2019 Honda CR-V Brakes Problems

I own a 2019 Honda CR-V and have repeatedly experienced brake-system warning lights, starting problems, a hard brake pedal and unexpected braking/deceleration. I repeatedly reported these concerns to East Coast Honda, asked them to inspect the brakes, and showed photos/videos of warning lights, but many of my complaints were not documented on my repair orders. While driving, my vehicle unexpectedly braked/decelerated when there was no vehicle immediately in front of me, causing me to hit a curb. This was in July. On 9/16/26 at 52,113 miles, East Coast Honda finally documented that the electric parking brake warning was going on/off while driving along with the brake-system and battery lights. They found DTC U3003-16, Brake Booster Control Unit Power Circuit Low Voltage, and replaced the electric brake booster. During the same repair, the dealer performed a Honda CMBS software update. Their repair order states that American Honda identified an ADAS/CMBS software condition in which “unexpected vehicle deceleration may occur.” After the brake-booster repair, the vehicle was returned to me. It then would not start and the brake pedal became extremely hard, leaving my young son and me stranded. The dealer documented that the battery FAILED testing and replaced it under warranty again. This is my second battery in less than 2 years. I am concerned that the underlying brake/electrical safety defect has not been resolved. The vehicle is available for inspection. I have repair orders, photos, videos and voicemail evidence documenting these problems.

NHTSA ID

11766302

Incident

Jul 9, 2026

This emergency brake happened multiple times during crossing train tracks. I’m not sure if the sensor was capturing anything there but the car stopped immediately. Two incidents occurred in the same street and was after the traffic light turned green. Two times I had vehicles behind me but thankfully nothing happened. I monitored the incident then it happened again crossing another train tracks. One time just happened while driving, I didn’t have no cars around me but the car just started breaking on me.

NHTSA ID

11763750

Incident

Aug 16, 2025

While driving with my 3yr old in the car multiple dashboard warning lights suddenly illuminated simultaneously (including the Check Engine light, Emissions system warning, and various safety sensor alerts). The vehicle experienced a sudden loss of engine power, rough idling, and hesitation upon acceleration, which created an immediate traffic hazard. I took the vehicle to an authorized Honda dealership service center. The diagnostic scan revealed a failure of the fuel injectors (with diagnostic trouble codes indicating a system too rich and cylinder misfires). The dealership service advisor informed me that this premature fuel injector failure is a highly common and widespread systemic defect with Honda’s 1.5L Turbo direct-injection engines, stating that their shop actively stocks these parts because they perform at least one of these replacements every week. This premature component failure at mileage (105,136 miles) is a severe safety risk that causes unexpected engine stalling or power loss while driving.

NHTSA ID

11761684

Incident

Aug 27, 2026

Car automatically hit the brakes for no apparent reason while going at 45 mph. There was no vehicle or any kind of obstacle ahead of behind. Also resulted in tightening of driver seat belt. No injuries. Vehicle was being operated by an authorized and licensed driver.

NHTSA ID

11761346

Incident

Sep 1, 2026

While driving my 2019 Honda CR-V across railroad tracks, the vehicle displayed a BRAKE warning and automatically applied the brakes even though there was no vehicle, person, train, or other obstruction in front of me. The braking occurred while I was crossing the railroad tracks and caused the vehicle to slow unexpectedly. I did not intentionally apply the brakes. I am concerned that the Collision Mitigation Braking System/automatic emergency braking activated falsely and could create a safety hazard, especially at a railroad crossing.

NHTSA ID

11760594

Incident

Aug 26, 2026

While driving at about the speed of 45 miles/hr. the car abruptly braked in the middle of the road without any vehicle or object in front of me. It was a scary situation because if there had been a car behind me, my car would have been rear-ended. This problem has neither been reproduced nor investigated by anyone. I have, in the past, noticed that occasionally the brake light on the dashboard would flash for a second and go off but did not affect motion or speed. I have not received any warning messages regarding the vehicle's brakes.

NHTSA ID

11749216

Incident

Jul 8, 2026

While driving on a straight, flat road with no other vehicles close in the front or to my rear the brakes came on without warning. I pulled over to the side of the road because it was really scary. Once I calmed down I continued driving without further incident. When I got to my grandsons school parking lot I called the Honda dealership that I purchased the car from and asked the service person if they had any issues like this. She stated that "the phantom breaking happened at times" and that it "was not a big deal". After looking on line one suggestion was to clean around the sensor in the Honda emblem and the windshield around the rear view mirror. I've owned the car since 2019 (original owner) and have 72K miles on the vehicle. The only recent problem was I had to replace the original battery on 05/31/26 which was done by a AAA representative. I've had no other issues to date, but this breaking issue if it persists seems like it could be very dangerous.

NHTSA ID

11744783

Incident

Jun 16, 2026

I was driving at 33 mph on 5/17 at 11:33 and the cars automatic brakes suddenly when on full blast out of no where with nothing around me on a clear day!

NHTSA ID

11738621

Incident

May 17, 2026

3rd time I experienced this, I took ownership of this car after my dad passed away and since that time this has happened 3 times...When required to brake hard the engine rev's and pulls the car forward, it almost like the ABS system is kicking in as things vibrate and the engine accelerates and pulls the car forward, THis last time it happened it actually pulled me into the intersection and almost caused a collision with the on coming car...Major Safety issue....When normal driving and braking things seem to be normal...Very scary and quite honestly nervous to have my wife drive this car...

NHTSA ID

11730959

Incident

Apr 13, 2026

The automatic braking system will momentarily engage. This has happened during daytime in a high contrast environment - light painting on road surface or dark shadows on road surface. Vehicle will suddenly deaccellerate then resume normal operation. This randomly happens, even at same locations. Safety is a concern since this sudden and unexpected. This sudden braking has not been reproduce by dealer or independent service provider nor has it been reported to said service providers. It is unknown if parts have been inspected by dealer. No service lights or warnings have been observed.

NHTSA ID

11725487

Incident

Mar 10, 2021

My Honda CRV EX-L traveling roughly 40 mph along a straight and clear road did a sudden hard break once it reached an intersection that had a green signal light. I noticed there was a car stopped on the right side of the intersection. I saw in my console “Braking” pop up message then it disappeared. My foot wasn’t on the brake pedal at all. I felt I was closed to being rear ended because I didn’t engage any braking at all. Time happened around 10:30 am.

NHTSA ID

11724484

Incident

Mar 15, 2026

My father's Honda CRV, which I was driving, suffered a computer reset due to a low voltage drop. This was, in turn, due to a failing fuel injector. The computer reset disabled many safety systems and core systems, including the parking brake (which is electronic), as well as adaptive cruise control, the tire monitoring system and blind spot sensors, tire inflation warning, hill start feature, and many others. There were no warning signs prior to the reset. After calling the dealership and reporting these issues, they still advised me to drive into the dealership for service. Upon doing so, they diagnosed the failing fuel injector. At this point, I had done research on the issue and found hundreds of similar reports concerning Honda CRVs and models with the 1.5L Turbo engine. Despite warranty extensions for some vehicles, the dealership claims that our VIN is not covered under the warranty extension. This is obviously a manufacturing fault and a safety issue. Please investigate Honda and require them to, at a minimum, extend their warranties to all affected vehicles with this defect. We have detailed maintenance records at the same dealership we bought the car from. The vehicle is available for inspection, and I am including the dealership's diagnostic.

NHTSA ID

11710501

Incident

Jan 9, 2026

While driving my 2019 Honda CR‑V at about 35 mph during night on a local road with no cars or obstacles in front of me, the vehicle suddenly applied the brakes hard by itself. There were no warning lights or messages other than the collision warning, and I did not touch the brake pedal. The sudden braking almost caused the car behind me to rear‑end me. This has happened several times in similar conditions when the Collision Mitigation Braking System / Honda Sensing was on.

NHTSA ID

11706934

Incident

Dec 3, 2025

The car slammed to a complete stop when there was no reason to. I was approaching an intersection slowly and already was applying the brakes. A pedestrian was on my left but not in front of the car. There was a large metal plate on the road. There was construction happening on the road. This is the second time in six months that the car slammed to a stop because of a metal plate on the road.

NHTSA ID

11699589

Incident

Nov 15, 2025

All the dashboard warning lights came on. The car became shaky, wouldn’t go above 10mph. All safety features were turned off. I couldn’t go up a hill. Eventually I just parked it and had it towed. I tried a hard reset thinking maybe a glitch. Didn’t help.

NHTSA ID

11697798

Incident

Nov 5, 2025

We were driving on the freeway in nice weather when the cars automatic emergency brake engaged at 75mph. No warning light came on the dash it was without any warning very scary thankfully no other cars where around us.

NHTSA ID

11694529

Incident

Oct 17, 2025

Driving under speed limit crossing through a green light at intersection automatic breaking system engaged. This caused rapid slowing throwing driver and things on passenger seat forward. No obstacles, cars or anything were visible or causing any possible accident or problem. The ABS system engaged flashing break warning on dash. This happened a year and a half earlier and on 7/23/2025

NHTSA ID

11675943

Incident

Jul 23, 2025

Today: The vehicle flashed the BRAKE warning light and suddenly decelerated/braked. There were no vehicles in front of the car for as far as the eye could see, it is a sunny day with dry conditions, and it was on an open highway that was flat, middle of the day, and the car was traveling 50 MPH. Fortunately, no vehicles were behind me. The BRAKE warning light has flashed on multiple occasions prior, without any trigger whatsoever, but it has only decelerated/braked a couple of times, and today’s was the worst and most jarring.

NHTSA ID

11675663

Incident

Jul 23, 2025

2019 Honda CRV brake system problem. Cannot start my car.

NHTSA ID

11660233

Incident

May 4, 2025

Driving in downtown area, decelerating for stop sign, maybe going 20 mph, when "brake!" illuminated on dash and vehicle abruptly came to a complete stop. It seems the automatic emergency braking system engaged and stopped the vehicle. Seat belt locked and items on seats were thrown to floor. Nothing was in the roadway other than driving over a flat metal road construction plate that was placed in the lane, covering trench work done to the road. Fortunately car behind me had enough room to stop before hitting me. Have driven this route many times including driving over this plate for the last several weeks with no issues until today. I have a sore shoulder and neck from seat belt and jerking motion when car stopped unexpectedly.

NHTSA ID

11655974

Incident

Apr 21, 2025

3 times now the automatic breaks have activated for no reason. The last time (last thurdsay) was a severe brake and thank god no one was near us cause it would have been a severe accident. We took our car to local honda dealership today and they said they could find nothing wrong). We are very nervous to drive the car as this is a real saftey issue, the car only started doing this recently and we have owned car since 2020.

NHTSA ID

11655766

Incident

Apr 17, 2025

Engine RPM surged while nose- in parking with foot on brake, causing vehicle to unexpectedly jump the parking barrier and hit a steel sign post, incurring $3,300 cosmetic damage to left front of vehicle. Pressed harder on brake to stop. Cost estimate obtained, complaint filed with American Honda.

NHTSA ID

11652814

Incident

Mar 19, 2025

On 3/25/2025, at 2:45 PM, my car stopped itself completely while driving at 35 mph on Transit Rd. near Sheridan Dr., under clear, dry conditions. No obstacles, no brake input—items on passenger seat flew off, my head jerked forward. Suspect Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) malfunction, per NHTSA EA22-003 (2017-2022 CR-Vs, 278 complaints, 47 crashes, 112 injuries). Vehicle is at Lia Honda for $285 diagnostic, completed 3/26/2025; they found no issues, recommend radar sensor recalibration (~$300 more) but say it ‘cannot guarantee the issue won’t recur’—I told them to wait. Available for inspection. Safety Risk: Sudden stop risked rear-end collision and jerked my head —matches EA22-003 crashes. Not reproduced. Prior inspection with oil change at Lia Honda on 3/21/25—no issues. No manufacturer, police, or insurance inspections. No warning lamps before failure—sudden onset. Honda corporate assigned a case manager on 3/26/2025, contacting me in 24-48 hrs. Request: Investigate—dealer’s inaction and costs are unacceptable.

NHTSA ID

11650785

Incident

Mar 25, 2025

As I pulled from a stop, into an intersection, the car slammed on the brakes with no warning. Did not see the normal "BRAKE" message as usually appears if you follow to closely for example and there was no car in front of me. It was a quick slam of the brakes, which threw my head forward and down suddenly, then released. I Continued driving and saw no warning lights or indication of a problem on the dashboard. However, when I parked the car and turned the engine off, it would not restart. Only clicked and displayed a continuous series of error messages on the dash including "Electronic Break System Failure" and others. The car would not start. I tried to start it multiple times until the battery eventually ran down. Called tow service and they jump started the car. All error messages reset and did not reappear. I only drove it short distance home and have not driven it since.

NHTSA ID

11648951

Incident

Mar 17, 2025

I was traveling on highway going posted speed of 70mph. There were no cars anywhere close to front of vehicle. Car automatically braked HARD, locking the seatbelt and throwing everything in car forward. It was not a "warning" brake it was a ridiculously HARD brake to attempt to stop car. I am shocked and amazed it did not cause accident or flip. As a result of this sudden hard stop, I have having back and neck pain as well as chest and shoulder pain. There was no reason for this to occur, there was nothing in front of the vehicle at all. There were however cars behind that nearly hit me. I may seek medical if back, neck and shoulder continue to hurt.

NHTSA ID

11646683

Incident

Mar 6, 2025