Honda Pilot Complaints

9,418 consumer complaints on file.

#11468675June 10, 2022
ENGINE
The contact owns a 2017 Honda Pilot. The contact stated while coming to a stop at a traffic light or traffic sign, the vehicle shut off while the vehicle was stopped. The contact stated that several unknown warning lights were illuminated as soon as the vehicle came to a stop. The contact stated that it took several attempts to restart the vehicle. The contact had taken the vehicle to a local dealer who diagnosed the failure and determined that the battery needed to be replaced. The contact had the battery replaced by an independent mechanic. The vehicle was repaired; however, the failure recurred. The manufacturer had not been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was unknown.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11468709June 10, 2022
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
stop-start fuel saving system don't work properly.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11468711June 10, 2022
ENGINE, ELECTRICAL SYSTEM, UNKNOWN OR OTHER
There is a major and potentially dangerous issue with the idle stop/start feature. When the car is at a stop and the engine shuts off (gas saving feature) and sometimes the car will fail to start again, leaving me stranded in the middle of an intersection or whatever road I'm on. Sometimes all of the collision systems fail to start again (dash warning), sometimes it takes minutes to get it restarted which results in angry drivers behind me and the potential to create an accident. This issue began within a few months of buying the car. I had informed the original Honda dealership where I purchased the car but they failed to properly document the issue because there were no error codes populated by the on-board computer. After it happened dozens of times I took the vehicle to a different dealership and was able to demonstrate the problem directly to a technician after two separate appointment attempts. They then agreed to replace the battery. This helped for a time period of about 9 months and then it started again. I believe there is a wide-spread issue with the computer's ignition system and I'm not alone, although Honda seems to pretend they've never heard of the issue. I have attached my first 'documented' (although it was reported YEARS before this) service report followed by the second in which they finally replaced the battery and admitted fault. I am hopping the NHTSA can investigate and help the owners of these Pilots come to a permanent resolution. Thank you for your time. [XXX] INFORMATION Redacted PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11468485June 9, 2022
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
There have been several instances where the engine just shut off when I had the Stop/Start Engine functionality in the "ON" mode. Once it was in traffic on the highway and other times it was in residential streets. The car would flash an error message on the screen and it usually takes time to get it restarted. Honda never really paid much attention despite several complaints. The system had been hesitant on occasion which seemed abnormal but again Honda never paid attention when I told them. It has got to the point that I just turn off the option as I get in the car to avoid the engine shutting off on me in the middle of the highway. It has happened too often.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11468497June 9, 2022
ENGINE, FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM
The problem has happened at-least 5 times won’t restart on its own from a complete stop at a traffic light or intersection with the stop-start feature in use.Brought to Honda dealership and they stated the do not see a problem. This is a safety problem that needs to be addressed. It stopped completely when i was in traffic also almost caused an accident.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11468498June 9, 2022
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM, ENGINE
The car stopped at a stoplight and the engine shut off from the normal start/stop function. When I tried to drive, the engine did not restart and the car was dead in the intersection. I was stranded for 2 hours due to unavailability of tow truck. It eventually was jumped, charged overnight, then was dead again the next day.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11468499June 9, 2022
ENGINE
If I forget to turn the auto idol off my car shuts down when stopped and won't restart. This has been going on for years and when I tell the Honda service to check it out they find nothing wrong and tell me this is normal. I know this can't be normal as it's a safety hazard. I fear for my life when this happens as I am afraid a car will drive into me until I can get my car started again. It's very stressful and I have just dealt with it as I have not been able to afford to get a new car. I recently heard this safety problem has been recognized. I should have sent this in much sooner but when my Honda service tells me this is normal I didn't think there was anything I could do. I can't enter a date below because this is an ongoing issue.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11468508June 9, 2022
ENGINE
The system that has failed involves the auto-idle feature which is automatically engaged when the car is turned on, and operates by putting the car into idle and turns off the engine when the vehicle is stopped; when the brake is released, the engine is supposed to automatically restart. However, in our vehicle, when the brake is released, the car stalls. Sometimes it cannot be restarted for several minutes. This is extremely unsafe, as it has happened in bumper to bumper traffic, and at traffic lights, where the car stall unexpectedly, then we are stranded in traffic and this puts the occupants of our car at risk, as well as the occupants in cars around us who don't know that we are stalled and are expecting our vehicle to continue in traffic. We reported this to our local Honda dealer, and they said that they have not heard of this problem and don't know what is causing it. The car has not been inspected by others. There have been no warning signs that this will occur. We are able to manually disable the auto idle feature when we turn on the engine, so that the car will not stall. This is what we generally do every time we drive our car. If we forget, the car stalls after we brake at a full stop then release the brake. We don't recall the date that this first occurred, but it has happened at least a dozen times over the past several months or longer. The date below is the date of a recent incident when the car stalled at a traffic light on a high speed road and we were unable to start the car for several minutes. We had four occupants in the car at the time.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11468511June 9, 2022
ENGINE
During auto start/stop car will not restart when the brake is release.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11468515June 9, 2022
ENGINE
Start-stop failure on Honda Pilot. When this feature is in use, car will shut off completely and has happened at intersections which creates a danger.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11468524June 9, 2022
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
The auto start/stop is not reliable. I have had three incidents in the past 2 years where if I'm at a light and the car turns off due to the auto stop, it will not restart. I did take it to my dealer and they could not find anything wrong with the battery or any other issue. I have to manually turn the auto stop/start feature off every time I drive the car in fear I will be stranded in an intersection. Very frustrating. It has been an issue for 2.5 years out of almost 5 years of owning the car.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11468530June 9, 2022
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
Parked in a lot with vehicle at full temp. Quick Stop. Drove vehicle to exit of lot and stopped to wait for a break in traffic. Vehicle turned off engine with Start/Stop feature. On brake release, the vehicle made an attempt to restart and failed. Took 10 minutes and I had to disconnect the battery to get the vehicle to reset enough to get started again. Had I not had a toolkit in the vehicle, it would have been much longer. During that entire time, the single exit to the parking lot was blocked and there was a significant backup with people going out the entrance. VERY dangerous. This was not the first time the vehicle had failed to restart, but the first where it was not possible from the driver's seat. It was also the last as I installed a device to disable the feature. I've not had any issues with the vehicle since. Start/Stop does not save enough fuel to make it worth the potentially dangerous failure. Feature should be MANDATORY for disabling in every vehicle. I for one will NEVER EVER own a vehicle that it can not be disabled.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11468537June 9, 2022
ENGINE, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: WARNINGS, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
I have been having trouble with the auto-engine idle/restart feature for over 2years! (I saw this is a current investigation) I reported the problem to my local dealer at time of routine maintenance visit ~2yrs ago and (without driving it except from the garage to the customer driveway) they said “there’s no problem, looks fine”. I now try to remember to disengage that feature as soon as I turn on the car, but when I forget I stall out at red lights. It’s always been a design flaw that you can’t just turn off the feature! I’ve never had to be jumped off but it does block up traffic for a minute to have to restart the car. This same vehicle also had the failed fuel injectors at ~35k miles, starting almost a year before the official recall, and it took over 6 mos to diagnose that problem through multiple various dealerships and service stations. This 2016 model with the first generation of the Honda tech package has been a hot mess! (The lateral collision sensors are also set too wide and the car will abruptly break for cars in turn lanes or driveways adjacent to your lane. I reported this to the dealership within the first year as well)
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11468539June 9, 2022
ENGINE, ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
When the car is stopped it will sometimes turn off. It has happened at least twice in the last week - once in a drive through and once at a stop sign. The cat comes to a stop normally but when it is time to accelerate the engine turns off & the electrical starts acting weird. I have to power the car off and on a couple of times before I can get it going again. I took the car into Honda today and they could not find any problems with the car. I am scared that this will happen on the freeway during traffic and someone will come crashing into me.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11468360June 9, 2022
ENGINE
The auto engine restart does not always engage when pressing on the accelerator after a stop. When it happens, it takes about 30 seconds and several pushes of the ignition button for the engine to restart. I have been stranded in the middle of a busy intersection waiting to turn left with my kids in my vehicle, vulnerable to a broadside hit as the light has turned. I have not taken it in because the problem is not easily reproducible, and I don’t have time for them to give me the run around. The battery is not original; it was replaced in 2020. I disengage the auto stop/restart system with the button each time I turn on the vehicle.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11468363June 9, 2022
ENGINE
I have complained to the Honda dealer during each oil change that my engine shuts off when I am driving and come to a stop at intersections. I brought up that I had the car battery changed three times already due the suspicion that the battery was causing the issue. They tested the battery and found that it wasn't the problem. I asked them to look at the spark plugs, again, no issues. They took a test drive and could not replicate the issue. The problem stems from the feature that automatically shuts off the engine when the brakes are depressed and the vehicle is at a complete stop. When the brake is released, the engine attempts to turn back on, but fails. There are many indicator lights that turn on that indicate a fault. I have to manipulate the gear selector buttons to get the vehicle to shut down and attempt to restart the engine again. My vehicle has shut off tens of times while driving. My only fix at the moment is to press a button near the bottom of the gear selector that disables the automatic on-off engine shutoff. This is what I must now do when I first start my engine on. I have been put in dangerous situations when at intersections, particularly at right turns when my engine shuts off and there is oncoming vehicles. I have had expenses getting this issue looked at and getting new batteries, which did not resolve the issue.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11468367June 9, 2022
FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM
Unknown. Background: Driving vehicle and engine warning came on. Looked up code and it was due to injector failure. Dealership changed injectors and reprogrammed. Now vehicle gets nowhere the gas mileage and the start/stop has stopped. That doesn't bother me as bad due to it shut off at light one day and would not start back for about a min. Then started and went it's way.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11468375June 9, 2022
ENGINE, ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
On multiple occasions with the auto engine restart engaged, the engine has shut off while stopped at a stoplight and then failed to restart the vehicle upon attempting to go. On some occasions, the power blips but the engine restarts. On other occasions, the power blips and the car stalls, leading to having to fully shut the car down and turn it back on, with a successful restart. On a few occasions, this has taken multiple tries leading to the vehicle sitting at a green traffic light for over 15-20 seconds while attempting to restart the engine. This is a safety issue as I am now scared to leave the auto-restart feature engaged for fear of being stuck at a green light and rear-ended. I have tried to turn the feature off, but there is no way to disable it permanently… instead, I have to remember to turn it off at the beginning of each drive. This issue has been ongoing for over two years. I have replaced the battery which did not solve the issue. It has not been looked at by the manufacturer, police, or insurance.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11468395June 9, 2022
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM, ENGINE, FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM
While at a stop light, with the engine "Auto Start/Stop" switch engaged, I released my foot from the brake, and the car died. I was totally confused as to what occurred. After a minute or two I was able to restart the car. I was very concerned about being re-ended as when the light changed to green is when the car died. I had no advance warning of a problem, and it just died unexpectedly as I released my foot from the break. No lights on the dash either. I notified my dealer, who had never heard of this happening, and said when I can, please bring it in. In as much as the incident occurred in May 2022, and hadn't happened since, I did not take my car into the dealer. I can take my car in at any time to be examined.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11468399June 9, 2022
ENGINE, ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
Hello, I was driving down the road and my collision mitigation light quickly flashed on and then went off with no objects in front of me or bad weather or rain. Also, my vehicle felt like it tapped the brakes and the steering wheel slightly jerked a little. It was maybe a half second long and then went back to normal. I kept driving and the vehicle did it once again and then 2 more times. The last time I was pulling up to a light when it did it. I should have pulled over first but I decided to turn the vehicle off and turn it back on to maybe reset the computer. Also, I know the car does this anyway when I have my auto start/stop button on. I usually turn it off when I drive. I've had the vehicle since 2018 with no issues before so I was pretty confident it would immediately start. When I tried to turn the vehicle back on, it had completely lost all power and wouldn't start or give me any sign of power. The scary thing was that I was in rush hour traffic with my young kids in the car and I couldn't put my caution lights on or put the car in gear to push it to the side of the road. Again, I should have pulled over first, but there was no logical reason the vehicle wouldn't start. I put the hood up but nobody behind me could see the hood up. I'm stuck in the middle lane of traffic and had to get out of the car to signal traffic to go around me. I checked my key fob batteries and the vehicle battery connectors and everything was fine. I kept trying to use the key fob to unlock the doors every minute or so to see if I could get any kind of power, as well as try to start the vehicle again. After about 7 minutes or so I regained power and was able to drive home, which was about a half mile away. A message on my dash screen displayed "Anti theft System" "This system has lost power. Push and hold the power button for more than 2 seconds to enable the system". I did this and cleared it. I think the Anti Theft System turning on when it shouldn't is the real issue.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0

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