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 a 2016 touring model. I purchased it used from gladstone Honda (now swickard) in 2017. In 2018 my battery suddenly died during errands. I had the car jumped and replaced the battery from a local auto supply store. Last year, we started hearing an occasional weird clicking during idle-stop. Now, this year, when in idle-stop at a stop sign or stop light, often the car shuts off, slips into park mode, flashes error messages and will not immediately start again when pushing the ignition button. Sometimes, I have been on a hill and the car rolls backwards. There is no way to permanently disable this feature, so unless you remember to disable it every time you start the car, the safety malfunction repeats itself. It's terrifying and dangerous.
Car stalled while at traffic light and did not restart. This is a safety issue, as car was stopped in two way traffic at a busy 4-way intersection. Car could not be put into neutral (or any gear) to be moved out of traffic. Dash indicated engine must be running to switch gears, so engine clearly cut out. Dash also indicated to depress brake pedal and push start button to restart but this would not work. Attempted many times. After about 5 minutes, was finally able to get car into accessory mode. Subsequently, depressed brake and pressed start button and engine finally restarted.
The contact owns a 2016 Honda Pilot. The contact stated that while driving at 35-57 mph, the vehicle hesitated and jerked without warning. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic to be diagnosed. The mechanic was unable to duplicate the failure or provide a cause for the failure. Neither the dealer nor the manufacturer were notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 122,000.
Engine stalling on highway and freeways during stops. Extremely dangerous situation on freeway when we had to stop due to front traffic and car completely stalled and could not restart the car. Entire family was inside.
I went to the Honda dealership in fredericksburg because I had a sign on my car saying emissions system problem and all wheels drive system problem. Once I got to the Honda dealer they said the fuel injectors failed and you need new ones. I was shocked because I just bought this car 3 years ago partially new with little miles on it. To get the fuel injectors replaced the dealership is asking me $1500. That is insane because its clearly not my fault this car never got into a accident and I maintained it top notch.I went online again adn did my research on this matter come to know there are over thousands of complaints. How is that possible that this is never been recalled. I will not pay for something that is a manufacturer problem. I am a single mom with four kids it is not safe for me to drive like this.
- Fredericksburg, VA, USA
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When the engine idle stop is engaged the car will occasionally not restart. It takes multiple tries to restart the vehicle. Most of the time it happens in traffic which is a potential safety hazard.
I purchased a pre-owned 2016 Honda Pilot touring from a dealership in October of 2018 that had about 25,000 miles on it. There were no issues until about 4-5 months ago when the car died at a complete stop while I was waiting for the light to turn green. On 5/25/2020, at about 42,690 miles, it happened again. I was at a complete stop at an intersection behind 4 cars, waiting to make a left turn in a residential area. It might have been about 30 seconds before the auto idle stop kicked in. When the light turned green and the cars ahead of me started to move, I took my foot off the brake. Then immediately, the dashboard lights lit up and the engine died. This is the second occurrence of the same scenario at the same location. This time, I remembered to immediately turn on my hazard lights, then I had to put the car in park, step on the brakes and restart the engine. I do remember that it took about 30 seconds for me to restart the car. I pressed the engine start button twice. Because I was on a slight incline heading uphill and the cars behind me were at a complete stop, I was not in imminent danger of being rear ended. The first time this happened, I was at this same stoplight but with about 8 cars ahead of me. There is a wait time of about 1 minute at peak traffic for the light to cycle through. I took my car to the dealership to get serviced on 5/26/2020. They ran diagnostics and I rode with the technician on a test drive but the problem could not be duplicated. Honda ended up changing the battery at my expense as a possible fix, since it was out of warranty and they could not diagnose what was wrong. After leaving the dealership and driving the car home, I noticed the auto idle stop seemed to be disabled, even if I did not manually turn it off. Prior to servicing, the auto idle stop was fully functional.
The idle start/stop feature causes the car to stall when stopped. When the at a full stop and the idle/stop kicks in the car does not come back on and shuts off with all of the lights in the console lighting up and must be completely shut-off and restarted, "stall out" at a stop light or stop sign when I was in "auto idle-stop" and pressed on the gas. I first noticed that the auto idle-stop was hesitating when it would start up. I also noticed that the radio would "cut out". after that, the vehicle would just stall out and I would have to push park, put my foot on the brake and then push start. Took to the dealer during my last service on January 20, 2020 and they could not duplicate. The issue has progressively gotten worse and is happening more frequently. The car has stalled at lights and poses a danger to my wife and 3 young children. The dealership will not look into it any further because they cannot duplicate the problem. I've researched forums online and other Honda Pilot owners have expressed they are experiencing the same issue.
We own a 2016 Honda Pilot elite with auto start/stop feature. The vehicle has approximately 78,000 miles and began exhibiting issues with the auto start/stop feature. When stopped at any location, the auto stop engages and turns off the engine and should restart when you lift your foot of the brake; but it is now turning all the power to the vehicle off (radio off, A/C off, dash lights off). In some cases the dash will flicker with and dash lights will eliminate for a second. As a result you cannot move the vehicle and are stuck in a dangerous place (can't put the vehicle in neutral, no power). This has happened to us on numerous occasions; at stop lights where cars behind you get frustrated and honk their horns (takes several minutes to start back up if you are lucky) and most concerning is if you are in the middle of the intersection and about to make a right turn, while waiting to make the turn, the vehicle shuts off ' now we are stuck in the intersection with two kids in the vehicle. Now oncoming traffic is either fast approaching or honking because we are blocking the lane. We have been almost struck on several occasions. The only work around is to turn the auto start/stop feature off (pushing the button) when you first get in the vehicle, but if you forget ' we might get killed. I took it to the Honda dealer and they claim they have never heard of this issue. My battery tested fine. I located numerous Honda Pilot posts online that indicate this is a common problem, dating back to the 2016, but no one is helping the consumer. I don't understand why there is a delay in repairing this issue; it is not just a general inconvenience, it is a safety risk. We are frustrated and scared. If we trade the vehicle for another car, what happens to the next family that purchases this vehicle ' do they suffer the fatal outcome.
This is a 2016 Honda Pilot and the engine stutters/judder between 30-50 miles per hour apparently it is a common problem, went to the dealer flushed the transmission was good for 6 months then back, I think there is a design problem as many are describing same problem
Car stalls and does not restart. Car has auto idle stop feature. When I come to a complete stop, the car completely dies and cannot be restarted. No emergency light, no lights on dashboard, cannot lock car, cannot put into neutral, must be towed. Car first started stopping at stop lights in city streets in 2017. Would take a few attempts to restart. Brought to dealer to state my concern that it would happen in the freeway and they checked and said everything was fine. On 3/19/20, driving in the freeway, I had to stop for traffic. Car died completely. I couldn't even turn on the emergency light. I had to open my door a little bit, stick my arm out and wave for oncoming traffic behind me. Semi trucks were quickly changing lanes to avoid rear-ending me. It was the most frightening incident that has ever happened to me. Car was towed to dealer and they said it was a transmission sensor error and claimed to have fixed it. 4/2/20 as my daughter and I were exiting the freeway, the problem occurred again. We stopped at the light at the end of the exit when the car just stalled. Again totally dead. It's just a parked car that cannot be restarted. Car was towed to dealer. I don't know what's wrong with it. The dealer's attempts to fix it did not work. The dealer was closed when we dropped it off tonight. This is a very dangerous situation. The car just dies and will not restart. There is not even a way to turn on the emergency blinking lights to alert other motorists of a stalled car. Had this incident happened in the dark, my daughter and I could have been seriously injured or killed.
On Friday, 2/21, the 'emissions system problem' came on my dash (again). Dropped it off at the dealer on Monday, 2/24. We were told the fuel injectors all needed to be replaced. Then we got a call back that after they got in there, all the seals needed to be replaced too. I have only had this brand new car for 4 years & 4 months. Very disappointed in Honda.
I came to a complete stop at a very busy intersection. The idle start/stop kicked in. When I went to remove my foot from the brake to the gas to go across the busy intersection, my Pilot completely died. This left me stranded at a stop sign at a very busy intersection for over 2 hours waiting for a tow truck. After a couple of days at the dealership, they said it was 'just a software update'. it is a known issue but they are only fixing it when it affects a vehicle. No recall??!!!! I would love to be able to upload my video that I took when this all happened so you could see what my dash looked like when I kept trying to start my car back up. The week prior to this, the photo shows what notice popped up on my dash.
During idle (such as at a red light), the auto engine idle stop function causes the engine to cut out (this is normal) and the engine is supposed to come back to life when the brake is released. However, sometimes the engine and electrical system cut out completely (most easily identified by the radio cutting out) and the engine does not come back on when the brake is released and the car must be put into park and restarted, which can take quite a bit of time - it often has trouble restarting when this occurs. There is usually some kind of error code when this occurs; the code varies but is most often "collision mitigation system problem'. this condition can be quite hazardous, especially when in an intersection. There is an override of the engine idle stop, but it must be activated each time the car is restarted, which is easily forgotten. This problem was occurring several times a week until I started using the override.
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.
The contact owns a 2016 Honda Pilot. While driving at approximately 60 mph, the RPM increased to high and vehicle accelerated spontaneously. The vehicle went into limp mode. Additionally, the vehicle shifted roughly from first to second and third to fourth gears. The emission, transmission, lane assist, towing and power steering warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was taken to holm automotive center (2005 N buckeye ave, abilene, ks 67410 (785) 263-4000) where the codes were reset but not diagnosed or repaired. The vehicle was taken to little apple Toyota (3002, 2828 amherst ave a, manhattan, ks 66502(785) 539-7441) where it was informed that the failure was unable to be duplicated. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not contacted the failure mileage was 60,000.
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.
The contact owns a 2016 Honda Pilot. While operating the vehicle, the check engine indicator remained illuminated. The vehicle was taken to heather cannon Honda (3415 N 14th St., ponca city, ok) where it was diagnosed that an emissions system upgrade was needed and five of the six fuel injectors were faulty and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure, but no assistance was offered. The failure mileage was 86,000.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Portland, OR, USA