general problems of the 2018 Honda CR-V - part 1

On several occasions my 2018 Honda crv unexpectedly braked while I was driving. Instances happened on interstate driving and 2-lane road driving.

While driving on a residential street at about 30 mph, our car suddenly, on its own and without warning, braked sharply. There was no other vehicle near to initiate the sharp braking. Had there been a car behind us at the time, the braking was so sharp it hit might have rear ended our car. We have now taken the car to the dealer for their assessment of the issue and a solution.

Abs light was on in morning and brake light was flashing and has not cleared, code says electronic parking brake issue.

On 9/25/25, while exiting the freeway with no cars in front of mine for as far as I could see, the "brake” indicator light flashed once and. The car came to a jolting stop. As soon as I pressed on the accelerator the car engaged and I was able to drive normally. A new light was on my dashboard with two white lines beneath the “acc” and “lkas” lights. A similar incident occurred to while driving the car on 12/15/24 and a NHTSA complaint was filed (#11632264). Honda followed up and the car was assessed by a technician who could not recreate the same response and determined that the radar was "misaligned". To the best of my knowledge the issue was addressed by Honda.

My 2018 Honda crv exl suddenly braked on me almost to a complete stop while I was driving I did have the lane keep assist and I was going like 50 there was a pick up truck on my right side but nothing that  it was coming tours me this was my first time and now im afraid to even drive my crv I think it was more of a phantom braking.

To whom it may concern: ?I am writing to file a formal complaint regarding a serious and recurring safety defect in my 2018 Honda Cr-v ex, VIN# [xxx] . I have experienced at least four incidents within the last two months involving both sudden, unintended braking and intermittent steering lock-ups. These are not isolated events and pose a significant risk to the safety of myself and other motorists. ?the sudden braking issue, often referred to as "phantom braking," occurs when the vehicle's collision mitigation braking system (cmbs) activates without any obstacle or danger present. The car abruptly comes to a full stop, without warning, on a clear road. This is extremely dangerous and has nearly caused multiple rear-end collisions. ?in addition to the braking problem, the steering has also become intermittently stuck. This happens without warning and makes it difficult to turn the wheel, which could lead to a loss of control, especially at higher speeds or on curves. ?I have already reported these issues to two authorized Honda dealerships: ?curry Honda in atlanta, georgia ?Honda autonation in columbus, georgia ?on each occasion, the dealerships have been unable to replicate the problem and have told me they cannot find anything wrong. Despite their inability to diagnose the issue, the problems are very real and continue to happen. ?these defects are not just an inconvenience; they are serious safety hazards that could lead to a crash. I am concerned that if this problem is happening to my vehicle, it may be affecting other 2018 Honda Cr-v owners as well. I urge the NHTSA to investigate this matter thoroughly to prevent potential accidents and injuries. ?please contact me if you require any additional information. ?thank you for your attention to this critical matter. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

A few weeks ago, my vehicle suddenly turned off at a stop light. For several weeks, it’s been feeling like it’s being forced to take off. Today, the car struggled to turn on and then turned off and all the lights came on. It happened three times. A year ago, I received a recall letter that the fuel pump needed to be replaced and that I would be notified when the parts arrived. When my car starting having issues, my mechanic said it might be the fuel pump. I contacted Honda to replace it and they said the recall had been closed. Now I’m having these issues with my vehicle and I’ve read online about it happening to several people who have owned 2018 Honda crvs.

Fuel pomp defected 2 misfiring cylinder.

June 2, 2025 –started slowing for stoplight and left turn. Car again was not slowing down as expected when braking so I pressed harder on the brake pedal. It slowed down then but I didn’t go to a complete stop because traffic was moving. Instead, I let the car creep a bit while waiting for an opening to turn left. I then drove a couple of blocks to a 4-way stop where the revving started again when the car came to a full stop. I put it into park, and it went to 8000 rpm. I turned it off and back on—again back to 8000 rpm. Wouldn’t come out of park. Turned off again and back on—same thing. Turned off and took my foot off of the brake. The car lurched forward quite a bit before stopping—guess the parking gear took hold then. I started the car again, and the rpm was normal. This is the second occurrence. Occurred first time in late June, 2024. - braking and speed control affected - car trying to accelerate when applying brake can lead to accident harming me and potentially others - problem has occurred three times over the past year - vehicle was checked and diagnostics run by dealership in July, 2024. Nothing found, was not able to recreate the scenario. No diagnostics available. - no warnings, messages, or other symptoms other than car not slowing as expected. Took car back to dealership on 6/6/2025 who reminded me that they didn't find anything last time. Am taking it to different dealer for a check this time.

As I was driving about 20 mph on a two lane road through a neighborhood, I went through an area with cones on either side of the road where the road narrowed some because of construction. There were large metal or steel plates covering the road for about 4 feet or so over the asphalt, but nothing that impeded driving forward. As I approached that area, my car’s brake message flashed a few times and beeped before my car abruptly slammed to a stop in the middle of the road, shortly before the metal plates. This happened so quickly that I was unable to react when I first saw the flashing “brake” message and heard the beeping. No one was behind me so I didn’t get hit, but I would have if someone had been following.

This morning, March 5, 2025, while driving to work, my 2018 Cr-v abruptly stopped in the middle of an intersection with no need and little warning. Thank god nobody was behind me at the time. Everything not bolted or belted down came forward immediately. After the incident I pulled into a convenience store to regroup, calm down and turn off my automatic braking system which I no longer trust. I have a short, 15 second video (mp4) from my dash cam but was unable to attach it for this report.

Driving on a regular paved road following the speed limit (35 miles per hour) when the automatic emergency braking system engaged randomly; the car speed went from 35 miles to a near and sudden stop and almost caused a rear-end collision. Phantom braking. This is the second time this has happened with no visible reason in terms of road conditions or flying birds, blowing trash, etc. That could explain this. I am afraid to drive the car out of fear that phantom braking will cause an accident/potential injuries. I cannot imagine this happening on a freeway at higher speed—distater. I was driving on a viaduct (on the top level with car traffic below and on the first occasion, with a river running below). Could it be that the safety features such as camera sensors are misfiring and putting people in real danger. It makes no sense for safety features such as are making driving more dangerous than without them. I am going to have to spend $250 for Honda mechanic to diagnose and who knows how much to repair it, but it is clearly an engineering/mechanical problem created by Honda. This vehicle also fewer than 40k miles on it despite being a 2018 model. Please, please require Honda to issue a recall before something tragic happens.

The car randomly reports multiple malfunctioning of all safety components: adaptive cruise control, lane keeping assist, tps, hill start assist, braking, vehicle stability assist after various time period, the warnings go away and then they restart at a later point. Mechanic reported a computer readout of p0301 which is a cylinder misfire detect. A misfire should not cause safety feature on the Cr-v to sttop working.

The contact owns a 2018 Honda Cr-v. The contact stated that while driving approximately 20-25 mph, the brakes suddenly activated. The contact depressed the accelerator pedal and continued driving. The contact stated the road was uneven due to construction and there was metal covering over the parts of the road being worked on. The brake light flashed on the instrument panel, advising the driver to apply the brakes while there was no other vehicle in front of the contact to activate the sensor. The failure occurred intermittently. The dealer was informed of the failure but had not diagnosed the vehicle. The vehicle had not been repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 60,000.

On several occasions my automatic emergency braking has engaged when there is no car in front of me. Typically this happens when another car is in the left turn lane and my car is passing it. The other vehicle is completely in the other lane and I am in my lane. There is no visible obstruction to my vehicle's path. This posses a significant damage of me being rear ended by any car following too closely to my car. This has happened on numerous occasions.

I experienced an incident related to the collision mitigation braking system (cmbs) yesterday afternoon. I was driving on a highway at ~40mph and as I went through a (clear) intersection, my car suddenly decelerated, jerking me forward. Thankfully, I was wearing my seat belt and the car behind me left enough room between us, so there was no impact.

On 01/08/2025, time: 8:10 pm est – automatic emergency breaks applied though there are no objects, people or vehicles in front of the vehicle. My wife, [xxx] kid and I were heading back to home from costco, mathews nc. Suddenly, the automatic emergency break applied without any warnings on the dashboard. Because of the sudden break, my wife got injured, she hit her knee to the back air vent. I must take a long breath for a min and move the car to the parking lot and check back with my kid and wife. There was a little distance from my car to the other car behind me. So, luckily, we avoided the collision. Otherwise, there would be a major collision. This is the third time we were run to this issue at the same spot. I am keep observing the warning messages earlier while driving on the highway and but stopping all the sudden without any warnings make us very scary. I was still doubting the security measures and investigation process being held at the Honda. Please consider the fact that, “human lives matter and security is a fundamental right. ” and resolve the issue at the earliest. The older aeb (automatic emergency break)incident information as follows: 1st incident was reported on “[xxx] | NHTSA id number: 11457060” and 2nd incident was on “[xxx] | NHTSA id number: 11575701” information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

While driving on the san francisco bay bridge in at about 20 miles an hour with a distance of 2. 5 to 3 cars between my crv and the car in front of me the "brake" indicator light flashed once and the car came to a jolting stop. I was very startled and cars behind me also came to a sudden stop. Following a few seconds, the car was able to accelerate normally again. The "brake" indicator light has flashed many times since I bought the car in January of 2019, but the car never stopped. I brought the car to Honda of oakland. Where I was told that they'd never heard of this happening. A a brake inspection was completed, but they were unable to replicate the incident. I was told that the sensors were cleaned of debris in case that's what caused the incident.

Our car was parked in our driveway for hours - at [xxx] on [xxx], our ring camera captured our crv roll down the driveway as if its parking brake completely failed/disengaged (the tires are rolling, it is not sliding). It then crashed into our shed. We are so grateful our children were not outside playing. The car wouldn’t turn on so we jumped it - once the power was back, there was a brake hold system problem light on it. We had it towed to a Honda dealership who has not inspected it yet. We have an insurance claim open for the cosmetic damage to the front of the car. Progressive claim #[xxx] we have a case open with Honda - I spoke to corporate on the phone this morning about it. Case number: [xxx] and to wrap this up, this is terrifying. We have two young children. We bought a Honda to keep us and our kiddos safe - this needs to be remedied before someone gets seriously hurt. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

The automatic braking on our 2018 Honda crv ex-l has gone off erroneously several times. Recently was on an onramp on the highway going over 50mph, automatic braking went off for no reason, almost causing an accident in heavy traffic.

Phantom braking episode with no reason, no collision but driver was pretty shaken up travelling at 80km to 0km. Second time this has happened on this vehicle.

I was driving through an intersection and my car said "brake" and started flashing on my dash. I was accelerating, but my car slammed on the brakes without me hitting my brake petal. The car behind me almost hit me. I called Honda dealership. They stated my sensor was probably dirty. I checked. It is not dirty. I called Honda corporate. They told me I would have to take it in to a Honda dealership, get it diagnosed (I would have to pay for this), then it would be submitted to them. I asked if they would reimburse me for this diagnosis, they said only if it resulted in a recall. I am pregnant. I do not feel safe when my car randomly slams on the brakes while I am driving almost causing an accident!.

Electric parking brake failure rendered the car undrivable. The problem was addressed by dealer in 2/24 but returned in 8/24. The parking brake switch was replaced at that time but problem returned 3 weeks later. Error codes indicated left side parking brake deployed unexpectedly. Unable to release parking brakes. After replacement of parking brake switch all error messages disappeared and parking brakes worked properly. After 3 weeks parking brakes non functional and error massages indicated brakes and multiple systems not working. Due to repeated parking brake issues traded in car at a loss as reliable transportation was needed.

I was driving down a small hill. The car alerted for a car near my vicinity. There was no car in front or adjacent to mine. However, the car suddenly came to a complete stop, without me engaging the brakes. It almost resulted in a serious collision with the car behind me.

While driving on a public roadway at about 20 mph I approached a large steel plate covering a trench, the brakes applied with maximum force and the dashboard brake light came on. Luckily there were no vehicles close behind us. We could easily been hit from behind because of the severity of the stop. We had a similar incident on 05/042021 that we filed a complaint with the NHTSA #11416110. I spoke with matt (service rep) from Honda city and was told it was not covered by the warranty.

The contact owns a 2018 Honda Cr-v. The contact received notification of NHTSA campaign number: 23v858000 (fuel system, gasoline) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The local dealer was contacted. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The contact stated that the vehicle stalled while attempting to start the vehicle. The contact stated that the check engine, oil, and brake warning lights were illuminated. The contact also stated that the brake pedal was jerking while being depressed. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue. The failure mileage was approximately 49,500. Parts distribution disconnect.

I was driving on the way home from work and without cause my car braked suddenly propelling me forward and my items to the floor. I blew my horn to alert the car behind me and thankfully no one rear-ended me or any other vehicle. It stayed on brake for approximately 20 seconds before it released the brake for me to move out of the road.

All of the warning lights came up on my dash and stayed on for almost 24 hours on this most recent occasion of this problem indicating that there was all of the following: emissions systems problem, brake system problem, power steering system problem, vsa problem, hill start assist problem, adaptive cruise control, problem, road departure mitigation, and hill start assist problem. This was approximately the 5th time that this has happened. The problem occurred when I turned the car back on and started to drive after it had been turned off for 10 minutes. This problem seems to be triggered by 2 different events: either idling (like in a drive thru line for a long time) the car, or, after starting the car after it has been turned off of a short period of time. The previous incidence of this problem was on January 7, 2024.

Sudden phantom braking without warning in my 2018 Honda crv. I was driving ~40-45 mph on local residential street I frequently travel on; sunny, dry day, 55 degrees, no adverse weather. No vehicle in front of me and one truck to my right side in his lane. No obstacles in lane. My car suddenly and without any warning light at all braked extremely hard to a full stop. Everything in my car went flying forward. Husband and small dog were in back seat; had husband not been holding our small dog, our dog would've flown forward. I had not applied any braking at all, was simply driving on a straight road. This incident was extremely dangerous. Had a car been behind me, we'd have had severe rear-end collision with possible harm or loss of our lives. I'm now reading online that this is a highly dangerous "glitch" that was investigated as "phantom braking" in 2022 by NHTSA, but no recall ever resulted -- however, Mazda and Tesla experienced same issues in 2022 and recall was done with Mazda vehicles. Now I read that as of March 2024 a new NHTSA investigation is being done Honda passports and Honda insights. I do not want to be driving 70 mph and have a horrific accident that could kill me because this has not been dealt with by NHTSA fully! I called my Honda dealer when I arrived home and he gave me Honda national customer phone # after brushing off the incident; said he's not heard of this before. I told him to google complaints of phantom braking in 2018-2019 Honda crvs and accord sedans. I take excellent care of my 2018 Honda crv; has only 13,530 miles to date and is in excellent condition. I will not drive it until I have resolution to this highly dangerous safety defect in these Honda vehicles! I have read there have been crashes, fires, and injuries from phantom braking in Honda vehicles. How many deaths or lawsuits will it take to have this Honda defect recalled and fixed?! 1. 7 million cars affected as of the 2022 investigation! 250000 with new 2024 investigation!.

Unexpected braking while driving in city traffic. Brake pedal was untouched while driving at about 30 mph. . . We were lucky no other vehicles were following!.

First incident: I was stopped at an intersection and when I proceeded to cross the intersection the automatic brake engaged. There was no one in front of me and the car behind me nearly crashed into my rear. The weather was clear and sunny. The second incident occurred two days ago. I was driving on my street and the brake engaged. It was raining. I contacted the dealer today (sussman Honda at 1543 easton rd, abington, PA 19001) and was told that this is "normal for all automatic braking systems" and not to worry.

Earlier, I had raised a complaint on my vehicle where automatic emergency break applied though there were no obstacles or objects in front of my vehicle. On 02/16/2024 around 6:30 pm at the same spot [matthew's township, matthews, nc 28105] where my other incident was reported 2 years ago was repeated again and sudden break applied though there were no objects in front of my vehicle. Luckily the other vehicle is little far behind my car, otherwise we would have hit by the car and have happened. I am my family including my toddler were really shocked with this sudden stop and luckily nothing had not happened, except a mental stress. We couldn't imagine what could have happened. May be god saved us. This was reported at matthew's township, matthews, nc 28105. There was a iron bridge to pass on, on the way to michael's from costco. There are some iron poles on the sides of the bridge, the sensor might have detected the poles on the sides of the bridge as humans/objects crossing the bridge and suddenly the breaks might have applied without any warnings. Just an assumption as the incident happened at the same spot and same time. With this another incident, I still doubt the security measures or the sensing features that were calculated for applying the aeb. I hope Honda will read this and come up with a better solution for owner's like us. Thank you!.

Vehicle braked suddenly without stepping on the brake pedal. The vehicle then started to make beeping sounds. The vehicle is available for inspection. Luckily this happened in the evening and there were no cars in close proximity. This could have caused serious injury or death. This was the first occurrence. The vehicle has not yet been taken to the dealer. No inspections have been made. This was the first occurrence. No warning lamps were noticed. Driver was taken by surprise and first reaction was to look around for other vehicles. There were no other symptoms.

On 2/10/2024 I was stopped waiting to put gas in my car when all of a sudden multiple lights lite up on my dash board (vehicle stability assist, vsa problems, hill start assist, adaptive cruise control problems, collision mitigation problems, road departure mitigation system problem, power steering (eps) problems, electric brake system problem, emission system problem, brake system problem, * all integral to safe driving for me. I was able to drive slowly to my mechanic and he was able to do a diagnostic assessment and it showed a code b1234 (air mix control motor circuit (driver's) short. He was able to turn all the warning lights off. I am now a little afraid to use my car long distance until I can get assured that this will not happen again. In searching the internet I find that this is not an isolated occurrence. There are multiple complaints regarding this same issue.

Be honest, I'm unsure of what systems are failing, but there are multiple. The dash shows vehicle stability assist (vsa problem), hill start assist, adaptive cruise control problem, collision mitigation system problem, road departure mitigation system problem, power steering (eps) problem, electric parking brake problem, emissions system problem, brake system problem. *these systems are integral to safe driving for me and my family, even though I can drive the vehicle. I cannot use cruise control, lane-keep assist, or brake hold, and the car is not handling like it was. It tends to be harder to control. * the warning lamps and messages are on and indicated in the first point. This happened on Monday while my wife was driving, and all those systems shut off. When she parked she did an online search of what the issue might be and found multiple youtube videos of Honda owners for different models and years with the same problem. One remedy required a reboot of the electrical system in accessory mode. That worked for a day, but now the errors won't clear, and we're unable to use the vehicle's safety features.