Toyota 4Runner vs Honda Passport: which is more reliable?
The Toyota 4Runner is clearly ahead of the Honda Passport on the federal record: 78/100 against 66/100 across every model year we score.
The record, side by side
Toyota 4Runner
- 14 model years scored
- 817 owner complaints on record
- about 11 complaints per year on the road
- 62 recall campaigns, 23 safety-critical
- best year 2024 (90/100) · worst 2025 (44/100)
Honda Passport
- 7 model years scored
- 653 owner complaints on record
- about 22 complaints per year on the road
- 37 recall campaigns, 17 safety-critical
- best year 2024 (88/100) · worst 2019 (30/100)
Mean score is the average across model years from 2013 on, where both records are comparable. How the score works.
Year by year: 4Runner against Passport
The comparison that decides the purchase. A nameplate is not one car — a redesign can move the record sixty points inside two years, and the two nameplates rarely move together.
What owners actually complain about
Toyota 4Runner
- Air Bags — 238 complaints
- Unknown Or Other — 122 complaints
- Electrical System — 79 complaints
Honda Passport
- Electrical System — 168 complaints
- Forward Collision Avoidance — 166 complaints
- Engine — 121 complaints
They do not fail the same way: the 4Runner's complaints concentrate in Air Bags, the Passport's in Electrical System. That difference matters more to a buyer than the score gap, because it says which repair bill you are taking on.
Years to avoid on each
Toyota 4Runner — avoid: 2025.
Honda Passport — avoid: 2019.
A year scores below 45 on complaints per year of exposure and recall campaigns. Every car’s years to avoid.
What each costs today
A recent used Toyota 4Runner prices at about $40,800 and a Honda Passport at about $40,800 — they price within $1 of each other, which at this level is the same money, and they return 22.0 against 21.0 MPG combined.
Class-level estimates re-priced to your country, not a valuation of one car. Method.
FAQ
Is the Toyota 4Runner or the Honda Passport more reliable?
On the NHTSA record the Toyota 4Runner scores 78/100 against the Honda Passport's 66/100, averaged across every model year we hold. The Toyota 4Runner carries about 11 complaints per year on the road against 22 for the Honda Passport.
Which Toyota 4Runner and Honda Passport years should I avoid?
Toyota 4Runner: 2025. Honda Passport: 2019. Each of those scores under 45 out of 100 on complaints per year of exposure and recall campaigns.
What goes wrong on the Toyota 4Runner and the Honda Passport?
The largest complaint group on the Toyota 4Runner is Air Bags (238 complaints); on the Honda Passport it is Electrical System (168).
Is the Toyota 4Runner or the Honda Passport cheaper to own?
A recent used Toyota 4Runner prices at about $40,800 and a Honda Passport at about $40,800, before insurance and the maintenance band. Both pages carry the five-year running-cost figure.