CarComplaints.com Notes: It's worrying when the top category for 2016 Honda Pilot problems are transmission problems. Owners report jerking when accelerating. Also as the first model year of the redesigned 3rd generation Pilot, it's not a good sign.

Honda released a TSB on October 29 2016 that's possibly related. The TSB deals with a "a judder from the torque converter lock-up clutch ... while driving between 20 and 60 mph" due to deteriorated transmission fluid resulting from "specific driving conditions". In the TSB, Honda states they are developing a software fix to try to keep the transmission fluid temperature within spec.

We are keeping a close eye on this defect trend because if certain driving conditions can affect transmission shifting in the first year of ownership, we'd hate to think what 10+ years will do.

3.6

definitely annoying
Crashes / Fires:
0 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
36,177 miles

About These NHTSA Complaints:

This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.

So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.

2016 Honda Pilot brakes problems

brakes problem

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2016 Honda Pilot Owner Comments (Page 1 of 2)

problem #36

Oct 092020

Pilot

  • 80,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

I've had several issues with my 2016 Honda Pilot in the past few months. I currently have 110K miles on my vehicle but my problems began at around 80K. My check engine light and several other lights illuminate constantly. At first they would light up and go away. Brought it to service. They said there were no recalls and they change my spark plugs and told me to drive my car on at least a half tank of gas. Problem continued and then my car started running rough and idling rougher. I brought it in again and was told I needed to replace my fuel injectors. That was taken care and I still have a check engine light illuminates along with emissions system problem warming and my car still runs rough and has trouble accelerating. Song with all of these issues I've also had to replace my ignition and key fob and my auto start is not working. I have over A100K on the car which I understand can cause wear and tear but all of these problems far exceed the definition of normal wear and tear. I'd like to know if there is a recall on anything and what can be done to remedy these situations. My car is at service yet again trying to find out what is causing it to run so rough. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

- Wayne, NJ, USA

problem #35

Aug 312020

Pilot

  • 57,418 miles
When stopped at a busy intersection on a city street, the automatic stop-idle function did not restart and my car stalled when the light turned green. Multiple warning lights flashed at attempts to restart vehicle. I was unable to restart the car for approximately 10 minutes, causing a significant safety issue, as I had 3 children in the car on the way to school. We could have easily been rear ended as we were blocking traffic. The car was towed to a dealer for a repair. At this point, I question the repair, as my car has come close to stalling again 3 times since this occurrence.

- Arlington Heights, IL, USA

problem #34

Sep 162020

Pilot

  • 30,989 miles
Was at a light electronica stop and goal control kicked in the car went off when I went to hit the excelerator to go the car did not restart just the electronica stayed on shut the car totally off try to restart it would not start turn the car off again tried to restart it the car started and drove fine

- Chicago, IL, USA

problem #33

Aug 052020

Pilot

  • 8,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

Intermittently receive dash error code "'keyless start system problem ' " it comes and goes. Also vehicle struggles to restart when the a engine idle engages at a stop light. This has created safety issues in the winter when I can't go at a green light or others aren't paying attention and my vehicle won't start. There is no way to fully deactivate this feature except to shut it off after turning in car every time. This is a safety issue that seriously need to be addressed.

- Roy, UT, USA

problem #32

Jun 152020

Pilot 6-cyl

  • 66,000 miles
#1 keyless remote entry has not worked for over a year now, dealership wants to charge $300. Automatic lock feature is not working any more. Based on my research it is a known issue that Honda keep guessing on and charging for replacing, with no real fix. #2 when driving, all of the sudden all engine lights start coming on, break, power steering, vehicle stability...all of them one by one. At the time my Pilot started "pulling", and RPM gage was jumping up and down. A few days later took it to the mechanic and this time, it only had the engine light on and a code P0304 was detected. Changed all spark plugs and coils, engine light went away for a week. Again, driving on the highway all lights start coming up again and the same "pulling" happens. This is definitely not safe to be driving on. Other Honda Pilot same year drivers are having the same issue.

- Philadelphia, PA, USA

problem #31

Jun 272020

Pilot 6-cyl

  • 80,000 miles
Driving at 35 mph on my way home on a side street and my car jolted and stalled and several (5)warning lights came on. Vehicle stability, brake, trammision warning, and a couple other lights. I turned the vehicle off and restarted the car. I tried to drive it in a parking lot so I was able to get safely out of oncoming traffic. And it would not shift properly and I couldn+T drive it at all as I would try to start and it wojld rev to 4000-5000 rpms and would pop in and out from gear to park.. I had it towed from the parking lot I was in to my machanic. My concern is that I don+T feel safe driving on the highway with shifting issues, stalls and jolts that have happened if I were on the highway when that happened, going at 65 mph, it would have caused unnecessary accidents. It+S extremelyndangerous with my children in the car as well as innocent bystanders still no recall for my vehicle.

- Tolland, CT, USA

problem #30

May 152020

Pilot 6-cyl

  • 40,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

'keyless start system problem' appear after 40, xxx mileage. The Honda dealer is just guessing right now they replace my battery but after a day the same error reappear. There is definitely a manufacture defect as there so many issues regarding this if you google it. My car wont start then got towed to the dealer and it might die again now that it reappear.

- Daly City, CA, USA

problem #29

May 132020

Pilot 6-cyl

  • 75,900 miles
The car threw multiple errors including emission system, power steering, vehicle stability, trailer stability, hill assist, and road departure mitigation. Result was key safety features, including autonomous braking, road departure mitigation, power steering, and lane keeping were rendered inoperable. The engine power was reduced while in motion at 50 mph. The errors came on shortly after ignition was engaged.

- Jefferson, GA, USA

problem #28

Mar 062020

Pilot

  • 42,000 miles
Warning light keeps indicating there is a problem with my keyless remote. I've changed the battery, but that didn't help. Sometimes the light doesn't come on. It's about 50% of the time. It happens when I first start the car as well as when I'm in motion.

- Dandridge, TN, USA

problem #27

Sep 042019

Pilot

  • 120,000 miles
Keyless start system problem, warning comes and goes, car wont start at times

- Surprise, AZ, USA

problem #26

Jun 012018

Pilot

  • 30,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

During idle (such as at a red light), the auto engine idle stop function causes the engine to cut out (this is normal) and the engine is supposed to come back to life when the brake is released. However, sometimes the engine and electrical system cut out completely (most easily identified by the radio cutting out) and the engine does not come back on when the brake is released and the car must be put into park and restarted, which can take quite a bit of time - it often has trouble restarting when this occurs. There is usually some kind of error code when this occurs; the code varies but is most often "collision mitigation system problem'. this condition can be quite hazardous, especially when in an intersection. There is an override of the engine idle stop, but it must be activated each time the car is restarted, which is easily forgotten. This problem was occurring several times a week until I started using the override.

- Long Beach, CA, USA

problem #25

Sep 012019

Pilot

  • 34,000 miles
Once my Honda Pilot hit miles of 34,000, dashboard is shows warning "keyless start system problem". shortly after I am having problem with start button which won't start one press, I have to press many times to start the car... I have changed my key fob battery, and still have same problems. Dealership won't cover this issue once the car drove over 30,000 miles. I did research on this issue specifically Honda Pilot 2016 model. There are a lot people who have same issues. I am afraid that my car won't start one day. Never had issue with other Honda models... also this model 2016 Honda Pilot has issue with music dashboard, example: The radio display will black out during when I am driving, so had to turn off my car and turn on to get my radio display back or all of sudden I can not change the music volume etc... god knows what is the next problem?!

- Los Angeles, CA, USA

problem #24

Jan 102020

Pilot

  • 41,460 miles
Multiple warning lights on the dash, check engine light is on including road departure mitigation warning, trailer stability assist warning, hill start assist warning, vehicle stability assist warning, emissions system control warning, all wheel drive system warning, power steering warning and acc warning where all came up at the same time with a sudden jerk and car cannot go beyond 20 mi/hr while I was driving in the highway that almost got me into an accident with an individual on the rear almost bumped me. Now I'm afraid to drive it. I actually got the attention of my dealer (norris Honda) when the jerking started at the mileage of 34,100 miles and happened several times but with no warning light coming on. They did a test drive and it so happened that it didn't happen when they tested it and no check engine light on. They told me that they have had several incidence of the same problem with other customers with Honda Pilot 2016 and 2017 and is a common issue and ended up having to change the fuel injectors and have solved their problem. The problem though is, my car is only 3yrs old and having all these problems now and they charge $1800 to change the injectors, which I think is way too much for a fairly new car with dealer being aware of the first jerking problems before the warranty ended. I have been having all Honda cars since I started having a car because of its reliability and performance and now this happened. It has been a very common problem but no recall has been made. I hope that there will be no accidents with one losing life before a recall is made. I hope you can help me out with this, thank you

- Perry Hall, MD, USA

problem #23

Nov 212019

Pilot

  • 50,000 miles
Car brakes by itself, shakes the steering wheel and shuts off and loses power ranging in speeds from 20 -60mph. On double lane roads to interstates in the rain and sunny dry days.

- Statesville, NC, USA

problem #22

May 152019

Pilot

  • miles
First a lot of different lights were coming on saying different stuff was wrong. So had it fixed. They replaced the spring harness in the steering column. Then not long after the battery died replaced it and now the battery died again then all of a sudden the keyless remote start problem light turned on and the mitigation system doesn't always work it just work then sometimes doesn't work, their is no light that come on to tell me it not working I just know be I'm driving and might raft I drift over a white line and nothing happens and sometimes it work let's me know I'm going over the white line also if I'm coming up on another car to fast it doesn't let me no by beeping and sometimes it does and the center touch screen doesn't work at all and the ac/heat doesn't work either. My Pilot only has 45,000 and about 38,000 when I first started having the problems.

- Mishawaka, IN, USA

problem #21

Jul 182019

Pilot

  • 52,000 miles
My vehicle has about 50K miles and all of a sudden I receive a dashboard message that says "keyless start system problem" when I turn on the vehicle. The message stays displayed while the vehicle is on, and will only go off when the vehicle is turned off.

- Greenville, SC, USA

problem #20

Jun 252019

Pilot

  • 50,000 miles
Keyless start system problem light comes off and on.

- Bellevue, WA, USA

problem #19

Jun 212019

Pilot

  • 48,000 miles
I was driving at 15 mph and my car jolted and stalled and several (5) warning lights came on. Vehicle stability, brake, power steering, and a couple other lights. I turned the vehicle off and restarted the car. I tried to drive it a few miles and it would not shift properly and I couldn't drive it more than about 20 mph. I had it towed from home to the closest Honda dealership. The vehicle had around 40K miles on it at the time. Honda said it's a known issue with a bulletin - stating that the cam shaft assembly needed to be replaced along with a sensor. They told me the cam shaft assembly was under the power train warranty but I had to pay for the sensor. When I did a little research, I found that Honda was giving extended warranties to newer models having the same issue and even doing recalls but my VIN didn't qualify. A few months down the road and my car started having shifting problems again. So, I take it in and they are saying the transmission needs to be serviced but the service only gets a little bit of the fluid out so they wanted to do the service 3 times and charged me for doing the same thing 3 times. After some research, I find out that it's a known issue that they are willing to give a limited warranty on up 80K miles. My concern is that I don't feel safe driving on the highway with shifting issues, stalls and jolts that have happened within 4 months of each other. If I were on the highway when that happened, going at 60 mph, it would have caused unnecessary accidents. It's dangerous but, still no recall for my vehicle and it's like fighting tooth and toenail with Honda to get them to do what is right. I don't know when or if it will happen again. I purchased my Honda brand new. This vehicle needs to be off the roads until the issues are fixed. I think I have a lemon!

- Raleigh, NC, USA

problem #18

Apr 292019

Pilot

  • miles
Keyless start system problem

- Princeton, NJ, USA

problem #17

Mar 112019

Pilot

  • 20,000 miles
My vehicle just drove 20K miles, I am getting a popup "keyless start system problem" very frequently when ever I start my car. Mine is 2016 Honda Pilot touring AWD. I went to dealer, first day he reset some code and the warning message went off. But immediately on next day it came again. I went to dealer again and they did 2 hours of investigation and told, they will replace the battery and they ordered a part. Yesterday my part was ready and they said they have replaced the part and replaced the fob batteries. The warning was went off on that day but, it came again today. I am totally frustrated with this behavior. When I search on the forums most of the Pilot customers had the same issue and they have reported in this forum. I am not sure how you will take it up but I am bit concerned on the vehicle safety how it behavior. I am getting this message when ever I start the vechile. Tried with both key fobs and with new batteries but no luck. My dealer is Honda of concord, bruton smith blvd, concord.

- Charlotte, NC, USA

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