2012 Honda CR-V: battery drain or dead battery

Filed Nov 11, 2021 · UT

The 2012 CRV has one driver's side door key lock for the entire vehicle located on the drivers door. The 3 original keys for the CRV all fit in the key hole and turn easily, but none of the keys opened the door. The keys work to start the emission but not the doors, The fobs all work on all the doors, as well. This issue was identified when the battery died, the key fobs were rendered useless and none of the original keys worked to open the vehicle. This was very dangerous to have no way to enter our car if we were stranded due to a battery malfunction or other electrical issue. The car was brought to the Honda Dealership and evaluated and it was found that the door/key actuator is not working. There are many complaints identical to mine found on the internet. A class action lawsuit was filed against Honda Corp for this exact issue and the plantiffs won. I have missed this deadline for this class action lawsuit. Service Bulletins Service ID: 14-083, 14-084 These service bulletins allowed Honda CR-V owners to get their door actuators repaired free of charge until November 2015. The bulletins applied to the driver’s side and passenger door lock actuators, but stated they were only to be repaired if they were faulty, instead of a blanket replacement for all actuators. This is still an issue that is dangerous and needs to be fixed, especially as we do not know when a battery may die and not being able to get into your CRV. Honda Corp was also notified of this issue and to date nothing is being done.

Filed May 23, 2020 · Electrical · AZ

I bought this car in january 2015 replaced battery bought new on november 2015 and have had to replace the battery 4 times since. Last time new battery installed august of 2019 battery dead again in april 2020.

Filed Dec 6, 2018 · Electrical · 115,000 miles · MO

There is a battery drain issue. The electrical system will not keep it charged. The alternator has also been replaced early. Battery light comes on because it just can't keep charged. This is a safety issue. My wife called me from a parking lot miles away from my location with a dead battery. I don't like her driving with a vehicle that has electrical issues. Multiple batteries have been replaced on this vehicle. There is supposedly a "fix" from the dealership, but some online report that it does not work. I realize honda doesn't want to do a recall unless this is a safety issue; however, if my wife is stranded somewhere by herself in this vehicle that is a safety issue.

Filed Sep 11, 2018 · Electrical · 93,750 miles · VA

This chronic issue started with a slow crank and then a no start and aaa replaced the battery on 3/6/16. Two weeks ago on august 23rd the car would not start in the parking lot after sitting for 10 minutes with the engine turned off. I jumped the battery and then had aaa test the battery and charging system. They diagnosed the issue as the charging system, likely the alternator as it was charging the battery intermittently. They jumped the vehicle and it was taken in for service at bill page honda. They replaced the alternator in warranty and said the problem was fixed. On september 6th the car had a slow crank and then on september 7th the car would not start. I jumped the vehicle and took it directly to honda and they are presently insisting that the issue is a dead battery. However, if the battery was fine two weeks ago and the issue is known to be with the charging system, it is fair to say that the concern is not the battery, but the system that regulates the alternator's charging of the battery itself. The vehicle is in warranty, however, my concern is that the vehicle will no longer be in warranty when this issue occurs again if the battery is just replaced (I average about 2 years on a battery). Additionally, this is a diagnosis of exclusion and all other things must be ruled out before you can determine the actual cause.

Filed May 6, 2018 · Electrical · 34,000 miles · VA

Battery charging system recall. Battery dead left light on 3 minutes, ignition off. Nothing else on.

Filed Dec 16, 2015 · Electrical · 50,000 miles · VA

My 7 months pregnant wife got stranded 200 miles from home when her alternator decided to die on her resulting in a dead battery. We only have 50,000 miles on this vehicle and an alternator shouldn't die on a vehicle this young in its life span. Luckily a good seminarian decided to give her car a jump start which got her to her destination safely. So since we are out of warranty and needed to have this fixed quickly, we took it to a local trusted shop in the area and the alternator had a faulty part which ended up costing us over $600 dollars to get fixed. We also have had a loud engine rattle noise that occurs on cold startups for the past year and honda has been aware of this issue since 2008 and has not issued a recall and has not come up with a permanent fix. I believe the quality of honda cars has been drastically declining over the past couple of years and I have lost faith in the honda brand and will never buy another honda again.

Filed Nov 24, 2015 · Electrical · 45,000 miles · MA

Battery keeps dying. Loses charge every once in a while even after car has been running for hours.

Filed Jan 20, 2015 · Electrical · 49,000 miles · PA

Software update for battery. Heater/defroster blower motor (subassembly motor). Dead battery. Software was supposed to read battery voltage and wasn't working correctly so honda required software update. Had that done at dealer on 01/01/15. At that time asked about the heater/defroster noise and the fact that it didn't always work. Was informed by dealership the subassembly motor needed to be replaced. Repair estimate is $1200.00. On wednesday 01/07/15 went out to start car and battery was dead. Had to replace with new battery. Car was purchased april 2012, less than three years old. Out of warranty due to mileage. Software update didn't work in sensing voltage since I came out to a dead battery 1 week after "update". Subassembly motor part not something that is a mileage wear and tear issue. Can be a safety issue if defroster not functioning properly subsequently leading to poor visibility through windshield.

Filed Sep 15, 2014 · Steering · 9,000 miles · CA

I bought the 2012 crv ex in dec 2012. There have been multiple failures in my car AC died, vibrations, battery died while driving. The following is the major incident which occurred in my car. While driving at around 40 miles, the steering of the car stopped responding and started responding after few sec and then went bad. I stopped my car cautiously, missed hitting the car in front of me. Took on the side of the street and tried to move back and forth. After 10 mins and lot of honks from other car it started responding. While this thing was going on my wife took the video. Took it to the dealership slowly driving and the dealer said there is no issue in the car and I can take this away. Scared to death, I asked dealer that I will not take the car back and sent him the video of my car by uploading it on you tube. As soon as they saw the video, as usual it became a safety concerns and he then did not want me to take the car back. They found some issue and fixed it after keeping the car for two days. No issues with the steering since then but my AC died suddenly now. I took my car over 15 times to dealership in 1 year of new purchase. Opened a case with honda customer service and they said "this is what warranty is for". Good going honda. I am never going to buy any car in future from them. They believe their product is bery good and so they do not deal properly with any problem they have in the cars. I still have the youtube video, I can share that if it is of some use to anyone else.

Filed Aug 20, 2014 · Electrical · 17,800 miles · CA

Significant number of vehicles manufactured in 2012, have a battery problem for which a service bulletin has been created internally within honda. However, the communication was never sent to the owners, an online query does not show any recalls for this vehicle. Due the lack of communication, the owners had to carry a portable jump station to get the car started everytime the battery died.

Filed Jun 12, 2012 · Electrical · 5,550 miles · TX

I was driving into my driveway and put into park. The key would not come out of ignition. Very frustrated it was late at night and I tried wiggling the key. I could turn car off but so it wasn't running but it was on enough for audio to stay on. I drove around hoping I could reset what problem was but did the same thing when I parked. I had to leave key in ignition till the battery died, which took till the next day. We put key in again after it came out and it did the same thing and got stuck again and got hot when we did get it out. We jump started car enough to get to dealership and key did same thing when I parked it there until the battery died and then it was able to come out. They called and said they had to replace the shift assembly. They specifically said in service paper that "the shifter assembly was pinching the wire from the park pin switch causing short electrical dig" and they sent pics and information to tech line.