2026 Honda CR-V

While driving on a country road with a string of telephone poles on the side, the vehicle lane keeping assist appeared to attempt to follow the shadow of the telephone wires on the road. The shadow was curved by the natural droop of the telephone wires, causing the vehicle to try to swerve to follow the curve of the wire. One time it tried to swerve into oncoming traffic, and another time off the road. There were two incidents in about 5 minutes, so we shut off the system to prevent an accident. It was a clear sunny day, and the road was well paved and marked with white and yellow lines. We have only had the car a few weeks, but this is the first time we have observed this behavior.

The front radar sensor (behind the H emblem on the front grill) was stolen. The car still drives, but all the safety features tied to it are now disabled. Honda service center wants $119 just to diagnose it. I was then quoted ~$1,500 for the part + ~$2,000 for labor (before tax). After looking into it, this seems to be happening frequently with CR-Vs. The radar sensor is externally accessible and can be removed in minutes. Thieves know this and it’s clearly becoming a trend. This feels like a design vulnerability for such a critical safety component. What’s worse is Honda won’t even provide a free estimate even though reprogramming has to be done through them anyway.

I am filing a safety complaint regarding my 2026 Honda CR-V. The front-mounted sensor used for advanced driver-assistance systems (including lane keeping assist and automatic emergency braking) is positioned in a way that makes it easily accessible and vulnerable to theft. My vehicle’s sensor was stolen, which immediately disabled critical safety features such as collision mitigation braking and lane assistance. While the vehicle may still be drivable, the loss of these systems significantly reduces safety and increases the risk of an accident. This does not appear to be an isolated incident. Many other Honda CR-V owners across the country are reporting similar thefts of the same sensor. The issue has become so common that third-party manufacturers are now producing protective covers to prevent theft, indicating a widespread and known vulnerability. As a result of this incident: •My vehicle has been inoperable or unsafe to drive with full safety functionality. •The car has been in a repair shop for over a month due to the sensor being on backorder. •I am continuing to make payments on a vehicle that I cannot safely use as intended. I believe this represents a design defect that creates an unreasonable safety risk. A critical safety component should not be so easily removed by theft, especially when its absence disables key driver-assistance systems. I respectfully request that NHTSA investigate this issue and determine whether a recall or mandated design change is necessary to protect consumers. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Honda emblem & sensor stollen very easily from vehicle, took the thief seconds to take off. All features disabled! Something this important & vital to the vehicle should not be that easily accessible to a thief! In researching, this issue has been reported on models in previous years! This is an extreme safety issue & should have been fixed & rectified with the new 2026 models. Will be reporting to all outlets!