH, the vehicle was on cruise control, and the vehicle slowed down as if the contact had depressed the brake pedal. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated or warning chime sounded. The contact crashed into a truck and bounced off the side of the truck and the vehicle hit the highway divider at the front end of her vehicle and came to a stop. The contact stated that only one side air bag had been deployed. The contact stated that the police and emergency services arrived but she did not seek medical treatment. The vehicle was towed to an impound lot and later declared a total loss by the contact's insurance provider. The manufacturer had been informed of the failure. The contact had researched online and related the failure to NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V458000 (Service Brakes, Hydraulic). The failure mileage was approximately 25,000. | Crash: Yes Fire: No Towed | 25,000 |
| Sep 2023 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | Safety Concerns, see attached file. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |