Automatic Emergency Braking problems of the 2026 Honda Odyssey

I was driving on the freeway at the posted limit of 70mph. Visibility was clear, light traffic, with no vehicles in front for at least 20 car lengths. Suddenly and without warning the emergency braking system activated. On the dash the word “brake” appeared and the vehicle quickly slowed to 50 mph before resuming normal operation. The driver behind me seemed startled and had to swerve into the next lane to avoid rear ending my vehicle. This is obviously a serious problem.

For some reason, the car applies emergency breaking for no apparent reason. It has happened to me on multiple occasions usually when driving on the interstate, although it has happened on regular town roads, sometimes I feel like it. It might be sensing lines on the road as something it needs to break for although other times it appears to happen for no reason whatsoever. Emergency breaking when there’s no reason to break can cause accidents.

I was stopped at a red light. When the light turned green, I stepped on the gas pedal to proceed forward. The vehicle suddenly stopped and shifted into park on its own. The emergency brake light also came on, and the vehicle would not move. I attempted several times to shift the vehicle back into drive, but it would not move. I continued shifting between park and drive and attempting to release the brake until the vehicle eventually allowed me to move. Because the vehicle would not move when the light turned green, another vehicle struck my vehicle. This created a serious safety risk because I was unable to move the vehicle when traffic began proceeding through the intersection, resulting in a collision. There were no warning lights, messages, or other symptoms before the incident. The vehicle unexpectedly did this without warning. The emergency brake light came on when the failure occurred. The vehicle has not been inspected by a dealership or independent service center, and the problem has not been reproduced or confirmed by a dealer or service center. The vehicle is currently available for inspection upon request.

When I was driving, going about 45 mph, the emergency braking system beeped and breaks were engaged. Not to a complete stop but like a "break tap". Nothing was in front of beside our behind me. It was terrifying and I'm unsure why this happened. Please be advised, this can cause an accident.

This is a report on a design flaw- not a failed component- in the 2026 Honda Odyssey's "Smart" computer automated safety features, including automatic braking, lane departure, and forward collision warning systems. There have been two types of incidents. These incidents have been repeated on this vehicle dozens of times in our first year of ownership. These incidents are potentially very dangerous because they involve erroneous automatic braking at interstate highway speeds. Unexpected erroneous braking at interstate speeds is a good way to cause a rear-end collision or loss of control. 1. Automatic emergency braking due to erroneous lane departure detection. On interstates in arizona at highway speeds of 65 mph, the vehicle's lane departure detection system throws erroneous warnings when it sees non-lane markings on the roadway, such as tar sealant strips or seams between pavement sections. This has resulted more than once in the vehicle erroneously applying emergency automated braking to slow the vehicle. This happens even when lane assist and adaptive cruise control are turned off by the driver. 2. Erroneous automated braking while overtaking another vehicle. On interstates in arizona at highway speeds of 65 mph, while passing in the left lane a vehicle that is moving much slower in the right lane (e. G. Semi truck climbing a hill at 40 mph), while using adaptive cruise control, automated braking is applied erroneously when there is no risk of a forward collision. The automated braking tends to kick in far earlier than a human driver would brake, and when there is no vehicle in the lane ahead, so it is unexpected and dangerous. This only happens while adaptive cruise control is activated by the driver.

While changing lanes to an off-ramp the collision mitigation braking system suddenly activated along with a collision warning beep even though there were no automobiles nearby to trigger the warning. No cars in front of me and no cars to the right of me in the exit lane. My car immediately braked and tried to steer back into the main roadway, away from the exit lane. The lane departure light did also come on due to me not using a turn signal prior to the lane change, but there was nothing else around to trigger a proximity alert nor to respond to.