Problems · by component
2021 Honda CR-V service brakes problems
25 owner complaints to NHTSA about the 2021 Honda CR-V cite service brakes, 7% of all 338 complaints for this model year.
Complaints
25
7% of all complaints
Crashes
2
Reported by owners
Fires
0
Reported by owners
Injuries
1
Reported by owners
What owners say about the service brakes
Verbatim from NHTSA complaints, newest first
“On the morning on 7/10/26 I was driving 30mph around a gentle turn and the brakes activated briefly. I also received a dashboard notification to brake. The weather conditions were sunny and probably around 80 degrees. There was no one in front of me and the closest car, in oncoming traffic was around 40 feet away. The safety risk was my car temporarily applied the brakes but did not stop completely. Luckily, the closet car behind me was ~30 feet behind me. Over the past 2 years I have received occasional dashboard notifications to brake, but the situation/driving conditions did not warrant the need to brake. This was the first time that the braking system actually applied the brake and slowed the car down.”
“In the past two weeks, the automatic brake light came on when there was nothing in front of me. Then this past Thursday, I was in the middle lane approaching a stoplight that was about 500 ft. ahead of me, nothing was in front of me and the brake light came on and the car made a quick and hard stop. If anyone was behind me, they would not have been able to stop. Now I am very leery of driving my car, and I disable this feature so I feel safe transporting myself and my family.”
“The automatic emergency brakes deployed for no reason while I was driving through traffic. There was nothing in the road and nothing that should have triggered the emergency brakes. It could have caused an accident”
“Pulled into driveway and put car in park. I had to close gate and lock it up and when returning to the car to turn off I was standing outside the car and it started rolling backwards. I tried to jump in the car to stop it and it was picking up speed. Driveway has a slight incline but nothing like the speed was on the car. I was in between the car door and the car seat running with the car. I am shocked I didn't get ran over. Car went across the street and hit my neighbors car and my car and well as his truck was damaged. This could have been worse and this is a huge safety feature.”
“I was driving past a school zone at 20 mph, came to a stop to allow children to cross street, as I began my acceleration past the school crossing, I reached a 20mph speed again and my CRV activated the emergency braking system without having anything in front of me that could have activated the forward collision braking system. Luckily I was not rear ended.”
“My 2021 Honda CR-V displays an “All System Failure” message while driving. On multiple occasions, the car has also braked suddenly on its own when there was no obstacle in front of me. This is a serious safety hazard, as it could cause a crash from behind. The issue is intermittent but recurring. It has happened several times recently. I know other Honda CR-V owners are experiencing the same problem, and some mechanics report they are seeing this issue frequently. I am very concerned about the safety of myself and my children while driving this vehicle. This vehicle was in an accident 3 years ago, but these problems only began recently and are consistent with widespread reports from other CR-V owners.”
Showing 6 of 25 reports. Read every report on NHTSA.gov.
Data from NHTSA Complaints API (owner reports, unverified) · synced Nov 3, 2026NHTSA vehicle page
Complaints are unverified owner reports to NHTSA and are not normalized for sales volume. One complaint can cite several components.