2020 Honda Insight reliability

Is it reliable?

NHTSA's file on the 2020 Honda Insight holds 31 complaints after 7 years, a rate of 6 per year. That is more complaints per year than most Insight years here — over the median of the other years, which is 3. NHTSA has 6 recalls on file, including Front passenger seat weight sensor, Fuel pump, and DC/DC converter.

2020 Honda Insight Touring — Photo by Kevauto, resized from the original. Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 4.0

Complaints

Per year

Recalls

Years on the road

What owners report

The complaints owners file most often name Forward collision avoidance (12 of 31), then Electrical system (7) and Powertrain (5). Complaints that include an odometer have a median of 5,750 miles, and the middle half falls between 2,350 and 21,750 miles. Those filings include 3 that report a crash and 2 that report an injury.

Next to 2019 and 2021

The 2019 Insight has 98 complaints, 10 per year, and the 2021 has 25 complaints, 4 per year. The 2020 has fewer complaints per year than the 2019. The 2020 has more complaints per year than the 2021.

The complaint rate is complaints filed in this year’s first 3 years on the road, divided by however many of those years have passed. Recalls are a separate count. The numbers are for the US-market 2020 Honda Insight. How we count. Data as of 2026-10-16.

Recalls (6)

Recall Front passenger seat weight sensor 2026-05-21 · NHTSA campaign 26V332000

Summary Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) is recalling certain 2018-2021, 2023 Acura TLX, 2019-2024 RDX, 2017-2020, 2022-2026 MDX, 2017-2021, 2023, 2025 Honda Ridgeline, 2017-2022 Pilot, 2019-2021 Passport, 2018-2026 Odyssey, 2019-2022 Insight, 2019-2021 HR-V, 2018-2020 Fit, 2020-2022 CR-V Hybrid, 2017-2022 CR-V, 2017-2018, 2021 Civic Type R, 2017-2021 Civic hatchback, 2016-2020 Civic coupe, 2016-2022 Civic, 2017-2022 Accord Hybrid, and 2016-2022 Accord vehicles. The front passenger seat weight sensor may crack and short circuit, which can cause the air bags to deploy unintentionally during a crash.

Remedy Dealers will replace the seat weight sensors, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed July 7, 2026. Owners may contact Honda's customer service at 1-888-234-2138. Honda's numbers for this recall are BOL, WO9, OOA, WOM, XOH, NOC, POD, BOE, UOF, POB, EOG, AOI, QO8, TOJ, DO7, and SOK. This recall expands previous NHTSA recall number 24V064. Vehicle Identification Numbers (VINs) involved in this recall will be searchable on NHTSA.gov beginning May 29, 2026.

Vehicles affected 98,892

Recall Fuel pump 2023-12-18 · NHTSA campaign 23V858000

Summary Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) is recalling certain 2013-2023 Honda Accord, Civic Coupe, Civic Sedan, Civic Hatchback, Civic Type R, CR-V, HR-V, Ridgeline, Odyssey, Acura ILX, MDX, MDX Hybrid, RDX, RLX, TLX, 2019-2022 Honda Insight, Passport, 2020 Honda CR-V Hybrid, 2018-2019 Honda Clarity PHEV, Fit, and 2015-2020 Honda Accord Hybrid, Pilot, Acura NSX vehicles. The fuel pump inside the fuel tank may fail.

Remedy Dealers will replace the fuel pump module, free of charge. Owner letters were mailed September 6, 2024. Owners may contact Honda customer service at 1-888-234-2138. Honda's numbers for this recall are KGC and KGD. This recall is an expansion of NHTSA recall numbers 21V-215 and 20V-314.

Vehicles affected 2,490,460

Recall Fuel pump 2021-03-25 · NHTSA campaign 21V215000

Summary Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) is recalling certain 2019-2020 Acura MDX, MDX Sport Hybrid, RDX, TLX, Honda Accord, Civic Hatchback, Insight, 2019 Acura ILX, Honda Accord Hybrid, Civic Coupe, Civic Coupe Si, Civic Sedan, Civic Sedan Si, Civic Type R, Fit, HR-V, Odyssey, Passport, Pilot and Ridgeline, and 2018-2019 CR-V vehicles. The low-pressure fuel pump inside the fuel tank may fail.

Remedy Honda will notify owners, and dealers will replace the fuel pump assembly, free of charge. Owner letters were mailed May 18, 2021. Owners may contact Honda customer service at 1-888-234-2138. Note: This recall is an expansion of recall 20V-314.

Vehicles affected 624,552

Recall DC/DC converter 2020-12-17 · NHTSA campaign 20V798000

Summary Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) is recalling certain 2020 CR-V Hybrid, Accord Hybrid, and 2020-2021 Insight vehicles. The DC-DC converter may shut down and prevent the 12-volt battery from recharging, possibly resulting in a loss of drive power.

Remedy Honda will notify owners, and dealers will update the power converter unit (PCU) software, free of charge. The recall began February 12, 2021. Owners can contact Honda customer service at 1-888-234-2138. Honda's number for this recall is K9E.

Vehicles affected 27,838

Recall electrical system, body control module, software 2020-12-10 · NHTSA campaign 20V771000

Summary Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) is recalling certain 2018-2020 Accord Sedan, Accord Hybrid, and 2019-2020 Insight vehicles. A software error may cause intermittent or continuous disruptions in communication between the Body Control Module (BCM) and other components. This may result in malfunctions of various systems such as the windshield wipers and defroster, rearview camera, exterior lights, audible warning of a stopped vehicle, and power window operation. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) number 103, "Windshield Defrosting and Defogging Systems" and number 111, "Rear Visibility" as well as FMVSS numbers 104, 108, 114, 118, and 305.

Remedy Honda will notify owners, and dealers will update the BCM software, free of charge. The recall is expected to begin February 22, 2021. Owners may contact Honda customer service at 1-888-234-2138. Honda's number for this recall is X95.

Vehicles affected 737,233

Recall Fuel pump 2020-05-28 · NHTSA campaign 20V314000

Summary Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) is recalling certain 2018-2019 Acura NSX, 2019 Acura RDX, RLX and RLX Sport Hybrid, 2018-2019 Honda Accord, Civic Hatchback, Civic Type R and HR-V, 2019-2020 Insight and 2019 Fit vehicles. The low-pressure fuel pump inside the fuel tank may fail.

Remedy Honda will notify owners and dealers will replace the fuel pump assembly, free of charge. The recall began July 22, 2020. Owners may contact Honda customer service at 1-888-234-2138.

Vehicles affected 135,995

NHTSA's count is every vehicle in that campaign. A campaign can cover other model years and other models.

Complaints by component (31 total)

Forward collision avoidance

Electrical system

Powertrain

Engine

Service brakes

Structure

Speed control

Steering

Air bags

Back-over prevention

Fuel and propulsion system

Fuel system, gasoline

Hydraulic brakes

Suspension

Visibility and wipers

Wheels

Show 8 more Show less

Crash-flagged

Fire-flagged

Injury reports

Death reports

Of the 12 complaints that include an odometer reading, the median is 5,750 miles. The middle half fall between 2,350 and 21,750 miles.

Complaints filed per year

Excerpts from recent NHTSA complaint filings

"I was driving to Pilates class and everything was normal but as I reached a railroad crossing the car suddenly and for no reason stopped dead on the tracks. Luckily for me there were no vehicles in front or behind me…"
Forward collision avoidance · filed 2026-08-02
"The vehicle unintentionally accelerated while pulling into a parking space. I was depressing the brake to slow down while making the right turn into the space. The engine suddenly revved up (as though you were…"
Unknown or other, Forward collision avoidance · filed 2026-06-30
"At approximately 148,000 miles the steering would have an intermittent notchy, or sticky, feeling while driving straight. While driving straight at cruising speed, I noticed that the resistance on the left side of the…"
Steering · filed 2026-04-01
"Battery keeps draining. On my 3rd battery and believe there’s a defect in the DC/DC converter (earlier recall - K9E). This has caused issues being stranded in the cold."
Electrical system · filed 2026-01-30
"This 2020 Honda Insight performed “phantom braking” of the automated braking system when I was about to enter a clear intersection with no vehicles or obstacles in front of me. It activated the automated braking system…"
Service brakes, Forward collision avoidance · filed 2025-08-23

NHTSA crash ratings

Version	Overall	Front	Side	Rollover
2020 Honda INSIGHT 4 DR FWD	5 stars	5 stars	5 stars	5 stars

Stars are how this vehicle did in NHTSA crash tests. They are a safety result, separate from the complaint record. Not rated means that test was not run for this version.

Fuel economy

Trim	Engine	Transmission	Drive	City	Hwy	Combined	Annual fuel cost
Insight	1.5L, 4-cyl	Automatic (variable gear ratios)	Front-wheel drive	55	49	52 MPG	$1250
Insight Touring	1.5L, 4-cyl	Automatic (variable gear ratios)	Front-wheel drive	51	45	48 MPG	$1350

Specs and fitment

3rd generation, 2019–2022

Body styles Sedan

Oil 0W-20 , 3.5 qt capacity

Tire size 215/55R16 (LX/EX) to 215/50R17 (Touring)

Known issues for this generation

In December 2020, Honda recalled 2020-2021 Insight hybrids alongside the 2020 CR-V Hybrid and Accord Hybrid (NHTSA 20V-798, 27,838 vehicles across all three models) for a DC-DC converter defect: transistors with an out-of-spec dopant concentration could raise output voltage in cold weather and shut the converter down, which prevents the 12-volt battery from recharging and can cause a loss of drive power. Dealers update the power converter unit software free of charge. Separately, 2019-2020 Insights are covered by NHTSA recall 20V-314 and its expansion 21V-215, both for a low-pressure in-tank fuel pump that may fail; the impeller can swell and seize, producing a stored P0087 code, a stall while driving, or a no-start. Dealers replace the fuel pump assembly at no charge. NHTSA also has an open engineering analysis, EA25002, opened January 2025 after upgrading preliminary evaluation PE24008, into the automatic emergency braking system activating with no apparent obstruction on 2019-2022 Insight and Passport vehicles. ODI has logged 106 consumer complaints and reviewed 475 reports, of which three allege a crash and two allege injury.

Compare

Previous year 2019 Honda Insight Next year 2021 Honda Insight See every Honda Insight model year →

Frequently asked questions

Is the 2020 Honda Insight reliable?

What are common problems with a 2020 Honda Insight?

Is the 2020 Honda Insight more reliable than the years next to it?

The 2019 Insight has 98 complaints, 10 per year, and the 2021 has 25 complaints, 4 per year. The 2020 has fewer complaints per year than the 2019. The 2020 has more complaints per year than the 2021.

Has the 2020 Honda Insight been recalled?

The 2020 Honda Insight has 6 recalls on file with NHTSA. See the recalls table on this page for dates, components, and remedies.

How many complaints have owners filed about the 2020 Honda Insight?

Owners have filed 31 complaints about the 2020 Honda Insight with NHTSA.

What mpg does a 2020 Honda Insight get?

EPA-rated combined fuel economy for the 2020 Honda Insight is 50 MPG. See the fuel economy table on this page for city and highway figures by engine and transmission.

How many generations of the Honda Insight are there?

This database covers two: a 2nd-generation hatchback (2010-2014) and a 3rd-generation sedan (2019-2022), with a four-year gap between them.

Does the Honda Insight have hybrid battery problems?

2010-2012 models are covered by Honda service bulletin SB-14-064 for an IMA battery software "memory effect" that can show up as reduced capacity or a stored P0A7F code; the remedy is a free control-module software update.