Diagsheet

2023 Honda CR-V · symptom sheet

Brakes on its own (automatic emergency braking)

  • 27owner reports
  • 5involved a crash

Newest report Jul 22, 2026 · checked Sep 9, 2026

64 of the 517 complaints on this car are about collision avoidance. 27 of those describe phantom braking.

Tick what matches of 27 reports

4
6
6
8
3

What got replaced

Owners who name the part that was replaced mention the radar or camera sensor (7 reports).

Recalls and investigations

No recall on collision avoidance covers the 2023 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

None of these investigations covers the 2023 model year.

When it happens

Too few of these reports state a mileage to give a range.

823
1024
325
626

What owners wrote

“The automatic braking system is activating automatically without any warning or any interference even though there is no vehicle or object in front it is happening all of a sudden and it a serious safety hazard and could cause major accident it is life threatening and I am very scared to drive it a life and death situation please look into this matter and have Honda fix this issue before it causes and deaths.”

Filed Jan 11, 2026

“While driving (no other vehicles present) it will display warning on dash. It will slam on brakes and swerve outside of lane. This causes the vehicle go off road or in another lane. The warnings will then disappear. It also advises to see dealership. It has been to the dealerships within first two weeks of purchase. They have not been able fix issues.”

Filed Jun 29, 2024

“While driving on a two lane road with no other vehicles and no objects on the road, the "Brake" warning light came on. Thankfully, the Collision Avoidance system didn't come on this time but if the warning had activated the Collision Avoidance in traffic, a rear end crash could have happened.”

Filed Apr 8, 2024

“The Automatic Emergency Braking abruptly stopped while traveling 50 mph without any obstructions in front of me almost causing a rear end collision from the car behind me. In addition the stop caused minor whiplash.”

Filed Mar 25, 2023

Should you keep driving it?

This page can't tell you that. 5 of 27 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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