2012 Honda CR-V
This year drew an ordinary 400 complaints for a Honda CR-V — the model's median is 479. What they were about is the unusual part: 7.5% of them mention frame, against 2.8% across the other years of this generation.
First year of a new generation. The Honda CR-V was redesigned for 2012. A first year carries problems nobody has found yet, and they are found by the people who buy it — which is worth knowing before you become one of them.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 400 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 479 |
| Involving a crash | 27 |
| Involving a fire | 4 |
| Recalls | 3 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 25.5 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- frame — 7.5% of this year's complaints, against 2.8% across the other years of this generation (2.7×). Owners wrote it as: frame, arm, trailing, trailing arm.
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
What owners wrote
The frame rusted off where the right Rear Trailing Arm attaches, causing the Trailing Arm to detach. Yes , it is available to inspect. I am was safe, because it happened at a Stop sign. No one other myself has inspected it. ABS and All Wheel drive light came o…
While going over speed bump, left Rear trailing arm broke off. Large amount of rust was noted to frame. Our CRV had to be towed to our local Honda dealer. There is a current recall for this same issue on vehicle years 2007-2011 but none to cover our 2012 CRV.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 12V501000 EQUIPMENT Fixed free of charge.
- 13V143000 POWER TRAIN Fixed free of charge.
- 12V338000 LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Honda CR-V was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2012 Honda CR-V? What happened to yours?
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