Automatic Emergency Braking Problems of Honda CR-V - part 1

On several occasions, while driving down the road at 55 mph, the car will flash the "brake" indicator on the dash for a brief second and immediately slam on the brakes either to a stop or for a shorter amount of time. This is the third event that happened today just before reporting this problem. Our safety was at risk because there could've been someone behind us that may not have reacted fast enough and could've hit us. After the issue, there were no warning lights of any kind. There was no hazard in the road and no other obscure conditions. Middle of the day, clear skies. It is not possible to reproduce the problem in a timely manner because this has happened randomly three times over the course of two years.

See all problems of the 2018 Honda CR-V 🔎.

While driving at speed of 50mph automatic braking system activated causing car to stop suddenly there was no car or object in front of my vehicle.

The steering wheel is slightly sticking while driving/steering on interstates and highways where mostly noticed, but also noticing on curved backroads. When navigating a curve the steering wheel has slightly stuck and the automatic brake light flashes on very briefly. This has happened several times now and both main drivers of the car have noticed the issue. We are reporting now out of fear that it may become a bigger issue if not addressed, that affects both steering and braking that puts occupants at risk. We are reporting this as of today, which is the most recent incident on may 25, 2026, but this has happens about 4 or 5 times in the last month. We checked to see if this was a known recall issue, but the recall only applies to 2023 - 2025 crvs for some reason. This sounds like the exact issue/recall that our 2021 crv is having. Thank you!.

See all problems of the 2021 Honda CR-V 🔎.

I was driving on the freeway on Saturday 5/23/26 when a helium balloon flew into my lane. The vehicle suddenly applied maximum braking on its own without any dashboard warning, alert sound, or driver notification. It was so severe the tires were screeching. The accelerator was unresponsive for several seconds before I was able to accelerate again. This created a dangerous situation because I could have been rear-ended by another car.

See all problems of the 2023 Honda CR-V 🔎.

Multiple times when driving on the freeway, there will be no obstruction whatsoever on a clear road, with a clean car — it will emergency break, or attempt to. I have had it diagnosed and nothing related to break system etc was ever found. This happens often and has almost caused a couple crashes.

Automatic braking system engaged without any warning and without any impending danger in front of me at night on pulaski skyway, bringing the vehicle to a complete halt.

See all problems of the 2019 Honda CR-V 🔎.

I was driving at 33 mph on 5/17 at 11:33 and the cars automatic brakes suddenly when on full blast out of no where with nothing around me on a clear day!.

While driving at 60 mph, automatic braking feature activated slamming on brakes unexpectedly. There was no car in front of me when this occurred. This has occurred several times. In this instance, we were driving on a 4 lane hwy in the right lane. A car passed me in the left lane and just after passing me the braking system slammed on the brakes. The other vehicle was still in the left lane while we were in the right lane.

While driving to store for errands today, 09may26, I came to a stop at a red light with intent to turn right next. I turned on my right blinker and turned a bit to the right and rolled forward to gain visibility to my left as I came to a complete stop. There was a car coming from the left that was preparing to turn left. I observed that car turn on its left blinker, and slow down while entering its turn. I confirmed the intersection was clear and there was nothing in front of me. I applied the gas, then looked left to confirm the other car was completing its left turn. While I was slowly accelerating, but before my eyes returned to the road ahead of me, the accident avoidance system sounded an audible alarm, I think I recall seeing an orange dash warning, and the system seemed to simultaneously trigger a hard brake apply. This was akin to a panic stop. I knew there was a truck approaching behind me. Although a bit stunned and dazed, I recovered as quickly as I could, and continued to complete my right turn to make sure that vehicle did not collide with me. The hard brake apply was so sudden, my head and body pitched forward (as much as permitted by the seat belt). After returning home, I realized my right shoulder was sore, presumably from the brake apply. I worry that this system could trigger the brakes like this at a much higher speed, in a turn, or with my children driving the car (they are just [xxx] and [xxx] old). I have since reached out to the dealership that I purchased the car from for assistance (lafontaine Honda in dearborn, mi). I just bought the car (used) last Friday, 5/1. I am a technical project manager that has supported automotive brake development projects for multiple companies and customers for 26 years. I know how these systems are supposed to work, and this one seems flawed, and potentially dangerous in my opinion. I would be happy to discuss further if NHTSA has questions. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

See all problems of the 2025 Honda CR-V 🔎.

I was driving down the road with no cars around me at all going 40 mph when my car started braking saying "brake" and automatically braked to almost a full stop int he middle of the busy road. If there was a car behind me we most definitely would have been rear ended at a very fast pace. We could've been seriously injured and I have little children in the car and a baby. There wasn't rain or fog or anything out of the ordinary. We are taking it to the dealer later this week. No warning light on before the incident.

On may 2nd, 2026, while driving my 2026 Honda crv ex, which I purchased less than 3 months ago, I got a warning on my dashboard saying "brake system problem: brake performance may be reduced. See your dealer. " I tried push the break but it wouldn't budge, it was as if the brakes locked. I took my foot off the accelerator and steered myself to the shoulder and pulled on the emergency brake. I kept pulling the brake up until the car stopped. I then immediately moved the gear shift from "drive" to "park". Multiple alarms came on showing system problems. The following warning lights came brake system problem, electric brake system problem, tpms system problem, transmission system problem, auto idle stop system problem, electric power steering system problem, brake hold system problem, vehicle stability assist system problem, hill start assist problem, hill descent control system problem, adaptive cruise control system problem, lane keeping assist system problem, collision mitigation brake system problem, road departure mitigation system problem, blind spot information system problem, auto high-bream problem. At the time that the warnings appeared, I was about half a mile away from a signalized intersection. The brake pedal was difficult to depress and unresponsive. I lost meaning braking ability while the vehicle was in motion. Had the traffic signal at the intersection been red at the moment of failure, I would not have been able to stop the vehicle in time and a collision with cross-traffic or a vehicle stopped at the light would have been likely. After stopping, I turned off the vehicle and then turned it back on. Again all the alarms appeared, I was unable to push down on the brake pedal and the gear shift was locked. The vehicle was then towed to a Honda dealer and is awaiting diagnosis.

The vehicle is activating emergency brake assist with no object in front of it causing the brakes to slam on while driving. Lane departure warning is trying to correct/move vehicle into a different lane.

See all problems of the 2020 Honda CR-V 🔎.

I was driving into the city and crossing an intersection with train tracks. There was no obstacle and the car warned me by flashing the sign to brake, beeped, and then it automatically slammed on the brake and stopped my car in the middle of the intersection on the tracks. I was goin probably 40 mph. It was terrifying. Thankfully no one else was around me. All of my items in the car flew off the seat and hit the ground. Will be calling Honda about taking it in to repair shop.

A known common issues that Honda are not addressing: car going limp randomly, oil dilution, head gasket failure causing fuel injector issues, dashboard lighting up which causes the safety features to also cease from operating. I have multiple times now with my 4 year old in the car been in traffic and my car has just stopped going unprovoked. This limp mode issue a huge safety issue and has almost caused me to wreck multiple times. This started around 70k miles.

Windshield wipers don’t have the same amount of travel each stroke. Sometimes the driver wiper will contact the a pillar and sometimes it will be several inches shy of the pillar. It seems it depends on how wet the windshield is. On several occasions, independent of wiper issue, the vehicle has significantly decreased speed or come to a complete stop for no apparent reason.

See all problems of the 2024 Honda CR-V 🔎.

The automatic emergency brakes deployed for no reason while I was driving through traffic. There was nothing in the road and nothing that should have triggered the emergency brakes. It could have caused an accident.

I have experienced instances of the brakes being aggressively applied unexpectedly when no other vehicles or stationary objects are nearby to trigger the collision avoidance system. Any car following immediately behind would have rear-ended me. This has occurred a few times in the last 12 months. No warning lights are present prior to, or when this occurs. I have not had the vehicle inspected by anyone given the intermittent nature of this issue.

See all problems of the 2017 Honda CR-V 🔎.

This has been an ongoing issue since I bought the car in 2020. I have reported to the dealer, Honda, and this agency. My car fantom breaks by its self. About a week ago my car lit up again with the break on the dash and only slightly hit the breaks this time compared to the time before where it slammed on the breaks. Yes there is no car in front of me when this happens. Motorworld Honda closed out my cases and this is still an ongoing issue. Honda has been no help and the car is still breaking by itself. Please investigate this issue. Motorworld Honda blamed me for the issue and bernie Honda says that this issue happens and the person I was talking to said this happened to her. This is not normal.

I was driving past a school zone at 20 mph, came to a stop to allow children to cross street, as I began my acceleration past the school crossing, I reached a 20mph speed again and my crv activated the emergency braking system without having anything in front of me that could have activated the forward collision braking system. Luckily I was not rear ended.

I was driving on the freewayin the night time on several occasions and the emissions light and check engine light comes on and the car lost speed and would not accelerate. I had to put my hazards on to exit the freeway slowly to pull over turn the car off, sometimes this corrects the problems. But this has happened on several occasions. The vehicle is now at the dealer being diagnostic, they end up keeping the vehicle and haven't told me yet what the issue is.

Multiple warning lights were turning on then turning off in their own, typically 2-3 days later. However while on, all adas showed errors and did not work. Most recent time, had an elevation changed (over 6000 ft), lights came cascading on parked safely. Next morning, car would not accelerate/was extremely jerky. Turned off waited turned back on, while lights were on car felt to be running fine. Slightly off sounding idle. Dtc showed multiple misfires and error codes with a recommendation to replace fuel injectors. Dealer was surprised given relatively low milage (109000 miles) for this issue to occur.

The driver assist system was flashing for over an hour when I was coming back to ohio from florida on [xxx]. It was flashing and for a few seconds it would go off. This happened a few times and then it busted stayed on. It said to take to dealer to get fixed. This happened about a year ago put only flashed on for a short time. There must be a problem with this system that Honda has. I have done some research and it seems this is a Honda problem with the Cr-v. I have a 2023 Cr-v. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

I am filing a safety complaint regarding my 2026 Honda Cr-v. The front-mounted sensor used for advanced driver-assistance systems (including lane keeping assist and automatic emergency braking) is positioned in a way that makes it easily accessible and vulnerable to theft. My vehicle’s sensor was stolen, which immediately disabled critical safety features such as collision mitigation braking and lane assistance. While the vehicle may still be drivable, the loss of these systems significantly reduces safety and increases the risk of an accident. This does not appear to be an isolated incident. Many other Honda Cr-v owners across the country are reporting similar thefts of the same sensor. The issue has become so common that third-party manufacturers are now producing protective covers to prevent theft, indicating a widespread and known vulnerability. As a result of this incident: •my vehicle has been inoperable or unsafe to drive with full safety functionality. •the car has been in a repair shop for over a month due to the sensor being on backorder. •I am continuing to make payments on a vehicle that I cannot safely use as intended. I believe this represents a design defect that creates an unreasonable safety risk. A critical safety component should not be so easily removed by theft, especially when its absence disables key driver-assistance systems. I respectfully request that NHTSA investigate this issue and determine whether a recall or mandated design change is necessary to protect consumers. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Steering: 2025 Honda crv steering became "sticky" when veering left, making it difficult to maneuver back to center and the steering could feel a bit jumpy. There were also faint clicks when driving in circles to the left. The VIN was not listed under the current recall number 24v-744 so we brought it to the dealer to see if it was under warranty. The sticky steering only happens after driving the car for a little while, so we weren't able to replicate it for the dealer 12 miles away. However, they took a look at the steering components and told us that it was a "fluke" that the car had made it through assembly inspections because it should have failed and never been sold. We had the car safety checked before leaving for a trip where we'd be driving along steep, winding cliffs with sharp switchbacks and they said we were in good shape. Now they were telling us we were "lucky we didn't hit a pothole" and make it even worse and careen off a cliff. We put about 10k miles on that trip not knowing the danger we were in the whole time. They claim they fixed it by installing a brand new Honda power steering rack, part number 53620-3a0-a33. We've heard that others just end up with the same issues in another 5-7k miles, so we're not feeling confident. Automatic safety breaking: we get several phantom warning alarms and flashing, full screen messages telling us to "brake!" while driving when nothing is there. Usually when there's any kind of flickering sunlight or sunlight through trees, which is everywhere. We can only disable it by turning it off every single time we turn on the car and by going through several menus to get to the feature. We should be able to turn this off completely, not each time. We've twice had it pump the breaks and it's a frightening situation, even at slow speeds, because we could get rear ended. Dealer said, "yeah. . . That's how it works. Mine does it too. ".

The vechicle was in an accident were it went off the road into grassy area. Hitting several street signs and a power transformer. The safety features automatic braking or lane keep assistance did not engage. The driver tried to brake the car did not stop nor did it seem to slow down by the distance it traveled. The car is possiblity a total loss, currently under review by insurance company. There were 2 passenger in the vechicle during the accident. Driver and toddler in the rear. Police did come out to the scene. Insurance representative are going through thier claim process. The accident was 2 days ago. All safety feature prior to the accident were opperating proper to my knowledge. I would like to request the black box from the accident to gather more information on what may have happened. Insuarance companies is not going to obtain it.

I was driving down the road at approximately 40 mph. My vehicle suddenly slammed on the brakes. The brake warning light appeared on the dash. There was nothing around me - no cars, animals, road obstructions, etc. It really scared me and luckily no one was behind me. I have had this car for 6-ish months and it has less than 6,000 miles on it. This is the first time it has happened.

[xxx] is the VIN. Airbags did nit deploy I was driving 77 mph on i80 near [xxx] . Another vehicle, a chevy malibu, left the left lane of traffic and drove on the median. This driver over corrected when her speed was 83 mph. I hit her broadside (tbone) in the b pillar dead center on the my front of my crv. My airbags did not deploy. I received a broken sternum from hitting the steering wheel. Usaa did not investigate, just saw the photos and totalled the crv. The chevy malibu had all the airbags deploy. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

"my 2019 Honda Cr-v experienced a 'false positive' trigger of the collision mitigation braking system (cmbs) while driving over a metal road grate. The vehicle applied hard, emergency-level braking without any actual obstacle in the path of travel. I am aware of the active NHTSA investigation ea24003 regarding this issue. I have taken the vehicle to a dealer, but they were unable to replicate the issue during a standard test drive on asphalt and cited a brake fluid code as the only finding, which does not explain the sensor misidentification. " I am bringing the car back to the dealership since I have video proof of what is happening but they were reluctant to do anything about it and said there may be a 180 dollar charge to re align the sensors which I shouldnt be charged for something that is a safety issue. This incident has happened several times over the year. About 4 times total.

We were driving yesterday evening (02/26) when the anti-collision break light flashed and the vehicle force stopped with without any obstacles in front of us. We were fortunate that a car wasn’t immediately behind us to have caused a collision. This was the first instance of failure. We haven’t reported to manufacture or others yet. We looked along the front number and tires thinking maybe it sensed something but nothing was there.

While driving on the freeway in the rain (on 2/19/2026), my vehicle started braking of its own accord. Emergency brake lights flashed on the dash board and the vehicle came to a full stop while traffic was moving on the freeway. [there had been previous incidents of warning "brake" lights flashing without cause, never a sudden stop; spontaneous]. During my <15 mile commute, the vehicle did this x5 times. After the 4th incident, a new pop up warning appeared: "collision mitigation braking system problem. See your dealer. " I took a photo of this warning light and drove to the closest dealership. The unwarranted braking problem happened again while on the freeway. When I arrived at the dealership, at first they said "there's no problem. " I showed them the photo, they reluctantly checked in my vehicle for diagnostics and informed me that I would have to pay for the diagnostician. The safety of myself and other California drivers was put at risk by this malfunctioning braking system. I was unable to over ride a warning, the vehicle braked unexpectedly in the middle of the freeway. Mossy Honda dealership did not offer me a loaner vehicle nor a ride home. When I asked, I was told that they might be able to rent a vehicle to me if someone was still around to do so. Cost =$50/ day. I lost a day of work to deal with this issue. I had to call the dealership for an update. The vehicle was inspected by a certified Honda technician at mossy Honda of lemon grove. The technician informed me that Honda's policy is to realign the system. The Honda technician asked if the vehicle was recently hauling a heavy load that could have ruined the alignment. I have not. It seems the dealership wants to blame me for this safety issue. If there are follow up issues, I am advised to return to the dealership for assistance. The dealership did not offer a ride, nor apologies. They have not provided an updated cost estimate for this alignment or any needed follow up repairs.

Other than the emergency brake system coming on suddenly a couple times (seat belt has hurt me, but not medically documented), there have been no other issues with this car. In the November of 2025, it overheated in gridlock traffic in boston, MA, which had me freaking out. The engine coolant was low, so I had to find a spot to pull over and let the steam out. I drove it safely home and refilled the tank. It was checked out by my local mechanic and he said it looked fine. Towards the end of January, the car overheated again, so I immediately went to the auto store to buy prediluted coolant to fill the tank (which was now full). Last week (February 2026), I was driving home on the highway and all the emergency lights came on and the car stopped accelerating. I was able to get the car home, but moved my pump module recall appointment up to the following day. Honda north in danvers, MA (where we purchased the car) investigated and found a cracked cylinder, head gasket needing replacement, turbo chargers needing replacement, and the fuel injector needing replacement. The report also says the engine coolant tank was empty, but I only filled it a couple weeks ago. The mechanic said I could drive it home on the back roads, but it is no longer safe to drive, as there are severe safety risks (the car passed every other inspection). The sales team expected me to make a deal that day, because I could not drive home. My car's mileage is just over 127,000 miles, and they are only offering $6000 or $8000 with trade in. I have learned there are lawsuits over the 1. 5v turbo engine and am surprised Honda is not recalling the engine due to safety risk. My family has had 5 Hondas in the past decade and up until this point, believed they were safe, reliable cars. I am really dissappointed by this, especially because the cost to repair is over $11,000. I also want to note that someone on reddit coincidentally had the same issue within the same hour as myself.

I was driving across a major intersection when the car slammed on the brakes for no reason. There were no shadows. I was not under a bridge. It is an overcast day. No direct sun. My safety was at risk because I could have been hit by oncoming traffic when I was trying to go forward.

Driving down piedmont road in atlanta on an overcast morning with no pedestrians, obstructions or vehicles in front of the car, the collision avoidance and braking system engaged for no reason and almost caused the car behind mine to run into me.

Auto braking system randomly goes off. When it does go off there is nothing the driver can do causing danger to driver and others on the road.

My 2017 crv touring was working fine. I had a fender bender accident and they replaced the collision mitigation braking system with a new Honda part. After the repair and I have the car in cruise control, it will suddenly brake and decelerate when there is nothing in front of me. This is very dangerous when you're going 65 mph on a highway. It is at the Honda short pump dealership. They have had it for 4 working days and can't find the problem. I know there was a class action lawsuit and Honda won, but surely this is a very serious problem they should fix.