54 problems related to engine and engine cooling have been reported for the 2020 Honda Odyssey. The most recently reported issues are listed below. Please also check out the statistics and reliability analysis of the 2020 Honda Odyssey based on all problems reported for the 2020 Odyssey.
1)the back hatch will randomly close. The first time it happened I didn’t know what was going on and it hit me in the head. Today my kids were there and it almost hit them but I pushed them out of the way because I knew what was happening as it makes a certain noise first. 2)it stalls out randomly at red lights. 3) the doors won’t open or close at times. 4) the dvd player gets so hot it almost burns you and the dvd player won’t work. When I contact the dealer they say they can’t do anything since it happens randomly and it if doesn’t happen when it’s at the dealership they don’t know what to do so they don’t even make an appointment. Two years ago we complained that the door didn’t have a sensor because it shut my two year olds hand in the door. Honda acted like we were crazy. Then it became a recall and they ‘fixed’ them. But now they won’t open or close.
Vehicle’s “engine idle stop” feature malfunctions unless it is turned off manually. This is an energy conservation feature which turns off the engine when stopped. However, when lifting the brake, the engine does not turn back on at times, sometimes fully stalling the vehicle. At times, numerous lights have come onto the dashboard after this happens. At other times, the vehicle has completely turned off, leaving the safety of the driver and passengers at risk, particularly at stop lights, stop signs, and when in stop and go traffic. I’m continually worried someone is going to rear-end us when they see our brake light go off at an intersection. Vehicle has been brought to Honda dealership who stated they did not know the cause and replaced the battery. Problem was not solved and continues to happen.
The vehicle is currenting having an issue with the most feature which is causing a static sound coming from the speakers as well as the dvd/cd player not working at all. Once in a while when idling with brake on the vehicle will shut and down and restart on its on quickly. When this happens multiple warnings will appear on the dashes warning system. Some of these warnings are mitigation collision warning, cruise control, and low power.
Car was stopped in traffic and has a feature that shuts off the engine when stopped (in drive but with brakes pressed). When trying to proceed forward car shuts down with numerous errors and does not start back up for 5 minutes. Cars are honking and having to drive around us. Eventually was able to get the car running and moved to a safe area. Errors car displayed included: blind spot info system problem and transmission problem.
The contact owned a 2020 Honda Odyssey. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle stalled without warning. The contact stated that the vehicle failed to restart. As a result, another vehicle crashed into the rear of the contact’s vehicle. The contact sustained injury to her neck and lower back that required medical attention. A police report was filed. The vehicle was towed to a tow lot and deemed a total loss by the insurance company. The dealer nor the manufacturer were notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 28,800.
My 2020 Honda Odyssey died at a stop light while driving on 5/12/2023. The auto on/off feature caused the van to turn off at a stop light and then there was not enough power in the battery to start the car again. It had to be towed to the Honda dealership where they could not diagnose the issue. They said the alternator was fine and the battery charged up fine. So no root cause found. Then 6/26/2023 - I drove the van for an hour to the airport and back, parked it in the garage (engine off) for about 10 minutes, and the van struggled to start but did on the second attempt. Then on 7/7/2023 - my wife took the van to the store, came back home and parked it in the garage with the engine off. She came back 5 minutes later to leave again and the van wouldn’t start. The battery was drained. Now it’s sitting on a trickle charger just so I can take it into the dealer. On 7/10/23 - I had the battery replaced and the dealer did some sort of warranty work to help and that corrected the issue. Until it died again on 11/27/23, I had to get yet again another battery as the same issues began happening and it was deemed a “bad battery”. Throughout 2024 and now into 2025 I continually have the same issues where the vehicle will stutter but still managed to kick back on after an auto shutoff. I have been to the dealer countless times and they continually tell me there isn’t anything wrong. Something is happening that causes this - whether is an electrical parasitic drain or something else. I have heard that other vehicles this has happened to but Honda claims nothing. I also had a case opened with Honda on this that never went anywhere - case #13952151 there is clearly something wrong and not being able to diagnose it is even more frustrating given the issue. If it drains while driving - I cannot do anything. I can’t even put it in neutral to move it manually because everything is electronic!!.
Auto shutoff feature regularly fails when attempting to restart the engine. It may delay the restart or put the car in park and not allow it to restart for over 30 seconds. I was stuck in stop and go rush hour traffic. The engine would not restart, leaving the car stranded in the center lane for over a minute while attempting to get the car to start and in drive.
Auto engine idle shut off issue and yes it is available for inspection. Upon exiting stop/start events(auto shut off at stop signs/lights/parking lots), engine does not restart. Instead, it shifts into park, lights up all instruments on display panel, and requires a manual restart. Vehicle is dead until restarted, posing a hazard to occupants/oncoming traffic. This has happened to me 3 times over the last two weeks. Didn't document date of 1st incident. 2nd incident was 3/22/23. 3rd incident was 3/25/2023. Immediately taken to dealer service center for repair. Dealer told us they couldn’t replicate the issue, that there are no codes, and no service advisories. We were told there was nothing they could do and to just turn off the feature when driving. The only one to inspect the vehicle was the dealer service center. No warning at all. Car just doesn't start and driver is left sitting and helpless in active traffic until the car can be restarted.
Not sure about which component failed and put my family and I in significant danger. We had just come to a stop at a traffic light at the end of a highway exit ramp when the car shut off without warning. Completely off. Hazard lights didn’t even work. Nothing worked. Took a minute or two until the vehicle restarted as if nothing had happened. Cars were coming up fast behind us and had to move quickly to get around us. This was late at night so we were hard to spot without any working lights. Thank the lord no one was injured. I suspect it has something to do with the idle-stop feature. This incident happened within the last 2 hours so it hasn’t been reproduced or confirmed by a service center. Please require Honda into issue a recall for whatever caused this defect.
Several times the van has failed to restart from an idle stop/start at a red light and in the middle of stopped traffic. Several attempts to restart the van fail (van doesn’t even try to start) normally after a few minutes with the van back in park it will start again. Very dangerous to be frequently left stranded in the middle of the road. Frequently when the van does successfully take off from a idle stop, you can tell it struggles and just barely is able to resume.
When the automatic start/stop feature turns the car off when the brake is fully depressed the car will sometimes not restart as designed. Further, it is sometimes accompanied by the forward collision warning light coming on and shutting the car off.
Start stop system malfunctions during auto stop/restart. Van will stall or fully turn off instead of restart when brake released and accelerator pressed. Problem is intermittent and increasing in frequency. This results in unexpected stalls/stops in traffic, putting driver and passengers (as well as other vehicles) at risk. Message displayed is “collision mitigation system problem” or the van stops itself and tells the driver to “shift to park”. Van may or may not immediately respond to starting push button. Dealership cannot identify problem, but numerous other customers report similar complaints.
The signal turned red, as I was braking, the car engine stuttered and car shut off. Startled, push the park button, and pressed the engine start button but no response, pressed again and it started. This happened 6 months before but didn't report it as I thought it was a once off event. 6 months ago, the car was at a red light, the idle was on and when I accelerated cause the light changed green, the car shut off. Get the feeling its due to the idle but wanted to report this matter.
My 2020 Honda Odyssey the engine stalled while I am driving. It isn’t the first time in part two years. My first complaint to the dealer on 2020, the first time my engine stalled when I was moving to the parking. The engine stalled and all the lights on on the dashboard with a big bang sound. I restarted the car and my car can drive again. I bought it to the Honda dealer at puente hills and they told me stop to use the brake hold system while I am driving. After a few weeks later , I have the same problem again when I made a right turn. After the turn , my car engine stalled again and I almost got rear end from the car behind me. I needed to restarted my car to drive again. After that I drove to other Honda dealer at west covina to check my car and they was unable to find any problems. They told me to take videos when the happenings again. My car was fine for almost two years. My car engine stalled again while I was driving also with the big bang sound and all the light on on the dashboard. But I don’t need to restart my car on this time . Because the engine start again after all the lights off from the dashboard . I just need to pass the drive button to move my car. I feel so dangerous. I bought my car Honda dealer to check and they told me my throttle have carbon buildup so I paid for them to do it. But I am still feeling unsafe and it’s a unacceptable situation.
The contact owns a 2020 Honda Odyssey. The contact stated that while driving at 30 mph, she notice through her rearview mirror that her vehicle's truck had caught fire without warning. The contact pulled over and was able to extinguish the fire with her shoe. The contact did not suffer any injuries and a police report was not filed. The vehicle towed to the dealer where it remained in their possession and had yet to be diagnosed. The manufacturer was notified about the failure. The vehicle had yet to be repaired and remained in the possession of the dealer. The failure mileage was approximately 24,000.
The “auto engine idle stop” system in my minivan is malfunctioning. This is a safety issue because the engine does not always restart when I take my foot off the brake. I am eventually going to be hit from behind by a driver behind me that assumes my minivan will accelerate from a stop when it is supposed to. Every time the malfunction occurs, the dashboard displays a message “collision mitigation system problem”. However, I have been told by the dealership mechanics that this message is erroneous and that it is displaying because there isn’t a preset error message associated with the auto-engine idle stop malfunction. My minivan was 2 years old when I brought it to the dealership for repair the first time. That was in October-2021 and the dealership is Honda on grand in elmhurst, illinois. I brought the vehicle to them on seven different occasions between October-2021 and now. Even though they were able to reproduce the problem, they say they don’t know how to fix it. So, they made minor repairs each time to different electrical and drive train systems in hopes that the malfunction will cease. After 10 months and 7 attempted repairs, my vehicle is still malfunctioning. The dealership instructed me to contact the corporate level Honda customer service department, which I did on July 8, 2022. I was issued a case number and a customer service representative, walter, to assist in resolving this problem. After many follow-up phone calls to them, they will not return my call to discuss my vehicle. I recently contacted the elmhurst, IL dealership and spoke with the service manager, david abraham, who said he would follow up with walter. However, I still have not been contacted. I am very concerned for my safety and the safety of my two teenage children who are now driving my vehicle. This will undoubtedly lead to a collision if not repaired.
The contact owns a 2020 Honda Odyssey. The contact stated while stopped at a traffic signal he was depressing the brake pedal to stop the vehicle, when the signal changed, and as he released the brake pedal, the vehicle was not turning on. The contact placed the vehicle in park (p) and restarted the engine. The contact stated that his vehicle is equipped with the engine off-on feature. The contact stated that the off-on was also hesitating before he needed to place the vehicle into the park to restart. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. The contact had taken the vehicle to a local dealer, where it was diagnosed and determined that a software update needed to be performed. The vehicle was repaired. The contact manually turned the feature off to prevent the failure from recurring. The manufacturer was not informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 51,000.
New ex-l model van with about 800 miles on it began to permeate the cabin with a gaseous odor coming from the air vents in recirculate mode and could be smelled from the outside of the vehicle as well. Initially smelled it when at idle after a 150 mile one-way trip. The vehicle had to be turned off to make the smell stop. It started again upon return and got stronger when the a/c was put in fresh air mode.
The contact owns a 2020 Honda Odyssey. The contact stated that he noticed an odd knocking sound coming from the engine of his vehicle. The vehicle was taken to a local dealer where it was diagnosed. The contact was advised that if the knocking sound coming from the engine were to become any louder to bring their vehicle back for inspection. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 3,000.