2020 Honda HR-V Power Train
Owner-reported problems and safety issues filed with NHTSA. Review common failures, severity levels, and complaint trends over time.
Complaint Timeline
Chronological view of owner reports
- The transmission had several problems that failed, leading to the car being unable to drive. The car starts, but does not drive in Drive or Reverse. The exact Honda vehicle codes affected are: P0171 and P0793. -My safety was put at risk because the car had previously stalled several times, leading to needing to pull over on the side of the road immediately, even on what is nearly a highway. -The exact problem was not confirmed by a dealer, but by an independent mechanic. Previous problems, such as the stalling, were confirmed by Caliber Collision in Cinnaminson, NJ. -The vehicle was last inspected by a mechanic in Massachusetts. -There were several of the dash cam lights and error sounds, off and on, since [XXX], upon an accident. The car was repaired after by said Caliber Collision in Cinnaminson, NJ, on more than one occasion between January 19th, 2025 and today, April 4th, 2025. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
The contact owns a 2020 Honda HR-V. The contact stated while driving approximately 75 MPH with the cruise control engaged, there was an abnormal grinding sound coming from the driver’s side front-end of the vehicle. The contact stated that the vehicle was shuddering and occasionally hesitating while driving. The contact stated that the noise and the shuddering were intermittent but were more frequent. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact stated that the vehicle was taken to a dealer twice to be repaired; however, the dealer was unable to duplicate the failure. The contact stated that the noise gradually became louder, with the failure occurring at various speeds. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer where it was diagnosed, and metal fragments were found in the transmission fluid. The dealer determined that the transmission needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and informed the contact that there was a Warranty Extension for similar vehicles; however, the vehicle was not covered. The failure mileage was approximately 109,000.
Driving 65 on freeway, power loss and all the lights came on. pulled over and put it in park, dash said i was still in N and i took my foot off brake and it was rolling. I shut car off and waited so i could get to safer place. was able to start up - with all lights flashing. Poor power, "limped" to the closest parking lot - about 1/2 mile. dealer said it was the battery and there were shavings in the transmission fluid. said they would check it again at my next oil change, but it was fine. 5 days later it happened again - same scenario. had it towed to closest dealership - and waiting for diagnosis. they suspect it needs a transmission replacement. they are checking with their "Honda TechLine"
The transmission on my 2020 HRV Honda failed at 63,000 miles. We were at risk because we were driving on a freeway with speed limit of 70 mph and we could only go 30 mph. The problem has been identified by American Honda but they would not extend the warranty to 2020 cars. The transmission had to be replaced and the new one is working. They were no warning signs of the failure. American Honda is saying that the NHTSB is responsible for issuing all recalls. Please help. This was a huge expense that Honda knows full and well that it was a CVT failure on their HRVs. The case number with American Honda is 14909647.
I was driving the car, pushing on the gas, it would barely move and all dash lights came on, I was able to safely pull over, fortunately
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Quick Summary
The 2020 Honda HR-V has 5 Power Train complaints on file. 1 crashes have been reported. Review the timeline above for detailed owner experiences.