IllustrationOn more than one occasion, the vehicles automatic emergency braking system engaged unexpectedly. This occurred when there was no obstruction in front of the vehicle.
2021 Honda CR-V Hybrid
Owner reports · Recalls · Investigations
Similar to other model years
Owner complaints for the 2021 Honda CR-V Hybrid do not stand out strongly from the model-year median of 76.
About this comparison →How this year compares
Owner complaints by model year
Compare all CR-V Hybrid years →Counts vary with age, sales and reporting. They are not failure rates.
What owners reported most
All reported categories
Tap a category to read its complaints. One report may name several components.
When problems were reported
Mileage at the reported incident
Limited mileage data: 9 of 103 reports include usable mileage. There isn’t enough coverage to show a useful chart.
NHTSA’s mileage field refers to the reported incident, not necessarily the filing date. This shows report counts, not the likelihood of a failure.
What to inspect
Issues worth paying extra attention to based on owner reports.
- Engine. Review the 35 owner reports in this category and discuss these concerns during a pre-purchase inspection. Read reports →
- Electrical System. Review the 24 owner reports in this category and discuss these concerns during a pre-purchase inspection. Read reports →
- Forward Collision Avoidance. Review the 22 owner reports in this category and discuss these concerns during a pre-purchase inspection. Read reports →
NHTSA owner reports · September 18, 2026 snapshot.
5 crash reports0 fire reports3 injury reports
Forward Collision Avoidance complaints
22 reportsAutomatic emergency brake activated and the vehicle came to a complete stop while approaching a railroad crossing. There was no traffic ahead. It was a clear day, around 8:45AM. There was no indication of a problem before or after the car stopped.
I was traveling about 17 MPH when my CRV braked suddenly to a stop on it's own. There was nothing in front of me. Thank goodness no one was behind me because the car stopped with no warning. I was also wearing my seatbelt, which was good because I was thrown forward. There was no prior warning and no lights or other indicat…
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I was traveling about 17 MPH when my CRV braked suddenly to a stop on it's own. There was nothing in front of me. Thank goodness no one was behind me because the car stopped with no warning. I was also wearing my seatbelt, which was good because I was thrown forward. There was no prior warning and no lights or other indicators on now. After that the speakers made thudding sounds, were staticy and now the radio will not play. NOt sure what this has to do with the AEB system. The car still drives normal, but I am afraid it is going to happen again. I have made an appointment at the Honda Dealer for them to look at the CRV.
Vehicle will frequently brake at full capacity on its own for cars in the next lane of traffic. This has happened 3 times so far. All three times it was on a highway going at speeds of 60-70 mph. "BRAKE" flashes in big letters on the screen. There are no obstructions in front of me only in the lane next to me. Dealer informed me…
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Vehicle will frequently brake at full capacity on its own for cars in the next lane of traffic. This has happened 3 times so far. All three times it was on a highway going at speeds of 60-70 mph. "BRAKE" flashes in big letters on the screen. There are no obstructions in front of me only in the lane next to me. Dealer informed me it is a known problem and there is no fix except to disable the safety features.
Vehicle will brake without application of the brake pedal when there is not an obstacle that requires automatic braking to avoid a collision. The vehicle will have “BRAKE” on the dash. This has occurred without anything in the lane in front of the occur and there have been several instances. The collision mitigation braking syst…
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Vehicle will brake without application of the brake pedal when there is not an obstacle that requires automatic braking to avoid a collision. The vehicle will have “BRAKE” on the dash. This has occurred without anything in the lane in front of the occur and there have been several instances. The collision mitigation braking system is supposed is malfunctioning.
There have been several occurrences with my 2021 CRV hybrid where the car will start beeping and the word “brake” will flash on my instrument cluster for no reason at all. No cars in front of me at all. This has happened 40-50 times. However there are 4 occasions where the car actually braked suddenly and once to a complete s…
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There have been several occurrences with my 2021 CRV hybrid where the car will start beeping and the word “brake” will flash on my instrument cluster for no reason at all. No cars in front of me at all. This has happened 40-50 times. However there are 4 occasions where the car actually braked suddenly and once to a complete stop and nearly caused a horrible accident. From 65mph to 0 like it thought there was something stopped right in front of me. Even though there were no cars in sight in either lane ahead of me. Luckily no one was right behind me, It could have been much worse. I want to just turn this feature off, and obviously it was a big selling point to me to buy the car so to have it actually cause safety issues instead of solve them is irritating to say the least.
2021 HONDA CR-V HYBRID. CONSUMER WRITES IN REGARD TO SOFTWARE ISSUES. THE CONSUMER STATED WHILE USING ACC THE VEHICLE WOULD BRAKE PREMATURELY. THE CONSUMER WAS CONCERNED THIS WOULD CAUSE A REAR-END COLLISION.
As my wife and I were driving downtown at about 20 mph on a regular city street with no cars in front of us, the automatic breaking system suddenly beeped and slammed on the breaks, giving us whiplash. There was clearly some kind of failure in the collision mitigation breaking system. Previously, the orange "BREAK" light sometim…
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As my wife and I were driving downtown at about 20 mph on a regular city street with no cars in front of us, the automatic breaking system suddenly beeped and slammed on the breaks, giving us whiplash. There was clearly some kind of failure in the collision mitigation breaking system. Previously, the orange "BREAK" light sometimes came on the dashboard if you got too close to the car in front but it was always accurate--there always was a car in front of us. But this time it was really startling because there was nothing in front of us and it almost caused an accident because the car behind us obviously wasn't expecting us to stop suddenly. We have a 2021 Honda CRV hybrid and have had no other problems with it. We haven't had any maintenance on it in besides a bit of standard care (oil change, tire rotation) so I assume whatever problem it has has been there since the purchase (we are the car's original owner). Overall it was quite worrying.
We were driving at about 45-50mph on a 4 lane road (2 lanes in each direction) when the car in front of us moved to the right side of the road (bike/turn lane) to make a right turn. There was enough room for the other car to safely turn right without stopping or slowing traffic. The 2021 Honda CRV Hybrid braked suddenly as if …
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We were driving at about 45-50mph on a 4 lane road (2 lanes in each direction) when the car in front of us moved to the right side of the road (bike/turn lane) to make a right turn. There was enough room for the other car to safely turn right without stopping or slowing traffic. The 2021 Honda CRV Hybrid braked suddenly as if to avoid a high speed crash. The collision avoidance feature was on (the car was delivered with the feature activated and it was never turned off.) The car forcefully slammed on the brakes, seatbelts locked up and the driver felt a pop inside the left shoulder blade and neck pain; later in the day, the pain radiated throughout the left side of the back, up to the neck / base of skull and down past the waist. The passenger seatbelt also locked and there were no injuries to the passenger. No passengers or children were in the back seat. The sudden braking caused the car behind the Honda CRV to brake and swerve, but no accident occurred. The vehicle has not been inspected by the dealership or others. Yes, the vehicle is available for inspection upon request. There were no warning lamps and no indication that this was going to occur. This is a serious safety issue and injuries occurred from a car safety feature when there was no imminent danger or collision that was actually needing to be avoided.
The car detected an forward collision in error and began to brake. Emergency warning came on with beeping. No object was in front of the vehicle. Was traveling approx 40 mph on city streets.
Official recalls
326V332000 · Air Bags:sensor:occupant Classification:front Passenger
May 21, 2026
Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) is recalling certain 2018-2021, 2023 Acura TLX, 2019-2024 RDX, 2017-2020, 2022-2026 MDX, 2017-2021, 2023, 2025 Honda Ridgeline, 2017-2022 Pilot, 2019-2021 Passport, 2018-2026 Odyssey, 2019-2022 Insight, 2019-2021 HR-V, 2018-2020 Fit, 2020-2022 CR-V Hybrid, 2017-2022 CR-V, 2017-2018, 2021 Civic Type R, 2017-2021 Civic hatchback, 2016-2020 Civic coupe, 2016-2022 Civic, 2017-2022 Accord Hybrid, and 2016-2022 Accord vehicles. The front passenger seat weight sensor may crack and short circuit, which can cause the air bags to deploy unintentionally during a crash.
Consequence & remedy
Consequence: Air bags that deploy unintentionally during a crash increase the risk of injury.
Remedy: Dealers will replace the seat weight sensors, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed July 7, 2026. Owners may contact Honda's customer service at 1-888-234-2138. Honda's numbers for this recall are BOL, WO9, OOA, WOM, XOH, NOC, POD, BOE, UOF, POB, EOG, AOI, QO8, TOJ, DO7, and SOK. This recall expands previous NHTSA recall number 24V064. Vehicle Identification Numbers (VINs) involved in this recall will be searchable on NHTSA.gov beginning May 29, 2026.
24V064000 · Air Bags:sensor:occupant Classification:front Passenger
Feb 1, 2024
Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) is recalling certain 2020-2022 Pilot, Accord, Civic sedan, HR-V, Odyssey, 2020 Civic coupe, Fit, 2021-2022 Civic hatchback, 2021 Civic Type R, Insight, 2020-2021 CR-V, CR-V Hybrid, Passport, Ridgeline, Accord Hybrid, 2020 Acura MDX, 2022 Acura MDX, 2020-2022 Acura RDX, and 2020-2021 Acura TLX vehicles. The front passenger seat weight sensor may crack and short circuit, failing to suppress the air bag as intended.
Consequence & remedy
Consequence: An air bag that deploys unintentionally during a crash can increase the risk of injury.
Remedy: Dealers will replace the seat weight sensors, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed March 28, 2024. This is a phased recall. Owners may contact Honda customer service at 1-888-234-2138. Honda's numbers for these recalls are XHP and VHQ.
23V844000 · Electrical SYSTEM:12V/24V/48V Battery:cables
Dec 13, 2023
Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) is recalling certain 2020-2022 CR-V Hybrid vehicles. The 12-Volt battery cable routed outside of the body frame is missing a fuse on the power circuit, which can allow the battery cable to short circuit or overheat during a crash.
Consequence & remedy
Consequence: An overheated battery cable or short circuit can increase the risk of a fire or injury in a crash.
Remedy: Dealers will replace the battery cable, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed January 29, 2024. Owners may contact Honda customer service at 1-888-234-2138. Honda's number for this recall is FGB.
Model-level recall history does not show whether a particular VIN is affected or has received a repair. Check a VIN with NHTSA ↗
NHTSA investigations
3PE25016 · Loss Of Motive Power
Opened Oct 28, 2025 · No close date supplied
Status: open (inferred from source dates) · Engine
The Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) has received 48 Vehicle Owner Questionnaire (VOQ) reports and some Early Warning Reporting (EWR) field reports alleging intermittent loss of motive power in Model Year (MY) 2020–2022 Honda CR-V Hybrid vehicles. These incidents are alleged to occur without warning at highway speeds and are accompanied by a flashing check engine light immediately before the loss of motive power occurs. Motive power can be restored by turning the ignition off and back on. However, this action also clears the check engine light and any fault codes that were set. The fault’s intermittent nature, combined with the lack of fault codes, often results in many visits to repair facilities yielding no repairs. Honda indicated it was unaware of any related complaint or repair trends. ODI is opening this Preliminary Evaluation (PE) to determine the scope and severity of the alleged fault and to fully assess the possible safety consequences. To review the ODI reports cited in the Opening Resume ODI Report Identification Number document, go to NHTSA.gov.
EA24002 · Inadvertent Automatic Emergency Braking
Opened Apr 15, 2024 · No close date supplied
Status: open (inferred from source dates) · Forward Collision Avoidance; Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking; Forward Collision Avoidance: Sensing System: Camera; Forward Collision Avoidance: Sensing System: Radar; Forward Collision Avoidance:software
On February 21, 2022, the Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) opened Preliminary Evaluation (PE22003) to assess reports of inadvertent activation of the Collision Mitigation Braking System (CMBS), an automatic emergency braking (AEB) system, in model year 2017-2019 Honda CR-V and 2018-2019 Honda Accord vehicles. The reports allege that activation of the AEB system occurs while driving with no apparent obstruction in the vehicle's forward path, resulting in sudden vehicle deceleration. Honda indicated that they were aware of a total of X,XXX reports that may relate to the alleged defect. Honda provided analysis of the alleged defect and alleges that some customers possibly had an inadequate understanding of the CMBS and its limitations. However, many consumer complaints allege that Honda dealerships were unable to reproduce the condition or state that they were informed that this is considered normal CMBS operation. To date, ODI has received a total of 1,294 consumer complaints of inadvertent activation of CMBS in 2017-2022 Honda CR-V and 2018-2022 Honda Accord vehicles. A total of 31 complaints alleged a crash and 50 alleged an injury. The Total column in the Failure Report Summary removes duplicate reports and shows the total number of reports with unique VINs from all Manufacturer, ODI, and EWR data sources. In some cases, there were multiple reports associated with a particular vehicle in which recurring failures were alleged. In total, there were X,XXX reports, 93 injury incidents and 47 crashes involving vehicles with unique VINs that may relate to the alleged defect. PE22-003 has been upgraded to an Engineering Analysis to further assess the scope, frequency, and potential safety related consequences of the inadvertent AEB activations. The scope has been expanded to include assessment of model year 2020-2022 Honda CR-V and Accord vehicles. To review the ODI reports cited in the Opening Resume ODI Report Identification Number document, go to NHTSA.gov.
Additional source detail variants (5)
Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking
On February 21, 2022, the Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) opened Preliminary Evaluation (PE22003) to assess reports of inadvertent activation of the Collision Mitigation Braking System (CMBS), an automatic emergency braking (AEB) system, in model year 2017-2019 Honda CR-V and 2018-2019 Honda Accord vehicles. The reports allege that activation of the AEB system occurs while driving with no apparent obstruction in the vehicle's forward path, resulting in sudden vehicle deceleration. Honda indicated that they were aware of a total of X,XXX reports that may relate to the alleged defect. Honda provided analysis of the alleged defect and alleges that some customers possibly had an inadequate understanding of the CMBS and its limitations. However, many consumer complaints allege that Honda dealerships were unable to reproduce the condition or state that they were informed that this is considered normal CMBS operation. To date, ODI has received a total of 1,294 consumer complaints of inadvertent activation of CMBS in 2017-2022 Honda CR-V and 2018-2022 Honda Accord vehicles. A total of 31 complaints alleged a crash and 50 alleged an injury. The Total column in the Failure Report Summary removes duplicate reports and shows the total number of reports with unique VINs from all Manufacturer, ODI, and EWR data sources. In some cases, there were multiple reports associated with a particular vehicle in which recurring failures were alleged. In total, there were X,XXX reports, 93 injury incidents and 47 crashes involving vehicles with unique VINs that may relate to the alleged defect. PE22-003 has been upgraded to an Engineering Analysis to further assess the scope, frequency, and potential safety related consequences of the inadvertent AEB activations. The scope has been expanded to include assessment of model year 2020-2022 Honda CR-V and Accord vehicles. To review the ODI reports cited in the Opening Resume ODI Report Identification Number document, go to NHTSA.gov.
Forward Collision Avoidance
On February 21, 2022, the Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) opened Preliminary Evaluation (PE22003) to assess reports of inadvertent activation of the Collision Mitigation Braking System (CMBS), an automatic emergency braking (AEB) system, in model year 2017-2019 Honda CR-V and 2018-2019 Honda Accord vehicles. The reports allege that activation of the AEB system occurs while driving with no apparent obstruction in the vehicle's forward path, resulting in sudden vehicle deceleration. Honda indicated that they were aware of a total of X,XXX reports that may relate to the alleged defect. Honda provided analysis of the alleged defect and alleges that some customers possibly had an inadequate understanding of the CMBS and its limitations. However, many consumer complaints allege that Honda dealerships were unable to reproduce the condition or state that they were informed that this is considered normal CMBS operation. To date, ODI has received a total of 1,294 consumer complaints of inadvertent activation of CMBS in 2017-2022 Honda CR-V and 2018-2022 Honda Accord vehicles. A total of 31 complaints alleged a crash and 50 alleged an injury. The Total column in the Failure Report Summary removes duplicate reports and shows the total number of reports with unique VINs from all Manufacturer, ODI, and EWR data sources. In some cases, there were multiple reports associated with a particular vehicle in which recurring failures were alleged. In total, there were X,XXX reports, 93 injury incidents and 47 crashes involving vehicles with unique VINs that may relate to the alleged defect. PE22-003 has been upgraded to an Engineering Analysis to further assess the scope, frequency, and potential safety related consequences of the inadvertent AEB activations. The scope has been expanded to include assessment of model year 2020-2022 Honda CR-V and Accord vehicles. To review the ODI reports cited in the Opening Resume ODI Report Identification Number document, go to NHTSA.gov.
Forward Collision Avoidance: Sensing System: Camera
On February 21, 2022, the Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) opened Preliminary Evaluation (PE22003) to assess reports of inadvertent activation of the Collision Mitigation Braking System (CMBS), an automatic emergency braking (AEB) system, in model year 2017-2019 Honda CR-V and 2018-2019 Honda Accord vehicles. The reports allege that activation of the AEB system occurs while driving with no apparent obstruction in the vehicle's forward path, resulting in sudden vehicle deceleration. Honda indicated that they were aware of a total of X,XXX reports that may relate to the alleged defect. Honda provided analysis of the alleged defect and alleges that some customers possibly had an inadequate understanding of the CMBS and its limitations. However, many consumer complaints allege that Honda dealerships were unable to reproduce the condition or state that they were informed that this is considered normal CMBS operation. To date, ODI has received a total of 1,294 consumer complaints of inadvertent activation of CMBS in 2017-2022 Honda CR-V and 2018-2022 Honda Accord vehicles. A total of 31 complaints alleged a crash and 50 alleged an injury. The Total column in the Failure Report Summary removes duplicate reports and shows the total number of reports with unique VINs from all Manufacturer, ODI, and EWR data sources. In some cases, there were multiple reports associated with a particular vehicle in which recurring failures were alleged. In total, there were X,XXX reports, 93 injury incidents and 47 crashes involving vehicles with unique VINs that may relate to the alleged defect. PE22-003 has been upgraded to an Engineering Analysis to further assess the scope, frequency, and potential safety related consequences of the inadvertent AEB activations. The scope has been expanded to include assessment of model year 2020-2022 Honda CR-V and Accord vehicles. To review the ODI reports cited in the Opening Resume ODI Report Identification Number document, go to NHTSA.gov.
Forward Collision Avoidance: Sensing System: Radar
On February 21, 2022, the Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) opened Preliminary Evaluation (PE22003) to assess reports of inadvertent activation of the Collision Mitigation Braking System (CMBS), an automatic emergency braking (AEB) system, in model year 2017-2019 Honda CR-V and 2018-2019 Honda Accord vehicles. The reports allege that activation of the AEB system occurs while driving with no apparent obstruction in the vehicle's forward path, resulting in sudden vehicle deceleration. Honda indicated that they were aware of a total of X,XXX reports that may relate to the alleged defect. Honda provided analysis of the alleged defect and alleges that some customers possibly had an inadequate understanding of the CMBS and its limitations. However, many consumer complaints allege that Honda dealerships were unable to reproduce the condition or state that they were informed that this is considered normal CMBS operation. To date, ODI has received a total of 1,294 consumer complaints of inadvertent activation of CMBS in 2017-2022 Honda CR-V and 2018-2022 Honda Accord vehicles. A total of 31 complaints alleged a crash and 50 alleged an injury. The Total column in the Failure Report Summary removes duplicate reports and shows the total number of reports with unique VINs from all Manufacturer, ODI, and EWR data sources. In some cases, there were multiple reports associated with a particular vehicle in which recurring failures were alleged. In total, there were X,XXX reports, 93 injury incidents and 47 crashes involving vehicles with unique VINs that may relate to the alleged defect. PE22-003 has been upgraded to an Engineering Analysis to further assess the scope, frequency, and potential safety related consequences of the inadvertent AEB activations. The scope has been expanded to include assessment of model year 2020-2022 Honda CR-V and Accord vehicles. To review the ODI reports cited in the Opening Resume ODI Report Identification Number document, go to NHTSA.gov.
Forward Collision Avoidance:software
On February 21, 2022, the Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) opened Preliminary Evaluation (PE22003) to assess reports of inadvertent activation of the Collision Mitigation Braking System (CMBS), an automatic emergency braking (AEB) system, in model year 2017-2019 Honda CR-V and 2018-2019 Honda Accord vehicles. The reports allege that activation of the AEB system occurs while driving with no apparent obstruction in the vehicle's forward path, resulting in sudden vehicle deceleration. Honda indicated that they were aware of a total of X,XXX reports that may relate to the alleged defect. Honda provided analysis of the alleged defect and alleges that some customers possibly had an inadequate understanding of the CMBS and its limitations. However, many consumer complaints allege that Honda dealerships were unable to reproduce the condition or state that they were informed that this is considered normal CMBS operation. To date, ODI has received a total of 1,294 consumer complaints of inadvertent activation of CMBS in 2017-2022 Honda CR-V and 2018-2022 Honda Accord vehicles. A total of 31 complaints alleged a crash and 50 alleged an injury. The Total column in the Failure Report Summary removes duplicate reports and shows the total number of reports with unique VINs from all Manufacturer, ODI, and EWR data sources. In some cases, there were multiple reports associated with a particular vehicle in which recurring failures were alleged. In total, there were X,XXX reports, 93 injury incidents and 47 crashes involving vehicles with unique VINs that may relate to the alleged defect. PE22-003 has been upgraded to an Engineering Analysis to further assess the scope, frequency, and potential safety related consequences of the inadvertent AEB activations. The scope has been expanded to include assessment of model year 2020-2022 Honda CR-V and Accord vehicles. To review the ODI reports cited in the Opening Resume ODI Report Identification Number document, go to NHTSA.gov.
DP22005 · Pedestrian Alert Sounds
Opened Jan 27, 2023 · Closed Aug 7, 2023
Status: closed (inferred from source dates) · Electrical System:propulsion System
NHTSA received a petition on or about July 18, 2022, requesting that Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) 141 be applied to all electric and hybrid vehicles operating in the United States. The petition can be reviewed at NHTSA.gov under ODI Number 11486072. FMVSS 141 establishes performance requirements for pedestrian alert sounds for motor vehicles. The standard applies to hybrid and electric vehicles that have a gross vehicle weight rating of 4,536 KG or less or are defined as low-speed vehicles. The standard became fully applicable to all such vehicles manufactured on or after March 1, 2021.On January 27, 2023, NHTSA opened Defect Petition (DP) 22-005 to evaluate the subject matter described in the petition. On June 24, 2023 and as supplemented on June 25, 2023, the petitioner notified NHTSA he was withdrawing his petition. The petitioner indicated that, based on his review of data, there is no justification for asserting potential benefits that could be derived from actions sought by my petition. Based on the petitioner's withdrawal, DP22-005 is closed. Closure of this DP does not represent a determination by NHTSA regarding the subject matter of the petition.