Automatic Emergency Braking Problems of Honda Passport - part 1

Car slammed on brakes while on interstate, the system likes to say brake, brake, brake, when there is nothing to brake for but a few days ago it actually took action and slammed on brakes on the freeway.

See all problems of the 2021 Honda Passport 🔎.

I was in my 2026 Honda Passport with ~450 miles driven at time of incident, 1445est on 14 October 2025. I was driving ~58mph down a road in columbia county, GA. I was on a straightaway with no bends/turns. There were no obstructions on the road, no oncoming traffic, and no vehicle in visible sight in front of me. The weather was sunny, no clouds in the sky and no shadows across the road. My Passport braked suddenly, causing me to sharply decelerate, jerking my head and body quickly. If anyone were behind me at the time, they may have potentially struck my vehicle due to the sharp deceleration.

My front windshield camera. Yes because of my camera having glitches my car would randomly brake no my front camera won't work at all and my dashboard looks like a christmas light show with all the warning lights it has been confirmed by a independent service center no no,no warning lamps no messages or other symptoms of the problem prior. To the failure everything happened at all once on oct3 2025.

See all problems of the 2019 Honda Passport 🔎.

The cmbs alerts braking despite there being no obstacles in front or around the vehicle. Also, the at stop lights when the engine shuts off, on several occasions the car has completely turned off and will not let you do anything (place in park or drive) until you manually start it again.

Driving around 40 miles an hour on interstate during torrential rain around 4 pm. Visibility was bad and could see about 30 feet ahead. Car automatically slammed on break (adas brake light came on) and came to an abrupt stop 2 or 3 times as a tried to get car moving again. Luckily all traffic was driving slow and car behind was staying a good distance back. Otherwise I probably would have been rear-ended. This area is also under construction so some old road lines have been grinded down and new lines repainted to new traffic pattern. I have had the car brake and light come on2-3x before when I thought it shouldn't have. This is the first time it was so abrupt and did it several times back to back that I was scared for my safety.

“road departure mitigation system problem” is the error that comes up on the dash. The error shuts down cruise control and slows the car down unexpectedly. I’ve taken the vehicle to the Honda dealer in tampa florida where I purchased it and they will not fix the vehicle. The error is a safety issue slowing the vehicle down in traffic and a driver distraction triggered by the collision mitigation system and roadway departure system.

See all problems of the 2022 Honda Passport 🔎.

While driving and pressing on gas the car started beeping and started to brake. There was no obstruction in front of me to cause this. The break flashing signal didn’t come on. It just beeped and started to brake and then stopped.

Numerous times over the past year, the Passports forward collision warning system and automatic braking system have incorrectly alerted and automatically braked the vehicle when it was not warranted in the situation. This occurs most frequently when on a two lane undivided road (with one lane traveling in each direction). While driving on these roads, the vehicle is frequently incorrectly judging a head on collision will occur with oncoming traffic, and start the audible and visual warning system and sometimes also automatic braking. In these instances both vehicles are well within their side of the roadway and no collision is remotely close to occurring. However the automatic hard braking could cause a rear end collision with the vehicle behind me. Seems to be most common on curvy sections of roadway.

See all problems of the 2020 Honda Passport 🔎.

Today, I was merging off [xxx] to [xxx] with no cars or obstacles around and the automatic braking system deployed and the car briefly slammed on the brakes and when I pressed down on the gas it released itself. Lucky no cars were behind me at the time but it did scare my wife and I at the time. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

Incident # 1. June 2025 vehicle has approximately 3400 miles on it. I was driving southbound on I 35 freeway in the lakeville minnesota area. I was in the center lane of the freeway traveling at about 65 mph. Traffic was light. There was no one in front of me. Suddenly, the car broke hard. I was thrust forward against the seatbelt with my hands, pushing against the steering wheel as the car slowed rapidly and came to an abrupt stop from 65 miles an hour. I had no ability to get the car to go. The gas pedal had no effect as this car came to a rapid stop. I found myself stopped in the center lane of the freeway frantically looking around to see what cars were coming, can I find the four way flashers. A car passed me in the right lane and a car passed me in the left lane. Then I was able to limp over to the shoulder out of the traffic lanes. I shut the car off immediately and tried to compose myself. After a moment or two, I turned the engine back on and the car operated normally. At the dealership they fixed some things but they said they didn’t find anything that was directly related to the unexpected rapid braking. Incident #2. July 2025 vehicle has approximately 4300 miles I was driving northbound on 35e taking the entrance ramp to eastbound highway 36. I was driving on the entrance ramp beginning to accelerate to highway speed. There were no vehicles in front of me, not on the ramp, or on the highway. As I neared the end of the ramp the vehicle suddenly broke hard thrusting me forward again. It came to a complete stop. Fortunately, for the second time, there was no one behind me. This was the second time the vehicle engaged the brakes in an emergency stop for no reason. The dealership said they couldn’t find anything cause of the incident. The vehicle remains at the dealership. I have requested reimbursement of my purchase price from Honda. We have an arbitration hearing schedlued on oct 27, 2025.

See all problems of the 2024 Honda Passport 🔎.

The vehicle infotainment system froze. Several minutes later after driving, I pressed the brakes but they did not function. The vehicle would not stop and crashed into the vehicle in front of me. Emergency braking did not engage or otherwise show signs of activation. After turning off the car and dealing with the accident, I restarted the vehicle and the brakes and infotainment system operated normally.

My automati braking has repeatedly malfunctioned and deployed emergency braking when no other vehicle is in the front of mine.

Every time I am on a two lane road and am navigating a right hand curve at any speed and a white car or truck is in oncoming traffic, in their lane, the vehicle alerts me to brake. The system beeps and flashes brake! on the instrument panel. This happens each time as if the cameras are not calibrated correctly. It's incredibly annoying and happens every time even with the system turned down as low as Honda will allow. This could be very distracting to many drivers. I have chosen to just ignore the system which is not a good situation.

The idle-stop system engages as expected when the vehicle comes to a stop, but the engine fails to restart when I release the brake pedal. This leaves me stranded in traffic and vulnerable to collisions, especially in high-traffic areas like intersections. The car has completely stalled and remains frozen for at least 3 minutes. Instrument panel lights up and says to depress pedal fully and press the start button. Another message says something about being in neutral and then to put it in park. I'm doing what it says and I cannot get the car to start. I have a green light and I'm stuck in an intersection where opposing traffic has a green light as well. People are honking at me and nervous because of the unpredictibilty of my car. - frequency: this occurs at least 1x/month for the past 65 months (lifetime of the vehicle) - conditions: occurs during normal driving conditions, typically in stop-and-go traffic. - impact: this issue has resulted in significant delays and near-misses with other vehicles, posing a clear safety hazard. The vehicle has been evaluated by a Honda dealer regarding idle-stop system malfunction specifically on the following dates October 1st, 2020, February 2nd 2023, March 16th, 2023 may 11th 2023, November 7th 2024 and January 9th 2025. The vehicle was found to be in normal working order and multiple times I was told to disengage the auto idle stop (press the button) to prevent that from happening. There was a recall for idle-stop software update which failed to repair the issue. This has been a persistent problem and the above dates by no means reflects the only times that the engine fails to restart after auto-stopping.

The contact owns a 2020 Honda Passport. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the forward collision avoidance system activated and briefly applied the automatic emergency braking system before returning to normal functionality. The vehicle returned to normal functionality, but the failure became a regular occurrence. The forward collision avoidance warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer or an independent mechanic. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 35,000.

The contact owns a 2021 Honda Passport. The contact stated while driving at 22 mph, "the collision mitigation braking system" warning message illuminated.  the contact stated the vehicle applied the emergency brakes independently. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. A dealer was not contacted. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 25,950.

The automatic braking system will activate at various times shaking the wheel and applying the brakes. This happens when there is nothing in front of the vehicle.

On Nov 9, 2024 I was pulling into a parking spot in a public parking garage, after turning 2 tight corners to approach the parking spot. About half way into the parking spot, the car suddenly lurched and accelerated and I crashed into a 90 degree concrete corner wall! it happened so fast, without any warning sounds or abs brakes deploying. The entire front passenger corner of my car was badly damaged. Luckily I was not injured, nor were there any other vehicles or persons involved. It is just not possible that I could have personally pulled into a parking spot at such a high speed as to cause such extreme damage to the vehicle! I drove the vehicle to a body shop on 11/11/24, which was one recommended by my insurance company. The vehicle was inspected by the body shop, which was directly in contact with my insurance company. I did ask the shop to make sure the mechanic checked for any safety issues during repair, as I was concerned as to the cause of the accident. I have an impeccable driving record and I cannot explain how such an accident could happen! I had no issues with the car previously. Upon further inspection into the damage, on 1/3/25 it was finally evaluated as a total loss, as there was damage to the frame and other issues! I did receive a statement on 1/3/25 from the body shop that there was a "fault in the system, causing gas pedal lock, which might be cause of accident". I felt I had to report this possible issue that resulted in a total loss and obviously could have injured myself, others or other vehicles!.

The automatic emergency braking system engages in times when it is not appropriate to do so. The vehicle will flash the “brake” warning light on the dashboard, will shake the steering wheel, apply light braking, and in a few instances has applied hard braking. We have been unable to determine a specific trigger for this issue. The vehicle will engage this feature on strait roads with no other vehicles or obstructions on the road. It has happened during both rainy and sunny conditions. The vehicle has also exhibited this behavior when going up and down hills both with and without other vehicles present. The vehicle will do this sometimes when other vehicles enter our lane at a safe distance and at low speeds, at or below 30 mph. The vehicle has also done this at highway speeds of 55+ mph both with and without other vehicles or obstructions in the roadway. We have experienced this while driving curvy roads both with vehicles passing in the opposite lane of traffic and when no other vehicles are present. The feature appears to randomly engage at all speeds between 15+ mph to 70+ mph with or without vehicles on the roadway. It also doesn’t appear to matter if a vehicle is in our lane, an adjacent lane, or the opposite lane of traffic. This issue was identified and has been ongoing since the vehicle was purchased in October 2023. The issue happens at least 1 time most days the vehicle is driven but can range between 1 time and 3+ times each day. The vehicle is driven consistently 30+ miles each day with occasional trips of 300-500 miles in a single day. The other issue we have noticed is the rear cross traffic warning. We have noticed something’s this will engage when no other traffic or obstacles are present. We have also observed this feature failing to engage when a vehicle or obstacle is present. This issue does not happen often but has been observed enough that is has come to my attention as a potential issue.

The automatic emergency brake system will randomly activate despite there being nothing in the way, no car in front, and no obstruction. It causes the car to slam on the brakes for no reason which I’m afraid will cause someone to hit me from behind.

The vehicle has made multiple abrupt emergency brake activations in non-emergyncy situations. Nearly causing a crash multiple times. It's my opinion this system is severely flawed and extremely dangerous - not only to me but anyone around me. Shame on Honda for allowing this system to drive on our roads.

The braking alert system frequently engages even though there isn’t any threat or danger. This often happens during turns or on two lane highways. The latest was in a residential neighborhood with bends in the street. There weren’t any cars approaching or parked on the street.

I have encountered two types of brake issues: 1) my vehicle seems to flash brake occasionally when oncoming vehicles pass by for no reason - they are not entering my lane or doing anything that should cause the message to flash. The vehicle type does not seem to matter - they have been old and new models, and have been both cars and trucks. My vehicle has only visually warned, but does not engage brakes, so no further safety issue is involved. It has done it frequently on some days and then none for awhile. We have tried to make note of vehicle type and model for consistency, but have not found any. 2) if my vehicle has its cruise control on (which is often) and a vehicle in front of me moves into a left-turn lane to turn - often with plenty of notice - my vehicle will engage it’s brakes and slow down even though there is no danger of hitting the other vehicle. So long as I take it out of cruise control, it will continue on driving. I suspect that if cruise control is not disengaged, it could fully brake and cause a bigger issue of an injury or accident.

I have had multiple instances where the car appears to engage the brakes to prevent a collision, although I don't see any obstruction. It also makes the alarm sound indicating that I should brake as well. This occurs only on highways at highway speeds. It lasts for a few seconds and the car slows down significantly.

Lately the automatic braking system has been applying the brakes unnecessarily when there's nothing in front of me. That is an escalation from the at least 3-4 times a week the brake sign will light up and the steering wheel will shake to let me know to brake but there's no car in front of me but rather a car in the lane going the opposite direction. I love in west virginia and there's a lot of two lane roads and it happens a lot of those two lane roads. Even ones that are clearly marked with lines. I have not taken it in to the dealer but have been in groups that have complained of the exact same issue. This happens from. Highway speeds to low town speeds as well.

The Passport flashes brake and steering wheel shakes for no reason. I’ll be driving down the road nothing near and it does this. A few times it’s actually applied the brakes. Thank goodness no one was behind me as it potentially could have caused an accident. This occurs daily. Especially if I am driving on a 2 lane road.

The automatic emergency braking system will turn on when there is no danger. It happens often. The system is fooled easily. Yes it’s available for inspection. How was your safety or the safety of others put at risk? with normal driving conditions this is not a huge problem but if this were to happen with slick roads. I could see this causing an accident. Has the problem been reproduced or confirmed by a dealer or independent service center? no - I’m not sure how this would be done. Has the vehicle or component been inspected by the manufacturer, police, insurance representatives or others? no were there any warning lamps, messages or other symptoms of the problem prior to the failure, and when did they first appear? no.

The contact owns a 2020 Honda Passport. The contact stated while driving at various speeds, the message "brake" was displayed, and the steering wheel shuddered significantly. The contact stated that she was able to continue driving. Additionally, the contact stated while her husband was driving 35 mph, the emergency braking system engaged suddenly, nearly causing the vehicle to be rear-ended, and the incident led to road rage. The driver depressed the accelerator pedal and continued driving. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired by an independent mechanic or dealer. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 17,800.

Since purchasing the vehicle in December 2023 with ~36,000 miles there have been two instances where the automatic brake warning has activated. Both events occurred while entering a corner between 30-50 mph with no other vehicle in the area or obstructions to be noted. The Passport briefly activated the automatic brake warning, with the flashing indicator occuring on the main dash display for roughly 3-5 seconds. Following this brief period of indication the vehicle returned to it's normal operation. No accidents or injuries were sustain from these spurious events.

On several occassions, while driving 35 mph around a very gentle, sweeping curve, without reason or cause, the "brake" warning light displays on the dashboard, a beeping warning alarm will sound, and the steering wheel will "jiggle" to the left and right.

The contact owns a 2020 Honda Passport. The contact stated that the forward collision avoidance braking system light was flashing. While driving 5–10 mph, the brake pedal depressed without driver input. The brake light flashed. While driving at 70 mph, the forward collision avoidance braking system light illuminated and started to flash. The brake pedal engaged without driver input. The contact called the local dealer, but the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was approximately 7,000.

The collision mitigation braking system (cmbs) comes on randomly with no vehicles or obstructions in front of it.

No warning messages on dashboard. The drivers side mirror goes off like there's something there but there's nothing. Same with the braking display light comes on when I'm no where near anything, yet I've had cars pull out in front of me thankful no crash has happened because it doesn't go off then. I plan to take it into the dealership soon. I can't give an estimate of how long exactly it's been doing this. Especially side mirror warning. That's been going on. The braking thing has probably been a month now.

When driving the auto breaking is applied. The warning system flashes on the dash and the breaks are applied, there are no cars around me at the time. The system will also activate at times when going around a curve and a vehicle is approaching from the opposite direction.

Under many normal driving conditions, the front collision brake system activates. This has almost caused a collision as it shakes the wheel and applies the brakes.