2020 Honda Odyssey: jerking or lurching

Filed Aug 19, 2026 · Engine · CT

The engine auto idle system failed at a stoplight. The auto-idle engaged, but when I took my foot off the brake, the engine did not restart. It completely shut down, putting my car in park in a busy intersection. The engine light and an error message flashed briefly but disappeared. I was able to restart the car and drive, however, only after waving several other cars to pass by me. I've noticed recently the restart function lagging, and if I put my foot on the gas too soon, the car lurching and jerking forward (indicating the engine isn't restarting quickly or properly). I recently had a full routine service on the vehicle, indicating battery life is good. No other issues appeared such as overheating.

Filed Aug 6, 2026 · Suspension · OH

The driver side rear coil spring broke abruptly on both the top and bottom leaving the majority of the spring mechanically unattached. The driver side rear shock also broke from the additional strain on it. With a complete loss of suspension on the rear driver side, as I hit bumps on the freeway, I could feel the van jerking quickly nearly sending me out of the lane. If it was slippery with rain or snow, I felt like the van would spin out. The broken parts were confirmed and shown to me by an independent service center. The shop also informed me that he has seen many Honda Odysseys from the same model year with broken coil springs. When he called to order parts from the Honda dealer, none of the 3 nearby dealers had springs in stock and all had vans in their service center waiting to replace their broken springs. There were no warning signs before this happened. I perform all regular maintenance such as brakes, tire rotations/replacements, and oil changes by auto shops so the car is regularly looked at. This happened at 6 years old and 60,000 miles. While springs generally lose some tension, snapping through in two places is unacceptable. Honda has recalled other vehicles for rear suspension failures and needs to expand that recall to additional vehicles. Specifically the Odyssey.

Filed Jun 23, 2026 · Electrical, Engine · TX

The auto Start/Stop feature doesn't work as needed. It will randomly lurch, turn the car off make me put it in park and then have me restart it. Sometimes the car does not start right away and I am stuck on the road until it decided when and if it will restart. Myself and my family of 5 are not stuck in the road scared of getting smashed into by other drivers unaware that we are stopped or anticipating for us not to be stopped in the middle of the road. I really dont want my family to go to the hospital or die because of this nonsense. Sometimes it doesn't fully shut off but will give error warnings like collision mitigation assistance even though there is nothing for it to mitigate. There are no cars around me and it shouldn't have done this. This has been happening for some time and only happens haphazardly meaning I can't always have the dealer identify or diagnose the issue. Then when I brought it to the dealer, they told me it was because of a power liftgate module error. Which was not true and didn't solve the issue.

Filed Jan 22, 2026 · Driver assistance · TN

Went to pull into parking lot, ADAS system starting going crazy. Throws transmission malfunction error. Headlights won’t work - they turn on and off or go extremely dim. Van keeps jerking and losing power. Code reader showed U3000-49 electronic failure. Van drove normal, no issues until this code popped up. Issue started 01/08/2026.

Filed Oct 24, 2025 · Engine · CA

I was driving with family to a family trip up to the mountains to enjoy the snow when at a rest area I noticed the odyssey just had a slight delay to turning on before continuing the trip. No lights no signs of anything going wrong. As we continued our trip back onto the freeway on a curvy road and night time the odyssey didn’t want to shift gears wouldn’t speed up for freeway traffic. Immediately started pulling over. The odyssey would make like jerking movements decided to call the tow truck and it quickly escalated to draining the battery. After being at the tow facility for one night it completely didn’t want to even turn on next day. Put a new battery and still drains the battery. I took it to Honda service to run a diagnostic and they come back saying the engine is seized. No lights no signs didn’t see this coming with only 87,000 miles. With a black screen displaying electrical issue at times.

Filed Oct 15, 2025 · Transmission · GA

At 67,000 miles the transmission was lurching when shifting in 4th gear. Took it to Honda dealership who found code p0736 stored in TCM. Transmission fluid flushed January 2024 by same dealer. No warning lights ever appeared. Body shop said this requires a new transmission at $10k+

Filed Dec 16, 2024 · Transmission · NY

While driving on highway, 3 hours away from home, all of a sudden van slowed down and jerking and shaking with loud grinding movement sound from the van started. No warning sign displayed on the dashboard display screen and no warning alert either. Luckily got out of the exit and parked the van. Van was not going beyond first gear and jerking and shaking and making loud grinding sound. Van was not drivable safely. Towed to the local Honda dealership which was 30 miles away. Dealership checked the Van and diagnosed that the 10 speed Automatic transmission has failed and need a new transmission now. There is no warning sign or error on the dashboard display and any warning alert even after this incident happened. I am very disappointed that such an expensive van has no good warning sing or alert system for transmission failure, even though vehicle has computer to monitor every small thing but no good warning system for most expensive automatic Transmission system. This is total lack of care and failure on the part of manufacturer Honda, which did not put some good warning system on these defective automatic transmissions. These sudden failures can cause catastrophic accidents on the highways and roads. This sudden failure of transmission should have been a recall for defective manufacturing of 10 speed automatic transmission in Honda Odyssey van.

Filed Oct 23, 2023 · Transmission · PA

My wife was driving our honda odyssey on a state highway and it began lurching and drastically reduced speed while in 65 mph traffic. The vehicle almost created a large accident as it uncontrollably and suddenly reduced gears and instantly slowed well below the rate of travel of the vehicles on the road. She managed to pull over on the side of the road but was unable to move the vehicle . There was never a check engine indicator or any other warning signs prior to this happening. The vehicle was towed to the local honda dealership in Scranton PA. Today the service center there stated that the transmission fluid was charred and burnt up gears in the transmission. This is a huge safety concern as there was no warning signs of the issue until the vehicle rapidly and suddenly shifted down gears and slowed to almost a complete stop along the highway. The vehicle is only 3 years old and is 900 miles over the powertrain warranty. Has there been a check engine light or any indicator we could have had the problem addressed before it became catastrophic and put my families lives in jeopardy. The vehicle has been regularly maintained

Filed Aug 18, 2023 · Brakes, Driver assistance · IN

This event happens intermittently, and has occurred approximately 4 times. When the issue occurs it happens as follows: 1. Vehicle comes to a complete stop, and driver's foot has depressed brake pedal 2. Vehicle automatic start/stop feature turns off engine. 3. Driver lifts foot off pedal, begins to apply pressure to gas pedal. 4. Vehicle automatically re-starts engine 5. Vehicle starts to move forward, and then lurches - it feels like the brakes are being applied by the vehicle independently from the driver's action. 6. Alerts start appearing on the dashboard - a message that the Forward Collision Warning System has been disabled and the "BRAKE" light starts flashing for 30 seconds to a minute afterwards. 7. Vehicle then starts to move forward without issue, Collision System message goes away, but BRAKE light on instrument cluster continues to flash for a period of time. This issue presents a safety risk as the vehicle does not respond to driver's input as expected when this issue occurs, appears to brake on its own. Interferes with a driver's ability to move through an intersection after stoping. I have taken the vehicle to a Honda dealership (Penske Honda, Indianapolis Indiana) and they were unable to replicate the issue and did not find any stored error codes in the vehicle comptuer.

Filed Feb 7, 2022 · Transmission · CA

Just experienced a serious issue with our 2020 Odyssey Elite with 24,000 miles on it. Jerked forward from a stop and then would not advance beyond 1st gear. Multiple warning lights came on: check engine/ emissions/ back up camera and sensors. Dealer reported there was an electronic defect that destroyed the transmission which they claim caused the transmission to attempt to shift into two gears simultaneously. Not sure but the jerking motion may indicate that the transmission shifted into park while moving. Dealer refused to provide a loaner car and now waiting for a transmission replacement on a $50K vehicle with 24,000 miles on it. Multiple similar transmission replacements on 2020 Honda Odyssey are reported on the Odyssey Owners Forum. Had this event occurred on a higher speed or congested area a serious accident could have occurred as vehicle could not accelerate and jerked violently initially immediately followed by inability to shift to higher gears.