What is the purpose of Honda Sensing?
Honda Sensing is a driver-assist safety suite designed to help prevent crashes and support braking, steering, and overall awareness on the road.
In practice, Honda Sensing uses radar and camera sensors to monitor traffic, detect hazards, and can intervene with braking or steering when necessary. Its goal is to reduce crash risk, enhance highway and city driving safety, and lessen driver workload in situations such as sudden stops, lane departures, or hazardous intersections.
Core purpose and scope
Honda positions Sensing as an integrated safety toolkit that actively watches for threats ahead and around the vehicle and can assist with braking, steering, and speed control. It is intended to augment a driver’s safety practices, not replace attentive driving.
Key features included in Honda Sensing
The following features are the core components commonly offered under Honda Sensing. Availability varies by model year, trim level, and market.
- Forward Collision Warning (FCW) and Collision Mitigation Braking System (CMBS)
- Lane Keeping Assist System (LKAS)
- Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) with Low-Speed Follow
- Road Departure Mitigation System (RDMS)
- Traffic Sign Recognition (TSR)
- Auto High-Beams (AHB)
- Rear Cross Traffic Monitor / Cross Traffic Alert
These features work together to provide warnings, braking or steering assistance, and adaptive speed control, helping to avoid collisions and keep the vehicle safely within its lane. They are designed to intervene only when needed, and drivers should remain attentive and ready to take control at all times.
How Honda Sensing changes driving
On highways
On highways, Adaptive Cruise Control maintains a safe following distance and can automatically adjust speed to traffic flow, while Lane Keeping Assist helps keep the car centered in its lane. Forward collision systems can intervene with braking if a vehicle ahead suddenly slows or stops.
In urban driving
In city and suburban driving, Traffic Sign Recognition helps identify speed limits, Auto High-Beams improve nighttime visibility, and the combination of sensors supports lane keeping and hazard detection in congested traffic and at intersections, reducing fatigue on long or repetitive trips.
Limitations and responsibility
Honda Sensing is designed to assist, not replace, driver judgment. The systems have limitations in rain, snow, glare, poorly marked roads, or complex environments, and drivers must stay engaged and ready to take control when necessary.
Availability by model and trim
Availability and feature sets vary by model year and trim level. Many newer Hondas offer Honda Sensing as standard or optional, with expanded sensing capabilities in select trims marketed as advanced packages such as Sensing 360 or Sensing Elite in some markets.
- Civic: Feature availability ranges by year and trim; FCW, LKAS, ACC, TSR, and RDMS are common in recent generations
- Accord: Broad Sensing feature set, often including CMBS, FCW, LKAS, ACC, RDMS, TSR
- CR-V and Pilot (and other SUVs): Core Sensing features with variations by trim; newer trims may include enhanced sensing (e.g., 360-degree coverage) on select models
If you’re evaluating a Honda with Honda Sensing, verify the exact feature list for your vehicle’s year and trim in official specs or with a dealer, since features can change by market and over time.
Safety context and regulatory status
Honda Sensing aligns with broader industry efforts to improve pre-crash safety and driver assistance. In some regions, certain elements such as automatic emergency braking are part of regulatory guidance or standards, while others may be optional or package- or trim-dependent. Honda provides updates via software to improve performance and add features where available, as part of ongoing safety enhancements.
Summary
Honda Sensing is Honda’s driver-assist safety suite designed to detect hazards, help prevent collisions, and aid with braking, steering, and speed management. While it can significantly improve safety and reduce driver workload, it complements but does not replace careful driving. Availability and specific features vary by model year, trim, and market, with newer packages offering expanded sensing capabilities on select models.
Is Honda Sensing useful?
Honda Sensing Collision Mitigation Braking System™ (CMBS™)
If the system detects an impending collision, it can apply the brakes to reduce the severity of the impact or even avoid the crash altogether. This feature is especially useful in emergency situations when you may not have time to react quickly enough.
What does Honda Sensing do?
The system detects cars in the vehicle's rear-quarter blind spots and notifies the driver by lighting up the indicator on/near the vehicle's side mirror on the side where the car is detected. If the driver puts the turn signal in that direction, the indicator flashes and an audible alarm sounds to alert the driver.
Do you have to turn on Honda Sensing?
What if you do not always want to utilize the Honda Sensing® system? Can you turn off Honda Sensing®? Yes, the Honda Sensing® features do not need to be engaged at all times. If you want to turn off RDM, simply press the button under ECON.
How does Honda Sensing affect insurance?
The Honda SENSING Insurance Partnership offers preferential rates for comprehensive insurance to customers who will purchase models equipped with the Honda SENSING such as the Civic, CR-V, All-New HR-V, and the recently launched All-New BR-V and All-New Civic Type R.
