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.
When driving in eco mode the car shuts partially down at red lights and other stops as is expected, but lights, radio, ac., etc still function. Every 5 or 6th time my car now shuts off completely and requires me to restart it.
I have gotten an error on my Honda Pilot ex-L 2016 "keyless entry system error. At 47K miles. I have google this issue and looks like all 2016 models are getting this error around the same mileage. I believe that this is a manufacturing defect for the push to start button. I would like for Honda to own this problem and cover the repair for this error. When I try to start my car it takes about a minute for me to get it started because it won't start and the same thing for when I need to shut it off. This could be a dangerous matter incase of an emergency that you need to start your car fast or shut it off.
We have been using this car for 3 years without any issue. Until this warning message "keyless start system problem" popping up on my dashboard after starting the engine. The car is still able to start with push button just fine but it is very annoying and frustrating that it might be one day that the car won't start. After doing the research from internet, it looks like this is a common issue for this car after 30K or after 3 years. What I would like is to have the Honda dealer to fix this issue without cost (recall) because the warranty of this car is already expired.
The Honda Pilot has a feature called auto engine idle stop. To meet emission standards, this feature puts the engine into a stop/off mode when you brake for more than 3 seconds. However, this feature sometimes causes the car battery to fail and the car to stall. This could happen when stopped at a traffic light or on a highway stopped in traffic. If the battery hasn't had enough time to recharge, the car might stall and need to be completely shutdown, wait a while and maybe will restart. We bought our car in late 2015. The issue presented itself by 2016/2017, mostly as brief blips and the car would restart. In summer 2018, after repeated visits to Honda and numerous times of the car completely stalling at traffic lights, we chose to replace the battery. Our Honda service centers kept telling us that the battery tests showed it was fine and that the feature isn't suppose to engage if the battery doesn't have "enough juice" to restart. But clearly, that doesn't work, because my car would indeed completely stall and need to try to restart. I once had to wait five minutes stuck at a light in the middle of a 3 lane road, and my car finally restarted. But once we paid to replace the battery (that supposedly was fine), the car didn't blip or stall. But one year later, it started happening again. Sometimes the car will just blip, where all the lights, radio and air conditioning will briefly cut out and then come back on as the feature re-engages the engine. But sometimes, it just won't restart. There is a button you can hit to disable the auto engine idle stop feature. But you must remember to hit every time you start the car. If you forget, all it takes is stopping at one traffic light and the car could stall. There are numerous online reports of similar issues with this feature.
- Charlotte, NC, USA
Search CarComplaints.com for these popular complaint phrases...
When engine auto idle is engaged, instead of re-engaging when foot removed from brake, the car stalls in one of three ways. Grade 1, the fan and radio shut off but the engine engages once gas is applied. Grade 2, the fan, radio and engine shut off but restart once gas is applied. Various warning lights then appear on the dash. Grade 3, everything shuts off and the car will not restart until you shift into park and press the start button several times. This is very dangerous as it happens at intersections when cars expect you to be moving and you're stalled out. I have video of these incidents and have provided them to the Honda dealer.
Vehicle randomly does not automatically restart after auto idle stop engages when in stop-go traffic on freeway or when stopped at intersection, resulting in a stalled vehicle in the middle of freeway or intersection. Attempts to manually restart the vehicle generally successful after frantically (or slowly!) pushing the start-stop button several times. Video documenting issue available at https://1drv.ms/V/S!aqy6pdpsaknnnn5fxrz2ngstmnd0cg (additional videos available). Issue ongoing since ~ October 2018. Dealer has replaced battery & engine start-stop button to no avail.
Vehicle is giving keyless start problem error. Vehicle is difficult to start (takes several attempts to start). Key fob battery replaced, car battery replaced. It is intermittent but occurs with both key fobs. It occurs at various times of day, after sitting for various amounts of time. Vehicle is always stationary as it is parked and off before starting.
The contact owns a 2016 Honda Pilot. While the contact's daughter was driving 70 mph, the vehicle stalled and began to lose power. The driver stated that different unknown warning indicators illuminated. The driver was able to park on the side of the road, turn off and restart the ignition in order to continue driving. The vehicle was taken to Honda carland (located at 11085 alpharetta hwy, roswell, ga 30076, (770) 993-2805) to be diagnosed, but the failure could not be duplicated. The vehicle continued to experience the failure. The manufacturer was notified. The failure mileage was 47,000.
There are several problems. The lock function does not work when you walk away from the car. It beeps once, but does not lock. Continue to get the message "keyless start system problem". the screen (for radio and such) goes black. This happens when the vehicle is both stationary and in motion. I can open my car door and it will say "keyless start system problem before I even start the car.
The keyless start system problem warning light has come on several times. The car still started but it appears to be a malfunction in the warning light system itself.
My 2016 Honda Pilot has started displaying "keyless start system problem" on dashboard after starting the vehicle. The vehicle still operates normally with exception of notice on the dashboard. I've researched and numerous other 2016 Honda Pilot are having same issue with no resolution.
Keyless start system problem. The error message comes and goes over the last week. What's concerning is the reports of the entire car turning off in the middle of driving or idling. This is a known problem in 2016 Honda Pilot yet nothing is being done about it.
2016 Honda Pilot began displaying "keyless start system problem" on dash board after starting car. Vehicle still operates normally minus the warning light and message on dash. Numerous others are having the same issue with the same vehicle and year.
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.
Car shuts down and stalls when idle stop engages very frequently over the past year in the middle of the intersection or highway. Have taken in to Honda dealers multiple times but they cannot recreate the problem and say the battery tests ok yet recommend changing the battery?!
While idol at red light, the automatic idol kicked in for power save yet jerked and all red light indicators turned on, including parking breaks, and car seized up. No power, no ability put car in park or drive. On/off switch no reaction to turn car on or off. No brake function. I sat in an unresponsive vehicle at very busy intercetion. Luckily the vehicle behind me was stopped and only laid on their horn for 2 red light cycles rather than hitting me. I activated my emergency flashers yet other driver did not respond. I repetitively kept pushing power button in effort for car to respond and restart, eventually did and was able to drive off. Have appt with dealership in am.
When my car stops while applying the break paddle completely, the car may start 'idle stop' which turns off the engine. The engine may restart either by releasing the break paddle or when ac or battery needs the engine to turn back on. We have had multiple occurrences where the car will completely reset the electrical system shutting down all the lights, displays, radio and engine, and it may or may not restart the engine. Sometimes, it requires multiple presses of the engine start button which may take multiple seconds at a stop. This creates a safety hazard where cars behind may rear end us while we try to restart. Today, it happened to my wife in motion after the engine restarted and she was in the middle of an intersection. I wonder if this could even happen on a railway... we reported it twice and tried fixing it at a Honda shop (1st Texas Honda @ austin, tx), they made multiple claims including bad battery that required replacing it (issue still reoccurred), blaming it on a power cable that goes to an optional trailer hitch connection that is not in use, but have not tried tried replacing the faulty idle start/engine module. Searching thru the internet, there are multiple reports of the same issue. Https://www.carcomplaints.com/Honda/Pilot/2016/engine/auto_idle_stop_does_not_work.shtml there is no recall or a root cause analysis reported by Honda trying to resolve the issue for the owners. Needless to say, trying to take a video/photo when it happens is not simple, largely, because we don't hold our phones while driving the car and secondly, it's random event when it happens... the issue repeats multiple times a week, but not on every stop. Worse at hot temperatures.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Raleigh, NC, USA