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 was stopped at a red light and my engine turned off from the idle/stop feature. However, when I released the brakes this time, the car did not turn on as it normally does. Instead, the whole vehicle turned off and it took me several tries to turn the vehicle back on. This has happened to my wife on several occasions. I replaced the car battery and it happened again a month after. My Pilot would not turn on again after releasing the brakes.
Car is parked in my garage. Car will not start. Remote keyless start error. Called the Honda dealer. They said to have it towed in. Waiting on the tow truck right now.
There are two major problems, but the dangerous one is the auto-idle doesn't always allow the car to restart. When I go into idle at a stop sign or red light and I start to accelerat, all of the lights inside shut off and the car stalls after a foot or two. So far it has always managed to restart itself, but I've started turning it off whenever I get into the car because this is dangerous. This has been going on for months and it has only gotten worse (it probably started a year ago). At the same time this has happened, I got a "keyless ignition problem" warning light. The walk away lock feature doesn't work anymore. I've read numerous reports that say fixing the keyless switch doesn't help with the auto idle and there's no specific error code for issues with the auto idle system.
The automatic start system turns the car off and on when stopped at a red light or stop sign for example. The feature sometimes without any warning fails to restart the car automatically. The driver must put the car in park, push down on the brake, restart the car and then shift into park taking a considerable amount of time. This is dangerous for so many reasons and it must manually be turned off because it defaults to on. With no warning your car could be turned off and not automatically start when it's supposed to. This has happened to me multiple times stopped at red light, stop signs and in stop and go traffic. I would like to either have a warning in place or be able to permanently disable this dangerous feature.
The car stalls out at times when stopped. The gear switches to neutral. When I change it to park then I get a message that I need to start engine but the engine is running. I am not able to stop it either by pressing break and the stop/start button. I tried it multiple times and finally it stopped and then I was able to restart it and drive again. This happened to my daughter while she was on an on ramp to a highway so this behavior us not only inconvenient but very dangerous. We brought the car to the dealership but they said that since no error code shows up they cannot do anything. They changed the transmission fluids and the day after I picked up the car the same thing happened.
- Oceanside, NY, USA
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We have a 2016 Honda Pilot touring. Since early 2018 we have been having issues with the idle stop system. The problem is when we are driving and we come to stop in traffic at a light, the idle stop system engages and shuts the engine down, like it is suppose to do. Once the light turns green for traffic to move, I release the brake and the idle stop system tries to engage and turn the engine on again, but fails and shuts the whole vehicle down, inoperable. The lights flash and I cannot turn the car on again for at least 1 to 2 minutes. Vehicles are honking and traffic is blaring across us, but I cannot turn the vehicle back on. After 2 minutes, I can restart the vehicle by pushing the button and brake and then the vehicle moves. This is a safety issue, since you never know when it wil lol happen, but it has always happened while in heavy trafffic or a busy intersection. In 2019, I took vehicle in for service, they said it was a bad battery. I replaced the battery in March 2019. The same identical problem still continued to occur multiple times. November 10 took the same dealer, howdy Honda, austin, tx. They again told me the battery was reading bad, but I had the battery tested at another shop and at the place of purchase, and the battery was more then fine and tested great in and out of the vehicle. The dealer of course said they could not recreate the issue and did not see anything when they tested the system. They just pawned it off on the battery, even though the battery is less than 2 years old and testing just fine. There is no way to permanently disable the system and if I forget to push the idle stop disengage button every time I start the vehicle, I could end up on the road in the middle of traffic and some driver decides not to pay attention and run into me and my disabled vehicle. This is unacceptable and such a hazard and Honda does not seem to care.
My car died on me at a stop sign with the idle start/stop feature with 50K miles on it on 12/3/2019. (one week prior, the 'emissions system problem' popped up.) I came to a stop at a very busy intersection. The idle start/stop kicked in. When I went to take my foot off the brake to hit the gas, my Pilot completely died on me. It wouldn't restart. My dash looked like a christmas tree with all the different lights/warnings popping up every time I would try to start it. My friend came to jump it & it would not start. After over 2.5 hours blocking traffic & 2 police officers having to direct traffic, while waiting for a tow truck, I finally got my car to the dealership. First day they said they had no clue what was wrong with it. 2nd day they called & said the problem was just a software update for the idle start/stop. They said it's a known issue & there is no recall & they are fixing them only as the issue presents itself. Forward to 2/21/2020. 'emissions system problem' pops up again. I drop my Pilot off at the dealership again on 2/24/2020. This time they say all my fuel injectors need to be replaced. The next day they call me again to say when they got in there, my seals were bad & they needed to replace those too. After 3 days, I got my Pilot back. Ever since I have had it back, my idle start/stop has acted like it wasn't going to come back on every time I drive it & I try to remember to turn it off when I get in my car. I go from the brake to the gas & it dings & then 'collision mitigation system problem' pops up & then goes away. 10/31/2020 died on me stopped at a red light again with the idle start/stop feature on. I had to call 911 & have it towed to the dealership again.
Honda Pilot AWD 2016 has RPM variation / hesitation during normal driving from rev range 1500 to 2500rpm. It is a continual hesitation or spluttering of revs. If accelerarting extremely hard it is not as evident but is always there. Appeared out of nowhere, car has no other issues, serviced professionally as needed/scheduled. Horrible comfort/ safety issue - needs to be addressed has 75K miles, has been occurring for last 10K doesnt seem to do it under no load (neutral) but always under normal driving. Eco mode on or off doesnt matter - no difference
My car will die after being stopped (ex. At a red light, stop sign) and will not restart right away. Sometimes it doesn't die completely. When it does you are unable to put the car into park or engage the emergency lights. This has happened where we were stopped at a red-light and the car died and would not restart. A car behind us was approaching the light and saw that it was green, quickly came up behind us honking their horn and lucky was able to move to the other lane to avoid hitting us. This seams to happen when we forget to turn off the auto idle stop. This is something you have to push everyone you start the car. I took the car to the dealer they put in a new transmission and changed the timing belt. Previously I had the cars fuel injectors replaced. After all this work the car is still dying and it is happening more frequently. The dealership says they have heard of this problem but don't know of a fix yet.
After automatic idle engine stop/start engages and shut off vehicle at stop light, vehicle occasionally will not restart automatically. Results in being stopped and stalled out in traffic for several minutes after which it will restart via manual process.
Check engine light is illuminated along with AWD, keyless start system, emissions system, uphill start, trailer assistance, etc. Have had two engine coils replaced and a software upgrade. The lights go off for a couple of days and then return. Have spent $250 in diagnostics and nothing is fixed. Replaced batteries in both key fobs. I was told by dealership to replace the start/stop button for $375. Dealership also recommended replacing fuel injectors for $1600.no guarantee that this will fix any of the issues.
The car engine/battery shuts off at stop lights and red lights when you take your foot off the break pedal. This same issue occurred a year ago. Honda initially told us that there was no issue with the vehicle and until we pressed about finding a known issue reported online they said there was nothing wrong. Eventually a regional service rep was involved who said the issue was known and was with the battery. The battery was replaced and for one year had been okay until two weeks ago when same issue began occurring again. This is a major safety issue with the vehicle turning off. I have two young children I have to drive around and do not feel safe in the vehicle while this is happening. I am now waiting on a repeat service visit on October 8, 2020 to address the issue this year.
The keyless start system problem light has come on and the dealership finds no codes to resolve the issue. The auto engine shutoff to conserve gas when the bake is depressed will completely shut off the car and I am not able to start the car again. This has happened many time from driving on the highway and stopping in traffic to being in the city stopping at a red light. It can take up to a minute or more to get the car to start again. The only way to disable this from happening is to manually shut off this feature every time I start the vehicle.
My timing belt failed at under 80K mile and at less than 4 years old. I was driving and could have been seriously injured as my car died in the middle of the road. The belt then destroyed my entire engine.
I was driving the car and suddenly ever single warning light went on, I heard a loud noise and the vehicle stopped running and would not start back up. I was told I had a timing belt failure and that my engine threw pistons and was destroyed. This vehicle had 78K and had every oil change required.
Beginning in September of 2019, the Pilot has completely shut off at least 8 times when the auto start/stop feature is on. What should happen is the engine auto shuts off but the electrical system and all other systems stay active. What is happening is the entire system has shut down and we need to restart the Pilot. It typically happens at a stop light but the last time it happened when my wife was turning left out of stop light and there was oncoming traffic. We have taken it to our local Honda dealer and they have no idea what is wrong. Other in the Honda piloteers auto forum have also had the same issue based on my research.
Vehicle stalls and shuts down when start/stop system is engaged. When stopped in the center of the road to make a left turn, the vehicle refused to start the engine again, stalled completely, having to turn it off and on. Turning it off is was not easy as the start button was not working. It left me in a very precarious situation with incoming traffic.
Engine auto idle feature has repeatedly malfunctioned. Vehicle will sometimes not restart from the idle position. We have repeatedly taken it back to the dealership and they are unable to diagnose or fix the issue since it occurs intermittently. These types of issues are well documented on the piloteers web forum.
The contact's daughter owns a 2016 Honda Pilot. The contact stated that her daughter's push start feature failed to operate as needed when depressed. The contact stated that in a service report, it was stated that the key immobilizer code would appear on the instrument panel. The contact's daughter took the vehicle to lejeune Honda cars (2221 N marine blvd, jacksonville, nc 28546) where they diagnosed the vehicle with a defective tire pressure motoring system (TPMS) control unit, which caused her failure. She declined to have the part repaired after given an estimate. The contact was not certain if her daughter had reached out to the manufacturer. The vehicle had yet to be repaired. The failure mileage was 101,324.
When stopped at a stop light or stop sign the transmission changes from drive to neutral to park and sometimes dies. Car won't restart when following directions on display screen or any other way except sitting and trying to start it over and over after turning on flashers and waving traffic around us.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Vacaville, CA, USA