Toyota Camry vs Honda Accord Hybrid: which is more reliable?

The Toyota Camry is ahead of the Honda Accord Hybrid on the federal record, 73/100 against 67/100 — a real but narrow gap that a bad model year on either side closes.

The record, side by side

Toyota Camry
Toyota Camry · Wikimedia Commons

Toyota Camry

73/100 mean
  • 14 model years scored
  • 3,930 owner complaints on record
  • about 31 complaints per year on the road
  • 40 recall campaigns, 22 safety-critical
  • best year 2014 (93/100) · worst 2018 (27/100)

Honda Accord Hybrid

67/100 mean
  • 11 model years scored
  • 2,629 owner complaints on record
  • about 33 complaints per year on the road
  • 34 recall campaigns, 25 safety-critical
  • best year 2017 (89/100) · worst 2019 (32/100)

Mean score is the average across model years from 2013 on, where both records are comparable. How the score works.

Year by year: Camry against Accord Hybrid

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.

YearCamryAccord Hybrid Gap
2025—81 BUY—
202483 BUY61 CAUTION+22
202385 BUY47 AVOID+38
202289 BUY88 BUY+1
202175 BUY84 BUY-9
202056 CAUTION79 BUY-23
201937 AVOID32 AVOID+5
201827 AVOID80 BUY-53
201787 BUY89 BUY-2
201686 BUY——
201581 BUY46 AVOID+35
201493 BUY46 AVOID+47
201382 BUY——
201255 CAUTION——
201159 CAUTION——

What owners actually complain about

Toyota Camry

  • Power Train — 622 complaints
  • Unknown Or Other — 609 complaints
  • Air Bags — 390 complaints

Honda Accord Hybrid

  • Electrical System — 828 complaints
  • Engine — 479 complaints
  • Unknown Or Other — 351 complaints

They do not fail the same way: the Camry's complaints concentrate in Power Train, the Accord Hybrid'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 Camry — avoid: 2018, 2019.

Honda Accord Hybrid — avoid: 2014, 2015, 2019, 2023.

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 Camry prices at about $25,800 and a Honda Accord Hybrid at about $28,100 — the Toyota Camry is roughly $2,300 less, and they return 26.0 against 48.0 MPG combined.

Class-level estimates re-priced to your country, not a valuation of one car. Method.

FAQ

Is the Toyota Camry or the Honda Accord Hybrid more reliable?

On the NHTSA record the Toyota Camry scores 73/100 against the Honda Accord Hybrid's 67/100, averaged across every model year we hold. The gap is small enough that the model year matters more than the badge.

Which Toyota Camry and Honda Accord Hybrid years should I avoid?

Toyota Camry: 2018, 2019. Honda Accord Hybrid: 2014, 2015, 2019, 2023. Each of those scores under 45 out of 100 on complaints per year of exposure and recall campaigns.

What goes wrong on the Toyota Camry and the Honda Accord Hybrid?

The largest complaint group on the Toyota Camry is Power Train (622 complaints); on the Honda Accord Hybrid it is Electrical System (828).

Is the Toyota Camry or the Honda Accord Hybrid cheaper to own?

A recent used Toyota Camry prices at about $25,800 and a Honda Accord Hybrid at about $28,100, before insurance and the maintenance band. Both pages carry the five-year running-cost figure.

More head-to-heads