NHTSA investigates unintended braking in 1.7M Honda CR-Vs, Accords

Some complaints indicate that unexpected braking has led to collisions

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced this week that it opened an investigation into unexpected emergency braking incidents in two Honda models — the 2017-2019 CR-V and 2018-2019 Accord — based on hundreds of customer complaints, including cases where uncommanded braking led to collisions and injuries. 

"Inadvertent or unexpected braking activation while driving can cause unexpected speed reductions that can lead to increased vulnerability to rear end impact collisions. The complaints allege that the inadvertent braking events occur without warning and randomly," NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation report said. "ODI is opening this Preliminary Evaluation (PE) to determine the scope and severity of the potential problem and to fully assess the potential safety-related issues."

Honda sold more than 1.7 million Accords and CR-Vs in that time frame; the investigation is based on 278 complaints. Of those, six included reports of minor injuries resulting from collisions that resulted from the unexpected brake activation. No fatalities have been reported. An investigation is the first major regulatory step toward initiating a recall campaign. 

SOURCE: autoblog