2021 HONDA CR-V HYBRID Engine Problems

The vehicle experienced a premature failure of the head gasket; it was blown at 130,000 miles. I was close to home when I received a dash alert stating not to accelerate as the engine was nearing a critically high temperature. If I had not been able to get home so quickly, my safety may have been compromised as my car could have overheated forcing me to pull over on the shoulder of a busy bridge. My local dealership inspected the vehicle and has quoted me nearly $4,500 for the repair, despite it appearing as this is a known issue with this particular engine.

Traveling on 4 lane highway at 65 mph on slight upgrade-check engine light started flashing and vehicle started to shudder slightly and went into "limp" mode I think. Started to slow down with NO power. Turned on emergency flashers and was able to pull over without incident, although it was close to causing an accident with a tractor trailer. I shut the vehicle down and after 10 minutes, started it again> I was able to drive home another 45 miles without incident. This happened a week ago and so far it hasn't happened again.

The issue occurs seemingly randomly about once a month when driving on the highway. All of the sudden the car starts de-accelerating. Even if you push the gas pedal all the way down it doesn’t go. It just goes slower and slower and thank goodness I’ve been able to pull over every time. Once I shutdown the car completely and turn back on then I have power again.

When I accelerate up a hill at speed I lose power of the car. Once I pull over and turn the car off and wait a few minutes, the car starts up and drives fine. I have taken it in to be fixed and one time they changed spark plugs and a head gasket and then about 8 months later it did the same thing. I took it in to be checked out and they cannot find anything wrong with it. I have searched online and have found out there are other people having the same issue with this model (2021 CRV hybrid). I've only owned the car for 4 years and love Honda's and have owned one most of my life so this is disappointing.

Been dealing with an intermittent flashing engine light issue for the past 1.5 to 2 years. We bought this car brand new in 2021 and the first time this happened the car was barely 3 years old. Whenever this issue occurs, the check engine light would flash and the car would lose engine power (pressing down on the accelerator does nothing). Once stopped, we can hear loud knocking noises from the engine. Usually turning the car off and then back on resets the behavior and the car operates normally. However, this is a very dangerous issue as it sometimes happen on the highway. It took us almost 2 years to successfully pull the error codes because, for reasons we can't understand, Honda designed this error code to clear itself after 3 uneventful drive cycles (as told to us by two separate dealers). We took the car to the various shops multiple time and they were never able to reproduce or diagnose the issue. Finally we were able to get the codes pulled at an O'Reilly's right after it happened, and the codes they found were: - Cylinder 1 misfire - Cylinder 2 misfire - Random misfires We took it to a dealer afterward and they ran a fuel/air ratio test and said everything looked fine; then they examined the fuel valves and noticed they were all overly tight. They believed that was the root cause and adjusted them to spec; we had to pay $1000 for the adjustment because for some reason this was considered a "maintenance item" even though we have never touched the fuel valves and the car was not due for this particular maintenance item until 100K miles, so I don't understand why this shouldn't be covered under warranty. In any case, it turned out the fuel valve adjustments didn't fix the issue and it happened again, so the car's back in the dealership now. I found a bunch of similar complaints pertaining to this vehicle model, and it really deserves more. attention.

My 2021 Honda CR-V Hybrid has experienced three identical and dangerous incidents over a one month period beginning around 60,000 miles. Each time, while driving at highway speeds (60-70 mph) climbing hills or grades, the vehicle suddenly loses all acceleration power accompanied by a rapidly flashing check engine light. This creates an extremely hazardous situation as the vehicle cannot maintain highway speeds with fast-moving traffic approaching from behind, forcing emergency stops on busy highway shoulders where rear-end collisions become a serious risk. After each incident, turning off the vehicle and waiting 10+ minutes allows normal operation to resume, with the flashing check engine light disappearing. The malfunction involves the engine ignition system, specifically cylinder 4 misfiring as confirmed by diagnostic trouble code P0304 that I captured during the most recent incident. The suspected failing components include the ignition coil, spark plug, or fuel injector for cylinder 4. What makes this particularly dangerous is the complete unpredictability - no warning symptoms appear before each incident, and the failure occurs suddenly under specific conditions that are common in highway driving. Despite three documented occurrences, two separate Honda dealerships have been unable to reproduce the issue or confirm the problem. Both claim they find "no stored codes" even though I have evidence of the P0304 code. The codes appear to be cleared after turning the vehicle off and on. The intermittent nature and specific conditions required (sustained highway speeds while climbing grades) prevent typical shop diagnosis, yet this appears to be a widespread pattern affecting multiple 2021 CR-V Hybrids based on similar owner reports online. The recurring nature combined with the inability of dealers to address the root cause, creates an ongoing safety hazard. The vehicle remains available for inspection.

Engine overheating in short trips with full coolant and oil. My car is 4 years old and after years of mysteriously going into limp mode and no help from the dealer, I believe it has a bad head gasket. this started when the car was 3 years old.

I own a 2021 Honda CR-V Touring hybrid and have had 2 incidents of what I have learned is called sudden unintentional acceleration (SUA). I bought the car new and took possession of it in the spring of 2021. The first incident occurred Nov 14, 2023 when I was parking at a restaurant. I was slowly pulling forward into a parking spot where there were unattended cars on either side of me as well as in front of me. Suddenly, without warning, I was surging with full force into the minivan parked ahead of me as well as the front end of the car parked next to it. I slammed on the brake but not before I had pushed the minvan several feet forward. I did not know how this happened but, even though I knew that I had not stepped on the gas pedal nor had something interfered with it, I assumed that I must have done something to cause this accident. Thousands of dollars of damage was done to my car as well as the other two vehicles that were struck. The second incident was June 11, 2025. I was slowly advancing forward into a hotel parking space. There was a curb at the end of the space with some landscaping behind that. The landscaping had an uphill incline with some large evergreens about 8-10 feet from the curb. Once again, the car suddenly surged forward, jumping the curb, and accelerating into the evergreens. I slammed on the brake, feeling like I was putting my foot through the floor. This was an exact repeat of the previous incident and I am absolutely certain that I did nothing to cause this acceleration to occur. I was able to back out of the evergreens and my car does not appear to be damaged. Airbags were not deployed in either incident. I went on-line and there are numerous reports of similar incidents among CR-v owners but I do not see any recalls or actions taken by Honda on this problem. I intend to take the car to the Honda dealer in the next week. I fear the next incident may result in injury or death.

1st incident all failure lights went on while driving on HWy 137 which os a 2 lane hoghway. 2nd i cidenr -All engine failure lights went on and lost power on the fast lane while driving on 15 freeway. Had to be towed hime both times and sat in an unsafe zone while tow truck arrived.

On the FREEWAY. The engine-icon lit up on the dash screen. Shortly after, I realized that the car was slowing down. Pushed on gas pedal and nothing happened. Started going slower and slower. Put on the emergency flashers, changed lanes to the far right and managed to coast it to a spot with a shoulder large enough to get me 100% on the shoulder. Turned off the power button and sat there for about 3-5 minutes. Turned the car back on and it was fine the rest of the way to my destination. Has not happened since. It was VERY scary! Called the dealership the next morning. Took it in at their request. There were no "codes" that came up and they had no idea why it happened. No resolution.

I was driving the vehicle on route I287 and all of a sudden the break system got activated without touching any button and the car speed was damped down and as a result the car was pulled aside to see what had happened. The break system completely collapsed with a break sign on the dashboard appearing persistently which could not be deactivated or was not able to remove from the dashboard with several attempts made in restarting the engine. Due to the involuntary break activation on highway driving, my life as well others would have been in extreme danger and jeopardized the whole situation in continuing driving further. The car was towed on a flat bed to the the dealer The Honda Princenton, New Jersey for further investigation and got analyzed for the root cause and they suggested a fix of head gasket replacement, a major repair, asking us to fix the vehicle at the cost of 6000 dollars. Previously, I had driven several Hondas and never experienced break issues on the cars and we had invested in buying this time the Honda CR-V and what we went through this vehicle something like this is not fair for the customer has to go through a major repair on the vehicle at such a low milage of 127,000 put on the car which never was involved in an accident and driving the car on high way every day to the work place. We want a complete restoration of the vehicle at free of cost and get it certified and drivable safely on the road.

Within the past 3 months, twice now, the battery indicator goes to zero and engine loses power and you can't accelerate. This is very dangerous where we live as it is a 2 lane mountain highway with few spots to safely pull over. There are a number of posts about this know issue, all stating the same scenario and that no Honda dealerships will fix it as they "can't determine an issue". I called our dealer after this happened the first time and was instructed to not restart the vehicle and just have it towed in. That is not realistic.

On highway, engaged cruise control at 70 mph. Engine light came on, simultaneously with loss of power (pressing on gas pedal did nothing) and Apple CarPlay disconnect. We were near an exit and managed to drift off, at lower off-ramp speed engine again could respond to accelerator however was chugging very badly. Went to nearby oil change place. Mechanic there advised going straight to dealer a short distance further. Drove on to the Honda dealer, car still chugging and stopped the car until I could talk to the service person. When the car restarted it was no longer chugging. Service person diagnosed the following and said i basically needed a new engine: TECH SCANNED VEHICLE AND FOUND CODES P0300 RANDOM CYL MISFIRE, P0302 CYL 2 MISFIRE. TECH CHECKED LIVE DATA AND HAD VERY LITTLE MISFIRE COMING FROM CYL 3, PULLED ALL COILS AND PLUGS AND FOUND CYL 2 AND 4 HAD THE INJECTORS STILL SPRAYING WITH THE VEHICLE OFF INDICATING FAILURE OF THE INJECTORS IN THOSE 2 CYLINDERS, IN CYLINDER 3 TECH FOUND EXCESSIVE OIL BURNING ON THE PISTON, INDICATING OIL LEAKING INTO THE COMBUSTION CHAMBER OF THE MOTOR.

On January 15th while driving home with my son I attempted to accelerate around a truck when I hit approximately 60 mph the vehicle stopped accelerating and began to slow down. I did notice that the "charge bar" for the hybrid battery was indicating that it was charging. The car continued to decelerate and I pulled to the side of the road. The check engine light was flashing. I turned the vehicle off for a minute and started it back up. The car drove fine and I was able to make it home. The dealership said there were no codes saved and they had no explanation. This was a the third time in the past year this has occurred and no one can tell me what the codes are or how to fix it.

Mileage: 95,937

Driving on highway, engine light began flashing, then deceleration occurred. No response in pushing the gas pedal at all. Pulled to side of road. Stopped car. Had it towed to Honda dealer. At the dealership, the car ran fine, the problem could not be replicated and there was no record that it had occurred. Approximately five weeks later, the same problem occurred on the highway, but I immediately got to the side of the road when the engine light came on and was able to pull off as deceleration was occuring. Waited a few minutes and the car then ran fine.

This is the 3rd incident with the same issue. I lose power when on a freeway. (Other dates [XXX] and [XXX]). On [XXX] I entered [XXX] and had accelerated onto the freeway. Shortly after getting on the ramp, my check engine light went on/blinking and I couldn't accelerate anymore. I was able to pull over on the shoulder. I turned the car off, waited a minute and then turned it on again and the issue went away. This is the same scenario that I've experienced twice before. I am rarely on freeways. On [XXX], I was on an incline with curves and very little room on the shoulder. This was a very scary incident for me. All of these incidents shouldn't happen and it is VERY dangerous to lose power unexpectedly when driving on a freeway. Looking on the internet for a solution - I found several other posts on what sounds to be the same issue and unfortunately didn't find a resolution. [XXX] [XXX] [XXX] Please review this as this is unsafe. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

My car lost power and the engine light came on when on the freeway. I was in the middle of merging from [XXX] to [XXX] on a San Diego freeway. Because of the highway interchange situation, I was in the far left lane and needed to merge about 4-5 lanes to the right to get to the next off ramp. This was so scary!! Though I had my hazard lights on, cars coming up behind me didn't expect a car to be slowing down in the middle of the freeway as the car decelerated down to 20 mph. I was very lucky that my car was not rear-ended. I used the side roads and the electric power to of my hybrid engine to drive about 7 miles to a Honda dealer. They asked me to turn off my car (big mistake). Honda had my car for 3 days and drove it about 70 miles, but could never duplicate the issue. I am [XXX] and frequently from Southern to Northern California alone. I have driven over 700,000 miles in my lifetime and never had a car's combustion engine stop on the freeway. I researched this unique situation and found out other Honda CRV-Hybrid owners have experienced this, but Honda had no solution. They told me they knew it was a cylinder issue and the tech saw "misfire codes" but without more details, there was nothing they could do. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

Mileage: 59,831

2021 Hybrid-CR began loosing power while driving and the check engine light turned on. Pulling over to the side of the road, turning it off, and then restarting the car turned off the check engine light. After several occurrences took the car to dealership where they were not able to pinpoint the problem as the check engine light was not on at that time and warnings are not stored in the diagnostic module of the car. Driving 75 mph ALL dashboard warning lights turned on. Was able to pull over to the side of the road and had car towed to dealership. The cylinder head is bad. New cylinder heads are currently on back order and there is no date of when a new one would become available. The head can be sent to a shop for repair for $8,000 cost. Honda is aware of the issue and has offered a 75-25% split on this cost: they pay 75% and we pay the remaining 25%. In the meantime we are without a vehicle for an obvious faulty cylinder head manufactured for the engine and unsuspecting drivers are put into hazardous safety situation.

I was driving back from work on the highway, and I was suddenly not able to accelerate. The car was slowing down, and the engine light was flashing. I pulled over to the shoulder and drove slowly about a half a mile to the exit. I pulled over at the gas station. Left my car there and took Uber home. The next day, when I went to pick it up, the flashing engine light was off and drove fine and I was good to go like nothing had happened. Once at work, I researched the problem and found post about a similar issue. I took it to the nearest Honda dealer and they couldn’t find any problem with the car. They also said there is no recall on the vin number. I called Honda to file a complaint but I was told the same thing that there is no recall on this car and to work directly with the dealer. I am afraid to drive my car on a highway and if it happens again I may get into an accident.

1 weeks ago the crv over heated once, shut the car off gave it 5min turned it back on and got it home no further issue, never over heated again Then on Monday the check engine light started flashing took to a shop they said it was due to spark plugs and ignition coils. The very next day flashed again, took back to shop they said it was my head gasket, took to a second shop and they confirmed that it was a head gasket but most likely needed the entire engine replaced at over $17,0000 The car is only 3 years old with 145k miles and already needs a new engine.

The battery voltage of the car goes down to 2 bars, the the check engine light comes on. Sometimes the car/engine shakes and the loses power and won’t accelerate anymore. This happens even if the car is already on the road going up to 70 mph. We took it to the Honda service center and they spent 3 hours on it, but couldn’t find the issue. This is not safe, very scary when it happens and has been happening every few days. This could cause an accident especially when it just loses power and we have to pull over to shut off engine to restart to get battery power again.

This is the second time this vehicle has randomly lost power / internal combustion engine stalled while driving on the interstate. Vehicle was traveling approximately 70mph steady for 10 minutes when the incident occurred. The combustion engine began to shutter and stalled, check engine light began blinking. Hybrid battery went down to zero and had to make an emergency departure off the highway with no power. Vehicle had to be powered off and powered back on to resume normal operation. Because the CELlight cleared the dealership cannot look up the fault and mark it as NPF. When I search this issue, it seems to be fairly common with the 2020+ honda hybrids (crv and accords). This type of power train failure / stall is extremely dangerous especially on highways with little or no warning and time to react. We are begging the NHTSA to have Honda do a through investigation and recall to remediate the engine stall failures on these hybrid vehicles ASAP as this is extremely dangerous for our family and other drivers around us.

I was driving my 2021Honda CRV EXL Hybrid on the Interstate in the passing lane. I am the original owner and bought it new in 2021. never had any problem with the car up to that day. I was in passing lane accelerating about 60-65 mph as I rounded a slightly hilly curve in the road when suddenly car started to slow down rapidly. I looked at the dash and could see it was decelerating rapidly, going down and down and slower & I had my foot on gas pedal to the floor ,yet the car kept going slower. I put on hazards& managed to get in slower lane, there was considerable traffic volume at the time luckily had room to move in to slower lane and ultimately into emergency shoulder lane, the car was only going about 10 mph even though I still had gas pedal pressed down as far as it would go. Managed to exit the interstate, still it would go about 10mph ,so drove it to a safe commuter lot about 1/2 mile down the road. Noticed then that the engine light was blinking on and off. Called Honda dealer and told them was having car towed to their business. Next day, went to dealer and told service rep the experience , they scanned the system and found these codes stored: P0300-P0302-P0303 MISFIRES. they then cleared codes and test drove and no lights came back on at that time and stated that the technician performed a visual inspection and found no issues at this time and performed A/F ratio function test and all cylinders passed. Service rep recommended to me that they would take car for a longer drive ,they drove it 28 miles & no lights came back on and no codes set, they state it was "all OK at this time & stated INTERMITTANT CONCERN".I took the car back to my home with great concern ,I don't have trust in the car for myself , family or any other people on the road wherever I would go, I want your agency to investigate .As a [XXX] who trusted the brand and invested lot of retirement treasure in this purchase, I request help for a remedy, Honda had no answer & that doesnt cut it INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF I

The contact owns a 2021 Honda CR-V Hybrid. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the check engine warning light illuminated, and the vehicle decelerated unintendedly. After restarting the vehicle, the failure was corrected, and the vehicle operated normally. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer who replaced the fuel line, but the failure persisted. The cause of the failure was not yet determined. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was 15,000.

Mileage: 15,000

My vehicle on several occasions stalled and/or lost power. Stepped on the gas and no power. Both while using cruise control. One incident was not using cruise control.

On December 12, 2023 at 6:50 AM my Check Engine light came on while I was driving, the battery gauge went to two bars, and the car powered down on Route 24 (a state highway). I took it to the dealer later in the day and they could not find anything wrong. Unfortunately, this is the third time my car has powered down/gone into limp mode on a highway. On August 8th almost the exact same thing happened at almost the exact same spot on the highway (slightly uphill, a day after refueling). In August, Honda kept my car for a week to try to pinpoint the problem. There were no stored problem codes. The best guess of the dealer was some sort of engine misfire due to a fuel impurity. On October 12, 2022 I had the first power down experience on the NY Thruway. On that occasion, the temperature sensor malfunctioned (at least according to the messages and gauges). The dealer replaced the sensor.

First occurrence happened in October 2022 when I was on the freeway at speeds over 65mph. The vehicle suddenly lost speed, all dash lights came on, a loud helicopter like sound started and would not go more than 40mph. I was lucky enough to exit the freeway without causing a collision. Dealer could not duplicate the incident and no computer codes. Second time was almost identical to the first time and occurred approximately 6 months later. Dealer had vehicle for 3 days and could not duplicate problem. Very very unsafe!

My hybrid vehicle lost speed on the highway while going approximately 60 mph. The engine light started blinking. The battery charge icon started decreasing. I was able to exit the highway and pull into a parking lot. After 20 minutes, my car turned on and the battery icon showed it was charged. I drove to the dealership and after having my vehicle in the shop for several days. I forwarded an article to my contact at the Honda dealership from Autoblog dated Dec. 7, 2022 about AWD Honda CR-V's loss of power. The article mentioned a "leaking differential." The dealership came back and said they couldn't find anything wrong.

I was going up foothills. The battery had 2 bars and a warning light came on next to the battery indicator. My car began having trouble accelerating and could not keep up with 55mph traffic. The diagnosis is that one of the cylinders misfired and I needed to replace the ignition coil. The car is in the dealer’s shop awaiting parts for repair. I am delivering the part tomorrow. I was 6mi outside town, 911 had some trouble locating me, my cell phone reception was unreliable, I could have been involved in a high speed accident.

The contact owns a 2021 Honda CR-V. The contact stated that while driving at approximately 57 MPH, the vehicle suddenly shut off causing the driver to lose control of the steering and crash into several rocks which caused the vehicle to rollover several times. During the incident the air bags deployed. The driver sustained an injured right leg, head, and chest injuries, the front passenger sustained a neck injury and the child seated in the rear passenger seat suffered a head injury. All occupants in the vehicle required medical treatment for their injuries. A police report was taken at the scene and the vehicle was later towed to an undisclosed location and later deem destroyed. The cause of the failure was not yet determined. The manufacturer and local dealer were both notified of the failures. The contact indicated that prior to the incident the same failure had occurred on two other occasions and the vehicle was taken to the local dealer who was unable to identify a problem. The failure mileage was 5,000. The contact stated that at the time of the second failure, the vehicle was travelling at about 15 mph and the mileage was approximately 31,000.

Mileage: 5,000

2021 Honda CRV Hybrid. 11/9/22: When accelerating to merge onto a highway, moving at approximately 50 mph, the vehicle rapidly decelerated as driver tried to accelerate (went into limp mode), the check engine light came on and the engine made a continuous clattering sound. The vehicle would not go above 15 mph in 55-60 mph traffic. Driver put flashers on and drove 1/2 a mile to the first exit, lucky he could move to the right lane. Vehicle was driven 1.5 miles home at 15 mph and lower. Didn't drive car on 11/10/22. Car driven to dealership on 11/11/22 because there was no indication of anything wrong -- no sounds or dashboard lights or limp mode. Drove to dealership where a scan indicated engine misfire DTC: P0304 was stored in the system. Dealership cleared the system and could not recreate the incident after swapping spark plugs and coils and driving 163 miles over 3 days. Took car home on 11/15/22. Six days later, on 11/21/22, the same thing happened on the highway: as driver accelerated, the engine light came on and flashed and stayed flashing, the engine made vibrating noise, and lost acceleration (limp mode) down to 6 mph on the busy highway. Going 6 mph with flashers on, he was able to reach the ramp for the next exit and pull over on the shoulder. On the shoulder, driver made a video of the engine making clattering sounds and of the engine light flashing on the dashboard. He turned the car off, waited a few minutes, then turned the car back on. Everything seemed fine. Driver exited the highway and drove to the dealership which has had car since 11/21/22. Having no ability to accelerate, and having the vehicle go into limp mode -- having no control -- on a busy highway is extremely dangerous and frightening.

Vehicle is advertised at "36-40mpg" (36 highway, 40mpg city). I am averaging (AT BEST) 25mpg. I reported the issue to Honda Corporate and they advised I take it in to a dealer. I took the vehicle into the dealer I purchased the car from and was told "we drove it around for a few minutes and everything is fine with it." The dealer advised there was "no problem" and "nothing they could do.