Catalytic converter failure on the 2004 Honda CR-V
1 fire 1 of the 4 reports for this failure mention a crash, a fire, an injury or a death. Those are the owner's words on the complaint form, not a verified finding, and one report can mention more than one.
Only 4 reports for this mode came with an odometer reading, which is too few for percentiles to mean anything. The page is here because someone linked to it; treat the figures as anecdotes, and see the full report for this year instead.
When catalytic converter failure gets reported
There are 4 reports of catalytic converter failure on the 2004 Honda CR-V, 4 with a mileage attached. That is too few to place the failure on the odometer with any confidence.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 110,000 miles. It is the 31st most-reported problem on this model year.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | 16,693 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
Of these reports, 1 a fire is mentioned. Owners write their own complaints and the agency does not verify them, so read this as what the reports say happened rather than as a confirmed count.
Putting it right typically runs $900–$3,500 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 4 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2010, at a median of 10,000 miles, and latest on the 1998 at 150,000 miles.
By volume the 1998 carries the most reports, with 6; the 2004 has 4. 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.
Our 2004 honda cr-v was taken to the dealer for its first oil change after 6 months of ownership and 2,038 miles driven. After driving a few miles toward home the oil began draining rapidly from the car and smoke was billowing from underneath the car. My wife, following in another car, signaled me to pull over. I did and immediately shut the engine off. The remaining oil drained out and the smoke and heat subsided. We believe a fire would have resulted if I had driven much farther.*ak when dropping off the car, I made a special point to remind the dealer this model had reported fire problems associated with oil changes. The dealer examined the car after the incident and admitted the filter had not been properly installed. Despite the reminder, any steps taken by honda to remedy the situation, and service by a large honda dealer, this dangerous situation still resulted. We believe both honda and NHTSA are remiss in not ordering a recall of this vehicle for some modification to prevent such oil leaks from falling onto the catalytic converter or other parts hot enough to cause combustion. We did not drive the cr-v again and traded…
Durning the first oil change , the original oil filter gasket stuck to the engine block. This created a double gasket . The next morning while driving to work this gasket failed , spraying oil under persure all over the hot exhaust pipe and very hot catalytic converter. The oil bursted into flames. The fire ball went into the engine compartment. I turned off the ignition, and this stopped the oil that was feeding the fire. The fire quickly burned itself out. Had I not been in a driving situation where I could quickly pull over and get out of the crv , this could have been a total disaster. There is now evidence of a fire inside my brand new engine compartment. To correct the problem I had a different brand , other then honda,oil filter put on.*ak
Tl* the contact owns a 2004 honda cr-v. The contact stated that the check engine warning light illuminated. The contact also stated that a sensor for the catalytic converter also illuminated. The contact also stated that the front passenger's side door lock seized. The vehicle was taken to the dealer but was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 30,000. Consumer stated engine light comes on and off continually. Just had brakes fixed- broken pads, now light is on again, trim around windshield blew off... 50,000 miles light in interior fell down ( it is rotted). It is a lemon with apparent electrical problems, sensors on all the time. Updated 05/31/18*jb
Also reported on the 2004 Honda CR-V
Other engine problem
Air conditioning failure
Other electrical problem
Other body or interior problem
Airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault
Headlight failure or clouding
How far this goes
This page is kept out of search results because 4 reports is not enough to publish percentiles from. It stays reachable because somebody looking at this exact car would rather see the reports than be told there are none.
Complaints are voluntary, so 4 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 catalytic converter failure happen on the 2004 Honda CR-V?
Across 4 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 15,000 miles. A quarter were filed before — and a quarter after —. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is catalytic converter failure on the 2004 Honda CR-V?
4 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