RoadVitals

2021 Honda Civic Brakes Problems

Owner-reported complaints naming the brake system, filed with NHTSA

Data refreshed

Brakes reportsComplaints are reports submitted to NHTSA by owners and drivers. NHTSA does not verify most reports before publishing them, and a complaint does not establish that a defect exists. Volume is influenced by how many of a vehicle were sold, how long it has been on the road, and how much attention an issue has received.
18
Latest Jun 20, 2026
Share of all reportsThis category as a share of every owner report on file for this model year. One report can name more than one component, so the categories overlap.
13%
of 139 total
Crash or fire reportedReports in this category whose submitter recorded that a crash or a fire occurred. The reporter's own answer on the NHTSA form, not a verified finding.
3
Injuries or deaths reportedTotals the submitters entered on their own reports in this category. Not verified by NHTSA and not a casualty statistic.
0

What this page shows

Reports naming service brakes, the antilock braking system, brake hoses, master cylinders or the parking brake. Every record below is an owner-reported complaint about the 2021 Honda Civic submitted to NHTSA — not a confirmed defect, not a recall and not a manufacturer bulletin. 18 reports on file name it.

Complaints are reports submitted by owners and drivers to NHTSA. They are not verified and do not establish that a defect exists.

Owner reports naming brake

Shown in the owner’s own words, exactly as filed

BrakesDriver assistance
Filed Jun 20, 2026

Cruise control does not disengage upon electronic parking brake being engaged while moving, causing the car to accelerate aggressively after the brake is released. While it does disengage after enough speed is lost, it should disengage immediately as it does when the brake pedal is tapped

NHTSA ID
11745360
Incident
Jun 1, 2026
BrakesDriver assistanceEngine
Filed Jan 9, 2026

The contact owns a 2021 Honda Civic. The contact stated that while driving approximately 37 MPH, the vehicle stalled. The check engine, master cylinder, and adaptive cruise control warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was taken to a dealer, where it was diagnosed and determined that the brake master cylinder, fuel pump, and ignition coils needed to be replaced. The contact researched and was made aware of an unknown recall; however, the VIN was not under recall. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 108,000.

NHTSA ID
11709926
Incident
Dec 19, 2025
Mileage
108,000 mi
BrakesDriver assistance
Filed Nov 14, 2025

Nov 9th, 3:00pm, Fruitridge Rd 35 mph, driving with foot on the gas The safety brake feature overrode my ability to drive by forcefully coming to a complete stop while flashing 'brake' messege appeared on dashboard. No car, item or person was in front of me. The car behind me (who was also going around 35 mph) almost hit me and drove off angrily.

NHTSA ID
11699460
Incident
Nov 9, 2025
BrakesDriver assistanceElectrical
Filed May 9, 2025
Crash reported

My 2021 Honda civic ex’ forward collision sensor light flashed mid intersection my brakes locked up causing me to be a victim of a hit and run. As I was in between policies with my insurance therefore I wasn’t covered for the accident and I am now suffering financial hardships.. dealership didn’t want to hear what I had to say because it was a new car & no recalls were announced at the time.

NHTSA ID
11659892
Incident
Jul 31, 2023
BrakesDriver assistance
Filed Dec 26, 2024

On multiple occasions my car has applied the brake while driving on the highway as well as my caliper has become frozen and I have replaced brakes 3 times in less than one calendar year. I have all old brakes that have needed to be replaced and there is uneven wear on them.

NHTSA ID
11632366
Incident
Dec 25, 2024
BrakesDriver assistance
Filed Nov 22, 2024

I have had dozens of incidents where I will be driving down the road and my car will just break for no apparent reason. It is totally random and at times terrifying. It happens with no other vehicles in front of my vehicle as well as while I am just driving in traffic with cars behind me. Many times, after it happens initially, I cannot accelerate the car due to the breaks locking up. I have to put the car in park and then drive to accelerate. I have asked my service providers at HONDA the dealership about this, and they have no idea why this is happening. This is so dangerous and frightening.

NHTSA ID
11626872
Incident
Nov 22, 2024
BrakesDriver assistanceElectrical
Filed Jul 9, 2024

I have had a few incidents where I am driving and the brake signal starts flashing/dinging when I am nowhere near another car. In one instance; the car automatically braked in the middle of the highway with no car in front of me. This could have caused a major accident if I did not react quickly. In addition, I could have gotten major whiplash as I was driving over 40 MPH. I am also having issues with the auto lock feature on the car. Sometimes when I am driving the car will try to lock the doors even though the doors are already locked. It will continuously lock, the only way this issue has stopped is by turning off my auto lock function. I liked have the auto lock function on because it made me feel safe. There have been no warning lamps, messages or other symptoms prior to these incidences happening. I have not taken my car to the dealer or independent service center due to the cost of high cost the issue. I am open to someone coming to inspect the car as long as it is free of charge.

NHTSA ID
11600482
Incident
Jul 8, 2024
BrakesDriver assistance
Filed May 8, 2024

The front sensor is too sensitive. If there is another car using a turn lane, the Civic will try to brake and will not pass the car. If another car is ahead on a curve, the automatic braking kicks in. This tends to only happen when using cruise control. It is dangerous on the freeway. The sudden braking could cause me to be rearended. I've been lucky, so far, and have only received dirty looks from the drivers that were behind me as they passed. Since it doesn't happen every single time, there seems no way to reproduce it. No one has inspected it for defects. No warning lights, beeps or messages appear before the braking starts. This has been happening since I first bought the car in 2022, but seems to be more frequent now. Probably the reason it was returned... in my opinion.

NHTSA ID
11587717
Incident
May 5, 2024
BrakesDriver assistance
Filed May 8, 2024

The front sensor is too sensitive. If there is another car using a turn lane, the Civic will try to brake and will not pass the car. If another car is ahead on a curve, the automatic braking kicks in. This tends to only happen when using cruise control. It is dangerous on the freeway. The sudden braking could cause me to be rearended. I've been lucky, so far, and have only received dirty looks from the drivers that were behind me as they passed. Since it doesn't happen every single time, there seems no way to reproduce it. No one has inspected it for defects. No warning lights, beeps or messages appear before the braking starts. This has been happening since I first bought the car in 2022, but seems to be more frequent now. Probably the reason it was returned... in my opinion.

NHTSA ID
11587710
Incident
Apr 1, 2024
BrakesDriver assistance
Filed May 8, 2024

The front sensor is too sensitive. If there is another car using a turn lane, the Civic will try to brake and will not pass the car. If another car is ahead on a curve, the automatic braking kicks in. This tends to only happen when using cruise control. It is dangerous on the freeway. The sudden braking could cause me to be rearended. I've been lucky, so far, and have only received dirty looks from the drivers that were behind me as they passed. Since it doesn't happen every single time, there seems no way to reproduce it. No one has inspected it for defects. No warning lights, beeps or messages appear before the braking starts. This has been happening since I first bought the car in 2022, but seems to be more frequent now. Probably the reason it was returned... in my opinion.

NHTSA ID
11587708
Incident
Feb 22, 2024
BrakesDriver assistance
Filed Apr 3, 2024

While driving on a city street at about 25 to 30 MPH with no cars or people in front of me and on a clear day, my Civic's Collision Mitigation Braking System flashed "Brakes" on my heads up display and at the same time, it forcefully applied the brakes without me touching the brake pedal. This has happened to me at least twice in six weeks. In both instances, I tried to press on the gas pedal, but it did not let up on the brakes right away. I was nearly rear-ended by other cars both times, putting me and others at risk. I took the car to the dealership, and they told me they couldn't find any issues or codes, nor could they replicate the problem.

NHTSA ID
11580981
Incident
Mar 29, 2024
Brakes
Filed Feb 22, 2024

The problem is unintended braking. It is possible for this malfunction would cause the car to be rear ended. Have not taken it to the dealer... yet. There is no warning, the car suddenly starts to brake while in cruise control mode without any other cars being near.

NHTSA ID
11573490
Incident
Feb 22, 2024
Brakes
Filed Aug 17, 2023

My Important Safety Recall is not showing up on my dealer's system or the following sites: Check for Recalls: Vehicle, Car Seat, Tire, Equipment | NHTSA Recall Information for Safety & Defects | Honda Owners Site Honda Campaign Number: AEV, VEW Service Bulletin Number: 23-051, 23-052 Brake Booster Assembly during production.

NHTSA ID
11539099
Incident
Aug 1, 2023
BrakesDriver assistance
Filed May 22, 2023
Crash reportedFire reported

Driving down the highway about 70 mph and it started to rain so little that I had not even needed the wipers yet. Then out of nowhere with absolutely no warning what so ever the breaks locked up and the car began to slide and was completely unresponsive to any solution possible. The steering wheel was locked in place and the break peddle was so far to the floor I was not able to reach it. After colliding with the propane delivery truck which I was unable to see due to passanger side airbags which inflated unnecessarily with no passanger in the vehicle. After finally coming to a stop I was going to try and catch my breath while I gather my thoughts but unfortunately it was not possible due to the unimaginable amount of smoke that came from the driver airbag in the steering wheel. I jumped out not sure if it was on fire and assessed the situation and learned that the smoke was just coming from the steering wheel so I did my best to get it out. Which took bottles of water poured into the office steering wheel to stop the cap smoking.

NHTSA ID
11523210
Incident
Jun 6, 2022
BrakesDriver assistanceSteering
Filed Oct 17, 2022

Rodents chewed thru the main computer cable while car was parked in our car port. When I went to start car it started but immediatley the warning lights on dash began flashing that the road assist features, brakes and steering were not operating.Called road side assistance for a tow to Arrowhead Honda were they replaced main computer cable and reprogrammed computer. This is the second time this has happened. I think the manufacture should change the exterior coating on the cable should be changed to a material that rodents are not attracted to.

NHTSA ID
11489633
Incident
Oct 1, 2022
BrakesElectricalSteering
Filed Sep 23, 2022

While accelerating on a multi-lane freeway, the dashboard speed suddenly indicated 0 MPH and flashed warnings for power steering, emergency braking, suspension, and many other systems. Steering became almost impossible to control, with no resistance felt through the wheel, and small movements of the wheel resulting in unpredictable jerky movements of the vehicle. It was almost impossible to control the vehicle while exiting the freeway and coming to a stop. OBD scanner pulled only one code: U0416(68) Invalid data received - vehicle dynamics control module

NHTSA ID
11485983
Incident
Sep 22, 2022
BrakesElectricalEngine
Filed Apr 23, 2022

Three issues I been having every since I got my car. 1. Car navigation displays not working properly, screen completely freezes or black-out. 2. Brake warning sign appears randomly in dashboard even if theres no vehicle in front, probably an issue with the car detection sensor camera . 3 Probably the most important. The car shuts down. Oil light and battery light shows in dashboard when this happens, usually when the vehicle is coming to a stop. This is an outgoing issue that is really concerning. I have take the car multiple times to the dealer and the have failed to solve any of this issues, the previously told me it was the turbo but never replace it, then i was told it was the electronic wastegate nothing was done then, now two days ago April 21, 2022 this happen again, haven't take the car to the dealer because I know they aren't going to do anything about it.

NHTSA ID
11461876
Incident
Jul 14, 2021
BrakesSuspension
Filed Nov 13, 2021

2125 miles on this Type R, fresh off the show room floor. At low speed turning into the slight dip in my driveway, the suspension in Sports Mode flexed enough for the driver side tin rotor back plate at the driver front wheel to get caught on the lower control arm. Drove it to Honda, and yes, they confirmed that this had happened, that the thin tin plate had indeed become stuck on the LCA! Screeching like you cannot believe b/c when this happens, the top of the plate is flexed onto the top of the brake rotor and it goes metal to metal. Honda told me they have no idea how this happened but myself, a professional mechanic can clearly see exactly what happened. Honda tried to bill me for this warranty repair to the tune of $475. I told them "NO!" They backed down. Yes, this vehicle is available for inspection any time you want. And yes, I can make the problem happen again just by hitting the dip while making a left-hand turn into my driveway.

NHTSA ID
11440302
Incident
Nov 5, 2021

Higher-selling and older vehicles accumulate more reports. Counts are not failure rates and are not directly comparable between vehicles that sold in very different numbers.

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