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.
10.0
really awful
Crashes / Fires:
3 / 3
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
29,036 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.
2 week ago, I am getting an "keyless start system problem error" when ever I want to start the car. Later on the message has stopped but now the car wont lock upon exiting like is used to do before this error message. I checked the configuration setting and auto lock upon exiting is enabled.
Keyless start system problem comes on when starting the car and sometimes while driving. No reason for the error and seems to be a continuous problem with Honda Pilot owners. No consistency to the message and when it comes on. First time noticing issue was in August, then again in September, December, January and February. It can happen 1 day and not come back on till 3-4 days later. Seems to be more frequent when there is outside precipitation so maybe tripping some sensor. Not a battery issue as new battery has been installed in November and still getting the message and fob batteries have also been replaced.
While stopped at a freeway off ramp. The car automatically shut off the engine per the start/stop feature. When the light turned green the car did not restart and instead completely shut off and put itself into park. I had trouble restarting while traffic built up behind me. This is not the first time this has happened. It is a very dangerous and disconcerting problem.
- Sacramento, CA, USA
Search CarComplaints.com for these popular complaint phrases...
Keyless start system problem error message: Having trouble starting and turning off vehicle. Have to press start button several times or hold longer. Sometimes, I have to depress break and then trying again...start button light is not always on. It's taking longer and longer to start and turn off vehicle. I have been getting this message for about 7 months. I have
When getting into veicle while it is stationary to begin trip. Keep getting a keyless start system problem error message periodically for the past 7 months starting in approx June 2019. At times the engine won't start. After parking or leaving vehicle in a stationary position. Also, the walk away auto lock feature hasn't worked since July 2019 (6 months). Have reset system several times but issue still returns and the walk away feature has never reset or worked again
The car started showing "keyless start system problem" a few months ago, and the car is now only 10,800 miles! it takes lucks to turn on the car and some more lucks to turn the car's engine off. This is completely unacceptable for a car at this young milage! when do a quick google search, there are plentiful of same issues posted online. When is Honda going to the responsible to recall this issue?
Keyless start system problem being displayed. Still able to start vehicle, unknown how much longer or what if any features can and will be disabled. Several other owners are complaining about the same exact issue. Seems to be related to defective start/stop switch.
On January 13th, I left my home to pick up my son, Julian, 3 years old, at preschool. His preschool is approximately 3 miles from our home. I picked him up, and drove the same distance back to our house, arriving home around 4:45pm. I had no unusual warning notifications or any unusual experience driving to and from the preschool. I parked the car in our driveway. Julian and I exited the vehicle, and walked to our front door. As we approached the front door I smelled smoke, and looked back at the car. I noticed a small flicker in the passenger side lower headlight. Upon closer look, I realized this was in fact a flame. Julian and I left our bags on the porch, stepped off of our front porch, and moved away from the house and car, and called 911. As we waited for the fire department, we watched this small flame grow to full flames, engulfing the engine, front hood, and front of the car. The police and fire department arrived, and put out the fire. The car was towed out of our driveway. A police report was filed with the montclair police dept. Officer anthony swan #232 patrol division montclair police headquarters, 647 bloomfield ave., montclair NJ 07042 aswan@montclairnjusa.org report # 20-005325 I then called our insurance provider, usaa, following the incident. They have taken the car into their possession and initiated an origin & cause investigation. We purchased the car new. We have not been in a collision. The car has been serviced twice annually. It was serviced last week. It has ~30,000 miles on it. The dealer that sold us the car, paul miller Honda, in NJ, has been unresponsive, telling us to reach out the the national Honda office. I have filed a case with Honda, and have been told someone will reach out to me. That has not happened.
We have had several issues but the most pressing is that the car will suddenly stop responding under acceleration. This has happened 3 times once very nearly caused a very bad accident with a big rig whilst we were entering a freeway. The car will suddenly not respond to throttle the gauges seem to reset and then the car will go. Similar to how the auto stop idle function works except we were not stopped we were under acceleration. We have also had several instances where the vehicle will not start after the idle stop has activated at a traffic light forcing us to turn off the vehicle and then restart it. We have take the car to the dealer several times but they have been unable to recreate the issue and assure us that there is nothing wrong with the vehicle... beyond the problems listed above the car frequently has electrical safety issues with the auto brake and collision detection, I cant even count the number of times that the car has suddenly braked out of no where, no obstacles or anything to trigger it, just decides we need to brake. These "safety features" should really be reviewed and tested better before being put into a production vehicle.
Received "keyless start system problem" on the dash at 61K miles. Took to dealership and had to run all kinds of diagnostics to locate issue. Tech said that they had to keep checking harnesses and other controls because of original code. It seems to be tied back to the control switch which many other Pilot of the same year have had. Talked to Honda support and was told to just follow dealership instructions on how to repair. This seems to be a common theme and why has a recall not been issued?
I have a 2016 Honda Pilot touring. 6 months ago, the auto idle stop feature began to malfunction. There are times when the car will not restart after the auto idle stop engages. I have to quickly figure out how to get the car started again while traffic is dodging me on the freeway. This has happened more than half a dozen times. The only reason it has not happened more is because I turn the 'feature' off as often as I remember. I would like a recall to permanently disable auto idle stop. The feature is dangerous. Will someone have to die in an accident before Honda and the NHTSA does something about this problem? there are many reported cases of this happening and Honda is unable to fix it. See this thread for many more cases: Https://www.piloteers.org/threads/elite-shuts-off-at-stop-light.157005/ please force Honda to do something about auto idle stop!!!!
Keyless start system problem message on dash. Wasn't able to start vehicle for 5 minutes. Once started was not able to stop engine. This seems to be a recurring problem with 2016 Honda Pilot. This could be a dangerous issue under circumstances where car will not start.
The car's idle stop is not working properly. The radio consistently drops out and headlights flicker when releasing the brake to start the car after idle stop was engaged. Multiple times the car has now failed to start and appears to stall out, and makes me shutoff the whole car and restart it. This is a safety issue as some people do not realize and might rear end me. I have taken it to my local dealer, been told they cannot replicate it initially, to them validating the issue and wanting me to bring it back. I don't have confidence in them fixing the issue at this point as they do not have familiarity with it, yet I see many complaints about it online. I feel this problem is more widespread than Honda is communicating and the car has a fault in the auto idle stop design that they are not resolving.
Keyless start error message persists upon starting the vehicle despite keyless remote (for the moment) still working. Message stays on while vehicle is being driven. Multiple drivers of same model of Pilot report same problem starting between 35-40K miles.
The contact owns a 2016 Honda Pilot. While driving various speeds, the vehicle jerked, stalled, and all the warning indicators illuminated on the instrument panel. The contact took the vehicle to Honda of aventura (2150 ne 163rd St, North miami beach, fl 33162) numerous times. The battery was replaced and the software was updated several times. The contact was also informed that the failures were normal. The contact took the vehicle to holman Honda (12 E sunrise blvd, fort lauderdale, fl 33304) and was informed that the brake assembly needed to be replaced. The contact had not directly notified the manufacturer of the failure. Each dealer claimed to have notified the manufacturer. The vehicle was not repaired and remained in the possession of Honda of aventura. The failure mileage was unknown.
"keyless starter system problem" light comes and goes. Mileage 50K - have changed key fob battery, issue still randomly displays - seems to be more often now. Find that if I try to not rush the turn off process it will sometimes help - ie put car in park - wait a few seconds, then shut off vehicle - doesn't always prevent message - quite unnerving wondering when I wont be able to start the vehicle - this has been going on for last 10K miles
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Muskego, WI, USA