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2012 Honda CR-V: ball joint or control arm failure

7 of the 403 complaints about the 2012 Honda CR-V describe ball joint or control arm failure.

owner complaints
7
of this car's complaints
2%
recalls
0
Is there a fix? 1 service bulletin covers this area of the car. See below

Ball joint or control arm failure by model year

What owners say

Filed Aug 31, 2026 · Suspension · 218,000 miles · TX

The contact owns a 2012 Honda CR-V. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle pulled to the left. The driver pulled over, and the vehicle was towed to the residence. Upon inspection, the contact discovered that the rear driver's side wheel suspension assembly had detached and the control arm mounting point had separated from the body due to corrosion. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired by a dealer or an independent mechanic. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 218,000.

Filed Nov 14, 2025 · Body, Suspension · PA

During the installation of the rear frame bracket (recommended from the 2011 recall), it was determined the vehicle is unsafe. The frame brace recall not designed for the 2012 CRV would not fit the vehicle. Notified customer of the condition of the left control arm. Not safe for the road. Recommended not to drive this vehicle.

Filed Sep 19, 2025 · Suspension · 228,000 miles · MN

The contact owns a 2012 Honda CR-V. While the contact's daughter was driving at an undisclosed speed, the rear control arm detached. The vehicle was driven to the shoulder of the road. The vehicle was towed to the contact's residence. The dealer was made aware of the failure but provided no assistance. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure, and a case was filed. The contact referenced an unknown recall with a similar failure description; however, the VIN was not included. The failure mileage was approximately 228,000.

Filed Sep 14, 2025 · Suspension · NY

TPMS warning light was on and then entire Dash lit up while steering was crooked on the column. Driving while incident occurred did not cause accident. disabled vehicle due to the same manufactured defects in the 2007 through 2011 Honda CRV models that have a recall on them my vehicle was manufactured August 2012 past cutoff date for the gen 3 model. Submitting this request for repair unable to drive the vehicle and it's current condition. This all due to the same manufacturer defect found on the rear control arm gen 3 body type and suspension of the 2007 through 2011 models same gen 3 should be repaired and accepted as a recall having exact same issue because it's the exact same type of model car.

Filed Aug 22, 2025 · Suspension · WV

Was driving my 2012 Honda CRV home from the store when the AWD light came on. By the time I got it home another light came on EPS. When I got out I noticed the drivers side rear tire looked tilted. Upon further inspection I could see that the control arm had fallen down along with the whole trailing arm from rust. After investigating I learned that there was a recall for this exact thing but only for 2007-2011 models. I called Honda and they told me to get it to a Honda dealership for diagnosis report so I haf it towed there. They said that if ut were the same issue as the recall that they could make an exception after a case manager reviewed everything. The Honda dealership documented that the rust on the underrails of the frame were critical for the overall integrity and safety of the car and that the control arms were rusted and broken through. When I sent everything to Honda, they said that since my vin was not part of the recall there was nothing they would do for me. There are many more complaints regarding this exact issue for the 2012 models and something needs done before lives are lost. My daughter and I were leaving for a trip the next morning and had I not decided to take my car to the store the night before we would have been on the interstate when the trailing arm and control arm broke and fell which would have been catastrophic while driving at interstate speed, from what I understand. I have only had my 2012 Honda CRV for 3 months and it only has 120k miles on it. These models need a recall ASAP as they are extremely dangerous!

Filed Jan 4, 2023 · Body · WI

On November 2, 2022 the control arm mount for the rear driver side wheel of our 2012 Honda CR-V failed while the car was in use; as a result, the car was no longer drivable. The car was towed to an authorized Honda service center and the condition was assessed as follows: oThe frame rail had deteriorated/rusted to the point where part of it was completely gone. oA new control arm could not be installed because there was no frame rail to which the control arm could be mounted until/unless the frame rail was replaced. oPreliminary repair estimate was $8,352 although the service center indicated that repair costs could be significantly higher than that. In doing some checking we found that Honda Canada had a recall on older CR-Vs for a rusting problem that could result in a rear suspension control arm separating from the vehicle. This structural failure sounded identical to our issue. The recall applied to geographical areas with heavy winter road salt usage ... which describes many parts of the US ... but Honda USA did not issue such a recall. In the Canadian recall, vehicles were being bought back from the owners since the repair costs exceeded the vehicle value. We opened a case with Honda and, after their review, we were given a $500 loyalty card on future Honda sales or service. They would not do anything else for us even though the blue book value on our car was over $10,000 at the time of the incident. The car was salvaged out and we received $850 for it. Our incident happened while traveling at 30 mph. Had it happened at highway speeds we believe it could have resulted in significant injury or death.

Filed Oct 27, 2015 · Wheels · 78,000 miles · PA

The inside rear tires wear out in about 3000 miles (the rest of the tires are ok)you cannot see the wear unless your under the car and know they have a camber problem that they should take care of its very dangerous when wires come throughand looking mostly at good tread from outside in.they need to supply the camber control arm(adjustable fixed)these are tires in the rear of my 2012 honda crv exl awd. Honda dealers just say they dont have a problem. The fixed will cost at least 500.00 plus another set of tires.

Service bulletins that may apply

Related recalls

No recalls on record for this model year.

Questions about the 2012 Honda CR-V ball joint

Is ball joint or control arm failure a common problem on the 2012 Honda CR-V?

7 of 403 owner complaints about the 2012 Honda CR-V (2%) mention ball joint or control arm failure. The model year with the most reports is 2006.

Is there a recall or service bulletin for this on the 2012 Honda CR-V?

There are 0 recalls and 1 service bulletin for the same area of the car. Check them below with your VIN.

Other symptoms on the 2012 Honda CR-V

Grinding brakes 42Hesitation 17Headlights 14Engine failure 12Stalling 12Battery drain 11Steering lock-up 10Sudden acceleration 10Won't start 10Door locks 9Power steering loss 9No deployment 7Wipers 7Airbag light 6Loss of power 5Shudder 5

All model years of the Honda CR-V

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