2021 Honda Odyssey
The 2021 Honda Odyssey is sold in the U.S. as a gas minivan. The most efficient version, the Odyssey, is EPA-rated at 22 mpg combined. NHTSA lists 8 recall campaigns for this model year, 1 rated critical, which gives it a Safety Signal grade of F. Owners have filed 147 complaints, most often about the electrical system. NHTSA crash-tested it at 5 stars overall.

| Trim | Powertrain | Drive | MSRP | HP | Torque | MPG comb | Seats | Cargo (2nd row) | Wheels |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LX | Gas | FWD | — | 280 hp | 262 lb-ft | 22 mpg | 7 | 88.8 cu-ft | 18 in |
| EX | Gas | FWD | — | 280 hp | 262 lb-ft | 22 mpg | 8 | 89.2 cu-ft | 18 in |
| EX-L | Gas | FWD | — | 280 hp | 262 lb-ft | 22 mpg | 8 | 86.6 cu-ft | 18 in |
| Touring | Gas | FWD | — | 280 hp | 262 lb-ft | 22 mpg | 8 | 86.6 cu-ft | 19 in |
| Elite | Gas | FWD | — | 280 hp | 262 lb-ft | 22 mpg | 8 | 86.6 cu-ft | 19 in |
MSRP excludes destination. Open a trim for the complete spec sheet and standard/optional equipment. Have the car in front of you? Decode its VIN to see which of these trims it is and what it was priced at.
Specs & fuel economy
Source: EPA fueleconomy.gov| Configuration | Powertrain | Drive | Engine / motor | City | Hwy | Comb | Annual fuel* |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Odyssey | Gas | FWD | 3.5L 6-cyl | 19 | 28 | 22 | $3,050 |
*EPA estimate at 15,000 miles/year at EPA reference fuel and electricity prices. fueleconomy.gov record ids: 42848.
Emissions & certification
Source: EPA emission certificates| Configuration | Smog rating | Emission standard | Where it can be sold new | SmartWay |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Odyssey | 5 / 10 | California LEV-III ULEV70 / Federal Tier 3 Bin 70 | All 50 states (federal, all altitudes); California and states following California standards | — |
Certified for all fifty states, so it can be registered new anywhere in the U.S.
The smog rating scores tailpipe pollutants other than greenhouse gases, 1 (worst) to 10 (best), and is comparable only within a model year. The standard is the federal bin or California tier the configuration was certified to. Both come from the EPA certificate behind the window sticker.
Factory warranty running out?
The 2021 Honda Odyssey is in the years where transmission, electronics and drivetrain repairs land on the owner. What an extended plan does and does not cover is worth reading before a dealer quotes you one.
What to check before you buy →Affiliate disclosure: some links on this page are affiliate links. If you request a quote or buy through them we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Nothing on this page changes because of it.
Recalls (8)
Source: NHTSA recall databaseAir Bags
UNWEquipment Adaptive/Mobility
Air Bags
XHP, VHQFuel System, Gasoline
KGC, KGDBack Over Prevention
EEL, ZEM, SFCVisibility
FE5Fuel System, Gasoline
These are vehicle campaigns — the ones the automaker filed against this model. NHTSA also records equipment recalls, filed by a parts maker against a component (a tyre, a child seat, an aftermarket part), and those are not listed here or counted above. nhtsa.gov/recalls shows both for a VIN.
NHTSA defect investigations
Air Bags:Side/Window — Inadvertent Deployment of Side Air Bags closed
On October 28, 2025, the Office of Defects Investigations (ODI) opened PE25018 to investigate complaints of inadvertent deployment of the side curtain and/or side thorax air bags. These complaints concern model year (MY) 2018-2022 Honda Odyssey vehicles manufactured by American Honda Motor Co. (Honda). Honda issued recall 26V227 on April 9, 2026, to address concerns of inadvertent side air bag deployment. In the recall filing, the company stated that “[a]s of April 2, 2026, Honda has had 130 warranty claims, 25 reports of an injury, and no reports of death related to this issue from January 24, 2017 – April 2, 2026.” Honda states that the Supplemental Restraint System (SRS) Electronic Contro
Opened Oct 28, 2025 · closed Jun 25, 2026 · action PE25018 · the investigation’s page →
Engine And Engine Cooling:Engine — No Restart After Auto Start/Stop Engages open
On June 3, 2022, the Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) opened Preliminary Evaluation PE22005 after the agency received VOQs and several field reports concerning the Auto Idle Stop (AIS) feature on 2016-2019MY Honda Pilot vehicles. The complaints allege that the engine fails to restart on its own from a complete stop at a traffic light or road intersection with the AIS function engaged. The subject vehicles are equipped with a 3.5L engine with a 9-speed automatic transmission. On January 6, 2023, Honda released service bulletins 23-008 and 23-009. These service bulletins address the failure to restart issue in the 2016-2019MY Honda Pilot vehicles, as well as the 2015-2020 Acura TLX, 2016-2020
Opened Mar 26, 2025 · action EA25004 · the investigation’s page →
Whether any of this applies to one specific Odyssey
A campaign covers a build range, not a model year, so two identical-looking cars from 2021 can differ. Both of these check a VIN against the manufacturer’s own list, free, in about ten seconds. Honda publishes its own lookup because federal rule 49 CFR 573.15 requires it to, and to keep it current to within seven days.
Hear about a recall before the letter does
The manufacturer’s letter is the last step of a recall: it has up to 60 days after filing to mail owners, at the address on the registration. We email you the day NHTSA posts a recall on the 2021 Honda Odyssey, with what to do next. Nothing else, ever — no newsletter, no marketing, one-click unsubscribe in every message.
Parts & accessories for the 2021 Honda Odyssey
Search by fitment on eBay Motors — OEM take-offs, aftermarket, and the trim pieces dealers no longer stock. The listing and the price are the seller's.
Find parts for this Odyssey →Owner complaints
Source: NHTSA complaint database2 involved a crash · 1 a fire · 4 injuries · 0 deaths reported
32 per 10,000 built · Honda reported 45,444 Odyssey built (its Early Warning production report to NHTSA)
Filed per year: 2021: 7 · 2022: 8 · 2023: 20 · 2024: 27 · 2025: 42 · 2026: 43
Most-cited components
In depth: electrical problems →
In owners' own words
Filed with NHTSA by the people who own these cars, one per problem area. Quoted as written, with anything identifying removed.
Once the cruise control is set, it consistently drops below the set speed and surges back up or over the set speed. Set on 62, it drops to 59 or 60, then surges back up to 62 or 63. This happens on perfectly flat roads with no traffic in front or beside the car.
Completed a safety recall on Odyssey for a driver side mirror replacement and the mirror Honda provided and installed creates distorted images. It is nearly impossible to focus on traffic and safely change lanes.
HI, A driver of a 2021 Honda odyssey EX-L struck and ran over my 6 yr old child, driver was unable to see the child sitting on the driveway ground from his view, If this Honda odyssey EX-L would have Parking Sensors this accident would be avoided.
While driving in highway construction zones the car's lane departure system attempted to steer the car along lane markings set before the construction zone was established. In several instances this caused my car to steer, contrary to my steering input, towards Jersey barriers and dangerously close to a collision.
I was driving on I-270 highway in active HOV lane and had to stop because of traffic. The car stopped the engine as it usually does by "Auto Idle Stop" system but failed to start it back when I needed to continue driving. I noticed that the battery light blinked on the dashboard when it tried to re-start the engine.
All passenger side curtain and front passenger seat airbag deployed for no reason while driving down an interstate. No collision. No impact of any kind. Honda denied any warranty d/t impact on tires on passenger side (there was no impact to tires, I have included pictures of the tires)
Complaint counts are raw owner reports to NHTSA, not verified defects, and scale with how many were sold. Use them to spot patterns, not to rank.
Reported by Honda itself: 37 death-or-injury claims on this model year in its quarterly Early Warning reports to NHTSA (49 CFR 579.21): 51 injured, as claimed, not verified — about 81 per 100,000 built. Every Odyssey model year, by year and system → Dated and by system, they are exhibit F of the defect dossier.
When owners reported it
miles, typically
Half the 14 owner reports with an odometer reading on file fall between 8,000 and 49,000 miles. That is when problems get reported, which is not the same as when they start — and not a failure rate, because nobody knows how many of these cars never had a problem at all.
Odometer readings as filed by owners with NHTSA. Readings under 100 or over 400,000 miles are dropped as data entry rather than history, and a component needs at least 12 readings before a median is shown for it.
Crash ratings
Source: NHTSA NCAP| Configuration | Overall | Frontal | Side | Rollover | Rollover risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| VAN FWD | ★★★★★ | ★★★★★ | ★★★★★ | ★★★★☆ | 14% |
NHTSA New Car Assessment Program. Standard driver-assist: forward collision warning, lane departure warning, automatic emergency braking.
Driver-assist crash reports (1)
Source: NHTSA Standing General Order 2021-011 severity unknown
Feb 2022 to Feb 2022 · 0 with an air bag deployment · 1 towed
What was engaged, and what was hit
System named: not named in the filings
Crash partner: Unknown 1
Filed by: Honda (American Honda Motor Co.)
| Incident | System | Struck | Injury alleged | State | Speed | Report |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 2022 | Level 2 | Unknown | unknown | TX | — | 62-2368 |
From the manufacturer’s own filing
The reporting entity’s narrative as NHTSA published it, with anything identifying removed and nothing added. A narrative is a notice, written before the entity had verified what happened.
The customer was slowing down when a vehicle rear-ended him. The customer alleges that both the Lane Keep Assist System and Adaptive Cruise Control were engaged
A report under the General Order is a notice the manufacturer or operator must file within days of hearing of a crash in which a Level 2 driver-assist or automated-driving system was engaged within 30 seconds of impact. It is filed before anything is verified, and entities with telematics hear of far more crashes than entities that rely on complaints, so counts say as much about the reporting as about the car and are not comparable across makes. Nothing is normalised by fleet size. Every report on file, by make and year → · NHTSA’s page and files
Service bulletins & campaigns
Source: NHTSA manufacturer communicationsMost often about: Structure, Electrical System, Fuel/Propulsion System, Suspension, Engine.
- ONL6AX022025A Other2025-02-19 · Engine
- Owner Notification Letter - Under certain circumstances, after coming to a stop and the idle stop feature engaging, your vehicle may not automatically restart.
- ATI&01302025901 Other2025-01-30 · Structure — Body
- Dealer Message - American Honda Motor Co., Inc. (AHM) is searching for certain 2020-2022 Odysseys with a customer complaint of the power sliding door not opening or closing under its own power. To better understand the cause of this condition, AHM would like to collect certain parts from the vehicle prior to you attempting a repair of any kind.
- ATI&01152025908 Other2025-01-16 · Structure — Body
- Dealer Message - American Honda Motor Co., Inc. (AHM) is searching for certain 2020-2022 Odysseys with a customer complaint of the power sliding door not opening or closing under its own power. To better understand the cause of this condition, AHM would like to collect certain parts from the vehicle prior to you attempting a repair of any kind.
- ATI&01022025905 Other2025-01-03 · Structure — Body
- Dealer Message - American Honda Motor Co., Inc. (AHM) is searching for certain 2020-2022 Odysseys with a customer complaint of the power sliding door not opening or closing under its own power. To better understand the cause of this condition, AHM would like to collect certain parts from the vehicle prior to you attempting a repair of any kind.
- ATI&12022024906 Other2024-12-03 · Structure — Body
- Dealer Message - American Honda Motor Co., Inc. (AHM) is searching for certain 2020-2022 Odysseys with a customer complaint of the power sliding door not opening or closing under its own power. To better understand the cause of this condition, AHM would like to collect certain parts from the vehicle prior to you attempting a repair of any kind.
- ATI&11052024907 Other2024-11-05 · Structure — Body
- Dealer Message - American Honda Motor Co., Inc. (AHM) is searching for certain 2020-2022 Odysseys with a customer complaint of the power sliding door not opening or closing under its own power. To better understand the cause of this condition, AHM would like to collect certain parts from the vehicle prior to you attempting a repair of any kind.
- ATI&10212024912 Other2024-10-21 · Structure — Body
- Dealer Message - American Honda Motor Co., Inc. (AHM) is searching for certain 2020-2022 Odysseys with a customer complaint of the power sliding door not opening or closing under its own power. To better understand the cause of this condition, AHM would like to collect certain parts from the vehicle prior to you attempting a repair of any kind.
- ATI&10072024907 Other2024-10-07 · Structure — Body
- Dealer Message - American Honda Motor Co., Inc. (AHM) is searching for certain 2020-2022 Odysseys with a customer complaint of the power sliding door not opening or closing under its own power. To better understand the cause of this condition, AHM would like to collect certain parts from the vehicle prior to you attempting a repair of any kind.
A service bulletin is the manufacturer telling its dealers how to diagnose or repair a known condition. It is not a recall, not a finding that the vehicle is defective, and the work is not automatically free — though a bulletin is often what a dealer works from when you describe a symptom, so quoting the document number can save a diagnosis. The count is every communication filed; the list shows the most recent, one entry per campaign, because a single campaign is usually filed as several documents on the same day. The summaries are NHTSA's; the full documents come from the manufacturer.
Diagnostic trouble codes on file
Source: NHTSA manufacturer communications and complaintsCodes documented against this model year in the federal record. A code appearing here does not mean this vehicle will set it — it means the code is part of this nameplate-year's documented history.
| Code | What it means | Most often filed under | Where it appears |
|---|---|---|---|
| P0087 P0087 on Honda → | Fuel rail pressure is below what the system commanded. | Fuel/Propulsion System · Fuel pump → | 9 bulletins |
| P0456 P0456 on Honda → | A very small leak in the evaporative emissions system. | Fuel/Propulsion System · Gas cap → | 8 bulletins |
Generic codes (the second character is 0 or 2) mean the same thing on every vehicle sold in the United States. Manufacturer-specific codes (1 or 3) mean whatever the automaker assigned, and no honest source can define them for you — which is why the ones here carry the evidence instead of a definition. A code is a link when enough separate federal documents name it across the catalogue to be worth a page of its own; the rest are listed here, where the vehicle is the context that makes them mean something.
Affiliate disclosure: some links on this page are affiliate links. If you request a quote or buy through them we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Nothing on this page changes because of it.
At the New York inspection station
Source: New York State DMVIn New York’s inspection lanes over the 12 months to Oct 10, 2026, the 2021 Honda Odyssey failed the emissions check on 9.3% of first inspections — higher than the 1.9% for every 2021 model-year vehicle inspected; and the safety inspection on 1.8% (every 2021 vehicle: 1.5%).
failed emissions
2,336 initial inspections of 2,250 vehicles.
| Measure | The 2021 Odyssey | Every 2021 vehicle | Behind it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Failed the emissions check | 9.3% | 1.9% | 2,333 |
| Failed the safety inspection | 1.8% | 1.5% | 2,336 |
| Air-bag warning lamp stayed lit | 0.30% | 0.19% | 2,336 |
| Miles driven a year | 11,372 | 10,343 | odometer at inspection |
| Average odometer | 59,640 | 54,681 | odometer at inspection |
New York’s emissions test on these model years is an on-board diagnostics check: it fails a car whose check-engine light is on or whose self-tests have not finished. First inspections only, so a car that failed and came back is counted once; private and special plates, not taxis, livery or commercial plates. A rate appears only where at least 200 inspections stand behind it. “Every 2021 vehicle” is every 2021 model-year car, SUV and pickup inspected in the same window, all makes. This is the state’s record of test results, not a reliability score by itself. Source: New York State Department of Motor Vehicles, Vehicle Inspections (data.ny.gov, Open NY terms).
Odyssey by model year
all years, side by side →Common questions about the 2021 Odyssey
Source: EPA, NHTSA and manufacturer press kitsDoes the 2021 Honda Odyssey have any recalls?
NHTSA has posted 8 recall campaigns for the 2021 Honda Odyssey, 1 of them rated critical. The most serious on file is 26V227000, covering Air Bags. 1 campaign is phased, so the repair reached some model years before others. Check your own VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls; a recall applies to specific build ranges, not every car.
How safe is the 2021 Honda Odyssey?
NHTSA gave the 2021 Honda Odyssey 5 stars overall in its New Car Assessment Program tests — 5-star frontal crash, 5-star side crash, 4-star rollover. WhichTrim also grades it F (56/100) on its recall record, which is a different question from crash protection.
What is the fuel economy of the 2021 Honda Odyssey?
For the 2021 Honda Odyssey, the best EPA combined figure is 22 mpg. Figures are the EPA's own, per configuration, and every one is listed above.
What do owners complain about on the 2021 Honda Odyssey?
Owners have filed 147 complaints with NHTSA about the 2021 Honda Odyssey, most often about electrical system, unspecified, forward collision avoidance. Of those, 2 involved a crash, 1 a fire, 4 reported injuries. Complaints are unverified owner reports, so treat the pattern as a signal and the individual report as an anecdote.
How clean is the 2021 Honda Odyssey?
The EPA smog rating for the 2021 Honda Odyssey is 5 out of 10. That score covers tailpipe pollutants other than greenhouse gases, and it only compares vehicles within the same model year. It is certified for all fifty states, so it can be registered new anywhere in the U.S. Its configurations were certified to different standards — California LEV-III ULEV70, Federal Tier 3 Bin 70 — which the table above lists per configuration.
Are there service bulletins for the 2021 Honda Odyssey?
The manufacturer has filed 152 service bulletins and related communications with NHTSA for the 2021 Honda Odyssey, most often covering structure, electrical system, fuel/propulsion system. The most recent is dated 2025-02-19. A bulletin is not a recall: it is the repair procedure a manufacturer sends its dealers for a condition it knows about, and the work is not automatically paid for. It is still worth knowing — if the symptom matches, quoting the bulletin number at the service desk can save a diagnosis. The document numbers and summaries are listed above.
How does the 2021 Honda Odyssey do at state inspection?
In New York’s inspection lanes over the 12 months to Oct 10, 2026, the 2021 Honda Odyssey failed the emissions check on 9.3% of first inspections — higher than the 1.9% for every 2021 model-year vehicle inspected; and the safety inspection on 1.8% (every 2021 vehicle: 1.5%). The figures are New York State DMV’s own inspection records, first inspections only, and the table above sets each one against every vehicle of the same model year.
What we hold, and what an empty row means
Paid vehicle-history reports will not tell you the difference between “nothing happened to this car” and “we never received that record” — both of the big two say as much in their own help pages. Most of what is on this page comes from complete federal registers, so we can tell you which is which, row by row.
| Data | Held | Source | What it covers — or what empty means |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fuel economy & configurations | 1 configurations | EPA certification records | Every configuration the EPA certified for sale, with its own test figures. |
| Emission certificates | 1 configurations | EPA emission certificates | Smog rating, standard and the sales area that decides where the car can be sold new. |
| Recalls | 8 | NHTSA recall campaigns | A complete federal register: every campaign covering this model year, with severity and advisory flags. |
| Owner complaints | 147 | NHTSA complaint database | Also complete, but unverified: these are reports owners filed, not findings. Counts scale with how many were sold. |
| Crash ratings | 1 tested | NHTSA NCAP | Only the configurations NHTSA chose to crash-test, which is never all of them. |
| Service bulletins | 152 | NHTSA manufacturer communications | Everything the manufacturer told its dealers about a defect or malfunction, short of a recall. |
| Investigations | 2 | NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation | Open and closed defect investigations, with the agency's own narrative. |
| Driver-assist crash reports | 1 | NHTSA Standing General Order 2021-01 | Crashes the manufacturer or operator reported with a Level 2 or automated-driving system engaged. Notices, filed before verification; not comparable across makes. |
| Specifications filed with NHTSA | none | NHTSA vPIC, decoded from VIN patterns | We had no VIN pattern to decode for this model year, or the manufacturer filed nothing usable. |
| Trims, pricing & equipment | 5 trims | Manufacturer press kit | Transcribed from the manufacturer's own press material, every value carrying the document it came from. |
Rebuilt nightly; this page was generated 2026-10-26. Every figure above is traceable to the source named beside it, and the JSON for this page carries the same values with their identifiers.
Sources & method
Safety Signal starts every model-year at 100 and subtracts points per open NHTSA recall campaign by severity: critical 15 (fire risk, park-outside or do-not-drive advisories), high 8 (brakes, steering, airbags, loss of drive power, structure, battery), moderate 6, minor 3 (software, labels, lighting fixed by an update). The most serious recall counts in full and each further one counts 85% of the one before, because a vehicle sold in millions is recalled more often than a rare one without being more dangerous — and because a flat subtraction bottomed the scale out, scoring a vehicle with 22 recalls within a point of one with six. A ≥ 90, B ≥ 80, C ≥ 70, D ≥ 60, otherwise F. Read it as what it counts: recall campaigns on the federal record, weighted by severity. The damping reduces the sales bias by roughly 40% but does not remove it: like our complaint counts, this is not normalized by how many were sold, so a best-seller still scores somewhat worse than an obscure model with the same real risk. NHTSA crash ratings, do-not-drive and park-outside advisories, and the crash, fire, injury and death counts in owner complaints are reported separately on every page and never blended into the letter — a vehicle can hold five stars and a poor letter at once, and where that happens we say so rather than leave you to notice. Because the scale subtracts from a clean sheet, a model year too new to have been recalled, complained about or bulletined scores full marks on an empty record; we label those grades provisional rather than present them as earned.
EPA figures come from fueleconomy.gov vehicle records. Recalls, complaints, investigations and crash ratings come from NHTSA's public flat files, refreshed nightly. Trim-level specifications and pricing are transcribed from the manufacturer's official press kit; every value carries its source in the data file.