Headlight failure or clouding on the 2012 Honda CR-V
Only 7 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 headlight failure or clouding gets reported
There are 11 reports of headlight failure or clouding on the 2012 Honda CR-V, 7 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 88,000 miles. It is the 11th most-reported problem on this model year.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | 13,205 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 $150–$1,800 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 15 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2014, at a median of 1,200 miles, and latest on the 2009 at 165,000 miles.
By volume the 2005 carries the most reports, with 120; the 2012 has 11. 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.
For the first time since purchasing the vehicle in february 2012, I was driving in dark and rainy conditions this morning, taking our son to school. I had both the headlights and fog lights on, and I was amazed that the lights hardly lit up the road in front of me at all. The car was clean and the light lenses were not dirty at all. I couldn't believe how poor the car's front lighting was in these conditions. Normally, when it wasn't raining, I thought the car's lights were sufficient. Not great, but sufficient. Since honda does not offer any higher intensity head light bulbs, I will check with aftermarket suppliers. Honda is known as a very safety conscious car company. Having headlights that perform so poorly in the rain seems like a safety related defect to me. Many vehicles on the road today have much better and brighter headlights. Considering the price of the 2012 honda cr-v ex-l, it seems like honda should have installed higher intensity or even xenon headlights. *tr
I have had the headlights adjusted 3 times. There is insufficient light to drive by at night. I do not feel safe on the road in this vehicle after dark. The dealer said it is the nature of the new reflective lights which do not shine out. He said there is nothing else they can do to fix them. I reported the issue to honda america and they say they will do nothing unless the lights are defective. Apparently not being able to see at night is not a defect. I have to drive with them on high beams to be able to see at all and if I switch to low beam upon meeting another vehicle I have to come to a dead stop as I cannot see where I am in the road. There is no beam which is directly in front of your drive path. Low beam with fog lights or high beam; neither is sufficient light to drive by. I live in a rural area with no street lights and lots of deer. I need the headlights replaced on this vehicle to be a safe driver. I have seen other complaints on the internet and am asking the nhsa to force honda to recall these vehicles to have the lights replaced with a different type of lighting. I barely feel able to drive on familiar roads there…
Tl* the contact owns 2012 honda crv. The contact stated that the headlights failed to provide proper illumination coverage. The dealer adjusted the headlights several times however the failure was not corrected. The low beam headlights would not provide coverage overhead or on the sides of the vehicle. The high beam headlight would illuminate much higher than normal. The manufacturer was contacted and advised that the headlight failure was not a manufacturing defect. The vehicle was not further repaired. The failure mileage was 7,737 and the current mileage 24,000.
Also reported on the 2012 Honda CR-V
Other engine problem
Other electrical problem
Other powertrain problem
Other body or interior problem
Other steering problem
Other visibility problem
How far this goes
This page is kept out of search results because 11 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 11 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 headlight failure or clouding happen on the 2012 Honda CR-V?
Across 7 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 headlight failure or clouding on the 2012 Honda CR-V?
11 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.1 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