Diagsheet

2017 Honda CR-V · symptom sheet

Brakes on its own (automatic emergency braking)

  • 186owner reports
  • 30,000median miles
  • $1,500median quote
  • 4involved a crash

Newest report Aug 5, 2026 · checked Sep 9, 2026

445 of the 1,761 complaints on this car are about collision avoidance. 186 of those describe phantom braking, which makes it the most reported problem on the 2017 CR-V.

Tick what matches of 186 reports

79
58
26
59
24

What got replaced

Owners who name the part that was replaced mention the radar or camera sensor (18 reports), the software (17 reports) and the windshield (4 reports).

Recalls and investigations

No recall on collision avoidance covers the 2017 model year as of Sep 9, 2026.

NHTSA investigations into collision avoidance on the CR-V

EA24-002opened Apr 15, 2024
Collision avoidance · model years 2017 to 2022

Inadvertent automatic emergency braking. Open.

NHTSA summary
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
PE22-003opened Feb 21, 2022
Collision avoidance · model years 2017 to 2019

Inadvertent automatic emergency braking. Closed apr 18, 2024.

NHTSA summary
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 1,081 consumer complaints of inadvertent activation of CMBS in the subject vehicles. A total of 24 complaints alleged a crash and 42 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, 84 injury incidents and 40 crash

What owners paid

8 of the 186 reports quote a price. Each dot is one quote. The middle half runs $800 to $2,700.

$800$1,500$2,700
$0k$2k$4k$6k$8k

When it happens

The middle half of failures fell between 15,000 and 45,000 miles, from the 76 reports that gave a mileage.

617
1118
3119
820
1221
5422
2623
2224
925
726

What owners wrote

“Brake sensor warning light randomly came on. Emergency brake would't disengage. ABS module defective and had to be completely replaced and reprogrammed. Vehicle has less than 75000 miles; one owner.”

Filed Jan 13, 2023 · 75,000 miles

“Automatic emergency braking system puts on the brakes and there would be nothing in front of me. Making my car slow down, I am afraid of getting hit from behind. The light flashed on dash. I took it to dealership they said I needed a new battery.”

Filed Mar 3, 2022

“My car’s automatic emergency brake has engaged ~4x when there was undoubtedly nothing in front of me on the road. Luckily it has never engaged the brake long enough to cause a rear end collision which is way I didn’t report it earlier. I know you’re collecting reports for affected cars and mine indeed has done this before. I’m hopeful it won’t happen when more cars are around.”

Filed Mar 2, 2022

“While driving at 45 miles per hour on a divided highway, the automatic braking system engaged. There were no cars anywhere around me at the time. This is the second time this has happened.”

Filed Feb 28, 2022

Should you keep driving it?

This page can't tell you that. 4 of 186 reports involved a crash and 8 people were hurt. Owners who file are the ones who had a bad experience, and nobody checks their reports. If the problem affects steering, braking, power or a fire risk, treat it as a safety fault and have it inspected before a long or high-speed drive.

File your own report with NHTSA. Complaint counts are how a problem gets an investigation.

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