I was driving down the road, on Pinewood rd Sumter sc 29154, the front camera sensed something in the road but nothing was in the road I didn’t brake because I didn’t see anything in the road the orange brake light flashed on dash, so the car did a hard brake of its own, it jerked me the driver I had a sore neck and upper back area for a day due to the hard brake that jerked me. I continue to have phantom braking but I brake when this occurs to avoid hard jerks. I have not yet taken to the dealership.
2020 Honda Accord: brakes engage by themselves (phantom braking)
16 of the 370 complaints about the 2020 Honda Accord describe brakes engage by themselves (phantom braking).
- owner complaints
- 16
- of this car's complaints
- 4%
- recalls
- 0
Is there a fix? 41 service bulletins cover this area of the car. See below
Brakes engage by themselves (phantom braking) by model year
What owners say
The contact owns a 2020 Honda Accord. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, several unknown warning lights illuminated, and the Forward Collision Avoidance message was displayed. The vehicle was taken to the dealer. The contact was informed that the radar sensor, located on the front bumper, indicated that the vehicle was involved in a crash. The contact stated that the vehicle was not involved in a crash. The vehicle was repaired. The contact stated that on a separate occasion, while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle experienced phantom braking twice. After several minutes, the vehicle returned to normal functionality. The “BRAKE” message was displayed. The contact stated that the failure had occurred while driving on the expressway. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer or an independent mechanic to be repaired. Most recently, while driving at an undisclosed speed, several warning lights were illuminated and remained illuminated. Additionally, the cruise control and Lane Departure warning lights failed to function as intended. The vehicle also failed to accelerate as intended while depressing the accelerator pedal. The contact's wife pulled to the side of the road, turned off, and restarted the vehicle. The vehicle returned to driving as intended. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer or an independent mechanic. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 35,000.
It is unknown what system failed. While coasting to slow for the stopped car in front of me, the car began aggressively accelerating without warning. Adaptive and standard cruise control were both off. Lane keep assist and road departure were also switched off. Due to the slick nature of the road, the acceleration left me traveling far too fast with little space to stop. After sliding to a stop, I was within a foot from the car in front of me. This failure very nearly caused an at-fault accident which there was nothing more I could do. Note that this happened roughly 40 mins into a drive, which was otherwise uneventful. No warning lights were present before, during, or after the issue. This car has been having phantom braking issues and power loss issues consistently since March and has spent significant time in Honda's hands for this issue. The vehicle has come to a near stop on the highway from the previous braking issues and has lost power, stranding me in traffic on a highway. It is suspected that the same system failure that caused those issues has come back up again. To date, thousands have been spent on repair "guesses" and tow bills with no end in sight to these safety issues. This vehicle has become a liability and, as a result, inspections are strongly encouraged. I have included photos of the floor mats as they were at the time, properly secured and not near either pedal.
Driving on a clear road on a clear day with no car in front of me, the brake warning flashed and then the car braked on its own. There was NO reason for the warning or for the car to brake on its own. Automatic breaking isn’t even a feature on this car.
I tried to take my car to the dealer because my car brakes on its own and it had a alert that something was wrong with the air bags . I can ve driving anywhere and without reason the car breaks putting my life in danger and my family. I have tried to contact the dealer about this serious matter but I don't get anywhere. I am reaching out to see what solution we can come to ?
On September 2, 2025 at 1004-1005 EST, my car phantom braked, when there was nothing in front of me and this time instead of just flashing brake on the dashboard, it actually breaks itself and threw me into the steering wheel thank God my seatbelt caught me, but it really choked me up. This has happened quite a number of times before, but this is the first time that it breaked when I actually stepped on the brake pedal it break itself myself also. The component is the automatic breaking for the collision impact that keeps phantom breaking on me. It has never been looked at by a dealer or anyone otherwise. The lamp that came on was the BREAK lamp where the rpm are at.
The car brake by itself with no obstacles in the way
The automatic emergency braking system malfunctioned on 7/18/24. I was driving approx. 20 mph on a local road and there was no vehicle, pedestrian, or other object in front of the car when unexpectedly the orange warning to brake came on and an instant later the car braked on its own and came to a complete stop in the middle of the road. Given the sudden and forceful stop, I went forward into the seat belt. Fortunately, there was not a vehicle behind me as I would have been rear ended putting both me and the people in the other vehicle in danger. I reported the incident to the dealer using their online system (I wanted to do it in writing, but could not find a direct email address), but have not heard back from them yet.
On [XXX] I took my elderly mother to physical therapy and the car began to randomly brake although there were no vehicles in front of me. The braking light flashed and then car brakes on its own. A week later I was driving approximately 55 mph on a major highway and the car started braking again but without the warning light. Again, there were no cars anywhere around me. The next day I went to the Honda dealership in Covington, LA because I am very concerned this will happen again unexpectedly when there are cars around me and it will result in a bad accident injuring myself or others. I was told he can keep my car all day but he said they probably could not recreate the issue so its just a waste of time. He said nothing he can do about it. That's just how it is and maybe it was from a bug passing the sensor. I know have to remember to turn off the feature every time I drive because I am terrified that it will randomly brake again and it may cause a serious accident. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
Vehicle engaged emergency brake by itself. Also in regards to current fuel delivery recall, Honda has yet to fix my recall saying they have not come up with the parts yet. This is my only vehicle that I bough to commute to work of 150 miles a day. The car stalls on the highway becoming more often than not and is hard to start sometimes.
Car emergency braking system activates with nothing in front of me this has happend to me 3 times today it slowed me down to a complete stop on the interstate and took a few seconds to disengage with cars swerving around me to avoid collision this is a major issue
Driving on the interstate going about 60mph with no one in front of me or behind me and the car brakes by itself. This is the fourth time this vehicle has randomly brake
Service bulletins that may apply
Related recalls
No recalls on record for this model year.
Questions about the 2020 Honda Accord phantom braking
Is brakes engage by themselves (phantom braking) a common problem on the 2020 Honda Accord?
16 of 370 owner complaints about the 2020 Honda Accord (4%) mention brakes engage by themselves (phantom braking). The model year with the most reports is 2018.
Is there a recall or service bulletin for this on the 2020 Honda Accord?
There are 0 recalls and 41 service bulletins for the same area of the car. Check them below with your VIN.
Other symptoms on the 2020 Honda Accord
Warning lights 37Check engine light 29Collision warning 26Stalling 22Adaptive cruise 21Fuel pump 21Loss of power 20Jerking 17Lane assist 14Airbag light 13Misfire 12Overheating 8Won't shift 8Grinding brakes 6ABS 5
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