Cruise control failure on the 2002 Honda CR-V
When cruise control failure gets reported
Owners of the 2002 Honda CR-V report cruise control failure at a median of 135,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 95,000 miles and a quarter after 190,000 miles, from 8 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 72,000 miles. It is the 22nd most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 80,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 190,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 112,915 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A spread this wide points at use rather than design. Towing, climate, service history and city mileage all move a failure like this, so the median is a weak guide to any individual car.
0% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 78,188 miles | 93,750 miles | 137,000 miles | 191,103 miles | 191,103 miles |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Putting it right typically runs $200–$1,400 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 12 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2021, at a median of 100 miles, and latest on the 2002 at 135,000 miles.
By volume the 2017 carries the most reports, with 142; the 2002 has 8. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
The vehicle did not slow when applying the brakes upon approaching a stop sign. The drivers foot was off the gas pedal and on the brake pedal, but the vehicle continued to power forward. Not sure if the brakes were at fault, the driver stopped vehicle by putting the auto transmission into park to avoid going past the stop sign, entering a county highway and being broadsided by oncoming traffic. The engine speed then rose to about 5000 RPM, though the vehicle was at rest, in park, and the accelerator pedal was not being touched. A witness sought to lend some help and suggested that the continually racing engine was perhaps due to a stuck throttle, though a quick look under the hood did not reveal any obvious problem. After several minutes of the engine racing at about 5000 RPM while in park, the driver turned off the ignition and then restarted the engine. The engine continued to race. Only after the third or fourth cycle of turning the engine off and on, and pumping and jiggling the accelerator pedal, did the engine rpms return to normal, allowing the vehicle to be driven to a nearby honda dealer. The next day, the service…
Tl*the contact owns a 2002 honda cr-v. While driving 70 MPH with the cruise control activated, the vehicle would not stop accelerating. The contact deactivated the cruise control, but the vehicle continued to accelerate. The vehicle had to be turned off in order for the acceleration to stop. The vehicle has not been diagnosed by the dealer. The contact did not notice any prior issues with the vehicle. The current and failure mileages were 97,000. Updated 8/10/09 *cn the consumer stated throttle cable frayed and there was no explanation provided. Updated 08/13/09.*jb
I responded to a recall notice for the airbag inflator. I had noticed, immediately thereafter, that my horn and cruise control is inoperable. I contacted service advisor who asked to bring the car back in. She agreed that the mechanism for these inoperable parts is in "close proximity to the air bag inspection areas", for the recall. However, they claim they "... Are not liable for the cable reel" and will charge to have it fixed. And just yesterday, in the process of getting my window fixed, the same dealership left out the moisture shield and disabled my door locks which are superficial issues that they somewhat resolved. However, I still do not have a working horn or cruise control because these were consequentially damaged after innocently responding to an airbag recall inspection. *tr
Also reported on the 2002 Honda CR-V
Other electrical problem
Other body or interior problem
Headlight failure or clouding
Airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault
Air conditioning failure
Other engine problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 8 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does cruise control failure happen on the 2002 Honda CR-V?
Across 8 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 135,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 95,000 miles and a quarter after 190,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is cruise control failure on the 2002 Honda CR-V?
8 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.0 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed