What are the most common problems on the 2011 Honda Insight?

NHTSA has 40 owner complaint(s) on record for the 2011 Honda Insight. Air Bags is the most-reported problem area on the 2011 Honda Insight, cited in 28 of 40 filed complaints (70%).

Problems › Honda › 2011 Insight

2011 Honda Insight Problems & Owner Complaints

40 NHTSA owner complaints

3 crash 2 injury

Age-normalised, this year draws ~2.5 complaints per year on the road — ranking 8 of 9 Honda Insight years we track (1 = most complaints per year).

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What owners report

Air Bags is the most-reported problem area on the 2011 Honda Insight, cited in 28 of 40 filed complaints (70%).

Engine is next (4 complaints, 10%), followed by Vehicle Speed Control (3), Seat Belts (2), Wheels (2).

Across all complaints, 3 report a crash, 2 report injuries.

The most safety-critical cluster is Air Bags: 2 crash, 2 injury report(s).

Complaints by vehicle system

Owner complaints filed with the U.S. NHTSA for the 2011 Honda Insight, grouped by the vehicle system each cites. A single complaint can name more than one system, so the group totals can add up to more than 40.

Air Bags 28 2 crash 2 injury

“THIS MORNING (AUG 6, 2016), MYSELF AND MY DAD MET WITH AN ACCIDENT AND WAS DRIVING HONDA INSIGHT 2011 LX MODEL. NOTE THAT MY DAD WAS SITTING IN THE FRONT PASSENGER SEAT. LET ME DESCRIBE THE ACCIDENT. I WAS ABOUT TO PARK MY CAR IN FRONT OF SPROUTS GROCERY STORE IN THE PARKING AVAILABLE SPOT JUST FACING SPROUTS. SO YOU CAN IMAGINE THAT I WAS ABOUT TO PARK MY CAR AND THE SPEED WAS AROUND 5MPH. ALL OF A SUDDEN, I COULD FEEL MY INSIGHT ENGINE EXPERIENCING SUDDEN ACCELERATION AUTOMATICALLY AND THEN I WAS TRYING TO APPLY THE LEG BRAKE TO MAKE SURE IT DOESN'T SPEED UP. SUDDENLY, THE INSIGHT STARTED SP…”
NHTSA complaint #10895950, 2016 · crash · 1 injury(ies)

“TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 2011 HONDA INSIGHT. THE CONTACT STATED THAT WHILE DRIVING 55 MPH, A VEHICLE CRASHED INTO THE REAR OF HER VEHICLE CAUSING HER TO CRASH INTO A GUARD RAIL. THE CONTACT STATED THAT THE AIR BAGS DID NOT DEPLOY UPON IMPACT. THE SEAT BELT DID NOT LOCK AND HER HEAD HIT THE STEERING WHEEL. THE CONTACT SUSTAINED A MINOR CONCUSSION AND MISSING TEETH. THE DEALER AND MANUFACTURER WERE NOT NOTIFIED. THE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS 17,000. THE VIN WAS UNAVAILABLE.”
NHTSA complaint #10492915, 2012 · crash · 1 injury(ies)

“TAKATA RECALL - PARTS TO REMEDY DEFECTIVE AIRBAGS HAVE NOT BEEN MADE AVAILABLE!”
NHTSA complaint #10938807, 2016

Engine 4

“ON 21 OCT 2020, WAS DRIVING ON THE HIGHWAY AT STEADY SPEED USING CRUISE CONTROL ON LEVEL GROUND. ENGINE SUDDENLY LOST POWER. LIMPED OFF HIGHWAY, UNABLE TO EXCEED 20 MPH. ERRATIC IDLE. CEL, CHECK EMISSIONS AND CHECK VSA DISPLAYED ON DRIVER'S INFORMATION DISPLAY. OCCURRED AT 147523. DEALER RECOMMENDED REPLACEMENT OF TIMING CHAIN, TENSIONER AND GUIDES, ALL SPARK PLUGS, AND NEW PISTONS AND RINGS AS A RESULT OF OBSERVING OIL ON SPARK PLUGS. LAST OIL CHANGE OCCURRED AT 140940 MILES. I DECLINED REPAIRS AS COST EXCEEDED REMAINING VALUE OF CAR.”
NHTSA complaint #11384914, 2020

“THIS IS AN UPDATE TO ODI # 10628879, CREATED IN AUG. 2014. INSIGHT HYBRID IS STOPPED AT INTERSECTION--AUTO IDLE STOP. SUDDENLY ENGINE RACES WILDLY, TACHOMETER REGISTERS GREATER THAN 3,000 R/MIN. USUALLY OCCURS WITHIN THE FIRST 5 MINUTES OF DRIVING AND FIRST 3-5 MILES OF DRIVING. IF I MY FOOT WOULD SLIP OFF THE BRAKE THE CAR WOULD LURCH FORWARD, CREATING A RISK OF A COLLISION WITH THE CAR IN FRONT OF IT. THE HONDA DEALER SPECULATED THAT THE WEATHERTECH FLOOR MAT UNDER THE ACCELERATOR MIGHT BE CAUSING THE PROBLEM, AND AN INDEPENDENT REPAIR SHOP AGREED WITH THIS HYPOTHESIS. I CHOPPED OFF A…”
NHTSA complaint #10749872, 2014

“INSIGHT HYBRID STOPPED AT INTERSECTION--AUTO IDLE STOP. SUDDENLY ENGINE RACED WILDLY, TACHOMETER REGISTERED GREATER THAN 3000 R/MIN. MY FOOT WAS FIRMLY ON BRAKE, AND I STOPPED THE RACING BY SHIFTING OUT OF GEAR. IT FELT AS IF THE CAR MIGHT LURCH FORWARD FROM A STOP AND CAUSE A COLLISION IN THE INTERSECTION. HAPPENED AGAIN SAME DAY. DEALER SAID DON'T OPERATE CAR IN ECON MODE IN CITY DRIVING, EVEN THOUGH THAT'S WHY I BOUGHT A HYBRID. SAID FLOOR MAT MIGHT HAVE INTERFERED WITH ACCELERATOR--NOT TRUE. DEALER NOT REALLY SURE OF CAUSE. I WILL GET A SECOND OPINION. DO NOT FEEL SAFE UNTIL A PLA…”
NHTSA complaint #10628879, 2014

Vehicle Speed Control 3 1 crash 1 injury

Seat Belts 2 1 crash 1 injury

“TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 2011 HONDA INSIGHT. THE CONTACT STATED THAT THE REAR SEAT BELTS WAS DEFECTIVE. AS A RESULT, THE REAR SEAT BELTS STUCK BETWEEN THE SEAT PLASTIC COVER CAUSING THE SEAT BELT TO BE LOOSE AND UNABLE TO SUSTAIN THE CHILD CAR SEAT. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO THE DEALER SEVERAL TIMES, WHO WAS UNABLE TO REMEDY THE FAILURE. THE MANUFACTURER WAS MADE AWARE OF THE FAILURE. THE VEHICLE WAS NOT REPAIRED. THE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS 19,000 AND THE CURRENT MILEAGE WAS 23,000.”
NHTSA complaint #10473069, 2012

Wheels 2

“I BROUGHT NEW VEHICLE IN 2011, BUT SHOWING FAST TIRE WEAR, EVEN AFTER MAINTAINING SCHEDULED MAINTENANCE. IT IS JUST HAVE 20000 MILES ON MY CAR IN LAST 2 AND HALF YEARS. DEALER IS ASKING TO REPLACE TIRES WHICH WILL COST $400 FOR FOUR TIRES. IT IS EXTRA COST TO CONSUMER. I ALSO HAVE VEHICLE PROTECTION PLAN BUT THEY DON'T COVER TIRES. I CHECK ONLINE AND SAW LOTS OF CUSTOMER COMPLAINTS FOR FAST TIRE WEAR FOR HONDA INSIGHT. WITH MY PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE NEW TIRE SHOULD LAST FOR 35K. PLEASE NOTE DOWN MY COMPLAINT ABOUT HONDA INSIGHT. HONDA SHOULD REPLACE THE ORIGINAL TIRES OR GIVE ADVANCE NOTICE FO…”
NHTSA complaint #10532207, 2013

“TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 2011 HONDA INSIGHT. THE CONTACT WAS DRIVING 70 MPH WHEN THE CONTACT DROVE OVER A SPEED BUMP AND LOST CONTROL OF THE VEHICLE. THE CONTACT ALSO MENTIONED THAT BOTH FRONT TIRES WERE WORN. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO THE DEALER FOR REPAIRS.THE MANUFACTURER WAS NOT CONTACTED. THE VEHICLE WAS NOT REPAIRED. THE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS 16,740 AND THE CURRENT MILEAGE WAS 16,742.”
NHTSA complaint #10445857, 2012

Electrical System 1

“HONDA INSIGHT. CONSUMER WRITES IN REGARDS TO VEHICLE BATTERY CHARGING SYSTEM ISSUES. *SMD THE CONSUMER STATED HIS VEHICLE WILL BE AT THE DEALER FOR SEVERAL MONTHS AND THE VEHICLE HAS A LARGE STARTING BATTERY THAT CHARGES WHEN THE VEHICLE IS DRIVEN. THE CONSUMER IS CONCERNED THE BATTERY MAY NOT LAST, IF THE DEALER ONLY STARTS THE VEHICLE ONCE A WEEK. *JB”
NHTSA complaint #10862859, 2016

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Exterior Lighting 1

“TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 2011 HONDA INSIGHT. THE CONTACT STATED THAT THE LOW BEAM LIGHTING FOR THE VEHICLE WAS INADEQUATE. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO THE DEALER TO HAVE THEM ADJUSTED WHICH FAILED TO CORRECT THE PROBLEM. THE CONTACT MENTIONED THAT THE LIGHT BULBS WERE IN A TUBE AND PREVENTED THE CONTACT FROM HAVING ADEQUATE SIDE VIEWING WHEN DRIVING AT NIGHT. THE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS 5 AND THE CURRENT MILEAGE WAS 7,500.”
NHTSA complaint #10474486, 2012

Hybrid Propulsion System 1

Power Train 1 1 crash 1 injury

Seats 1

“THE HEADRESTS PUSH MY HEAD SO FAR FORWARD THAT MY NECK AND SHOULDER/BACK MUSCLES TIGHTEN UP AND CAUSE PAIN. *KB”
NHTSA complaint #10426326, 2011

Steering 1

Structure 1

“I HAVE HAD NUMEROUS SAFETY COMPLAINTS REGARDING THE BAR THAT RUNS PARALLEL ON THE REAR WINDOW OF THE VEHICLE. MOST DRIVERS FEEL IT'S A SAFETY HAZARD, CAUSE IT DISTORTS THEIR VIEW. THE BAR MAKES THE REAR WINDOW VIEWING AREA SMALL, WHICH MAKES IT UNCOMFORTABLE FOR OLDER DRIVERS. *TR”
NHTSA complaint #10605481, 2014

Suspension 1 1 crash

“I HAD MY 2011 HONDA INSIGHT FOR ABOUT A YEAR AND LOST CONTROL IN THE SNOW AT ABOUT 25 MPH AND CRASHED INTO THE CURB. MY FRONT RIGHT SIDE SUSTAINED EXTENSIVE DAMAGE AND WAS FIXED BY HONDA, AND PAID FOR BY MY INSURANCE. IT TURNED OUT THAT MY FRONT TIRES WE COMPLETELY WORN OUT AT ABOUT 16,000 MILES. I THOUGHT IT WAS JUST A BAD SET OF TIRES, BUT ABOUT 1 YEAR LATER, DURING AN OIL CHANGE, I WAS TOLD MY TIRES WERE WORN OUT AGAIN. THIS TIME THEY WENT FOR ABOUT 17,000 MILES. I CONTACTED HONDA AND THEY TOLD ME IT'S MY PROBLEM BECAUSE THEY DON'T "WARRANTY TIRES". HOWEVER, THEY CHOSE THE TIRES AND Y…”
NHTSA complaint #10509586, 2012 · crash

Tires 1

Visibility/Wiper 1

How we read this (methodology)

How to read this: raw complaint totals are not a clean reliability score — a model year with more cars sold, or simply more years on the road, accumulates more complaints regardless of how good it is. So this page leans on two signals that are not distorted by sales volume: the share of complaints falling on each vehicle system (the breakdown above) and NHTSA's own crash / fire / injury / death flags. When we compare model years of the same model, we normalise by years on the road (complaints ÷ vehicle age) rather than comparing raw totals. Age-normalised, the 2011 Honda Insight draws about 2.5 complaints per year on the road, ranking 8 of 9 among the Honda Insight model years we have ingested (1 = most complaints per year on road).

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Data source: U.S. NHTSA (nhtsa.gov). SaveVIN surfaces public recall data and is not affiliated with or endorsed by NHTSA.