2021 Honda CR-V Driver Assist & ADAS Problems

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.

The contact owns a 2021 Honda CR-V. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the vehicle experienced phantom braking. Additionally, while driving with the cruise control set at 72 MPH, the vehicle unexpectedly decelerated to 66 MPH before accelerating to 73 MPH. No warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, but the cause of the failure could not be determined. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 81,000.

About a year ago, I was driving at speeds of approximately 10-15 mph when my car braked and immediately brought me to a dead stop despite no obstacles being present in the roadway. It appears the automatic emergency braking system malfunctioned. Had there been a car behind me, it likely would have caused an accident. On August 15, 2025, I was driving on the freeway using the adaptive cruise control when traffic in front of me slowed, engaging the automatic emergency braking. Traffic in front of me cleared almost immediately but my car was still very rapidly decelerating. I pressed the gas pedal, but the vehicle continued to bring me to almost a complete, immediate stop on the freeway (I had been traveling at 70-80 mph prior to the stop). I feel incredibly fortunate that I did not end up in an accident due to the traffic behind me and that no one was injured or killed. I pulled off onto the shoulder when it became clear that I was not going to be able to quickly regain control of my vehicle. Driving a vehicle without being able to properly control it was an absolutely terrifying experience. I was bracing myself for impact from behind as I desperately tried to regain control and accelerate back up to the flow of traffic. I am certain that this malfunction will result in deaths if not addressed. On August 23rd, 2025, I was driving on a highway at approximately 60 mph when the car in front of me slowed in preparation for a right turn off the road. I had disabled the CMBS feature at the beginning of my drive, yet the car still braked without me hitting the brake pedal. It was not an immediate, abrupt brake as I had experienced in the other two previously described incidents, but it was still highly unnerving to feel another loss of control of the vehicle, especially since the system was supposedly disabled.

The contact owns a 2021 Honda CR-V. The contact stated that while her daughter was driving at an undisclosed speed, the Collision Mitigation Braking System (CMBS) independently activated, causing the vehicle to suddenly come to a stop, and the front driver’s and front passenger’s side seat belts to independently lock. The contact stated that the brake warning light was illuminated. An appointment was scheduled with the dealer to inspect the vehicle. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact related the failure to NHTSA Action Number: EA24002 (Forward Collision Avoidance). The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 30,000.

I was driving down a main road and with no cars in front of me, my Automatic Emergency Breaking came on, flashed Brake and then brought my car to an immediate stop. I made an appointment at my dealership. The dealership said there were no recalls and said they would charge me $50 to try to recreate the issue but they didn't think they would be able to recreate it.

On several occasions since I’ve owned the vehicle, it has come to a complete stop while driving at highway speeds without any apparent reason, accompanied by a warning of a possible collision. On one such occasion, the vehicle stopped so abruptly that I initially thought I had been rear-ended, though thankfully no cars were near me at the time. If other vehicles had been nearby during any of these incidents, I believe it could have resulted in a serious accident. While I am grateful for the technology, as it has also helped me avoid an accident on two separate occasions (different from the above referenced instances), I believe the system needs improvement to prevent these unexpected stops from occurring.

I have experienced at least 4 occurrences in the last year of the automatic emergency braking system activating when there were no obstructions while crossing a bridge. I have also experienced at least 2 occurrences of the automatic emergency braking system activating while going under an overpass. I live in interior Alaska and in the most recent occurrence I was going over an icy bridge in the dark in below zero temperatures when the car automatically applied the brakes for no reason. Brakes need to be applied carefully on icy roads - had someone been behind me or had I lost control of the car because of the unexpected braking, this could have resulted in a serious accident.

I was driving on a straight street doing about 35 MPH and my car all of the sudden braked. Luckily there was no one behind me, had there been, I would have definitely caused an accident. I contacted a Honda dealership and they said there are no recalls on my vehicle, so could only make an appointment, try to recreate the issue and run a diagnostic, but they said they never heard of the issue. I had no issues or warning lights prior too. My car was inspected in June and I just recently had the oil changed and brakes checked. I take the highway to work and I'm very afraid if this happens at highway speed what would happen.

While traveling on the highway at 65 mph, in the left lane of three lanes of traffic with no cars in front of, back of, or side of me, (AdaptiveCruiseControl and LaneKeepAssist were both on) when the vehicle did an “emergency” self-brake. A large red BRAKE sign appeared in the dash and the car felt “out of control.” I physically hit the brake, slowed down and exited the highway. I REMAIN FOR ME TO FEEL VERY INSECURE on highway travel. This was a second incident. This occurred early November. The first incident happened a few weeks before this one while traveling around 40 mph in multi-lane traffic. I signaled to move into the left lane, no cars were within two car lengths from me, when the vehicle did a hard self-brake; the ACC and LKAS were NOT engaged at this time. Again, the car seemed “out-of-control” for a short time. This incident occurred mid October.

The contact owns a 2021 Honda CR-V. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the cruise control feature became inoperable. There were several warning lights illuminated. The contact stated the cruise control light failed to activate and the brakes would inadvertently activate with no traffic nearby. The contact stated that the vehicle stalled, and while accelerating the speed would fluctuate. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic but was not diagnosed or repaired. The vehicle was taken to a dealer but was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 70,000.

I was driving on the street with no one in front of me going about 45 miles per hour when the car did "Phantom Braking" and the car tried to stop on its own. It beeped 3 times and BRAKE! flashed on my dashboard as if I was going to hit someone and the car overtook my brakes and tried to stop. There was no one in front of me. The very next day, it did it again. This is extremely dangerous and can cause an accident if someone is driving behind me and the car suddenly decides to stop on its own.

The car's forward collision warning system is defective. The car will randomly bring up "BRAKE" on the dashboard with nothing even close to the car. This has started happening many times over the past few weeks, with even at least one instance of the car braking on its own. I brought this up to the dealership during my last oil change recently, and they inspected and looked into it. They said there was nothing wrong with the sensors/system and they documented it (specifically saying no problem found vehicle is operating normally at this time). However, a day or two after the dealership, the problem returned and it continues to persist. In addition to this, the blind spot warning system also randomly goes off when nothing is nearby, but not as often as the braking system, which is more dangerous in my opinion.

The forward collision warning and braking has activated a couple of times without any car front of me for a wide distance or when everything is all clear. It also happened a couple of times when turning a curve or exiiting, also without any car in front of me. The only thing I could notice was the dashboard flashing but I could not read it because I had to focus on the road.

I was driving on the middle lane of a major highway, going around 70 mph, when a plastic grocery bag floated in front of the car, at a height of about two feet off of the ground. My vehicle suddenly slammed on the brakes. It slammed hard and I could not make it stop. I tried to push the brake but it was already down. I was nearly rear-ended and could have easily caused a multiple car accident. I may have been using the cruise-control at the time, but I'm not sure. I do not recall if the vehicle flashed an orange "BRAKE" warning. I did not take the vehicle to a dealer to try to recreate the problem.

On at leas 8 occasions in the past 3 years the Automatic Braking System (Forward Collision Avoidance System) engaged with audible warning while on the interstate driving at highway speeds unexpectedly with no vehicles or other obstructions in my lane in front of me. The majority of occurrences were as I was attempting to pass in the left lane, but on at least 2 occasions there were no cars to the left or right of me. The sudden braking could have caused a serious collision. I have not brought the problem to the attention of a dealer or independent service center as I doubt they would be able to reproduce or confirm the issue, as I have experienced before on intermittent issues before. Were there any warning lamps, messages or other symptoms of the problem prior to the failure, and when did they first appear

The contact owns a 2021 Honda CR-V. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the Lane Departure warning light illuminated. The contact also stated that the Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking feature was activated inadvertently without other vehicles nearby. The dealer was contacted, but the vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 56,000.

I was driving on a 2 lane road. There were no other vehicles on the road. The word brake flashed on the dashboard and the car suddenly braked hard. Items on my back seat fell to the floor. The car then resumed normal driving. There was no wind or items blowing across the path of the road. This has not happened before. If there had been a car behind me it might have caused an accident. The vehicle has not been inspected by any entity.

I was driving going about 30 in town and there were no cars, no pedestrians, no obstacles and all of a sudden my car's dashboard flashed brake and my car braked itself. We went from 30 to zero with a screech. I did not touch the brake during this time. It was unnerving and nothing like this has happened before. I commute on the freeway regularly and I am very scared this could happen at much higher speeds with deadly consequences.

Since new and on numerous occasions, the vehicle will slow down drastically for no reason. No vehicle in front or object close to either side, it just brakes automatically. It only happens when the vehicle’s cruise control is on. On March 7th 2024 I was on the highway with the cruise control set at 75MPH. The vehicle for no reason slammed on the brakes and tried to come to a complete stop. No skidding or loss of control due to the ABS, but if had not stepped on the accelerator, it would have. I went from 75MPH to about 20MPH in seconds. Thankfully, the driver behind me reacted and went around me on my right side. I there was another vehicle to my right, I am certain, I would have been re-ended. I took the vehicle to the HONDA dealership and was told they were not aware of the problem, but they could attempt to fix it. I have lost confidence in driving the vehicle with the cruise control engaged.

Driving in the highway when I was signaling to exit going right, My car suddenly brakes on its own and continue to drive. I did shoulder my vehicle to check my vehicle. No vehicle was around me that time and I check my car surrounding and it was clear. Incident happen multiple times which I did adjust my sensor to low distance but still happens.