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:
4 / 3
Injuries / Deaths:
1 / 0
Average Mileage:
18,967 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.
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)
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.
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.
The vehicle-??s Auto Stop/Start feature routinely fails to restart the engine when releasing the brake, turning the steering wheel, or selecting Park. In order to start the vehicle, it must be placed into Park, turned off, and then turned back on by holding the Start button. This has worked on most occasions (approx 90% of occasions thus far); other times a jump start was required. Attempts to resolve from Honda have required several purchases of a new battery and denial of there being a larger issue. There is no indication or warning that the feature has failed until attempting to resume driving (or the vehicle attempts to restart itself based on the vehicle-??s self-monitored parameters). The failure to start leaves the vehicle stuck in traffic risking collision and/or personal injury as a result.
- Chesapeake, VA, USA
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There have been two instances of the vehicle failing to restart after a complete stop at a stop light. In these situations, the vehicle's auto stop-start system engages and turns the engine off. When the brake peddle is disengaged and the engine is supposed to start, the engine fails to restart. There are some errors on the dashboard but nothing was captured on the vehicle computer when I took it into the dealership. When the engine won't restart it takes a minute or two of blocking traffic before the engine will start up.
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.
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.
In 3 occasions my Pilot was stopped waiting for the light to change and all of the sudden the engine died and refuse to turn itself ON as usual. The first time it happens in Miami, Fl. The second time in our hometown of Teaneck, NJ and the third time it happens in New York City (Manhattan) The first time the car re-started after 5 minutes trying (more than 5 times). The second time the car died and 5 took about 5 times to restart again. The third time, we had to use our battery jump starter because the battery died. After the car turned on, all the systems were fine, including the battery.
Honda Pilot 2016 auto idle feature stalls engine completely when recovering from idle to Run (e.g. complete stop at a signal or busy traffic, engine goes to auto idle and upon releasing the brake the engine stalls). Issue started during warranty period and multiple repair attempts were made by Honda dealership, replaced battery and starter motor (50% paid out of pocket though the car was in warranty, 50% was courtesy credit from Honda). Even after multiple attempts the issue remains unresolved. Honda/Dealership recommended to turn off the feature and use the car. This is a safety issue as engine keeps stalling and only starts after full power cycle (about 1-2 mins).
Almost every time I forget to disable the auto stop function on my pilot and I come to a stop it will more likely kill the engine. Not all the time, but more times than not. It-??s annoying because it literally takes me a good 10-20 seconds to start it back up and get moving with cars behind me honking their horns. Issues with this started about a year in to owning this vehicle and have progressively gotten worse. Have taken my 2016 Honda Pilot into Honda multiple times with no help. They always say they could replicate the issue which is complete bull. This needs to be fixed
I recently saw an article that NHTSA is investigating Honda vehicles 2016-2019 regarding the idle stop/restart of the car and want to corroborate that this issue does exist. My husband and I bought a 2016 Honda Pilot Elite in late July of 2019. We believe we are the second owners of the vehicle. All was fine except for occasionally, the idle stop/restart feature would not work: the car would cut off at a red light, but when taking my foot off the brake and expecting a restart, you would see and hear all of the electrical turn off--radio, a/c, etc. and sometimes the car would not restart. I would have to wait 30 seconds or so, then restart the car as normal. The most harrowing experience with this happened on a six-lane highway where I was the last in line at a red light. The light turned green, all cars accelerated and left, but the idle stop did not restart, the car cut off completely, and it would not restart at all. I had to wait for a minute or two to re-try several times. This was a 55mph highway, I was in the middle lane completely stalled out with no other cars around me, and my children were in the car with me. I was afraid someone would come barreling along at the speed limit and hit us. We took the car in to our local Honda dealership on 11/21/19 and still have the paperwork, which reads "BMS no supplying proper voltage for auto stop function to operate properly", "Install new battery management sensor", "Battery test bad" and "replaced battery". We all figured it was the car's battery. A year later, we asked and they still couldn't disconnect that feature for us. I have made it a habit to hit the button to disable the idle stop whenever I drive the car. Just last week, my husband drove with the rest of us in the car, he did not disable the idle stop at a red light, and the car briefly cut off all electrical (but quickly turned back on) when he lifted his foot from the break. We still have the car. Please do inspect it. There are no warning signs.
This car has feature to turn off engine while stopped at stoplight to conserve fuel when brake pedal is engaged. On multiple occasions when the brake pedal is released the car fails to restart engine and the engine and car -??turns off-?? entirely. Sometimes I can restart car by pressing ignition button but other times it take up to several minutes for the car to restart. Very dangerous while in traffics.
The engine in my vehicle fails to restart after coming to a complete stop. My car stalls out and can take several attempts to try to restart the car. This has been very dangerous. It can occur whether I'm stuck in traffic on a major highways or even just at a stop sign. It always occurs when the start/stop function is engaged. I have taken the car to the dealer multiple times to deal with this issue and even tried to get the start stop function removed. Unfortunately, they have never been able to fix the problem.
Auto/start stop function causes car engine to shut down completely. Car will not be able to start again until battery is jump started again. Dashboard will display -??engine fail-?? error message. Battery has been changed but still have this problem. This has happened multiple times over the years I have this car. Dealership has not been able to fix problem. I am afraid to get stranded so I will have to manually turn off auto start/stop every single time I start the engine.
If I forget to turn off the auto idle button. It is a 50/50 shot whether my vehicle will restart. If the vehicle does shut down it takes quite the process to try to get the vehicle to start again. Numerous times I-??ve had angry drivers behind me beeping their horns and throwing their hands up as I-??m frantically trying to get the vehicle to restart. When I finally do get the vehicle running again it-??s several minutes later. I have addressed this issue with Honda of Fort Myers multiple times. They have replaced the start/stop ignition button twice, but this has not fixed anything. They have also forced me to purchase a new battery as they ensured this was the issue. This again did not fix the problem. This continues to be an ongoing safety issue that Honda is aware of, but neglects to do anything about it.
Engine fails to restart when automatic engine start/stop is engaged. Once the car took over 15 mins to start back up again and I was at the end of an off ramp of a major highway. When the automatic engine start/stop is not disabled the cars engine turns off at a stop light or intersection and then will not start back up again. The worst example (taking over 15 mins to restart) occurred on Jan 31, 2019 however it has occurred since this incident multiples times and before this date as well.
The auto idle feature doesn't always result in the engine restarting at a stop. Sometimes the whole car system needs to reboot before the car will restart which can leave you in a vulnerable road position that can cause an accident. This problem occurs several times a week for me. I was told a new battery would solve the problem, but after spending $300 the problem still persists.
For the last 6 months (or maybe a bit more) my 2016 Honda Pilot Touring does not successfully re-start after it's auto-idle-stop feature kicks in at stoplight or in stop/go highway traffic. This maybe happens 20% of the time, but more likely on a hot day or when AC/radio all running high or uphill start. When this happen car stalls and needs to be completely restarted which takes 30 secs and a requires a "reboot" by pressing the start button 2-3 times. To add to the annoyance you cannot permanently disable the auto-idle-stop feature. Instead every time the car restarts it is on by default and the user has to manually turn it over ever time. This is happening with the original 2016 battery from new dealer purchase. The dealership claims it's an old/weak battery issue, but the car has no problem starting on a fresh cold start. This is a safety issue if the car stalls and the driver needs to quickly restart to escape danger, collision, etc.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Dothan, AL, USA