all vehicles · every Accord year · method

Honda Accord 2020

Safety complaints filed by owners in the first three years, per 1,000 sold.

0.55 per 1,000

1.0 times this nameplate’s own median · from 129 complaints filed in the first three years, of 401 ever. 95% lower bound 0.46.

Against its own model years

The model year carries far more information than the badge, so this is the comparison that matters.

Model year	Per 1,000	Complaints
2008	1.87	698
2009	0.82	272
2010	0.56	169
2011	0.28	76
2012	0.50	141
2013	1.04	363
2014	0.54	203
2015	0.44	164
2016	0.57	199
2017	0.55	184
2018	1.49	456
2019	0.63	175
2020	0.55	129
2021	0.42	85
2022	0.55	98
2023	1.05	186

What owners describe

Phrases over-represented in these complaints compared with the same component on every other vehicle. Counts are complaints containing the phrase.

Forward Collision Avoidance 111 complaints

outside east	21	14%
custody police	21	14%
communication real	21	14%
yes spent	21	14%
void warranty	21	14%
verbally indicated	21	14%

Engine 77 complaints

head	25	33%
gasket	24	31%
head gasket	22	29%
turbo	10	13%

Electrical System 64 complaints

warning lights

16%

When it breaks

66% of reported failures happened before 30,000 miles (median 10,000 miles, from 99 complaints that recorded one).

Failures cluster early, which is the signature of how the car was built rather than of wear. A low-mileage example has not yet passed the risk window.

What NHTSA did

2 investigations covering this model year, 1 of which list a recall campaign.

Inadvertent Automatic Emergency Braking

What owners and forums say

Not built yet. This panel is meant to carry community sentiment beside the filed-complaint data, so the two can be compared. Showing something weaker here would defeat its purpose.

Check this yourself

Example records behind this page:

11299412 · 11299486 · 11300609 · 11308492 · 11321364 · 11321362

Limits of this figure. It counts safety complaints filed with the federal government, which is a floor on failures and not a census: problems that only cost money are under-reported. Complaint rates also reflect how likely a brand’s owners are to file, which cannot be separated from how often the car fails. Sales are calendar-year and the denominator for this nameplate is automated checks only, not verified against an external source.