California Lemon Law News + Info

Honda CMBS Investigation Into Random Braking Upgraded

Federal authorities expanded a Honda CMBS investigation to include close to 3 million Honda Accord and Honda CR-V vehicles.

The initial Honda CMBS investigation involved a preliminary evaluation into 2017-2019 Honda CR-V and 2018-2019 Honda Accord vehicles. According to the initial investigation, Honda’s automatic emergency braking system, known as Collision Mitigation Braking System, often detected nonexistent obstacles in front of the vehicle and would brake seemingly at random.

The expanded investigation includes 2,997,604 model year 2018-2022 Honda Accord and 2017-2022 Honda CR-V vehicles. According to the expanded investigation, Honda was aware of a total of 1,991 reports related to the CMBS defect. However, Honda claims that consumers possibly have an inadequate understanding of the Collision Mitigation Braking System’s limitations. Consumer complaints reveal that Honda dealerships are often unable to reproduce the condition (the random braking or false detection) or told consumers that these issues were “normal CMBS operation.”

The Office of Defects Investigation, an arm of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, has received 1,294 complaints of the CMBS randomly activating in 2017-2022 Honda CR-V and 2018-2022 Honda Accord vehicles. Crashes were reported in 31 complaints, and 50 complaints reported injuries caused by the CMBS defect.

This expanded investigation was upgraded to an Engineering Analysis. This means federal authorities will further assess the scope, frequency and potential safety-related consequences of Honda’s CMBS malfunctions.

NHTSA is aware of 2,876 reports, 93 injury incidents and 47 crashes related to Honda’s CMBS defects.

Concurrently, more than 250,000 model year 2019-2022 Honda Passport SUVs and 2019-2022 Honda Insight cars are being investigated for Honda’s automatic emergency braking incidents. Random braking and false detection of obstacles in Honda vehicles have prompted class action lawsuits alleging that Honda CR-V vehicles with CMBS or Honda Sensing systems are defective.

If your 2017 or newer Honda comes equipped with a Collision Mitigation Braking System that renders it unsafe to drive, our Honda lemon law attorneys can help you obtain a significant reward for your defective vehicle. Our consultations are free. If you decide to retain us as your lemon law attorneys, you will not have to pay anything out of pocket for our representation in your lemon law case. We only get paid if you win; the auto manufacturer has to pay our attorneys’ fees and costs as part of the final settlement.


Lemon Law Help by Knight Law Group is an automotive lemon law firm that exclusively practices in California. If you are a California resident who purchased or leased a defective vehicle from a licensed dealership in California, we may be able to help you get rid of your potential lemon and recover significant cash compensation. Model year restrictions apply: 2019–Present vehicle models only.

However, we cannot help those who reside outside of California or purchased their vehicle outside of California unless they are active duty members of the Armed Forces, nor will we be able to refer those to a lemon law firm in their states.

To learn more about the California Lemon Law and your legal rights, visit our guide on the California Lemon Law for more information.

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