2017 Honda HR-V
This year drew an ordinary 120 complaints for a Honda HR-V — the model's median is 82. What they were about is the unusual part: 25.8% of them mention move, against 9.2% across the other years of this generation.
Generation 1 of the Honda HR-V, which began in 2016 and ran to 2022. Everything below compares this year against the others in that generation, not against a different car wearing the same name.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 120 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 82 |
| Involving a crash | 13 |
| Recalls | 0 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 29 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- move — 25.8% of this year's complaints, against 9.2% across the other years of this generation (2.8×). Owners wrote it as: move, drive reverse, grinding, lights dash.
- transmission — 26.7% of this year's complaints, against 10.6% across the other years of this generation (2.5×).
- button — 6.7% of this year's complaints, against 1.5% across the other years of this generation (4.6×). Owners wrote it as: button, fob, key fob, start button.
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
What owners wrote
The transmission went out in my vehicle. I read online that there is/was a recall on this vehicle, models 2016-2018, however, Honda is telling me there is no recall on the transmission. I noticed the grinding on Friday, 01/03/25, and did not drive it again unt…
KEY FOB WORKS ON KEYLESS ENTRY BUT INCONSISTENTLY DOES NOT ALLOW STARTING WHEN BRAKE DEPRESSED AND START BUTTON PRESSED. SOMETIMES THE KEY WARNING LIGHT IS LIT, BUT SOMETIMES NO WARNING LIGHT IS DISPLAYED. SOMETIMES THE CAR IS HESITANT TO TURN OFF AS WELL. KEY…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Honda HR-V was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2017 Honda HR-V? What happened to yours?
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