2021 Honda CR-V
Problems, recalls and owner-reported issues
Steering is the leading concern among 331 owner complaints filed for this model year. This is the 22nd highest complaint count among 26 CR-V model years with reports.
Of the 2021 reports, 14 involved a crash and 1 involved a fire. 13 people were injured.
What owners report most often
Recalls and investigations
Air bags, sensor, occupant classification, front passengerMay 21, 2026
Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) is recalling certain 2018-2021, 2023 Acura TLX, 2019-2024 RDX, 2017-2020, 2022-2026 MDX, 2017-2021, 2023, 2025 Honda Ridgeline, 2017-2022 Pilot, 2019-2021 Passport, 2018-2026 Odyssey, 2019-2022 Insight, 2019-2021 HR-V, 2018-2020 Fit, 2020-2022 CR-V Hybrid, 2017-2022 CR-V, 2017-2018, 2021 Civic Type R, 2017-2021 Civic hatchback, 2016-2020 Civic coupe, 2016-2022 Civic, 2017-2022 Accord Hybrid, and 2016-2022 Accord vehicles. The front passenger seat weight sensor may crack and short circuit, which can cause the air bags to deploy unintentionally during a crash.
Air bags that deploy unintentionally during a crash increase the risk of injury.
Dealers will replace the seat weight sensors, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed July 7, 2026. Owners may contact Honda's customer service at 1-888-234-2138. Honda's numbers for this recall are BOL, WO9, OOA, WOM, XOH, NOC, POD, BOE, UOF, POB, EOG, AOI, QO8, TOJ, DO7, and SOK. This recall expands previous NHTSA recall number 24V064. Vehicle Identification Numbers (VINs) involved in this recall will be searchable on NHTSA.gov beginning May 29, 2026.
Campaign 26V332000 on NHTSA.gov
Air bags, sensor, occupant classification, front passengerFeb 1, 2024
Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) is recalling certain 2020-2022 Pilot, Accord, Civic sedan, HR-V, Odyssey, 2020 Civic coupe, Fit, 2021-2022 Civic hatchback, 2021 Civic Type R, Insight, 2020-2021 CR-V, CR-V Hybrid, Passport, Ridgeline, Accord Hybrid, 2020 Acura MDX, 2022 Acura MDX, 2020-2022 Acura RDX, and 2020-2021 Acura TLX vehicles. The front passenger seat weight sensor may crack and short circuit, failing to suppress the air bag as intended.
An air bag that deploys unintentionally during a crash can increase the risk of injury.
Dealers will replace the seat weight sensors, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed March 28, 2024. This is a phased recall. Owners may contact Honda customer service at 1-888-234-2138. Honda's numbers for these recalls are XHP and VHQ.
Campaign 24V064000 on NHTSA.gov
Fuel system, gasoline, delivery, fuel pumpDec 18, 2023
Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) is recalling certain 2013-2023 Honda Accord, Civic Coupe, Civic Sedan, Civic Hatchback, Civic Type R, CR-V, HR-V, Ridgeline, Odyssey, Acura ILX, MDX, MDX Hybrid, RDX, RLX, TLX, 2019-2022 Honda Insight, Passport, 2020 Honda CR-V Hybrid, 2018-2019 Honda Clarity PHEV, Fit, and 2015-2020 Honda Accord Hybrid, Pilot, Acura NSX vehicles. The fuel pump inside the fuel tank may fail.
Fuel pump failure can cause an engine stall while driving, increasing the risk of a crash.
Dealers will replace the fuel pump module, free of charge. Owner letters were mailed September 6, 2024. Owners may contact Honda customer service at 1-888-234-2138. Honda's numbers for this recall are KGC and KGD. This recall is an expansion of NHTSA recall numbers 21V-215 and 20V-314.
Campaign 23V858000 on NHTSA.gov
Seat belts, rear/other, retractorNov 18, 2021
Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) is recalling certain 2021 Accord Sedan, Accord Hybrid, CR-V, Ridgeline, 2022 Insight and CR-V Hybrid vehicles. The automatic locking retractor on the second-row center seat belt assembly may deactivate improperly, which can result in an unsecured child restraint system. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard number 208, "Occupant Crash Protection."
An unsecured child restraint system can increase the risk of injury during a crash.
Dealers will replace the second-row center seat belt assembly, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed January 14, 2022. Owners may contact Honda customer service at 1-888-234-2138.
Campaign 21V900000 on NHTSA.gov
Representative owner complaints: forward collision avoidance
87 reports, newest first. Show all
Forward collision avoidance, Jun 22, 2022
While driving on a highway at approximately 60-65MPH, the vehicle in front of me began to brake. I was a safe distance from the vehicle in front of me. I also started to brake, but allowed the gap between us to close somewhat due to a vehicle following closely behind me. The Honda’s emergency braking system suddenly took over with MAXIMUM braking, causing items in my vehicle to fly around AND the vehicle behind me to nearly rear end me. I had NO control over the braking. My wife screamed at me, thinking that I had slammed my foot on the brakes, but it was beyond my control. I’ve asked my Honda dealer if the system can be adjusted but I was given no help. I understand the emergency braking system’s intended purpose, but the manner that this system has engaged (3 times) is unsafe. It’s not like I wasn’t paying attention, I was, and I was already braking. It’s actually scary the way it locked up. Yes, I know that the brakes didn’t actually lock up, they are antilock brakes, but it was like I was standing on the brake pedal. Have there been similar complaints about this? * The date below, 10/26/2021, is approximately the first time that this happened. It happened two additional times. It pretty scary when it happens.
Service brakes, Forward collision avoidance, May 26, 2022
Driving on empty road about 40 mph. Brakes engaged momentarily and red brake light came up on dash. Happened in daylight with excellent visibility. No cars in front or other lane and nothing on roadway. Car has 1040 miles on it. Will report to dealer but expect little resolution.
Air bags, Forward collision avoidance, May 20, 2022, crash
I'm trying to report an incident that involved my Honda CRV running into a totally stopped Tesla in the HOV lane on I-75 in Atlanta Georgia on Sunday, May 8, 2022, at around 9 AM. We came around a large curve and had no time to avoid running into the TOTALLY STOPPED Tesla in the HOV lane. I have seen reports of "phantom braking" in Teslas. The driver of the Tesla stated to us that he was using cruise control and when the Tesla sensed a car pulled off into the breakdown lane, it stopped completely and there was nothing he could do. Our car sustained serious damage. Fortunately, we were not injured, but I believe NHTSA should be investigating Tesla for these incidents. If this is not the correct form to report this, please advise. There was no problem associated with my CRV in this incident.
Lane departure, Forward collision avoidance, Apr 5, 2022
I was driving on a divided 4 lane road that offers a wide right side shoulder at around 43 MPH. I was traveling in the right lane. The lane markings are fresh and visible. It was late afternoon and sun was shining. The road surface was dry. There were no vehicles immediately in front of or along the side of mine. I had not activated the lane keeping assist or automatic cruise control features. Only the hazard mitigation/automatic braking and road departure mitigation features were operational. The car suddenly attempted to swerve left, away from the center of the lane being utilized. The automatic braking system also activated. I was able to simply "drive through" the malfunction without incident. This was the first instance I have noted of this kind. Due to the fact that it was late afternoon, there were shadows from overhead power line being cast onto the lane being driven. I have owned previous cars that sometimes attempted to track said shadow when the lane keeping assist is activated. That was not the scenario yesterday as LKAS was not selected. It was as though the sensors detected a pending pedestrian strike or other collision.
Service brakes, Forward collision avoidance, Mar 29, 2022
Slowed down to go across a metal plate where work had been done on the street. Suddenly the car came to a hard stop. There was a car in the left lane that also slowed to cross the metal plate. Once before I was rounding a curve and the car softly broke on its own, but didn't completely stop. There was a car again in the left lane. had the car behind me been closer, I would have been rear-ended. There was also no cars in front of me at both times. The warning collision light did come on and beep. I did call the dealer, they check for recalls and there were none. No inspections have been done. I plan to take it to the dealer for inspection.
Other or unspecified, Lane departure, Forward collision avoidance, Mar 25, 2022
On more than one occasion while driving the touch screen went black couldn’t access my navigation nothing couldn’t get the screen to turn on it wouldn’t do anything. Then it will tell me connect device when my phone is plugged in I’ve changed the cords replaced them with generic apple cords nothing bought apple cord and still nothing, apple car play doesn’t connect says you need to unplug device for car play to work nothing. The sensors are not working like they should there will be nothing around the car will alarm brake then it will automatically brake. I should not have to at to replace the touch screen in my vehicle it’s under warranty well under the miles as well. I work at a car dealership and the touch screen issue is a big problem I get several complaints about the touch screens not working.
Other or unspecified, Forward collision avoidance, Mar 14, 2022
My 2021 Honda CRV is activating the brakes at inappropriate times. I've had 5 total instances that could have resulted in a rear-end collision both on the street driving 5-35 mph and freeway at 30-50 mph. The system on the dash board flashed "brake." However, there is more than a car space between the car in front of the car. The braking system activates and I am unable to counteract the brakes locking up on the car. I am very concerned that if I were to continue to drive my car , it may result in an accident with a car crashing into the back of my car. At this time I am waiting for the vehicle to be inspected.
Forward collision avoidance, Mar 1, 2022
The contact owns a 2021 Honda CR-V. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle experienced unintended braking. The contact then deactivated the collision mitigation braking system. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired by an independent mechanic or dealer. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 7,000.
Forward collision avoidance, Lane departure, Feb 28, 2022
The contact owns a 2021 Honda CR-V. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the vehicle would independently downshift without warning. The contact also stated that the failure would occur while the cruise control was activated. In addition, the contact also stated that the lane-keep assist would fail to differentiate between road salt and line marking on the roadway, resulting in inadvertent sudden downshifting. The contact's husband had taken the vehicle to a dealer where their concerns were ignored and no diagnostic test was performed. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The vehicle had yet to be repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 100. In addition to the above, the lane keep assist cannot distinguish between lines & cracks in the road, which is a big deal in Missouri, and an issue I fight with daily on roads I have no choice to travel on. And it's not downshifting that happens with the lane keep assist-it tries to correct, but the corrections if I don't fight them will either run me into the opposing lane or off the road.
Forward collision avoidance, Nov 18, 2021
I have a 2021 Honda Crv Awd. On 11/14/2021 the Forward Collision Avoidance System engaged . I was stopped at a red light and when the light turned proceeded in 30 feet the system engaged. There was no car or pedestrian in front of me. The car beeped and brakes engaged. Luckily the car behind me was able to stop. Like another car with the same problem brought it to the dealer and was told they couldn’t find anything was wrong. They did lower the sensitivity of the sensors. The also said that a leaf could set it off. My wife is not comfortable riding in the car now. She fears that it could happen on the HiWays.
Forward collision avoidance, Oct 2, 2021
Purchased car on July 7, 2021, that same day the car did not start when stepped on brake and pushed start button. Happened again on July 8, 2021. Called Dealer, Took it in on July 9, 2021. They could not duplicate problem. Assured me it was not a problem. Drove to CT on July 10, 2021, Did not start several times during the trip. On July 11, on return trip from CT a warning light came on dashboard. IN black letters in a red rectangular box - BRAKE. I called dealer on Monday July 12, 2021 and reported the warning. He said it meant there were cars in the way. The BRAKE IN A BOX occurred 2 more times (8/6 and 8/17). I called dealer who said it was not a problem. I subsequently searched the warning on line and it says "BRING YOUR CAR TO A DEALER. TO CONTINUE DRIVING COULD BE DANGEROUS!" I left the car with the dealer for 9 days. Sept 3 through September 11, 2021. They said they could not find anything wrong. I continue to have problems with starting the car, often getting the message that says TO START ENGINE: BRAKE+PUSH. Which is exactly what I do to start the car. When I picked up the car on September 11 (after 9 days with the dealer) the service manager told me he would contact their regional manager to report the problem to the regional manager. That's the last I heard from him except when I called and he said he had not heard from regional manager yet. I called again and left message but have not heard back. I have also submitted a complaint with HONDA and I have written 3 emails to the VP of Customer Relations. the VP has not responded to me at all. The complaint person contacted the dealer and dealer told him they could not duplicate the problem. After many weeks, complaint person contacted me to let me know this. He has no other recommendations. At this time i am afraid to drive the car and just drive it locally. I have avoided the highway, and any long trips because of my fear that there is something seriously wrong with the car and brakes.
Forward collision avoidance, Jul 30, 2021
I bought a 2021 Honda CRV on May 01, 2021. On July 22 and again on July 25 this car just suddenly put on the breaks for no reason. On the second occasion my sister was in the car with me and was slung forward. She has had three heart attacks and has a pace maker and was so upset I feared her heart might fail her. I have had one heart attack and my heart was pounding too. Fortunately there was no car close behind me on either occasion or I would have been rear ended. Now I feel I must drive slowly because of this but that increases the likelihood of someone driving too close behind me and hitting me if the car stops suddenly. I took the car to the dealership but they said there was nothing wrong with it.