2020 Honda CR-V · symptom sheet

Brakes on its own (automatic emergency braking)

45owner reports
25,000median miles
2involved a crash

Newest report Jul 17, 2026 · checked Sep 9, 2026

106 of the 351 complaints on this car are about collision avoidance. 45 of those describe phantom braking. Only airbag is reported more often on this car.

Tick what matches of 45 reports

nothing was in front of me

on the highway

near an overpass, shadow or truck

nearly rear-ended

the dealer found no fault

What got replaced

Owners who name the part that was replaced mention the radar or camera sensor (3 reports).

Recalls and investigations

No recall on collision avoidance covers the 2020 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

When it happens

The middle half of failures fell between 4,000 and 38,000 miles, from the 9 reports that gave a mileage.

220

121

1822

923

624

625

326

What owners wrote

“6/14/25 - automatic emergency braking system engaged twice without any impediments in road while driving 40 miles of non-freeway driving. Mileage of vehicle is 30460 miles. AEBS engaged at 45 mph and 50 mph. Scary incidents but no accident or injury today. Concerned about continued driving and future incidents. Will contact Honda dealership. Need to issue a recall.”
Filed Jun 14, 2025 · 30,460 miles

“1. The vehicle will inadvertently and without warning, apply the brakes (phantom braking). 2. The Lane keeping assist will not follow the road, especially when the road curves. The vehicle will sometimes not negotiate the required turn to stay in the lane.”
Filed Aug 30, 2022

“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.”
Filed Jun 29, 2022

“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.”
Filed Feb 27, 2022

Should you keep driving it?

This page can't tell you that. 2 of 45 reports involved a crash and 1 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.