Ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure on the 2017 Honda CR-V
When ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure gets reported
Owners of the 2017 Honda CR-V report ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure at a median of 35,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 20,000 miles and a quarter after 50,000 miles, from 12 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 85,000 miles. It is the 27th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 5,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 60,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 53,238 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A window that narrow is the signature of a part that fails on its own schedule rather than on how the car is driven — which is usually a design or supplier problem rather than wear and tear.
50% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5,562 miles | 20,655 miles | 35,500 miles | 48,000 miles | 58,800 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 $250–$1,500 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 19 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2023, at a median of 5,000 miles, and latest on the 1999 at 175,000 miles.
By volume the 2007 carries the most reports, with 59; the 2017 has 18. 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.
January 12, 2018 instrument panel went completely dark. (rain related?) drove car through rain, parked and turned car off for a few minutes. When got back in and started car, instrument panel, ignition switch and shift lever lights all off. Econ mode indicator remained on. Fifteen minutes later TPMS indicator came on. Instrument panel unresponsive to brightness control knob or headlight selection. When parked again, all doors did not unlock with driver door opening. January 13, 2018 issues appear to be resolved when car started. All instrument panel lights back on. Tpms reset and did not turn on again. Reported issue on honda service site.
Alarm will go off randomly. Clicking lock/unlock on the key fob does not turn the alarm off. Inserting the key into the door was the only way to turn the alarm off. The message "keyless start system problem" was displayed on the dash when I entered the car. I turned my car on, but when trying to turn the car off, there were clicking noises, the dash flickered repeatedly, and the car would not turn off. It took about 15 minutes of clicking the push start/stop button to get the car to turn off. It was towed to honda (tow truck driver had trouble getting the car onto the bed because all of the safety braking features were randomly activating) and honda replaced some wiring and said I was good to. Two days later the car wouldn't start. Had it towed to honda again and they said it was a bad battery. They replaced the battery and sent me on my way. The next day the alarm went off again, same issue with not being able to turn it off, and the same keyless start system problem was on the dash. I started the car, then turned the car off, went into the house, and the alarm went off again 15 minutes later. I disconnected the battery and will…
Alarm will go off randomly. Clicking lock/unlock on the key fob does not turn the alarm off. Inserting the key into the door was the only way to turn the alarm off. The message "keyless start system problem" was displayed on the dash when I entered the car. I turned my car on, but when trying to turn the car off, there were clicking noises, the dash flickered repeatedly, and the car would not turn off. It took about 15 minutes of clicking the push start/stop button to get the car to turn off. It was towed to honda (tow truck driver had trouble getting the car onto the bed because all of the safety braking features were randomly activating) and honda replaced some wiring and said I was good to. Two days later the car wouldn't start. Had it towed to honda again and they said it was a bad battery. They replaced the battery and sent me on my way. The next day the alarm went off again, same issue with not being able to turn it off, and the same keyless start system problem was on the dash. I started the car, then turned the car off, went into the house, and the alarm went off again 15 minutes later. I disconnected the battery and will…
Also reported on the 2017 Honda CR-V
Other engine problem
Other driver assistance problem
Other fuel system problem
Other electrical problem
Cruise control failure
Other powertrain problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 18 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 ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure happen on the 2017 Honda CR-V?
Across 12 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 35,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 20,000 miles and a quarter after 50,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure on the 2017 Honda CR-V?
18 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.6 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