Airbag, steering, electrical system, anti-collision system and engine issues among the top complaints received by the NHTSA from vehicle owners
Busy families across the country have relied on the Honda name for its reliability, but recent years have proven to hurt the company. Those looking for a compact sport SUV, turn to the 2019 Honda CR-V. After all, the company claims,“versatility has never looked so good.” Most people now disagree. If versatility means defective airbags and faulty components, customers would rather go back to the good ole days.
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The airbags are installed in all modern cars as a measure to protect the driver and occupants. When this system fails, owners don’t know if they can trust the vehicle at all.
Just read what happened outlined in a NHTSA report. “The contact’s daughter owned a 2019 Honda CR-V. While the contact’s daughter was driving 60 mph, she crashed into the rear of a commercial truck. There were no warning indicators illuminated. The airbags did not deploy. The driver sustained injuries to the sternum and elbows, a broken back, a carotid artery and a right knee laceration. Medical attention was received. The contact stated that there was smoke coming from the dashboard vicinity and the vehicle caught fire. The vehicle was towed to an unknown lot. A police report was filed. The local fire department extinguished the fire. The vehicle was deemed a total loss by the insurance company. The cause of the failure was not determined. The dealer and manufacturer were not contacted. The failure mileage was 100.”
Surprisingly, there was a massive recall on the airbag system in the CR-V model. It is labeled with NHTSA Campaign Number 19V383000 and it claims that the steering wheel can damage the airbag wiring. This might either disable it or cause it to deploy for no reason. The worst part about this recall is that there were so many, dealerships had trouble keeping up with the repairs and turned many people away. People likely drove a lot more cautiously, knowing that their airbags might not work. It’s also likely that many customers jumped ship to another brand in the midst of all this confusion. Who wants to wait and find out if the airbags will work as they should? Modern drivers aren’t interested in being crash test dummies.
| Complaint Category | Number of Complaints |
|---|---|
| Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking | |
| Electrical System | |
| Steering | |
| Unknown Or Other | |
| Fuel/propulsion System | |
| Engine | |
| Air Bags | |
| Service Brakes | |
| Fuel System, Gasoline | |
| Forward Collision Avoidance: Warnings |
Of course, some owners never needed to worry about whether the airbags worked or not. That’s because many drivers across the country couldn’t get their SUVs to start.
Just look at this complaint written on Edmunds. “On 2-14-19 we purchased a 2019 Honda CR-V EX-L with 10 miles on odometer. It has 94 miles on it as of today 3-31-19. During the past 40 days we have had:
There is a parasitic leak on battery due to Emissions Scan/Test that runs after the car stops. There is a Recall in Canada but not in the US yet. Some buyers in US have been able to get the software update already but are now experiencing even worse problems. They are assuming it was due to update. There are many new CR-V buyers having this same problem. There are 131 Posts, on just one forum thread alone, regarding this issue. There are several Internet Forums where this is a heavy topic. Please do your research before purchasing. Even seasoned Honda owners are extremely angry and frustrated right now.”
According to Manufacturer Communication Number ABOM03292019, Honda began investigating why cars across the country were not starting and losing battery power. Sadly, there was no more communication after that. There was never a resolution or follow-up to that investigation. Either they discovered the fix would cut into their bottom line too much or they never figured out the issue. Meanwhile, there are probably owners still trying to start their engines.
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Brakes are another safety feature designed to make the car stop. Combined with today’s technology, drivers should be well protected from collisions.
That’s not what this Edmunds user experienced. “Overall a good car but my wife was driving it and the auto collision detector activated and brought the car to a halt with no cars on the road. Error came up said there was a problem with the anti-collision system. Scary. If she were on the highway and this happened with a semi behind her, I could only imagine what could’ve happened. We have owned this 2019 for four months. After it gets repaired, I’m getting something else- I can’t trust this anymore.”
The company didn’t even open an investigation into these problems. Maybe they learned not to open up another complaint they couldn’t resolve. After all, the issues are stacking up and dealerships had trouble repairing everything else going on. At this point, Honda is probably just attempting to salvage its reputation – with the drivers that still trust them.
We’ve already seen how the defective steering system is causing the airbags to malfunction, but that isn’t the only issue it faces.
A driver on the NHTSA website wrote, “With the 2019 model of CR-V, I am unable to only turn off the lane keep assist. There is no mention in the owner’s manual about to exclusively turn the lane keep assist off, or at the very least configure it so that it does not apply force on the steering wheel. All other advanced features can either not be turned on, or deselected in the menu. This is a problem because the lane keep assist is incorrectly applying steering wheel forces. There is a lot of road construction by me and the system will try and pull the car into the vehicle traveling in the next lane. A huge problem if it is a semi-truck. There must be a way to defeat this feature and not affect other safety features that do function correctly.”
It’s almost as if the CR-V wants drivers to get into accidents, just to test out the airbag system. The steering, which causes the airbags to malfunction in the first place, is now causing drivers to get into accident-worthy situations. No one wants to have a wrestling match with the steering wheel on the way into the office.
It’s possible that at least the engine is free from defect. Actually, that’s not what drivers find – even in a brand new CR-V.
Look at what this owner wrote on the NHTSA website. “Strong gas smell coming from the engine oil. Car has only less than 220 miles on the engine.”
The amount of people complaining about this exact problem is overwhelming. Many dealers turned them away, saying there was nothing wrong. Then, a recall labeled with NHTSA Campaign Number 19V569000 was issued that discussed how a weld could fail and cause a fuel leak. Wonder what it took for them to acknowledge that failure? It becomes hard to deny fuel spilling out of the vapor return line, but they probably tried at first. They will have to find other problems to ignore, but on the 2019 Honda CR-V, it won’t be hard to find some.
Think you have a lemon? Sit back and let the experts work out your lemon case at no cost to you. The law makes Honda pay legal fees. You may be able to get your lemon out of your life. Every year, auto manufacturers buy back, replace or pay cash settlements to thousands of ‘lemon’ owners like you.
Brian Jones spent more than 30 years working as an ASE Certified Master Tech and Parts Specialist at multiple dealerships. Brian has become an authority in the industry, traveling across the country to consult for car dealerships and contributing his expertise as a writer for several major automotive publications. In his spare time, Brian enjoys working on pickup trucks, muscle cars, Jeeps and anything related to motorsports.
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My Honda CRV has the same problem with the screen going black sporadically but the worst if that ALL of my warnings come on and won’t go off. I’ve tried all the YouTube videos and they don’t help, it does this at different times but mostly when I’m on a drive longer than an hour.
I bought a used 2019 CRV AWD with less than 16000 on it. I have noticed than when I drive over uneven spots in the pavement, the front end feels a bit loose in the steering wheel. So far it doesn’t last for more than a moment but I find it concerning. Is this a problem found in other CRVs? Should I be concerned?
I bought this Honda CRV in Oct 19. It’s now in the shop again for a third transmission. The dealership nor Honda will stand behind this lemon. I can’t go see my daughter for fear I will be stuck on the road somewhere. I drive a 30 minute drive to work, can’t trust I will get there. Shame on both the dealership and Honda for not fixing this problem!!!!
BATTERY DIES- OVER & OVER
I was retiring and wanted to buy a new and dependable car to last me for awhile. I purchased a 2019 Honda CR-V in November 2019. A few days ago infotainment screen started blinking on and off and beeping constantly while I was driving. I tried touching it to see if it would stop but it did not. It continued until I got to my destination. When I returned back to the car and started it; it appeared to be fine. While driving home it happened again and continued until I got home and turned the car off. Today, a few days later it went completely black. I tried touching it and nothing happened. It stayed black. I hit the button to raise the AC fan and it came on, then went black. I did this a couple of times yet it continued to go black. I called the dealer and he said my warranty was for 3 years or 36,000. 36,000 miles is nothing. My mileage is 36939. I was told it is out of warranty. WHAT? I have to bring it in to have them look at it. Called for an appointment but got voicemail. Left a message but no one has called me yet. Now they are closed. A couple of freaky things happened on the dash sporadically but has not happened again. Not sure what is going to happen at this point but I immediately came home and searched the internet for problem. Found this site. Rated it a 3 star at this point as I don’t know what is going to happen but before these things happened I would have said a 5 star as I do like the vehicle
Honda CR-V 2019 is not starting due to break system problems and low tire pressure! I’ve had this car a week!
I bought a 2019Honda CR-V last October 2019. It hasn’t been fully 6 months since I bought this brand new car. Last night (1.2.2020) while driving with the speed of 35-40 mph, my car suddenly made a weird sound coming from the engine. I tried to hitting the break but the pedal was really hard and my car didn’t stop, I kept pumping it so it will stop , eventually it stop . Luckily there were no cars ahead of me. If that was on the highway and I was driving like 60-70mph, I could not imagine what would have happened. I called the emergency hotline and they towed my car. I have to wait until Monday. Please give me some advice. I don’t trust this car anymore. What case can I build against Honda to protect my rights? Thank you.
We are experiencing a smell of gas in the cabin. The has been an ongoing issue since we purchased it brand new. At first we thought we stepped in gas and the smell was from our shoes. I am concerned for my children’s and my own health from the fumes. After more headaches and research, we are realizing that this is a common problem with the CR-V’s. Another related problem we are having is that the engine occasionally stalls upon starting. We park the car in a garage. While at work, the car is parked outside. I went out to the car and tried to start it and the engine was hesitant to start and sounded like I was trying to start a car with a dead battery. It lagged and after three attempts the car started. This has happened to me a total of three times during the winter. Each incident was a separate occasion. Each time was after the car was parked outside for a few hours.
Hello, i have a Honda Crv 2019 Touring AWD. I bought this car on March 2019. The 1st month the screen had issue the brightness was going up and down and the screen was shutting off. Another issue is that sometimes when am in the freeway and i want to accelerate the car. It always keeps the same speed, eve. If I press the pedal har . There was a recall on May for the Steering wheel, I made a appointment took it. To the dealer, they said they don’t have the part. And that there was no update to fix the screen. Then I took it again with an appointment, they only made an update at the screen, but they didn’t had the part of the Steering wheel again. On Monday the 16 I took a video of my screen malfunction. Show them at the dealer they only said wow, and gave me another’s appointment for the car for the 28th. Am scare of driving the car the beeping of the screen is very annoying and scare that the airbag won’t deploy. . I could send you what the recall says. It say it may cause an accident. To be honest I don’t want this car no more. To many people has already had this problem with same Crv model and trim. Please help.