- following up on 278 complaints from consumers, the national highway traffic safety administration (nhtsa) is investigating the automated emergency braking systems in honda's accord and cr-v.
- the investigation covers the 2017–2019 cr-v and the 2018–2019 accord.
- the nhtsa office of defects investigation will look into what it describes as "inadvertent activation of the collision mitigation braking system" in the two models.
honda has been working toward the goal of having its honda sensing driver-assist safety technology as standard on every vehicle, and that package includes automated emergency braking (aeb). already in 2018, a million honda vehicles were so equipped. now the national highway traffic safety administration (nhtsa) has announced it's launching an investigation into the system, after 278 complaints that the braking can happen unnecessarily when there is no obstacle in the vehicle's path.
of the complaints, 107 involved 2018 or 2019 accord sedans, and 171 involved the 2017–2019 cr-v crossover. nhtsa said in its initial document that six of these cases involved collisions and minor injuries. honda calls its aeb system the "collision mitigation braking system" (cmbs).
tesla has also come under nhtsa investigation this month over "phantom braking" in its 2021 and 2022 tesla model 3 and model y electric vehicles, also involving an automated emergency braking system.
honda was one of 20 automakers that agreed to a plan to make aeb standard on at least 95 percent of its vehicles by 2022, saying it intended to meet that goal two years ahead of schedule. earlier this month honda released a statement saying its full safety suite, honda sensing, "is now standard or available on all new honda models, found on nearly five million honda vehicles on u.s. roads today." it is unclear whether the problem reported on the 2017–2019 cr-v and 2018–2019 accord could affect other honda vehicles or newer models of those two vehicles, but at this time those are the only ones that are part of the nhtsa probe.
when asked about that, a honda spokesperson told car and driver, "each model’s adas [advanced driver assistance system] setup is slightly different based on the inherent vehicle differences, and with each generation change, programming evolves." the automaker also issued a statement saying: "honda will cooperate with nhtsa through the investigation process, and we will continue our own internal review of the available information."