Automatic Emergency Braking problems of the 2021 Honda CR-V - part 1

About a year ago, I was driving at speeds of approximately 10-15 mph when my car braked and immediately brought me to a dead stop despite no obstacles being present in the roadway. It appears the automatic emergency braking system malfunctioned. Had there been a car behind me, it likely would have caused an accident. On August 15, 2025, I was driving on the freeway using the adaptive cruise control when traffic in front of me slowed, engaging the automatic emergency braking. Traffic in front of me cleared almost immediately but my car was still very rapidly decelerating. I pressed the gas pedal, but the vehicle continued to bring me to almost a complete, immediate stop on the freeway (I had been traveling at 70-80 mph prior to the stop). I feel incredibly fortunate that I did not end up in an accident due to the traffic behind me and that no one was injured or killed. I pulled off onto the shoulder when it became clear that I was not going to be able to quickly regain control of my vehicle. Driving a vehicle without being able to properly control it was an absolutely terrifying experience. I was bracing myself for impact from behind as I desperately tried to regain control and accelerate back up to the flow of traffic. I am certain that this malfunction will result in deaths if not addressed. On August 23rd, 2025, I was driving on a highway at approximately 60 mph when the car in front of me slowed in preparation for a right turn off the road. I had disabled the cmbs feature at the beginning of my drive, yet the car still braked without me hitting the brake pedal. It was not an immediate, abrupt brake as I had experienced in the other two previously described incidents, but it was still highly unnerving to feel another loss of control of the vehicle, especially since the system was supposedly disabled.

While traveling northwest at 37 mph, the automatic brake system engaged jolting the driver. The camera shows no objects in front of but there were two vehicles traveling southeast in the opposite lane prior to the brakes applying. There were shadows from trees. If there was a vehicle behind, and the driver did not react fast enough, this would have been a rearend collision. This is the third time that the automatic brake system engaged for no reason since we have owned this vehicle (Dec 2021) and each time it has been reported to the ntsb. In the past two cases, there were no vehicles or shadows from trees, since we were in the desert. The previous two times, the vehicle was inspected by the dealership with no defect noted (under warranty). There were no dashboard warning notices indicating an issue. The vehicle will be resubmitted to a dealership for inspection for this third incident (not under warranty).

• during the short time I have owned this vehicle the automatic emergency braking system has engaged 3-4 times when there was no object in front of the vehicle. The vehicle can be made available upon request. • all incidents happened when driving on the freeway. Fortunately no one was following me which could have resulted in my being rear ended for a sudden stop. • I took the vehicle into the dealership service center today (8/8/25) where they told me it is normal and I should just be a good driver, keeping my distance from vehicle to the front of me. They stated that if they were to replace it the same thing would occur. The problem has not been reproduced by the service center. • when these issues have occurred on one occasion the braking alert sounded ( beeping noise) and then the car started braking. On the other occurrences I do not recall the alert. The car just started braking. Other than that there were no warnings it was going to happen.

The contact owns a 2021 Honda Cr-v. The contact stated that while her daughter was driving at an undisclosed speed, the collision mitigation braking system (cmbs) independently activated, causing the vehicle to suddenly come to a stop, and the front driver’s and front passenger’s side seat belts to independently lock. The contact stated that the brake warning light was illuminated. An appointment was scheduled with the dealer to inspect the vehicle. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact related the failure to NHTSA action number: ea24002 (forward collision avoidance). The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 30,000.

I am reporting a serious safety issue with my 2021 Honda Cr-v involving the collision mitigation braking system (cmbs). On multiple occasions, the vehicle has applied the brakes suddenly and forcefully without any obstacle or vehicle in front of me. This had happened over 20 times since I bought the car on March 10 2024. The most recent incident occurred while I was driving at highway speed on a clear, dry day. The cmbs system engaged abruptly, causing the car to decelerate rapidly and slamed breaks automatically. There were no vehicles, pedestrians, or obstructions ahead. This unexpected braking could have easily resulted in a rear-end collision, endangering me and other drivers. I have kids in the back sit and the car behind us almost hit my car. I am afraid the result might have been much worse if there was truck behind my car. I took the vehicle to the Honda dealership, but they were unable to replicate the issue and did not offer a fix. They also mentioned that unless the problem could be duplicated, any diagnostic or repair fees would not be covered, despite this being a known issue under investigation by the NHTSA. I am aware that the NHTSA has an open engineering analysis (ea24-002) into this very issue affecting millions of Honda vehicles. I’m deeply concerned that this problem continues to put drivers and passengers at risk and believe a formal recall is necessary. I request that this issue be escalated and that Honda be held accountable for a fix before someone gets seriously injured or killed. Please contact me if additional details or documentation are needed.

My 2021 Honda Cr-v has experienced incidents where it suddenly and unexpectedly applied the brakes while I was driving, despite: - no vehicle, pedestrian, or object is present in front of me - no driver input on the brake pedal - not using cruise control at the time my car occasionally jerks or shows warning lights before stopping, sometimes without any warning. I suspect an issue with the collision mitigation braking system (cmbs) or related driver-assistance components. These braking incidents occurred under normal driving conditions and pose a high risk of being rear-ended. My car's issues remain unresolved, and I feel unsafe while driving my vehicle. Two dealerships conducted four diagnostic tests (on 18, 19, 21, and 24 may 2025) to evaluate the Honda collision mitigation braking system (cmbs) and the associated driver-assistance components. But no issues were identified during these evaluations. - 23 may 2025, I discussed my car’s issues with a Honda case manager (in California). He did not accept any responsibility for the reported Honda braking issues. - 27 may 2025, I filed a formal complaint with Honda customer service. Honda has not taken any action to address my car’s issues.

I was driving down a main road and with no cars in front of me, my automatic emergency breaking came on, flashed brake and then brought my car to an immediate stop. I made an appointment at my dealership. The dealership said there were no recalls and said they would charge me $50 to try to recreate the issue but they didn't think they would be able to recreate it.

I had 2 unrelated issues in the past 2 days: 1) rear door actuator malfunction. The door won't lock or unlock as part of the central locking system 2) the "break" alert went off without any cars around. Happened once, breaks weren't activated by the car.

Driving on the highway going 55 mph when the car in front of me in the left lane more than 5 car lengths began to break, recognizing this I put my blinker on and tried to switch to the right lane when suddenly the automatic breaking kicked in and slowed the car down to a near stop. I was unable to deactivate with the break or the gas for a few seconds and by that time I was stuck between the lanes nearly getting t-boned in the right lane before the car swerved to avoid my vehicle. Had there been someone behind me in the left lane I would have surely been in a terrible and fatal accident. I was in complete control of the car and received no more than a one second warning (in the form of a short beep) that the automatic breaks would kick in suddenly. This put myself and my passenger in serious danger. This is not the first time this has happened and has happened as I have approached an exit on the highway as well. Again, fortunately no one was driving behind me that time as well. There is something seriously wrong and I no longer trust the safety of my vehicle. There is also no way for me to turn this feature off until there is a formal recall issued. The dealership says there is no active recall therefore I will need to pay $175 to get the issue checked out.

On several occasions since I’ve owned the vehicle, it has come to a complete stop while driving at highway speeds without any apparent reason, accompanied by a warning of a possible collision. On one such occasion, the vehicle stopped so abruptly that I initially thought I had been rear-ended, though thankfully no cars were near me at the time. If other vehicles had been nearby during any of these incidents, I believe it could have resulted in a serious accident. While I am grateful for the technology, as it has also helped me avoid an accident on two separate occasions (different from the above referenced instances), I believe the system needs improvement to prevent these unexpected stops from occurring.

I was driving the vehicle on route i287 and all of a sudden the break system got activated without touching any button and the car speed was damped down and as a result the car was pulled aside to see what had happened. The break system completely collapsed with a break sign on the dashboard appearing persistently which could not be deactivated or was not able to remove from the dashboard with several attempts made in restarting the engine. Due to the involuntary break activation on highway driving, my life as well others would have been in extreme danger and jeopardized the whole situation in continuing driving further. The car was towed on a flat bed to the the dealer the Honda princenton, new jersey for further investigation and got analyzed for the root cause and they suggested a fix of head gasket replacement, a major repair, asking us to fix the vehicle at the cost of 6000 dollars. Previously, I had driven several Hondas and never experienced break issues on the cars and we had invested in buying this time the Honda Cr-v and what we went through this vehicle something like this is not fair for the customer has to go through a major repair on the vehicle at such a low milage of 127,000 put on the car which never was involved in an accident and driving the car on high way every day to the work place. We want a complete restoration of the vehicle at free of cost and get it certified and drivable safely on the road.

On Saturday November 16th 2024 I was driving my Honda crv hybrid year 2021 when about 7:10pm I heard a beep, beep, beep and at the same time the car suddenly breaked in the middle of an intersection; there was nothing in the forward path so I don't really know why the car stopped abruptly. After a few seconds I put my foot in the accelerator and continued to go. When I arrived home I reviewed the videos (I had installed front and rear cameras) and verified that certainly there wasn't anything in front of the car when it braked by itself other than a manhole cover. I was in the car with 2 friends, thankfully no other cars were behind me or coming in any direction otherwise this event would've been catastrophic. Now I am afraid to drive the car because this could happen again and have a different ending. Note: I have videos that show this incident.

I was driving on a straight street doing about 35 mph and my car all of the sudden braked. Luckily there was no one behind me, had there been, I would have definitely caused an accident. I contacted a Honda dealership and they said there are no recalls on my vehicle, so could only make an appointment, try to recreate the issue and run a diagnostic, but they said they never heard of the issue. I had no issues or warning lights prior too. My car was inspected in June and I just recently had the oil changed and brakes checked. I take the highway to work and I'm very afraid if this happens at highway speed what would happen.

I have experienced at least 4 occurrences in the last year of the automatic emergency braking system activating when there were no obstructions while crossing a bridge. I have also experienced at least 2 occurrences of the automatic emergency braking system activating while going under an overpass. I live in interior alaska and in the most recent occurrence I was going over an icy bridge in the dark in below zero temperatures when the car automatically applied the brakes for no reason. Brakes need to be applied carefully on icy roads - had someone been behind me or had I lost control of the car because of the unexpected braking, this could have resulted in a serious accident.

While traveling on the highway at 65 mph, in the left lane of three lanes of traffic with no cars in front of, back of, or side of me, (adaptivecruisecontrol and lanekeepassist were both on) when the vehicle did an “emergency” self-brake. A large red brake sign appeared in the dash and the car felt “out of control. ” I physically hit the brake, slowed down and exited the highway. I remain for me to feel very insecure on highway travel. This was a second incident. This occurred early November. The first incident happened a few weeks before this one while traveling around 40 mph in multi-lane traffic. I signaled to move into the left lane, no cars were within two car lengths from me, when the vehicle did a hard self-brake; the acc and lkas were not engaged at this time. Again, the car seemed “out-of-control” for a short time. This incident occurred mid October.

I was driving on the street with no one in front of me going about 45 miles per hour when the car did "phantom braking" and the car tried to stop on its own. It beeped 3 times and brake! flashed on my dashboard as if I was going to hit someone and the car overtook my brakes and tried to stop. There was no one in front of me. The very next day, it did it again. This is extremely dangerous and can cause an accident if someone is driving behind me and the car suddenly decides to stop on its own.

1) on 3 occasions the automatic emergency braking (aeb) has self activated and the car attempted to come to a complete stop. The 1st incident, 10/19/24, happened while driving 35-40 mph while changing lanes, a red brake light and alarms sounded bringing the car to a complete stop. While there was traffic around me, no one was directly in front of me or close enough to have required this to activate. A vehicle traveling behind came inches from rear-ending me. The 2nd incident, 11/9/24 concerns me the most, happening 3 weeks after the first incident while on the highway traveling 65 mph. I was in the left lane of multi-lane traffic. While there were vehicles two lanes to my right, there was no one directly in front of me by 100 yards. Again, alarms, red brake light, and the car proceeded to come to a complete stop. The car felt like it was floating and for a moment, I felt like my life was over as the car was out of control. The 3rd incident, 12/9/24 happened 9 days after it was in for service, while traveling 30 mph in town. 2) the 1st incident avoided an accident because of the alertness of the driver behind me. The second incident, at 65 mph, is of the most concern, as for a few moments, I felt like my life was over. This incident is also causing me to have ptsd symptoms while continuing to drive, it has required me to see an MD. 3) an appointment was available about 3 weeks after the second incident. They were not able to replicate it or find anything wrong with the vehicle. After speaking about my concerns after the 3rd incident to the dealership, they have recommended that I turn off the safety equipment. While I have spoken with Honda America, they do not want to get involved unless there is a recall by you, the NHTSA. Nothing has been reported to the police but I have spoken to my insurance agent regarding liability if I turn the safety equipment off. 4) brake light and alarms occurred at the same time as the braking.

The car's forward collision warning system is defective. The car will randomly bring up "brake" on the dashboard with nothing even close to the car. This has started happening many times over the past few weeks, with even at least one instance of the car braking on its own. I brought this up to the dealership during my last oil change recently, and they inspected and looked into it. They said there was nothing wrong with the sensors/system and they documented it (specifically saying no problem found vehicle is operating normally at this time). However, a day or two after the dealership, the problem returned and it continues to persist. In addition to this, the blind spot warning system also randomly goes off when nothing is nearby, but not as often as the braking system, which is more dangerous in my opinion.

I was driving on the middle lane of a major highway, going around 70 mph, when a plastic grocery bag floated in front of the car, at a height of about two feet off of the ground. My vehicle suddenly slammed on the brakes. It slammed hard and I could not make it stop. I tried to push the brake but it was already down. I was nearly rear-ended and could have easily caused a multiple car accident. I may have been using the cruise-control at the time, but I'm not sure. I do not recall if the vehicle flashed an orange "brake" warning. I did not take the vehicle to a dealer to try to recreate the problem.

On at leas 8 occasions in the past 3 years the automatic braking system (forward collision avoidance system) engaged with audible warning while on the interstate driving at highway speeds unexpectedly with no vehicles or other obstructions in my lane in front of me. The majority of occurrences were as I was attempting to pass in the left lane, but on at least 2 occasions there were no cars to the left or right of me. The sudden braking could have caused a serious collision. I have not brought the problem to the attention of a dealer or independent service center as I doubt they would be able to reproduce or confirm the issue, as I have experienced before on intermittent issues before. Were there any warning lamps, messages or other symptoms of the problem prior to the failure, and when did they first appear.

My family and I were driving down the road, in a gentle left hand turn when the emergency braking system suddenly activated, and our best guess is that it was due to a car well off the road in a parking lot at the same point. A tractor trailer, loaded heavily with electrical transformers was just behind us, and if not for the driver of the truck paying attention we might not all be here today. This has happened many times in other situations, sometimes maybe a dip in the road, sometimes and exit ramp will confuse it, and sometimes I couldn't even guess. So far none have been too bad, but this one was too close. I have attempted to talk to the dealership about it, but they aren't calling me back. I've asked for them to disable the system entirely. There were no warning messages aside from the normal brake message it shows when it activates. In the manual for the car they went so far as to list scenarios where the system might malfunction, but the only way to turn it off involves remembering to bold the button every time you start it up, and hope you don't forget. My child was set to take this car when they start driving, but as is I don't want to drive it, let alone anyone else.

I was driving on a 2 lane road. There were no other vehicles on the road. The word brake flashed on the dashboard and the car suddenly braked hard. Items on my back seat fell to the floor. The car then resumed normal driving. There was no wind or items blowing across the path of the road. This has not happened before. If there had been a car behind me it might have caused an accident. The vehicle has not been inspected by any entity.

I was driving going about 30 in town and there were no cars, no pedestrians, no obstacles and all of a sudden my car's dashboard flashed brake and my car braked itself. We went from 30 to zero with a screech. I did not touch the brake during this time. It was unnerving and nothing like this has happened before. I commute on the freeway regularly and I am very scared this could happen at much higher speeds with deadly consequences.

Since new and on numerous occasions, the vehicle will slow down drastically for no reason. No vehicle in front or object close to either side, it just brakes automatically. It only happens when the vehicle’s cruise control is on. On March 7th 2024 I was on the highway with the cruise control set at 75mph. The vehicle for no reason slammed on the brakes and tried to come to a complete stop. No skidding or loss of control due to the abs, but if had not stepped on the accelerator, it would have. I went from 75mph to about 20mph in seconds. Thankfully, the driver behind me reacted and went around me on my right side. I there was another vehicle to my right, I am certain, I would have been re-ended. I took the vehicle to the Honda dealership and was told they were not aware of the problem, but they could attempt to fix it. I have lost confidence in driving the vehicle with the cruise control engaged.

My vehicle suddenly stops without me pressing breaks or there being another vehicle in front of me . It’s unsafe and I’m afraid of getting rear ended.

Driving in the highway when I was signaling to exit going right, my car suddenly brakes on its own and continue to drive. I did shoulder my vehicle to check my vehicle. No vehicle was around me that time and I check my car surrounding and it was clear. Incident happen multiple times which I did adjust my sensor to low distance but still happens.

Interior lights switch does not seem to work properly. It started a couple of months ago. I have had issues with the automatic braking when the car "thinks" there is something in front of me and slams on the brakes. 4 out of 5 times there was nothing there. 1 of those times was during a rain storm, so that time I chalked it up to the radar being wet. I have also had several instances when the car flashes "brake" when there is no reason for it. Similarly, when in reverse, the car again "thinks" there is something behind me and beeps when there is nothing within 50 feet of my car. I keep my cameras and radar clean at all times. Before each trip, I wipe them clean.

This has occurred several times recently. Driving at 30-40mph also at highway speeds. Nothing in from of vehicle for at least 1/2 mile. Collison mitigation brakjng system activates without any warning. If it were not for seatbelts one would be sent into the dashboard or steering wheel. It is a very disturbing feeling being basically jerked forward unexpectedly. Luckily no one was close enough behind to initiate a rear-end collision. Currently we are waiting to have the car seen by our dealer. The dealer seems to treat this as a big deal since we can't be seem until the first week of July. I would think this issue would be one of a very serious safety concern, but I suppose the dealer feels not. They did however tell us to turn that system off. Seems counter intuitive to have a safety system yet told to turn it off and wait about 2 weeks to be seen in the shop.

The emergency braking system reacts unexpectedly and unnecessarily. I see there is an investigation for vehicles up to 2019, but my 2021 has done this at least a dozen times since new. My experience seems to indicate that it's often related to a shadow on the road. Could be an adjacent vehicle or simply a large tree or building. It can happen with an asphalt repair that is darker than the surrounding road or even a wet spot. It would also seem to be more likely to happen when driving towards the sunset or sunrise. It nearly caused me to get rear ended this weekend. It stabbed the brakes hard for a shadow on the road with vehicles behind me. Please extend the investigation to the rest of this vehicle's production.

I was driving 50 mph and the automatic braking system engaged without any cars directly in front of me in my lane. It puts us and everyone behind us when it suddenly brakes.

On two separate occasions on local roads while driving under 15 miles an hour I was drawing near an intersection and the car in front of me was actively turning onto a side street and I had ample distance from that car and my car suddenly decided I was about to get in an accident and slammed on the breaks. Its a good thing the cars behind me were responsible and were able to break in time or there would have been an accident both times because no one would have expected me to suddenly break in either situation. There were other people in the car each time and we were all surprised.

On 2 separate occasions I was driving on the highway and the screen started flashing brake with nothing in front of me. While it was flashing the automatic braking system engaged causing me to come to almost a complete stop and get rear ended.

A few times (4-5 times) the car activated the automatic emergency braking feature while I was driving. There were no obstacles, vehicles, or people in my path. The system simply activated. The cars behind me nearly crashed into me.

A car was way in front of me and had turned right into a driveway, before I was even a close and it stopped in the driveway entrance out of the road. I had my car turning away from the driveway knowing the car was moving slow in front of me. When I reached to pass this my abs kicked on and brakes locked by itself and scared the pants off me!! my hands came off the steering wheel, my neck jerked forward and my glasses flew off my face at 50 mph!!! I wasn’t even close to hitting this person. A few days later driving down the road a goose was on the same side right side on side of road as I’m rounding the bend my brakes lock up again!!! again. The bird wasn’t even in the road!!!!! I had to pull over to read how to turn off this auto braking. I had to go to emergency room days later because my neck and shoulder pain was worsening. I went to er last night. 3/23/23. Thank god just muscle damage. I was scared it was something worse! it’s just awful. Sometime you can see it say brake and nothing is in front of you. So I make sure I turn it off now. First incident was I think 3/12, when my car was doing 50 mph, second with the goose was 35 mph on 3/18.

You have 87 complaints about the forward crash avoidance / braking system for this vehicle. Since my previous complaint, (#11470565) this unsafe, dangerous, condition has occurred on two additional dates. Nearly all of the complaints that I read, mention the same issue: you are driving along and the system forces the vehicle to brake to a stop or nearly to a stop, nearly causing numerous rear end collisions. It’s scary and dangerous.