Selling a Honda that won't run

Before you do, have the VIN checked. Honda has stretched its warranty on several parts that can take a car off the road, most recently the head gasket, in a program announced on August 26, 2026. Below you'll find those programs, the fuel pump and Takata airbag recalls to rule out, what NHTSA's complaint file holds for 19 Honda models, and every Honda in our list.

Check the VIN first: the 2026 head gasket extension

On August 26, 2026, American Honda extended its warranty on the cylinder head gasket in certain Accord, Civic and CR-V models. For most of the years the bulletins name the 1.5-liter turbo engine; the hybrids and the 2025-2026 Civic 2.0 are on the list too. Coverage runs to "10 years from the original date of purchase or 150,000 miles, whichever comes first."

Honda says the gasket's effectiveness may drop, and that cars can then show "overheating, coolant loss, misfire, and/or DTCs P0300 through P0304 stored." If your Honda is on that list and shows those signs, a Honda service department can check its VIN for this coverage. Do that before you sell. If the overheating already ruined the engine, our blown engine guide covers selling it that way.

Two rules change things for the oldest cars:

• The 2016-2017 cars get a fixed end date. Honda's bulletins for the 2016-2017 Civic 1.5-liter turbo, the 2017 Civic Si and the 2017 CR-V 1.5-liter turbo set an end date of May 31, 2027. The bulletin for the CVT Civic reads "May 31, 2027 or 150,000 miles, whichever comes first" and warns: "Any repair orders issued after that date are no longer valid." For the manual Civic, the Si and the CR-V, have a Honda dealer check the VIN for the mileage terms.
• Cars already past 10 years get a short window. Honda promised "a 6-month grace period from the date of customer notification" for affected cars too old for the main term. Honda expected to begin notifying owners in early October 2026, so watch the mail.

Other Honda coverage, open and closed

The head gasket is not the only part Honda has stretched coverage on. Where Honda's notices say when the clock starts, it starts on the original date of purchase, not with the model year, so the day the car was first sold decides whether yours still qualifies.

One clause from that 2013 settlement is worth knowing if your Honda has been totaled before. Its coverage did not apply to any car ever "declared a total loss or sold for salvage by a financial institution or insurer." A branded title can shut a car out of a program, so read the terms before you count on one.

Two recalls to rule out before you sell

Fuel pumps that stop pumping (21V-215 and 23V-858)

Some Honda fuel pumps were built with impellers molded at too low a density. Over time the impeller can deform and drag against the pump body until the pump quits. Honda's filing says the engine then "may not start or can stall while driving."

The bigger recall, 23V-858, was filed on December 18, 2023 and covers 2,539,902 Honda and Acura vehicles. Honda models named in it include the 2018-2020 Accord, the 2017-2020 Accord Hybrid, the 2018-2020 Civic sedan, the 2018-2019 Clarity Plug-in Hybrid, the 2018-2020 CR-V, the 2018-2019 Fit, the 2018-2020 HR-V, the 2019-2020 Insight, the 2018-2020 Odyssey, the 2019-2020 Passport and the 2018-2020 Ridgeline. An earlier recall for the same impeller trouble, 21V-215 from March 2021, reached 628,124 vehicles across Honda and Acura. Its Honda list is all 2019 models apart from the 2018 CR-V and the 2020 Accord, Civic Hatchback and Insight. Honda's 21V-215 filing says the dealer will replace the fuel pump assembly "for free."

So if a Honda from those years cranks without firing, or died on the road, run its VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls first. A car that only needed a new pump may be worth keeping.

Takata driver airbags and the Do Not Drive warning

In 2015 Honda recalled cars with Takata PSDI, PSDI-4 and PSDI-4K driver airbag inflators under campaign 15V-320, after Takata filed its own defect report on them. As revised on December 21, 2017, the recall covers 6,281,056 Honda and Acura vehicles. The Honda models are the 2001-2007 Accord, the 2001-2005 Civic (with the 2001-2004 Civic GX and the 2003-2005 Civic Hybrid), the 2002-2006 CR-V, the 2003-2011 Element, the 2002-2004 Odyssey, the 2003-2008 Pilot and the 2006 Ridgeline. If an inflator ruptures, Honda warned, "metal fragments could pass through the airbag cushion material." Dealers install an inflator "of different design, free of charge."

On February 3, 2023, Honda went a step further for 2001-2003 Honda and Acura cars whose Takata Alpha driver inflators were never fixed, issuing a "Do Not Drive" warning. NHTSA put the number of those cars still on the road at about 8,200 at the time, and said Honda had "replaced or accounted for more than 99% of Alpha inflators."

A car under that warning should not be driven anywhere, a scrap yard included. Get the free repair, or sell the car where it is parked and let the truck come to it.

The early-2000s automatic transmissions

In September 2002 Honda lengthened the warranty on automatic transmissions in about 1.2 million Honda and Acura cars to seven years or 100,000 miles. A recall followed for five-speed automatics built in Russells Point, Ohio, which went into some 2002 through early 2004 Odysseys and 2003 through early 2004 Pilots. A California class-action settlement named the 2003-2004 Accord V6, the 2002-2004 Odyssey and the 2003-2004 Pilot.

NHTSA's complaints point at the same cars. Of 960 complaints about the 2002 Odyssey, 589 list the power train. The 2003 Odyssey has 503 of 914, and the 2003 Accord has 880 of 1,987. Those cars are more than 20 years old and long past any extended coverage. If the transmission is what stopped yours, our bad transmission guide weighs repair against selling.

Honda complaints at NHTSA, by model

NHTSA's complaint file, as downloaded October 10, 2026, lists 92,532 complaints for the 19 Honda models in our list, counted model by model and year by year. The Accord, Civic and CR-V hold 58,763 of them, or 64%. Popular cars rack up complaints by sheer numbers, so read a big total as a place to start, not as a grade.

The other eight, from the Insight (516) down to the EV Plus (none at all), add up to 1,501. A few single years stand out:

• Three of the four busiest Honda model years are recent: the 2018 CR-V with 2,155, the 2018 Accord with 2,005 and the 2017 CR-V with 1,773. For each, owners name the engine more than any other component, on 447, 450 and 427 complaints. All three model years appear in the August 2026 head gasket extension.
• The fourth is the 2003 Accord, one of the transmission years above.
• The 2016 Pilot drew 1,710 complaints, and 585 of them name the engine.
• The 2022 Civic is mostly about steering: 780 of its 959 complaints.
• The Prologue, Honda's electric SUV, drew 847 complaints in its first model year, 2024. Steering leads, on 188.
• The 2023 HR-V has 686, and 298 of those name visibility and the wipers.

Across these 19 models, NHTSA's recall file holds 307 distinct campaigns.

Honda in America, briefly

• June 11, 1959: American Honda Motor Co. is incorporated in Los Angeles as Honda's first subsidiary outside Japan, working from a small storefront office. Its first products here are motorcycles.
• 1969: Honda's first car in the US, the tiny N600 sedan, sells in small numbers in Hawaii. Mainland sales start in 1970.
• 1973: the Civic hatchback arrives just as America's first energy crisis begins.
• 1976: the Accord follows as a hatchback. The four-door sedan joins it in 1979.
• November 1, 1982: a slate gray Accord sedan rolls off the line at the Marysville Auto Plant in Ohio, and Honda becomes the first Japanese automaker to build cars in the US.

Our model list starts with the 1984 model year, so the Civic and Accord go back further than the table at the bottom shows.

Selling your Honda as it sits

Don't strip anything first. The catalytic converter, the battery and the wheels all stay on, since the car goes as one piece.

1. Run the VIN for open recalls, and ask a Honda dealer whether an extension covers the part that failed.
2. Note the year, the model, the trim if you know it (Si, Sport, Touring) and the mileage.
3. Describe it straight: does it start, does it roll, and is anything damaged, missing or flood-soaked?
4. Find the title. If it's lost, what you need depends on your state; our guide to selling without a title is the place to begin.
5. Say where the car sits now, whether that's your driveway, the curb out front, a parking garage or the shop that gave up on it.

Pickup is free anywhere in the US. When the car is gone, turn in the plates and file your state's notice.

Questions before you start? Call (877) 421-6008.

Every Honda in our list

Our list holds 19 Honda nameplates from the 1984 through 2027 model years, drawn from the EPA's fuel economy data. Years are model years. A gap means the list has no entry for that stretch: the Passport is missing 2003-2018, the Ridgeline 2015-2016, and the Insight took two long breaks. The Prelude comes back for 2026 after 24 model years away. Ten of the 19 are still on sale, and the newest years are still being added, so a model that ends in 2026 here may well continue.