2020 Honda CR-V FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE
Owner-reported problems and safety issues filed with NHTSA. Review common failures, severity levels, and complaint trends over time.
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Chronological view of owner reports
The contact stated that his granddaughter owned a 2020 Honda CR-V. The contact stated that while his granddaughter was driving approximately 40 MPH, the automatic braking system activated on the instrument panel and the vehicle stopped immediately after the failure. The driver had to wait several minutes before being able to continue driving. The failure recurred twice. The vehicle had not been taken to the dealer to be diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 25,000. The dealer adjusted the cameras and sensors. The repairs were made at the owners expense.
Several months ago, I was driving on the interstate with cruise control on. I passed a disabled vehicle parked on the shoulder of the highway. My car started to brake like crazy on its own when I passed this vehicle. Fortunately there were no other vehicles next to me or behind me or I could have had a very serious wreck. Last weekend, I was driving in town and already slowing down on my own for a vehicle in front of me. I was barely touching the brakes but the automatic braking slammed on the brakes for no apparent reason and almost caused the car behind me to rear end my vehicle.
In March/April 2020 I was driving at 65 miles per hour on a rural highway. The only vehicles on the road were my car, the pickup in front of me and the pickup behind me. Since the highway was so quiet, I decided to try Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC). I set it for 65 miles per hour (the speed limit). We had been driving for about 15 minutes, each car maintaining the same speed and distance. The pickup in front of me turned on his turn signal for a right turn and entered the right turn lane. As my car approached the pickup, in the turn lane, the automatic braking system activated. I lunged forward, the seat belt activated, braking warning was displayed on screen and there was an audible alarm. I managed to take control of the vehicle and to accelerate. I was afraid the vehicle behind me would collide with me. I turned off ACC and tried to regain my composure. When the pickup moved into the right hand lane, there was nothing in front of me as far as the eye could see; just open highway. I will never use ACC again. Yesterday, December 19, I was driving on a side street. I had just exited a school zone, speed limit 15, and my speed was now approximately 22, no vehicles in front of me just some cars parked at the curb ahead to my right. There was an audible tone and the word BRAKE displayed on the screen. The brakes did not activate.
Phantom Braking Incident. As I was driving at approximately 35 mph, the vehicle applied brakes for no apparent reason. Luckily, the vehicle traveling behind me didn't crash into the rear of my vehicle but had this happened when traveling at higher speeds, there would have been a serious accident. This has happened numerous times since owning the vehicle, but only the 2nd time I've reported it here.
When driving at high speed on the highway, I have had instances of both FCW and/or AEB activating when there was no vehicle in front of me. This tends to happen without known cause and while I take the same route every day on my commute, the issue does not always occur. When FCW initiates with a large flashing BRAKE warning on the dash and loud beeping while at highway speeds, I am startled and second guess myself that I am not seeing something I am about to impact with. This creates confusion and can lead to making a maneuver or my braking in error which can cause a crash. This issue has occured numerous times and in speaking with other owners of the same vehicle, they have witnessed the same issue. I have also had AEB initiate at least twice while at highway speeds when there was no vehicle in front of me. This is the most frightening and dangerous issue that I've experienced in any vehicle I have driven. As with the above issue with FCW, there seems to be no way to reproduce the issue and it happens at random. While at highway speeds after receiving the FCW BRAKE warning, my vehicle instantaneously began emergency braking with no vehicle in front of me. This issue is unacceptable and can cause a serious crash on the highway. I speculate that these issues both may be caused by overhead highway signs or bridges but does not seem to occur in error consistently, even when driving the same route. I worry that these issues will cause myself or my family to be seriously injured due to failing safety technology and I have considered disabling these features in my vehicle. These issues have not been inspected nor verified independently as I have felt the issue is unresolvable based on feedback I have heard. At this point I consider myself lucky for not having been in a crash due to these systems failing.
I was driving and the automatic emergency breaking activated without warning. I was driving 40 miles per hour with no car near me and the car abruptly stopped without warning. This is the second time this has happened with a similar situation occurring
Driving north toward Lebanon, Ohio on Route 48. One passenger and one dog in backseat. No one in front passenger seat. Car beeped and alerted to BRAKE then suddenly braked very hard with no cars around or in front.
My car has been braking on its own the last 5 months. Today it braked for no reason. There was no car in front of us or to either side of us. There was nothing in front of us either. It braked super hard and there was someone behind us who luckily slammed on their brakes and didn’t hit us. It gave me and my kids whiplash. Other times it will brake on its own if there’s a shadow from a bridge or something. Again when it does that there are no cars in front or next to us or even remotely close to us. This is beginning to be a frequent thing happening once or more a week. It’s super dangerous and I don’t feel safe with it braking for no reason.
too frequently the car automatically hard brakes & flashes "BRAKE" on the dash with no collision imminent but has almost caused accidents in doing so. This has happened turning slowly thru a busy intersection, driving moderate speed straight on a dappled sunlit road with no car around, driving in light traffic on a multi-lane highway at higher speeds. I have had the local Honda techs look at it last year and all they could do is ask if I want the sensitivity turned down. What good is the system if one thwarts what it is supposed to actually do?? Also there is no way to clean the front cameras which might have debris causing this. As it is happening more frequently, perhaps a debris collection is precisely the issue. Honda needs to take ownership of this faulty system & fix it!
The contact owns a 2020 Honda CR-V. The contact stated while driving 20 MPH, the Collision Mitigation Braking system engaged and the vehicle stopped abruptly. There were no other vehicles or objects nearby. The contact depressed the accelerator pedal and resumed normal driving. The contact stated that the failure reoccurred on four different occasions. The dealer was notified of the failure and an appointment was scheduled. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 4,000.
I was in an accident this morning on the freeway where they are doing road construction. The lanes are VERY narrow due to cement wall placed for construction. The vehicle in front of me slammed on their brakes suddenly so when i did the Automatic brakes kicked in on my car surpassing the level of my own braking and took over. The car came to a compelete stop. IT was terrifying because i didnt have control to keep moving to try and get out of the way from the semi driving behind me. I moved over as much as i could even with a cement wall so close. I ended up getting rear ended by the Semi. This automatic braking system is DANGEROUS. With the car taking over my brakes lost me time to try and get out of the way even more which ccould have possibly prevented the accident from happening.
The contact owns a 2020 Honda CR-V. The contact stated while her husband was driving 5 mph, the brakes were depressed by mitigation braking system. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. The driver was depressing the accelerator pedal but failed to accelerate causing the vehicle behind him to rear end their vehicle. The contact stated no one was injured nor sought medical attention. A police report was not filed. The contact towed the vehicle to the local dealer but they were unable to duplicate the failure. The vehicle was not repaired and the driver deactivated the forward collision on the vehicle. The vehicle was towed to a collision shop and had the rear bumper replaced. The manufacturer has been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was 6,028.
On 5 separate occasions the CRV has automatically braked HARD while driving down the highway. On none of the occasions has another vehicle or obstacle warranted this automatic braking. We were about rear-ended while on the interstate driving 70 when the car automatically braked. I am including the latest automatic braking incident in this report.
The auto brake feature engaged on the beltway by itself and caused the car to come to a complete stop while cars behind us were forced to swerve out of the way to avoid a serious accident. My wife is afraid to keep driving the car and we are now figuring out a way to get rid of it. Reported to local dealer but did not get any response.
While driving the Automatic Braking System engaged even though there was nobody in front of me. The first time was on a freeway, it suddenly engaged even though there wasn’t a vehicle anywhere close to the front of my vehicle. This could have been bad and I could have been hit from behind if a driver behind me wasn’t paying attention and my vehicle stopped all of a sudden without warning. The second time it happened I was driving on a city road. My lane was empty ahead of me. The system automatically engaged and stopped my vehicle. I noticed the vehicle behind me had to stop quickly because of this. I have not had this checked by Honda yet. I did see that Honda has recalled other year model vehicles for having the same issues. If my vehicle is having the same problems then I would hope Honda would inspect it at no charge. There were no warning lights or advanced warnings that this was going to occur. I feel it is very dangerous because the vehicle just stops all of a sudden and as the driver you are jerked forward. The first occurrence was not very long ago, within the last month. The latest incident was 3/5/22.
Car brakes on its own when no vehicle in front of or around my vehicle.
Automatic braking system engaging when no cars or objects are present. Has happened while on highway at relatively high speeds and on regular neighborhood streets.
I have a 2020 Honda CR-V that is having a Phantom Braking issue. It has happened several times, 3 of which were while on the expressway and a tractor trailer was behind me. The CR-V warning system would flash "BRAKE" and then stop suddenly, there was nothing in front of me, nothing to either side of me. When I took it to the dealership, the technician could not replicate the issue and said 'it was a common issue with all vehicles' and recommended that I 'just turn it off, I did so on my vehicle.' After seeing the news I now know that I am not the only one with this issue. I purchased this vehicle from the dealer in June 2020, and this began in September 2021.
On multiple occasions during highway or other driving, the automatic emergency braking has engaged causing the car to either slow quickly or attempt to come to a stop which required immediate intervention to avoid potentially being rear ended. Driving was occurring during daylight hours and not in traffic.
Following a car that then pulled over in to the breakdown lane the automatic braking engaged when there was nothing in front of us reducing the speed causing other cars behind us to have to lockup their brakes for no reason. This was very dangerous to myself and the cars behind us. The system does this often with nothing in the lane.
Automatic Braking applied even when nothing in front of vehicle, on freeway at freeway speeds.
I have noticed multiple times that when i exit from highway it will suddenly deaccelerate. I wasn't following any cars on those days and luckily no car behind me those times.
The contact owns a 2020 Honda CR-V. The contact stated while driving 35 MPH, the vehicle unexpectedly came to a complete stop. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact was able to drive the vehicle home safely. The vehicle was not taken to a dealer or independent mechanic to be diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 26,000.
My 2020 honda cr-v will randomly auto brake on the hwy when approaching a shadow at a hwy overpass. It doesn't happen every time so not predictable. It is terrifying when it does happen as I am driving at hwy speeds and then my car randomly slams on the brakes. This is not ok! I have experienced this about 5 times in the last 6 months.
When I bought the car it had collision mitigation technology. Now it does not. I took it to Airport Honda in Alcoa TN yesterday for this problem along with regular service. They said they contacted Honda, who had no answer on why this system failed to work. I paid for a safety system that worked. Now it doesn't any Honda has not idea why and offers no solution or recourse. I consider this a safety issue that I hope you will take some involvement in. Thank you very much. [XXX] [XXX] [XXX] [XXX] [XXX] PARTS OF THIS DOCUMENT HAVE BEEN REDACTED TO PROTECT PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).
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Quick Summary
The 2020 Honda CR-V has 50 FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE complaints on file. 3 crashes have been reported. Review the timeline above for detailed owner experiences.