2017 Honda Accord: false forward collision warnings

Filed Dec 10, 2025 · Driver assistance · CA

Vehicle: 2017 Honda Accord EX Mileage at incident: Approx 30,000 Date of incident: Dec 10, 2025 Description of problem: While my daughter was driving our 2017 Honda Accord EX, the Collision Mitigation Braking System (CMBS) suddenly activated without warning. The car slammed on the brakes even though there was no obstacle in front of her. This caused the vehicle to skid, but fortunately there was no collision or injury. There were no diagnostic codes found when inspected by an independent auto shop. The shop advised us to temporarily disable the CMBS system. This appears to be part of the ongoing issue of phantom braking in Honda vehicles, which has been reported by many owners and is currently under the federal safety agency investigation. I am concerned about the safety risk, especially since my daughter drives this car regularly. Safety concern: Unexpected braking at highway or city speeds could easily cause a rear-end collision or loss of control. I request that the federal safety agency investigate this incident and ensure Honda provides a permanent fix or recall.

Filed Aug 15, 2025 · Transmission · VA

Several times when driving at speeds of 50-60mph with my foot steady on the accelerator, the car will suddenly start to slow down so that I am going only, say, 40 mph. Either at the same time or shortly after this occurs, multiple warning lights/messages appear on the dash: Collision Mitigation System, Brake System, ACC System all appear and messages say they are not working, which is true, although the brakes seemed to still work fine. When this occurred the first time, I was able to pull off the highway and stop, unsure of what to do. I continued to try and drive because I was in the middle of a long trip. The slow downs kept happening intermittently, but I discovered that if I pumped the accelerator a couple of times, the speed would be restored. However, this was still a dangerous situation because I never knew when it would occur, so I stayed in the right lane and had to avoid any situations requiring confident acceleration, such as crossing a busy street. In total, this has occurred while I’m driving approximately 10-15 times, but the warning lights may or may not go away after a while, or after stopping and re-starting the car. I took car to DAR Cars Honda Fairfax (Virginia) dealer who updated software and said it should be fixed. Next day as I was driving about 50 mph, the slowdown occurred again and the warning lights came on. I drove back to the dealer, during which time the slowdown occurred one more time with me pumping accelerator to get power back, and left it with them. They could not reproduce the symptoms. I had them keep and drive it another day to see if they could make the slowdown occur, but it did not, so I picked up the car. However, I feel that this is a dangerous situation and I can no longer drive this car confidently on long trips or in situations where I need acceleration that I can rely on.

Filed Jul 15, 2025 · NJ

I am writing to formally raise a serious safety concern regarding a known and recurring defect in the infotainment/head unit system of my 2017 Honda Accord. Like many other Honda owners, I am experiencing unpredictable and extremely loud static or popping sounds through the speakers, which occur without warning while the vehicle is in operation. This issue significantly compromises vehicle safety. The sudden, blaring static drowns out critical audio alerts such as collision warnings, lane departure signals, and other safety-related notifications, placing me and others at increased risk while driving. Upon bringing this issue to a certified Honda dealership, I was informed that the head unit cannot be disconnected, as it is integrated with the vehicle’s essential safety features. In other words, I am forced to choose between enduring a hazardous and disruptive audio malfunction or disabling key safety systems entirely—an unacceptable situation for any driver, particularly in a vehicle marketed as reliable and safe. Furthermore, I was advised that the only known solution is a full replacement of the head unit, which comes at a cost of approximately $1,800 out of pocket. It is deeply concerning that Honda is expecting customers to bear the cost of repairing a defect that is both widespread and clearly rooted in manufacturing or design flaws. Given the scope and severity of this issue, I urge Honda to take immediate and responsible action by issuing a recall or providing an extended warranty repair for all affected vehicles. I am requesting a formal response regarding how Honda plans to resolve this matter in my case and ensure the safety of its customers moving forward.

Filed Jul 3, 2024 · Driver assistance · 94,000 miles · VA

The contact owns a 2017 Honda Accord. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the Forward Collision Avoidance Dynamic Brake Assist activated unexpectedly. The contact stated that the message “BRAKE” was displayed. The vehicle was taken to a dealer to be diagnosed. The contact was informed that the brake sensor was dirty and needed to be cleaned. The vehicle was repaired; however, the failure reoccurred. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer and was being diagnosed. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 94,000.

Filed Apr 4, 2024 · Brakes, Driver assistance · OH

On [XXX] the car was being drive from North Carolina to Ohio. The brakes failed in Fort Chiswell, VA, at 5:00 pm on [XXX]. Using the brake pedal did not slow the car, had to put gear selector in B, that slowed the car but did not bring it to a stop. Had to use the emergency brakes to come to a complete stop. This malfunction could cause a crash or could cause injury or death. The brakes failed a second time the tollbooth between Princeton, WV, and Beckley, WV. On [XXX] the car was towed to the Honda dealership in Beckley WV. The dealership worked on the brakes and claimed to have fixed the problem. On [XXX], after one hour of driving, now in Charleston, WV, the brakes failed a third time. The car was turned off and then back on and driven and the brakes failed a fourth time. The car was towed to the Honda dealership in Charleston WV. The dealership was told that the problem occurs after driving the car for an hour or so. The dealership was not willing to drive the car that long to replicate the problem. There is a Honda Service Bulletin [XXX] that pertains to a similar brake problem on this vehicle. The dealership did not appear to be aware of the service bulletin. When the braked failed, the following warning indicators were displayed on the dashboard: Vehicle Stability Assist (VSA) problem Hill Start Assist problem Collision Mitigation System Problem Road Departure Mitigation System Problem Adaptive Cruise Control Problem Brake System Problem INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

Filed Jul 7, 2023 · Driver assistance · LA

Hello I am proudly owner of honda since 2003 i only buy honda cars and recently on my 2017 honda we have issues with sensing system this error codes come and goes and i went to dealer and they told me to replace sensing Camara in front but I think it is just manufacturing defects because error code come and goes while you drive car. I cannot use any feature such as cruise control, forwarding collision warning, lane departure warning, lane keeping assistance and all features including in sensing system. I was on long distance trip and when i was coming back all those errors started coming.

Filed Feb 14, 2023 · Acceleration, Driver assistance · FL

I was driving my vehicle and it began displaying messages that my collision mitigation system, road departure mitigation system, adaptive cruise control system, and lane keep assist system all have problems. Simultaneously, my backup camera has ceased working. This is causing my vehicle to randomly lurch forward without being propelled by me, which is EXTREMELY DANGEROUS! All of these issues/codes began at the exact same time and it seems this is a widespread problem with Honda Accords manufactured around this year based on prior reports on this site, recalls to subsequent models, and other information publicly available on the internet. When will we get the same recall that has been offered to other models? My vehicle only has 58,000 miles and change on it. There's no reason for it to be functioning in this manner other than its defective manufacturing.

Filed Feb 11, 2023 · Airbags, Driver assistance · VA

I have a 2017 Honda accord, just a little over 5 years old and 73K miles. It has never been in a car accident and I bought it new from the dealer. Last month I started to have lights that showed my lane assist, adaptive cruise control, collision mitigation system, and road departure mitigation system were not functioning. I took my car to the dealer and was initially told that it was an SRS unit failure. Later, they changed and said the SRS unit is fine but the camera is damaged. Honda is considering this normal wear/tear and will not cover this repair even though the car has never been in an accident. The car will not pass inspection unless this is fixed. The airbags will not deploy until this is fixed and the car is therefore dangerous to drive. The camera is on back order and it will be at least a month before it can be repaired.

Filed Jan 21, 2023 · Driver assistance, Electrical · VA

Road departure mitigation system problem, adaptive cruise control problem, lane keep assist problem, collision mitigation system problem - lights all started to turn on in 2017 Honda Accord Touring. Took the car to the dealer. Was told that the entire SRS system has failed. The car was bought in 2017 brand new from the dealer and has never been in a car accident. Unclear why a five year old car is already having electrical system failure. Car won’t pass inspection and this is a $1000 repair.

Filed Dec 27, 2022 · Driver assistance · AZ

All wrong lights came on the dash and all components had failed. Took it to the dealership and they weren't able to diagnose, they reset the system and said that if it failed again I would need to purchase a Honda battery as it had recently replaced with another brand. Everything worked for about two weeks until I was on the freeway with the cruise control set at 75 and suddenly the brakes took me down 35. Very frightening experience. Took it in again and they said I needed to replace the camera in the windshield at $1,900.00: my car only had 42,000 miles and 4 years old. Reluctantly, we replaced and paid for the camera and once again the cruise and lane assist failed a week later. My screen also appears to be defective as it goes black and pixilated and the dealership simply resets it and the problem persists. Took it into the dealership for the 4th time and they reset system and once again it worked for about week... again the forward collision warning slammed on the brakes on the freeway. I do not feel safe driving the car with all the failures happening so abruptly. Honda is not being helpful with this problem and the severity of the problem doesn't seem to be a priority.

Filed Jul 27, 2022 · Driver assistance · OH

When Driving the car it will occasionally Brake when another car is passing in the opposite direction My local Honda Service technician can find no problems. When we deactivate t he CMBS(Collision Mitigation Braking System) the problem goes away.

Filed Mar 11, 2022 · Driver assistance · GA · crash

Traffic was traveling at around 55 miles per hour. The car in front had to make a quick stop to avoid hitting a flagger that could not be seen due to the sun. My car that is equipped with Hondas forward collision mitigation system did not respond. I pressed the brakes myself but did not stop in time resulting in an accident. The system does activate randomly while driving and will slam the brakes when no objects are in the path of the vehicle.