general problems of the 2021 Honda CR-V - part 1

This has happened twice in a month. I was driving on the interstate and the check engine light began flashing. The engine lost power and would not accelerate beyond 40 mph. The situation was incredibly unsafe as both times I was on the interstate and had to pull over. The second time was at night and around heavy construction which increased the danger. On each occasion the light turned off and the problem fixed when I turned off the car and turned it back on. Both times I took the vehicle to the dealership and they were unable to find the code or any issues. On the second time they recommended adjusting the valves and replacing spark plugs. The vehicle has not been inspected by anyone else. There were no warnings prior to the flashing check engine and the car losing power. On both occasions this happened within ten minutes of starting the vehicle.

On two recent occasions over the past month, my 2021 Cr-v hybrid has lost motive power/check engine light flashing, with the while driving on busy interstate roads between 60-70 mph, decelerating in fast-moving multi-lane traffic. The dealership service department has not been able to fix the issue. I believe this issue is similar to others that the NHTSA is evaluating (pe25016). This issue could be very dangerous if a driver is not able to safely move off the road or shoulder. Please issue information to car owners and dealers on how to fix this serious issue.

Report from dealer: customer states that the vehicle feels like it's sporadically shooting forward when accelerating between 20-30mph. Check and advise vehicle failed af test,all cylinders failed (rich).

I am experiencing the problems that are described in investigation NHTSA campaign number: pe25016. When driving on the highway, there have been multiple times (8-10) when the car stops accelerating and the check engine light starts flashing. I am not able to accelerate the car. If it turn the car off for 5-10 minutes, the check engine light stops flashing and I am able to drive the car again. It has always happened when I haven't driven the car for a while (either driving it for the first time for the day or after sitting idle at work for 8 hours), the problem happens within minutes of getting on the highway. I have taken the car to the dealership for service twice with this problem. The first time was in late August. They said there was no code with the check engine light and they could not replicate or find a problem. The most recent time was this past Friday (Nov. 21, 2025). I experienced the problem and immediately took it to the dealership. Because the check engine light was flashing, they were able to pull diagnostics and retrieve a code. They said a fuel check showed cloudy fuel and a spark plug was brown to copper color. They removed the old fuel and replaced all four spark plugs. This did not fix the problem, as I experienced it again this morning (Sunday, Nov. 23).

The contact owns a 2021 Honda Cr-v. The contact stated that while parking, and the brake pedal was depressed, the vehicle accelerated inadvertently up a slight incline and collided with a stone boulder/wall. Neither the contact nor the passenger sustained injuries. The contact stated that no collision warnings were activated to detect the collision. The air bags did not deploy. The vehicle was towed to a dealer, where the failure could not able to be replicated. The vehicle was then towed to an independent mechanic, where the vehicle has yet to be diagnosed. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 56,000.

The vehicle experienced a premature failure of the head gasket; it was blown at 130,000 miles. I was close to home when I received a dash alert stating not to accelerate as the engine was nearing a critically high temperature. If I had not been able to get home so quickly, my safety may have been compromised as my car could have overheated forcing me to pull over on the shoulder of a busy bridge. My local dealership inspected the vehicle and has quoted me nearly $4,500 for the repair, despite it appearing as this is a known issue with this particular engine.

Traveling on 4 lane highway at 65 mph on slight upgrade-check engine light started flashing and vehicle started to shudder slightly and went into "limp" mode I think. Started to slow down with no power. Turned on emergency flashers and was able to pull over without incident, although it was close to causing an accident with a tractor trailer. I shut the vehicle down and after 10 minutes, started it again> I was able to drive home another 45 miles without incident. This happened a week ago and so far it hasn't happened again.

On 7/21/2025, the car smelled of rotten eggs. When I got home I checked the Honda website for recalls. There is a recall on the fuel pump for my type of car, but not with my VIN number. I researched that if the fuel pump goes without repair it can lead to the catalytic converter needing replaced. So, I went outside to go get some dinner and the car wouldn't start. Everything inside flashed a few times and then went dead. This car is only 4 years old. I believe they've missed my car on their recall list.

The contact owns a 2021 Honda Cr-v. The contact stated that upon starting the vehicle, the check engine warning light remained illuminated. The vehicle was taken to a local independent mechanic where the vehicle was diagnosed, and the contact was informed that the fuel injector was faulty and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 72,000.

When I accelerate up a hill at speed I lose power of the car. Once I pull over and turn the car off and wait a few minutes, the car starts up and drives fine. I have taken it in to be fixed and one time they changed spark plugs and a head gasket and then about 8 months later it did the same thing. I took it in to be checked out and they cannot find anything wrong with it. I have searched online and have found out there are other people having the same issue with this model (2021 crv hybrid). I've only owned the car for 4 years and love Honda's and have owned one most of my life so this is disappointing.

My 2021 Honda Cr-v hybrid has experienced three identical and dangerous incidents over a one month period beginning around 60,000 miles. Each time, while driving at highway speeds (60-70 mph) climbing hills or grades, the vehicle suddenly loses all acceleration power accompanied by a rapidly flashing check engine light. This creates an extremely hazardous situation as the vehicle cannot maintain highway speeds with fast-moving traffic approaching from behind, forcing emergency stops on busy highway shoulders where rear-end collisions become a serious risk. After each incident, turning off the vehicle and waiting 10+ minutes allows normal operation to resume, with the flashing check engine light disappearing. The malfunction involves the engine ignition system, specifically cylinder 4 misfiring as confirmed by diagnostic trouble code p0304 that I captured during the most recent incident. The suspected failing components include the ignition coil, spark plug, or fuel injector for cylinder 4. What makes this particularly dangerous is the complete unpredictability - no warning symptoms appear before each incident, and the failure occurs suddenly under specific conditions that are common in highway driving. Despite three documented occurrences, two separate Honda dealerships have been unable to reproduce the issue or confirm the problem. Both claim they find "no stored codes" even though I have evidence of the p0304 code. The codes appear to be cleared after turning the vehicle off and on. The intermittent nature and specific conditions required (sustained highway speeds while climbing grades) prevent typical shop diagnosis, yet this appears to be a widespread pattern affecting multiple 2021 Cr-v hybrids based on similar owner reports online. The recurring nature combined with the inability of dealers to address the root cause, creates an ongoing safety hazard. The vehicle remains available for inspection.

Head gasket failure. 79,600 miles. Car consumes coolant. Coolant is entering the firing ring when car sits after being driven a distance of 5 miles or more and sits for about 8 hours, vehicle starts with a misfire and makes a small amount of white sweet smoke out of the exhaust pipes even in 85 degree weather. Car smooths itself out after 10-30 seconds. No obdii or Honda specific codes. Spark plugs, ignition coils, and spark plugs again since 75k. Over $2,000 into this car in repairs. Refilled coolant reservoir 3 times since April 8th (3 full jugs of peak asian blue from advanced auto parts). I want justice for this car and other Honda 1. 5t vehicle owners as many of them have this happen at the 80k mark and they’re being quoted $10k for an engine and $5k for a head gasket. There are several people with accords, civics, Cr-vs equipped with the 1. 5t engine that have coolant leaking into one cylinder. Oil looks fine and not milky. And besides the coolant being low, it looks fine (blue/aqua). Only when the car sits. Car was brought to rivera Honda in port jeff and they couldn’t find any issues. Car is consuming coolant. No leaks. It’s being burned when you start the car after it sits. Gushing liquid noise when car starts or with idle engine stop activated and car restarts. Design flaws on cylinder head has grooves that allow coolant to flow on top of the head to cool it. Failure point according to a Honda mechanic on youtube. Second flaw is poorly designed head bolts that are too thin and are brittle, not making a good seal as the vehicle ages. Parts are not expensive at all, but the man hours needed to replace this are the killer. 4. 5 years old with 80k, it’s Honda. It’s supposed to run forever. Not die under 100k. I would expect this problem after 250k or when the car is over 10 years old. My godmother had a 1998 accord that she had for over 20 years and it only needed a fuel pump as a major repair. A testament to Honda’s rock solid reliability. What happened?.

On the freeway. The engine-icon lit up on the dash screen. Shortly after, I realized that the car was slowing down. Pushed on gas pedal and nothing happened. Started going slower and slower. Put on the emergency flashers, changed lanes to the far right and managed to coast it to a spot with a shoulder large enough to get me 100% on the shoulder. Turned off the power button and sat there for about 3-5 minutes. Turned the car back on and it was fine the rest of the way to my destination. Has not happened since. It was very scary! called the dealership the next morning. Took it in at their request. There were no "codes" that came up and they had no idea why it happened. No resolution.

Within the past 3 months, twice now, the battery indicator goes to zero and engine loses power and you can't accelerate. This is very dangerous where we live as it is a 2 lane mountain highway with few spots to safely pull over. There are a number of posts about this know issue, all stating the same scenario and that no Honda dealerships will fix it as they "can't determine an issue". I called our dealer after this happened the first time and was instructed to not restart the vehicle and just have it towed in. That is not realistic.

The issue occurs seemingly randomly about once a month when driving on the highway. All of the sudden the car starts DE-accelerating. Even if you push the gas pedal all the way down it doesn’t go. It just goes slower and slower and thank goodness I’ve been able to pull over every time. Once I shutdown the car completely and turn back on then I have power again.

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 January 15th while driving home with my son I attempted to accelerate around a truck when I hit approximately 60 mph the vehicle stopped accelerating and began to slow down. I did notice that the "charge bar" for the hybrid battery was indicating that it was charging. The car continued to decelerate and I pulled to the side of the road. The check engine light was flashing. I turned the vehicle off for a minute and started it back up. The car drove fine and I was able to make it home. The dealership said there were no codes saved and they had no explanation. This was a the third time in the past year this has occurred and no one can tell me what the codes are or how to fix it.

This is the 3rd incident with the same issue. I lose power when on a freeway. (other dates [xxx] and [xxx]). On [xxx] I entered [xxx] and had accelerated onto the freeway. Shortly after getting on the ramp, my check engine light went on/blinking and I couldn't accelerate anymore. I was able to pull over on the shoulder. I turned the car off, waited a minute and then turned it on again and the issue went away. This is the same scenario that I've experienced twice before. I am rarely on freeways. On [xxx], I was on an incline with curves and very little room on the shoulder. This was a very scary incident for me. All of these incidents shouldn't happen and it is very dangerous to lose power unexpectedly when driving on a freeway. Looking on the internet for a solution - I found several other posts on what sounds to be the same issue and unfortunately didn't find a resolution. [xxx] [xxx] [xxx] please review this as this is unsafe. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

The contact owns a 2021 Honda Cr-v. The contact stated that the battery failed to start the engine. The vehicle was jumpstarted, and the vehicle was taken to the dealer. The contact noticed acid on top of the battery by the terminals and noticed that acid had dripped down the vehicle, and the battery was hot. The dealer replaced the battery. The contact stated that on a separate occasion, the battery short-circuited, and the vehicle failed to start. The vehicle was jumpstarted and taken to the dealer, where the battery was replaced. The battery failed a third time. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, where it was diagnosed that the a/c condenser had failed. The vehicle was repaired. Upon leaving the dealer, there was an abnormal sound coming from the vehicle. An unknown toxic gas emitted from the a/c vents and splashed the contact's face. The contact went to the emergency room and was informed that an unknown toxic gas had burned and injured the contact’s left eye. The contact was partially blind in the left eye. The contact took the vehicle back to the dealer, who diagnosed that the intake manifold had failed. The dealer stated that the intake manifold needed to be snapped back into place. The vehicle was repaired. The contact stated that the failure persisted, and abnormal sounds were coming from the vehicle. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer; however, the dealer refused to repair the vehicle and issued a no trespass order against the contact. The contact towed the vehicle to another dealer in sarasota, florida. The dealer installed a switch near the starter. The contact stated that afterwards it was found out that the dealer in bradenton, florida had failed to install the a/c filter. The a/c failure persisted. Several warning lights were illuminated. Most recently, after entering the parking lot at a gas station, there was an abnormally loud sound coming from the front end. Upon investigation, the contact noticed that the overflow of the coolant had leaked out. Several unknown warning lights were illum.

2021 hybrid-cr began loosing power while driving and the check engine light turned on. Pulling over to the side of the road, turning it off, and then restarting the car turned off the check engine light. After several occurrences took the car to dealership where they were not able to pinpoint the problem as the check engine light was not on at that time and warnings are not stored in the diagnostic module of the car. Driving 75 mph all dashboard warning lights turned on. Was able to pull over to the side of the road and had car towed to dealership. The cylinder head is bad. New cylinder heads are currently on back order and there is no date of when a new one would become available. The head can be sent to a shop for repair for $8,000 cost. Honda is aware of the issue and has offered a 75-25% split on this cost: they pay 75% and we pay the remaining 25%. In the meantime we are without a vehicle for an obvious faulty cylinder head manufactured for the engine and unsuspecting drivers are put into hazardous safety situation.

Driving on highway, engine light began flashing, then deceleration occurred. No response in pushing the gas pedal at all. Pulled to side of road. Stopped car. Had it towed to Honda dealer. At the dealership, the car ran fine, the problem could not be replicated and there was no record that it had occurred. Approximately five weeks later, the same problem occurred on the highway, but I immediately got to the side of the road when the engine light came on and was able to pull off as deceleration was occuring. Waited a few minutes and the car then ran fine.

My car lost power and the engine light came on when on the freeway. I was in the middle of merging from [xxx] to [xxx] on a san diego freeway. Because of the highway interchange situation, I was in the far left lane and needed to merge about 4-5 lanes to the right to get to the next off ramp. This was so scary!! though I had my hazard lights on, cars coming up behind me didn't expect a car to be slowing down in the middle of the freeway as the car decelerated down to 20 mph. I was very lucky that my car was not rear-ended. I used the side roads and the electric power to of my hybrid engine to drive about 7 miles to a Honda dealer. They asked me to turn off my car (big mistake). Honda had my car for 3 days and drove it about 70 miles, but could never duplicate the issue. I am [xxx] and frequently from southern to northern California alone. I have driven over 700,000 miles in my lifetime and never had a car's combustion engine stop on the freeway. I researched this unique situation and found out other Honda crv-hybrid owners have experienced this, but Honda had no solution. They told me they knew it was a cylinder issue and the tech saw "misfire codes" but without more details, there was nothing they could do. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

The contact owns a 2021 Honda Cr-v. The contact stated while driving at 40 mph, the contact stated that the automated brake warning light would illuminate. The contact stated that the brake would inadvertently engage. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle lost motive power with no warning light illuminated. The vehicle was towed to the dealer where it was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 33,233.

I was driving back from work on the highway, and I was suddenly not able to accelerate. The car was slowing down, and the engine light was flashing. I pulled over to the shoulder and drove slowly about a half a mile to the exit. I pulled over at the gas station. Left my car there and took uber home. The next day, when I went to pick it up, the flashing engine light was off and drove fine and I was good to go like nothing had happened. Once at work, I researched the problem and found post about a similar issue. I took it to the nearest Honda dealer and they couldn’t find any problem with the car. They also said there is no recall on the VIN number. I called Honda to file a complaint but I was told the same thing that there is no recall on this car and to work directly with the dealer. I am afraid to drive my car on a highway and if it happens again I may get into an accident.

I have a 2021 Honda Cr-v with 24,203 miles on my vehicle as of today oct. 21 2024. I I checked my oil drip stick to make sure the oil at the right level. Today I notice I had more oil over the fill mark. I change my oil every 5000 miles with ams-oil 0-20wt. I read that Honda knows of this on going problem. Should I go to the Honda dealer to address the oil dilution problem happening with my car? please let me know. [xxx] [xxx] e-mail [xxx] information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

1 weeks ago the crv over heated once, shut the car off gave it 5min turned it back on and got it home no further issue, never over heated again then on Monday the check engine light started flashing took to a shop they said it was due to spark plugs and ignition coils. The very next day flashed again, took back to shop they said it was my head gasket, took to a second shop and they confirmed that it was a head gasket but most likely needed the entire engine replaced at over $17,0000 the car is only 3 years old with 145k miles and already needs a new engine.

The battery voltage of the car goes down to 2 bars, the the check engine light comes on. Sometimes the car/engine shakes and the loses power and won’t accelerate anymore. This happens even if the car is already on the road going up to 70 mph. We took it to the Honda service center and they spent 3 hours on it, but couldn’t find the issue. This is not safe, very scary when it happens and has been happening every few days. This could cause an accident especially when it just loses power and we have to pull over to shut off engine to restart to get battery power again.

I drove to pittsburgh on [xxx]. I got back in the car, pulled down the driveway and when I tried to enter traffic the car lost power, the dashboard went crazy with error messages and the car was useless. Had it towed to the nearest Honda dealer, they suspected fuel. The high pressure fuel pump was the part that fixed the problem. Fault code dtcp0087 was found in the ecu. I obtained a fuel sample and had it checked, the water content was a little out of spec but nothing really bad. I do have the fuel pump in case anyone wants to do a failure analysis. To add insult to injury, my extended "warranty" is refusing to cover the repair because they just want to say no. [xxx]. . . The bill was $1786. 11, not including a rental car and my time. I have heard of quite a few recalls on these Hondas, you might want to add my model year to that list. Please advise if you have had other reports. Thanks! information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

This is the second time this vehicle has randomly lost power / internal combustion engine stalled while driving on the interstate. Vehicle was traveling approximately 70mph steady for 10 minutes when the incident occurred. The combustion engine began to shutter and stalled, check engine light began blinking. Hybrid battery went down to zero and had to make an emergency departure off the highway with no power. Vehicle had to be powered off and powered back on to resume normal operation. Because the cellight cleared the dealership cannot look up the fault and mark it as npf. When I search this issue, it seems to be fairly common with the 2020+ Honda hybrids (crv and accords). This type of power train failure / stall is extremely dangerous especially on highways with little or no warning and time to react. We are begging the NHTSA to have Honda do a through investigation and recall to remediate the engine stall failures on these hybrid vehicles ASAP as this is extremely dangerous for our family and other drivers around us.

I was driving my 2021honda crv exl hybrid on the interstate in the passing lane. I am the original owner and bought it new in 2021. Never had any problem with the car up to that day. I was in passing lane accelerating about 60-65 mph as I rounded a slightly hilly curve in the road when suddenly car started to slow down rapidly. I looked at the dash and could see it was decelerating rapidly, going down and down and slower & I had my foot on gas pedal to the floor ,yet the car kept going slower. I put on hazards& managed to get in slower lane, there was considerable traffic volume at the time luckily had room to move in to slower lane and ultimately into emergency shoulder lane, the car was only going about 10 mph even though I still had gas pedal pressed down as far as it would go. Managed to exit the interstate, still it would go about 10mph ,so drove it to a safe commuter lot about 1/2 mile down the road. Noticed then that the engine light was blinking on and off. Called Honda dealer and told them was having car towed to their business. Next day, went to dealer and told service rep the experience , they scanned the system and found these codes stored: p0300-p0302-p0303 misfires. They then cleared codes and test drove and no lights came back on at that time and stated that the technician performed a visual inspection and found no issues at this time and performed a/f ratio function test and all cylinders passed. Service rep recommended to me that they would take car for a longer drive ,they drove it 28 miles & no lights came back on and no codes set, they state it was "all ok at this time & stated intermittant concern". I took the car back to my home with great concern ,I don't have trust in the car for myself , family or any other people on the road wherever I would go, I want your agency to investigate . As a 76 year old who trusted the brand and invested lot of retirement treasure in this purchase,I request help for a remedy, Honda had no answer&that doesnt cut it.

1st incident all failure lights went on while driving on hwy 137 which os a 2 lane hoghway. 2nd I cidenr -all engine failure lights went on and lost power on the fast lane while driving on 15 freeway. Had to be towed hime both times and sat in an unsafe zone while tow truck arrived.

While driving on highway engine lost power and check engine light went on so I had to pull over turn off engine wait a few minutes and restart this happened on 3 occasions.

On December 12, 2023 at 6:50 am my check engine light came on while I was driving, the battery gauge went to two bars, and the car powered down on route 24 (a state highway). I took it to the dealer later in the day and they could not find anything wrong. Unfortunately, this is the third time my car has powered down/gone into limp mode on a highway. On August 8th almost the exact same thing happened at almost the exact same spot on the highway (slightly uphill, a day after refueling). In August, Honda kept my car for a week to try to pinpoint the problem. There were no stored problem codes. The best guess of the dealer was some sort of engine misfire due to a fuel impurity. On October 12, 2022 I had the first power down experience on the NY thruway. On that occasion, the temperature sensor malfunctioned (at least according to the messages and gauges). The dealer replaced the sensor.

My vehicle on several occasions stalled and/or lost power. Stepped on the gas and no power. Both while using cruise control. One incident was not using cruise control.

I own a 2021 Honda Cr-v touring hybrid and have had 2 incidents of what I have learned is called sudden unintentional acceleration (sua). I bought the car new and took possession of it in the spring of 2021. The first incident occurred Nov 14, 2023 when I was parking at a restaurant. I was slowly pulling forward into a parking spot where there were unattended cars on either side of me as well as in front of me. Suddenly, without warning, I was surging with full force into the minivan parked ahead of me as well as the front end of the car parked next to it. I slammed on the brake but not before I had pushed the minvan several feet forward. I did not know how this happened but, even though I knew that I had not stepped on the gas pedal nor had something interfered with it, I assumed that I must have done something to cause this accident. Thousands of dollars of damage was done to my car as well as the other two vehicles that were struck. The second incident was June 11, 2025. I was slowly advancing forward into a hotel parking space. There was a curb at the end of the space with some landscaping behind that. The landscaping had an uphill incline with some large evergreens about 8-10 feet from the curb. Once again, the car suddenly surged forward, jumping the curb, and accelerating into the evergreens. I slammed on the brake, feeling like I was putting my foot through the floor. This was an exact repeat of the previous incident and I am absolutely certain that I did nothing to cause this acceleration to occur. I was able to back out of the evergreens and my car does not appear to be damaged. Airbags were not deployed in either incident. I went on-line and there are numerous reports of similar incidents among Cr-v owners but I do not see any recalls or actions taken by Honda on this problem. I intend to take the car to the Honda dealer in the next week. I fear the next incident may result in injury or death.