Honda Clarity Plug-In Hybrid Problems by Model Year
NHTSA recorded 187 consumer complaints across the 3 model years of the Honda Clarity Plug-In Hybrid (2018–2020) that have at least 5 complaints. 2018 has the most, with 137. Across all years, the part named most often is fuel system (50 mentions). Pick a model year below to see its parts, mileage, recalls and service bulletins.
All Clarity Plug-In Hybrid model years
Years with fewer than 5 complaints are not listed. The score compares years of the same model, allowing for the era and for how long each year has collected complaints: 50 is a typical year, lower means fewer complaints. It is not adjusted for sales volume.
| Year | Complaints | Median mi | Recalls | TSBs | Score (50 = typical) | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 8 | 3,060 | 0 | 7 | — | Not enough data |
| 2019 | 42 | 8,740 | 2 | 4 | Not compared (fewer than 3 comparable model years) | Rising |
| 2018 | 137 | 2,762 | 1 | 18 | Not compared (fewer than 3 comparable model years) | Rising |
Parts named most often, all years
Counts add up complaint mentions across the listed years. A complaint can name several parts.
- Fuel system50 22%
- Engine37 16%
- Electrical system30 13%
- Other or unknown29 13%
- Transmission and drivetrain24 10%
- Vehicle speed control23 10%
- Forward collision avoidance21 9.2%
- Visibility (wipers, defrost, mirrors)15 6.6%
Example complaints
One per model year, chosen for length and detail. Personal details are removed. They are consumer reports, not findings.
2018: “I filled the seven gallon gas tank yesterday, and the dashboard range display calculated the range of the car on gas power as 871 miles. I have been driven mostly on electric battery power, but with only seven gallons of gas in the tank, that range is absurd. New drivers of the vehicles might believe the range and inadvertently strand themselves somewhere.”
NHTSA complaint #11091184, filed 2018-05, 1,470 miles2020: “When the battery is low the Honda clarity's RPM jump really high and vehicle revs really hard and starts to lose power. My vehicle had two battery bars and when I tried to climb it mountain it lost speed. I was almost hit twice because my car kept losing speed and it was revving like it was struggling to keep moving. Very scary situation to be in with other cars and little children in my car. I have a video of the car revving.”
NHTSA complaint #11352172, filed 2020-08, 3,060 miles2019: “My car is losing power and getting loud noise while driving on an uphill road. I have shown my car to 3 different dealers and they couldn't fix it. I have seen many online reviews with the same problem and still, Honda is not helping its customer.”
NHTSA complaint #11330558, filed 2020-06, 12,500 milesOther Honda models
24,617 complaintsHonda Civic
16,239 complaintsHonda CR-V
16,058 complaintsHonda Odyssey
12,865 complaintsHonda Pilot
9,393 complaintsHonda Ridgeline
2,216 complaintsHonda Fit
2,201 complaintsHonda HR-V
1,871 complaints
About this data. Data from NHTSA (ODI) complaints, recalls, TSBs and investigations, updated Oct 27, 2026. Complaints are unverified consumer reports and may be duplicated or inaccurate. Methodology