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.
For a couple days when I would walk away from the car the auto lock wasn't working. It would beep once but wouldn't lock. Now the keyless start system problem light keeps coming on when I start the car. It happens most of the time I drive it in the last few days. There has been about 3 times it doesn't come on. Now the auto door locks work sporadically when walking away. The vehicle was stationary each time since it's just being started.
Intermittent 'keyless start system problem'. it's very concerning and whenever I bring my car to the shop they seem to have never heard of this issues before. Car works, but it is scary to wonder if my car will suddenly turn off or not turn on. Please have this investigated.
The keyless start and entry light will not turn off. Additionally many complaints about it and Honda ignoring the problem. Even more severe problems have been reported to you. This will lead to the car just stalling in the middle of the road. I have 2 children. Please have Honda address this asap.
Right before it's turned on and while driving. I get an error message saying "keyless start system problem". then vehicle will sometimes not turn on randomly. Have not taken the vehicle in for repair because I did much research and many people have taken their 2016 Pilot to the dealer and after spending money, the dealer could not fix it.
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
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At startup, the dashboard warning light indicating "keyless start system problem" appeared and was only removed, perhaps temporarily by following a routine set forth at a community website. Was informed that a repair at the dealer would cost $300+.
My Honda Pilot will stall out when coming out of the auto start/stop feature at an intersection. This problem started happening in July 2019 after having the transmission double replaced. This problem has now happened four different times and extremely dangerous for my wife and kids who are left stranded at an intersection. My wife has to attempt to recycle the power to the Pilot by holding down the power button to the Pilot. My wife has captured multiple videos of the dash with all the error messages popping up after it has died.
Will not start using the keyless fob. All trouble lights turn on when trying to start. Foot on brake as needed to start. Still won't start. The auto lock feature won't work. New batteries in the key fob don't help. Had the car towed to the dealership and when it was lowered from the tow truck it started right up.
Previous complaint NHTSA id 11111894 submitted 7/17/18. For car stalling after entering into auto idle stop. Replaced battery in August 2018 and didn't have any problems until now. Has happened at least 3 times now in Sept. And Oct 2019.. at first, radio or dvd player would cut out but has progressed to full on stalling after entering auto idle stop. Same problem as before and all other complaints. After car goes into idle stop, it does not restart after take foot off brake. Have to put car in park, press brake, and push start button to get it to restart. Can take several tries and several minutes.
At 37000 miles keyless system start problem error showed on the dash. Shortly after the ignition push to start button began to intermittently not work. The error message and start button problem has persisted with the start button becoming worse. It now can take several tries to start the car and shut the car off. It is extremely stressful especially if you have an emergency and cannot get the car to go!
Keyless start system problem comes on. Car is starting like normal but not sure if this issue will cause the vehicle to shutdown in traffic or going at a high rate of speed on the freeway.
When the vehicle is in an auto-idle stop (say at a traffic light) the car does not restart and stalls once the accelerator is pressed. This has happened sporadically and is very dangerous. The dealership said I can bring it in for a diagnosis but that they don't expect to find anything. This has happened numerous times and without warning. The most recent time was 10/23/19
Twice now my 2016 Honda Pilot elite with auto idling stop feature has stalled at intersection lights. While stopped at the red light the engine goes off and normally when I lift my foot off the brake it restarts and accelerates when I push the gas pedal. However, in these instances when I lifted my foot off the brake and went to accelerate, the engine completely stalled. A couple of warning lights came on, unfortunately I didn't read which ones because I was at busy intersections. The car would not start even after putting it into park. It took about 2 minutes before the engine would start. Other drivers were trying to get around me, honking. The 2nd time, I was going to make a left turn and just had to wait until I could start it, watching in my rear view mirror hoping I wouldn't get rear-ended. I drive 75+ miles to work on a very busy and slow moving California freeway with lots of stop and go traffic. I am very concerned about our safety if this were to happen on a busy freeway where drivers don't realize I am dead in the water. I called american Honda and they advised me to get it into a dealer right away. I got an appointment for this am at 0700 but as of now (11:30am) haven't heard a word. They are charging me $125 just to run diagnostics despite the fact I have an extended warranty. The service person had a definite "could care less attitude". after reading on this website and others, this is happening a lot and Honda doesn't seem to have an answer. This is the 2nd major issue with this car. The last issue involved my car basically shutting down on the freeway at 70mph, going into a lower gear, every possible warning light on the dash lit up. Had to drive one mile on the shoulder to get it off the freeway. This happened twice to me and a "computer patch was done". it seems fixed but now I am not sure at all what is going on with this car.
The contact owns a 2016 Honda Pilot. After purchasing the vehicle from an unknown used car lot and traveling 65 mph, the vehicle stalled. Also, the emissions and transmission failure indicators illuminated. The voice command instructed the contact to pull over as soon as possible as the vehicle completely shut off and lost braking and steering ability. The contact coasted the vehicle to the side of the road and restarted the vehicle; however, the emissions indicator was still illuminated. The vehicle was driven back to the used car lot, but they were not able to replicate the failure. The contact was advised to take the vehicle to the nearest dealer. The vehicle was taken to autonation Honda spokane valley (8201 East sprague ave, spokane valley, wa 99212), but was not diagnosed or repaired. The vehicle was currently at the dealer. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 111,000.
Vehicle continues to completely shut down (engine completely turning off, all lights turning on in console, requiring vehicle to be placed in park and then ignition button pressed to restart engine.) when stopping at a redlight. Continues to get worse and more frequent. Took to dealer and they say nothing is wrong. Please fix this! my families safety is top concern@
'keyless start system problem' error happens intermittently. This has been happening for a number of weeks. Based on searching this problem online it appears to be a problem with most keyless start Pilot around 30-50K miles. We had one instance where it took a few tries to get the car started. Very disappointed that this hasn't been recalled.
While stopped at a traffic light the car put itself into park without my (the driver) knowledge. When the light turned green I attempted to accelerate however the car was in park. I attempted to shift the car into drive and it would not do so. I had to turn the car off and then back on in order to place the car into drive and proceed through the intersection.
My 2016 Honda elite Pilot randomly shut off while driving on the freeway. I had the engine idle stop feature turned off while driving and the vehicle stalled, the dashboard warning lights turned on and the vehicle turned off completely. The dash said to put the car in park and hit the ignition button which I had to do several times before the vehicle turned on all while in rush hour traffic, I have approximately 39,000 miles on the vehicle.
I own a 2016 Pilot AWD touring with less than 26K miles. I am getting the remote keyless start problem as well as on multiple occasions the car will not lock once outside the car. I have replaced the key fob's batteries and have seen multiple owners of 2016 Pilot have been having the keyless start problem with no definitive answer as to why this is occurring. Supposed fixes range from replacing start button, replacing sensors, unit receivers, pressing brakes, resetting system etc... Honda needs to take accountability and find out what's going on because the average consumer does not have the time and money to invest in a vehicle that should not have the issues it is having after only 25K miles as well as only being 3 years old.
The contact owns a 2016 Honda Pilot. The contact stated that the keyless start system error message displayed without warning. The dealer and manufacturer were not contacted. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The failure mileage was 38,109.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Huntington Beach, CA, USA