2020 Honda Accord · symptom sheet
Engine overheats or leaks coolant
- 28owner reports
- 100,000median miles
- 0involved a crash
Newest report Aug 25, 2026 · checked Oct 2, 2026
74 of the 362 complaints on this car are about the engine. 28 of those describe overheating.
Narrower sheets: Head gasket fails or coolant leaks into the engine (26 reports)
Tick what matches of 28 reports
Overheating on other Accord years
Report counts are for each model year on its own, so a newer car has had less time to collect them. Model years with too few reports of it for a sheet: 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026.
What this problem usually is
Most owners in this group notice the coolant before they notice the heat: a reservoir that keeps dropping, a sweet smell, or a bright puddle under the front of the car. Across the vehicles on this site, about four in five of these complaints mention coolant, a leak or a puddle, and roughly two in five mention the temperature gauge or overheating.
What got replaced
Owners who name the part that was replaced mention the head gasket (26 reports).
Recalls and investigations
No recall on the engine covers the 2020 model year as of Oct 2, 2026.
NHTSA investigations into the engine on the Accord
Honda high engine speed. Closed may 4, 1987.
None of these investigations covers the 2020 model year.
When it happens
The middle half of failures fell between 85,741 and 120,000 miles, from the 11 reports that gave a mileage.
Is this a known problem?
The manufacturer has sent NHTSA 1 service bulletin or notice for the 2020 Honda Accord that deal with this problem. Newest first.
Federal rules make a manufacturer send NHTSA a copy of any notice about a defect that goes to more than one dealer or owner. Most of these are service bulletins, the repair instructions manufacturers send to dealers. NHTSA generally leaves safety recall bulletins out of this file, and recalls are listed separately.
Under certain conditions, the cylinder head gasket effectiveness may be reduced which may cause vehicles to experience overheating, coolant loss, misfire and/or DTCs P0300 thru P0304 stored.
What owners wrote
“The car has a blown head gasket at 72k miles the odometer. This seems to be a major problem with 2018-2022 honda accords with the 1.5 turbo engine. it also has a bad fuel pump.”
Filed Aug 10, 2026 · 72,000 miles
“Engine began running rough and warning lights came on the dash indicating multiple issues and the engine light. Brought it to Honda and the tech diagnosed a head gasket failure. Honda recommended a head gasket repair. Car only has 137,000 miles on it.”
Filed May 28, 2026 · 137,000 miles
“ENGINE,Coolant system VEHICLE WAS CUTTING OFF IN THE MIDDLE OF DRIVING SHAKING AND JERKING”
Filed Jan 6, 2026
“Car has only 73k miles , fails to accelerate unless itâs left to run for an hr . All lights on dash . Replaced spark plugs, coils and battery to no avail and Took to get diagnosed and was told head gasket and quoted 7k to fix. When car does drive it immediately accelerates to 40 on dash which could cause collision leaving me to feel unsafe to drive .”
Filed Aug 8, 2025 · 73,000 miles
Should you keep driving it?
This page can't tell you that. 0 of 28 reports involved a crash. Owners who file are the ones who had a bad experience, and nobody checks their reports. If the problem affects steering, braking, power or a fire risk, treat it as a safety fault and have it inspected before a long or high-speed drive.
File your own report with NHTSA. Complaint counts are how a problem gets an investigation. How reports land on this sheet.
Guide Which lights mean pull over now? Warning lights by color and urgency
Other problems on this car
- Brakes grind, pulse or wear early 57 reports
- Brakes on its own (automatic emergency braking) 53 reports
- Airbag warning light or recall 35 reports
- Check engine light or misfire 34 reports
- Multiple warning lights come on at once 33 reports
- Forward collision warning goes off or the camera drops out 32 reports
- Engine stalls or loses power while driving 31 reports