Automatic Emergency Braking Problems of Honda Insight

On September 4, 2025, while driving my 2019 Honda Insight touring at approximately 35 mph on 10th avenue in kennewick, wa, the vehicle’s automatic emergency braking system suddenly activated without any obstacle present. The car braked very hard, creating a dangerous situation in traffic. This was not the first time it has happened. The same issue occurred on two separate occasions in 2022, also with no vehicles or obstacles nearby. Each time, the system engaged abruptly and without warning. I am concerned about the safety risk of the collision mitigation braking system (cmbs) activating erroneously, as it could easily cause a rear-end collision.

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This 2020 Honda Insight performed “phantom braking” of the automated braking system when I was about to enter a clear intersection with no vehicles or obstacles in front of me. It activated the automated braking system and endangered my life and the lives of others over no real threat. This occurred 08/23/2025. The car is well maintained and does not have any service issues. This was completely random.

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On two (2) occasions, the "collision mitigation braking system" braked with no reason. It has happened on a quiet and straight line residential street with no other moving vehicle, pedestrian, animal, or any other obstruction in view. After one second or so of braking, it returned to normal. It is available for inspection. I have not spoken to the local Honda dealer about it, and there were no adverser repercussions. There were no prior warnings of any system malfunction.

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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.

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Driving normally about to enter a clear intersections when the brakes automatically fully engaged bringing the vehicle to a complete stop. There was nothing in front of me, and no cars about to cross in front of me. Lucky there was no accident and I was able to continue on. There have been no issues, inspections, or changes leading up to this incident.

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.

I was stopped at a stoplight and then the light turned green. I began to accelerate and immediately and simultaneously my car began flashing brake, beeping, and slamming on the brakes. I came to a literal grinding halt. There was no car in front of me nor was one merging into my lane. It was completely unwarranted and quite honestly frightening. There was a car behind me but thankfully they did not hit me. The cmbs clearly malfunctioned. Because there was no collision I did not file a police report. This however did put me at a huge risk of getting rear ended. The car has not been inspected since as this is not an open recall. There were no warning signs (lamps, messages, etc) before this occured.

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.

I was driving on a two lane road driving over a small paved bridge going about 40mph with a car next to me and a car behind me nothing in front of me when my car did a hard phantom brake. No pre warning, the display did show brake and it did beep. But everything was sudden. Luckily the car behind was able to slam on brakes. The car behind me continued to follow but was at least 4 car lengths away. I assume bc they didn't know why I braked.

I experienced an inadvertent emergency braking action in my 2019 Insight while cruising at highway speed. I was in the right lane, which had just doubled in width due to an on-ramp joining the highway. This situation will sometimes confuse my car's lane keeping assist system, causing a side-to-side shudder or swerve, but in this case the automatic emergency braking activated, causing me to lose about 10-15 mph in speed. There were no other cars around, and I never lost control of the vehicle. Most of the time, an aeb activation like what I experienced is completely harmless. There are no other cars around, and the road surface is good enough to prevent a loss of control. If another car is close behind or the road surface is extremely poor (ice, substantial water, etc. ), this experience could possibly result in a rear-end collision or a spin-out. Because my aeb incident was harmless, I never reported it to the police, insurance, dealership, or manufacturer. I'm unaware of any warning lamps, messages, or symptoms before or after that could be related to the incident. As you can see, my report is anecdotal and I didn't save any precise documentation (e. G. Dashcam footage) from when the incident occurred. My main goals in reporting are to corroborate the potential issue in investigation ea25002 and add my car's VIN as another data point.

Car emergency braking system engaged while there was nothing in front of the car. The automatic brakes were applied and the brake indicator flashed on the driver screen with no warning.

Was driving 35-40 mph. . No cars or objects in front of me. Vehicle automatically applied the brakes and almost brought me to a complete and abrupt stop. The vehicle behind me almost collided with me. This has happened multiple times. . With yesterday (5/24/24) being the worst. I also reported this to the Honda dealership where vehicle was purchased.

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.

This has been happening with my two Honda cads. I currently have Honda 2023 crv and 2021 Honda Insight. The collison mitigation braking system brakes really hard for no reason.

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.

I was going home from work in my Honda Insight 2019 and all of a sudden my car started showing all kings of warnings every single indicator was on and my car started to spin and hit the side railing of the highway I almost died that day no airbags deployed that is also an other safety function did work that day. Honda refuse to take any kind of responsibility for the car malfunction I called and ask for help they said go ahead buy a new car we can't help you with anything. My request to the department is take a action against Honda so no other family or any other driver go through this. And no one lose love ones.

On at least two occasions the automatic emergency braking system has activated with nothing in front of the vehicle. Several instances when cresting a steep rise in the road the forward collision warning system has activated the "brake" warning light.

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.

I was driving down the street and a car slowed down way in front of me. While I was braking my automatic braking system turned on and brought me to a complete stop. This caused my car to get hit from the back. The automatic braking does not slow down the car, it brings the car to a complete stop. Another incident, I was driving on the highway with nothing was in front of me and the brake signal started flashing and slowing the car down.

The automatic breaking system seems to be malfunctioning and is available for inspection upon request. Safety of occupants at risk due to possible accident caused by unwarranted breaking. The problem cannot be consistently reproduced and was not confirmed by dealer or independent service center the vehicle has not been inspected by manufactuer, police or insurance reps the system would inadvertently be activated on previous occasions. But on this last instance, the breaking was harder and more sudden and was activated when there was no danger of frontal collision.

In 3 instances the emergency braking system has activated when the car was being driven on the freeway and the lane was curving with no obstacles in front of the car in the lane but a semi truck in the next lane over in one instance and cars in the next lane over in the other instances.

Two instances of braking system activating at highway speeds. In one instance, it was broad daylight, there was some traffic but nothing in my lane for a good distance, highway speed (approximately 65 mph) short sharp braking maneuver that dropped the speed approximately 10mph. I assumed there was some reflected light off of a sign that messed with the sensors, but the second instance was at midnight, same highway, same speed, no one else on the road. In these instances, with light traffic, there was no danger to my safety but if this happens again under heavier traffic, it could conceivably cause someone to rear end the vehicle. I have not been able to reproduce the problem. There might’ve been a flash on the dashboard warning the system was activated, but I couldn’t say for sure. Vehicle is available for inspection.

Driving on the highway in the evening with no obstruction ahead of the vehicle, the "automatic emergency braking" system engaged, giving an audible alert, visual alert, and applied braking enough to accelerate the car from 65 mph to 40 mph. No one was behind us luckily so there was no crash or injury but there easily found have been. I took the car in for repair and the service techs found no issue with the car or the system. I have now seen this reported in accords which share much of the same design and technology as the Insight. Please add this to the the complaint list for the outstanding issue so Honda will include the Insight into their analysis.

I bought my new 2019 Insight 4dr cvt touring Jan 2019. After less then two years old 5 warning lights came on, acc-adaptive cruise control, lkas-lane keeping assist, collision mitigation braking system, road departure mitigation and auto high beam. I took it to my local Honda dealer they found the code b2a60-49 - multipurpose camera unit internal electronic malfunction. Because the car had over 30,000 miles (outside there warranty) they told me to call Honda America customer service and have them approve repairs. My call to Honda America was a call from hell, rude and no help whatever, I asked a dozen times to please talk with a supervisor and the answer was no. I was then cut off. All the safety features the come with the car are not not working and Honda will not fix it. For me to have it fixed will be over $1600 (see attachment).

Driving alone on road doing 30 mph the car slammed on the brakes and slowed to about 20 mph while flashing "brake" in instrument cluster. No other cars on this road at the time. There were shadows across the road from sun and trees. Since I always drive the speed limit, if there is someone following me, they are usually right on my tail. I don't want to be shot for "brake checking" some redneck in a pickup when it isn't even me doing the braking. Nhtsa isn't doing it's job by allowing this issue to continue.

The contact owns a 2019 Honda Insight. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the collision avoidance sensor activated which caused the automatic braking system to abruptly stop the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to pohanka Honda located at 1772 ritchie station CT, capital heights, MD (301) 899-7800, however, the mechanic was unable to determine the cause for the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 1,000.