Automatic Emergency Braking problems of the 2022 Honda Insight

Car often slams on the breaks when there’s no one near me. It also has the blind spot detection go off when there’s no one next to me (or a highway barrier) both of these instances have happened numerous times since I’ve had my car. It’s only been 3 years and 25k miles. The problem started as soon as 2-3 months in.

According to the driver of the vehicle at the time, for no reason while on a freeway approaching a construction area at 60 miles per hour with cruse control off, the vehicle brakes were applied by (I suspect) the emergency braking system (ebs)of the car. The car, due to the breaking, slowed down to 50 miles per hour and then released the brakes. No one was behind the car at the time. A warning did also appear on the instrument panel at the time of the event. Problem has not been reported to Honda (or anyone else) or reproduced. There were no warnings of any issue prior to the event. This event occurred around the first of January 2025.

I just read about a NHTSA probe or study that's been upgraded for unexplained braking on Honda Insights. This unexplained sharp automated braking has happened at least half a dozen times in my car. There was never anything in or near the vehicle path that would explain the braking. It was always good weather (no hazard road conditions). In every instance it was a brief but sharp braking (with a loud audible beep beep beep). Three times it occurred within the same 1/4 mile stretch of road, which was a slight decline followed by a slight incline (at the time I was thinking that somehow the optical camera system was picking up some reflected or refracted light from the road or highway markings). But that seems unlikely, and in any case, louisiana roads, being as horrible as they are, there's no fresh marking paint or other reflective coatings anywhere on the road. I also wondered if maybe it was caused by interference from other radar or radio signals.

While driving the vehicle around 6:55pm at approximately 40 mph while exiting the highway the emergency breaking system fully engaged for no reason. There were no obstructions in the roadway, the vehicle was on center in the roadway and there were no vehicles in front when the braking occurred. After slowing the vehicle under full emergency braking to around 15 mph the system stopped breaking and returned to normal. There were no warning lights, or system lights that activated before, during or after the emergency breaking. The lane departure warning visual indicator appeared on the dash, but the road departure mitigation indicator did not. This also occurred when the vehicle was a significant distance away from any solid lines in the roadway as the exit lane is oversized where the incident occurred. The incident caused a trailing vehicle to take evasive action and swerve onto the shoulder to avoid a crash.

Brake light warning flashed quickly but there was no one in front of me. This happened 2 times without any automatic brakes being applied. Lane assist warning showed on the dash but I was in the center of the lane. This has happened 7 or 8 times. The steering wheel did not vibrate.

I have filed a complaint to the Honda motor company in torrence, California. I have notifed Honda of a serious defect with our vehicles collision mitiagation braking system. Here are the defects with our Honda Insight 2022 vehicle: 1) on three occasions while my wife nino is driving on the 470 freeway in colorado between lone tree and littleton CO. Brake warning light comes on, light comes on randomly while driving 65 mph, then the collision mitiagation braking system comes on and slows the vehicle down to 15 mph while on the freeway speed of 65 mph. While the brakes are engaging a forceful vacuum and pressure enters the cabin and that pressure goes to my wife's chest which casues pain. 2) 4th event was on August 15, 2023 while driving south on kipling Ave in littleton CO. My wife nino was driving home appx 6:00 pm at 45-50 mph, when the vehicle did the same thing again, brake warning light displays orange yellow color, then the brakes engage to slow the vehicle down, then pressure and vacuum inside the cabin occurs with pressure towards my wife's chest. I have sent a letter yesterday to the Honda motor company. I would like to kindly request that you do an investigation into this matter. This defect on our vehicle is a life and dealth situation defect. My wife has been extremely lucky that no collision occured as a result of these horrible experiences. If the Honda motor comany has not required a recall, then they should be doing this ASAP to prevent unecessary accidents to prevent citizens from dying. Our vehicle was towed on August 16, 2023 to kuni Honda in centennial CO. So far, the service manager said they have not been able to find the problem, but then he changed his story and said something needed to be adjusted 2-3 degrees. I requested more detailed information. I called yesterday to request the tow record and service repair records and they have not provided that info to me yet. Thank you for your attention to this serious matter.

Twice, this car has engaged emergency brakes with cars behind me and no cars in front of me. Several other times, the "brake now" indicator has come on with no cars nearby.

I was driving 45 mph on a straight 4 lane undivided road with no cars in front of me or in the oncoming lanes. I was maintaining speed and the vehicle engaged the emergency braking system. The visual and audible alerts went off and with extreme braking force slowed the vehicle down to 10 mph with no obsticles in the roadway. There were no road hazards that would necessitate the system to engage. The trailing vehicles, at highway speed, had to swerve into oncoming traffic to avoid rear ending me and I was unable to override the system to maintain speed. I've taken the vehicle to a Honda dealer and they were unable to find any fault codes in the system.

I was driving down the freeway, around 4pm there wasn't much traffic and the nearest vehicle in front of me was abour 100 meters ahead of me when my 2022 Honda Insight activated the automatic emergency brakes and slowed down for about a second before dis-activating them. Since the vehicle ahead of me was not close at all, there should have been no reason for the automatic brakes to activate. I was lucky there was little traffic at the time and no car was immediately behind me as that could have caused a great accident.