Honda HR-V Years to Avoid — and the Years to Buy
Every Honda HR-V model year from 2016 to 2027, benchmarked against each other with 2,432 federal complaints, 13 recall campaigns, and the odometer readings owners put in their reports.
Avoid: 2023. These years top the HR-V's complaint rankings by volume and severity.
Safer bets: 2020–2021 — the quietest years with at least four years on the road.
The method in one line: every NHTSA complaint for this model is counted, weighted for crashes, fires, injuries, and deaths, and each year is measured against the HR-V's own worst year — full methodology.
The trouble strip
One cell per model year. The whole answer in one glance — click any year for the full report.
The defining problem
Visibility & wipers tops the Honda HR-V file with 422 complaints, concentrated in the 2023 model years, most often reported around 13,000 miles. The year pages break down what fails and when.
Every year, ranked
| Year | Verdict | Complaints | Recalls | Top problem | Trouble index |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2027 | Few reports | 2 | 0 | — | 0 |
| 2026 | Few reports | 15 | 0 | — | 3 |
| 2025 | Too early to call | 64 | 1 | Steering | 10 |
| 2024 | Too early to call | 161 | 4 | Steering | 28 |
| 2023 | Avoid | 816 | 3 | Visibility & wipers | 100 |
| 2022 | Typical | 155 | 3 | Electrical | 29 |
| 2021 | Better year | 79 | 4 | Airbags | 15 |
| 2020 | Better year | 112 | 5 | Fuel system | 16 |
| 2019 | Below average | 340 | 7 | Driver assistance | 49 |
| 2018 | Typical | 201 | 3 | Electrical | 32 |
| 2017 | Typical | 168 | 0 | Transmission & drivetrain | 29 |
| 2016 | Below average | 319 | 2 | Transmission & drivetrain | 50 |
Technical service bulletins
Beyond complaints and recalls, 634 manufacturer communications — service bulletins, service campaigns, warranty extensions — are on file for the Honda HR-V. A TSB is factory repair guidance, not a recall — the repair is not automatically free.
Browse the Honda HR-V TSB list by year →
Questions buyers ask
What Honda HR-V years should I avoid?
Federal complaint records point to 2023 as the Honda HR-V years to avoid — they drew the highest volume of serious complaints relative to the model's other years.
What is the most common Honda HR-V problem?
Visibility & wipers tops the Honda HR-V file with 422 complaints, concentrated in the 2023 model years, most often reported around 13,000 miles.
What are the best Honda HR-V years to buy used?
The quietest Honda HR-V years in federal records are 2020–2021 — each with at least four years on the road and well-below-average complaint volume for this model.
Every number on this page is a count of records in the federal complaint, recall, and investigation files published by NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation. Counts cover the Honda HR-V only, scored against this model's own worst year — not against other models. Check any specific vehicle's open recalls by VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls.