2018 Toyota C-HR

Family: C-HR · filed with NHTSA as C-HR

Summary

Of the 299 complaints that name a component, 73% concern Powertrain (217).
These are complaint counts, not failure rates: they are not divided by how many cars were sold, because no public source reports U.S. sales by model year.
Not enough history to compare this year with the rest of its generation.
1 recall filed for this model year.
No federal defect investigations cover this model year.

At a glance

Owner complaints: 328
Recalls: 1
Investigations: 0
NCAP overall: 5 of 5 stars
Combined MPG: 29
Annual fuel cost: $2,150
Median mileage at complaint: 50,000 mi (n = 62)
Crashes / fires / injuries / deaths: 9 / 0 / 7 / 0

What owners report

Powertrain

217 complaints · 73% of complaints that name a component · median 80,000 mi (n = 28)

Owner report The contact owns a 2018 Toyota C-HR. The contact stated that while driving at approximately 45 MPH, the vehicle experienced transmission failure. The contact stated that the transmission was previously replaced in 2023 at 93,000 miles. Before the failure, there was a high-pitched whining sound while driving at approxim…

Owner report My first transmission went out at 54,000 miles now my second transmission went out at 148,000 miles. First one was whinnning between 20-40 mph would not shift correctly then second one is doing the same thing.

Engine

39 complaints · 13% of complaints that name a component · median 26,765 mi (n = 4)

Owner report I was driving when the dashboard lights all turned on and started getting warning messages too. The gas pedal wasn't giving anymore and the car would not accelerate. Luckily I was able to roll into a parking lot where we waited almost 2 hours for a tow. The car fortunately was still running so we had the a/c on while w…

Owner report I own a 2018 Toyota C-HR with approximately 117,600 miles. The vehicle has developed a transmission bearing failure, causing a loud whining/humming noise that increases with vehicle speed. I have been informed that the bearing inside the transmission is failing. This appears to be a premature transmission defect that c…

Electrical System

29 complaints · 10% of complaints that name a component · median 21,000 mi (n = 15)

Owner report Odometer Fraud. The contact purchased a 2018 Toyota C-HR. It was discovered that there was a mileage discrepancy. The vehicle was a dealer sale. At the time of purchase, the vehicle mileage was 92,433 and at the time of registration, it was discovered that the mileage was 262,136.

Owner report Transmission. My car started making loud noises and eventually got to this point where it is not shifting gears. I would put it into drive, press the gas, and it would accelerate and abruptly stop on me. I've had it for less than 10 years and I bought it brand new. Its completely un-drivable.

9% of complaints name no specific component and are left out of the shares above.

Across the generation (2018–2022)

To compare years fairly, each year is counted over the same span: complaints received up to two calendar years after its model year. A year is compared only when that span is over and it holds at least 50 complaints.

Model year	All complaints	First three years	Note
2018	328	33	not compared
2019	114	12	not compared
2020	66	7	not compared
2021	36	14	not compared
2022	3	0	not compared

Recalls

Whether a recall has been fixed on a specific car depends on its VIN; check it at nhtsa.gov/recalls.

17V717000 · PARKING BRAKE

Filed 2017-11-15 · 28,764 vehicles

Defect: Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing (Toyota) is recalling certain 2018 Toyota CH-R vehicles. The electronic parking brake (EPB) may not operate properly, possibly causing the parking brake not to disengage after it is applied or prevent it from being applied. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard FMVSS number 135, "Light Vehicle Brake Systems."

Risk: If the EPB cannot be applied, there is an increased risk of a vehicle rollaway if the vehicle is parked on a hill without being placed into "Park."

Remedy: Toyota has notified owners, and dealers will update the programming of the skid control ECU as necessary, free of charge. The recall began on November 30, 2017. Owners may contact Toyota at 1-800-331-4331. Toyota's number for this recall is H0W.

Federal investigations

None on file.

Engines and fuel economy

Version	Engine	Transmission	Drive	City	Hwy	Combined	Fuel cost / yr
C-HR	2.0L 4cyl	Automatic (AV-S7)	Front-Wheel Drive	27	31	29	$2150

Fuel cost is EPA's estimate at the fuel prices of its last update, not today's.

Crash test ratings (NCAP)

Variant	Overall	Frontal	Side	Rollover
2018 Toyota C-HR 5 HB FWD	★★★★★	★★★★☆	★★★★★	★★★★☆

Service bulletins

Toyota issued 160 service bulletins listed against this model year, most often about equipment.

A bulletin tells dealers how to fix a known condition. It is not a recall and not a defect finding. Most bulletins cover several model years at once, so one listed here may not be specific to this year. The number of bulletins tracks how long and how widely a model was sold, so it is not a measure of reliability.

Date	Component	Summary
2026-09-22	POWER TRAIN	Although the Continuously Variable Transmissions (CVT) is covered by Toyota’s New Vehicle Limited Warranty for 5 years or 60,000 miles (whichever comes first), we at Toyota care about the customers’ ownership experience. Toyota is providing…
2026-09-16	POWER TRAIN	Although the Continuously Variable Transmissions (CVT) is covered by Toyota’s New Vehicle Limited Warranty for 5 years or 60,000 miles (whichever comes first), we at Toyota care about the customers’ ownership experience. Toyota is providing…
2026-09-15	POWER TRAIN	Although the Continuously Variable Transmissions (CVT) is covered by Toyota’s New Vehicle Limited Warranty for 5 years or 60,000 miles (whichever comes first), we at Toyota care about the customers’ ownership experience. Toyota is providing…
2026-09-04	POWER TRAIN	Some 2018 – 2019 model year C-HR vehicles may exhibit a grinding and/or whining noise from the transaxle while accelerating from 15 – 30 mph and/or decelerating from 30 – 15 mph. An updated transaxle is available when the specified noise an…
2026-08-13	POWER TRAIN	Although the Continuously Variable Transmissions (CVT) is covered by Toyota’s New Vehicle Limited Warranty for 5 years or 60,000 miles (whichever comes ﬁrst), we at Toyota care about the customers’ ownership experience. Toyota is providing …
2026-08-13	POWER TRAIN	Some 2018 – 2019 model year C-HR vehicles may exhibit a grinding and/or whining noise from the transaxle while accelerating from 15 – 30 mph and/or decelerating from 30 – 15 mph. An updated transaxle is available when the specified noise an…
2026-07-31	ENGINE	Although the Continuously Variable Transmissions (CVT) is covered by Toyota’s New Vehicle Limited Warranty for 5 years or 60,000 miles (whichever comes first), we at Toyota care about the customers’ ownership experience. Toyota is providing…
2026-01-07	UNKNOWN OR OTHER	Some 2005 – 2026 Toyota vehicles that have undergone water intrusion may exhibit a condition in which a musty odor is present. Follow the procedures in this bulletin to remediate the odor and address this condition. The purpose of this Serv…
2025-07-09	STRUCTURE:BODY	All VINs under ZKH are expired as of July 6, 2025 Toyota has received reports stating that the door mirror foot lights (puddle lights) may project a distorted image of the C-HR logo onto the ground. This distortion may be due to the project…
2025-07-09	ELECTRICAL SYSTEM	All VINs under ZKH are expired as of July 6, 2025 Some 2018 – 2019 model year C-HR vehicles may exhibit a condition where the door mirror foot light projects a distorted image of the C-HR logo onto the ground.

How to read this page

Complaint counts are not failure rates. A model that sells more cars draws more complaints, and owners file more often after news coverage or a recall. That is why this page compares a model year only with other years of the same generation, never with other models.

Each complaint is counted once, even when it names several components; a complaint that names several systems appears under each of them. Owner reports are quoted as filed and have not been verified by NHTSA or by us.

Every model year of this C-HR, including the ones without a page of their own, is listed on the Toyota C-HR model page.

Sources

NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation: complaints, recalls and investigations (bulk files, data as of 2026-10-28).
NHTSA New Car Assessment Program: crash test ratings.
U.S. EPA / DOE fueleconomy.gov: engines, transmissions and fuel economy.

MotorAlmanac is independent and not affiliated with NHTSA, EPA or any manufacturer. This page summarises public records; it is not a mechanical inspection. Before buying a used car, check its VIN for open recalls and have it inspected.