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 / 2
Injuries / Deaths:
1 / 0
Average Mileage:
28,064 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.
The engine's auto idle stop-start system malfunctions intermittently and unexpectedly when stopped at traffic lights, intersections and other roadway stops. The engines shuts down after a normal idling stop, but instead of restarting when the brake is released and the accelerator is pressed to proceed the car remains shutdown and will not restart automatically to proceed out of the intersection or stopped position. There is NO warning of the impending failure to restart - when the brake is released and the vehicle should restart > Annunciator panel then illuminates to an engine off status, the engine remains off/stalled > the car must be put into 'Park', the Brake depressed and a manual restart attempted, all while disoriented and sitting stationary with traffic moving around the vehicle. This is extremely dangerous and completely non anticipatable. The vehicles engine will not restart without multiple cycles/attempts, often with as many as 6 tries or more - taking many minutes while other traffic attempts to maneuver around the vehicle. This has been present with the vehicle since 16,280 miles, now 53,000 miles(6yrs). Multiple Honda Pilot owners have reported this dangerous issue, Honda is aware, the safety concerns of Pilot owners are apparently being ignored by Honda without an effective investigation/engineered solution. I've taken the vehicle to Honda dealership multiple times and told there is no standard/effective 'fix' which has been communicated by Honda to their service centers for this issue - and any attempts to remedy it by replacing the battery, ignition switch or starter has been reported at best as temporary - Dealer service centers refuse to guarantee any remedy attempts or provide any warranty on repair attempts - that any attempt to fix the issue is at the owners expense and risk. This needs to be investigated as a very significant safety issue leaving vehicles full of occupants disoriented/stalled in busy intersections/roadways.
Engine is stalling / cutting out at stoplights or when slowing down or stopped in traffic. Car is still in drive but requires that I place it in park, shut off car completely (in traffic) and restart the car. This is an ongoing issue that I have reported to my Honda dealer but they have said there are -??no codes-?? generated and cannot find anything wrong with my vehicle. This is becoming a safety hazard especially if my car slows and stalls in an intersection. It-??s causing me severe anxiety when I drive anywhere.
Auto Idle System failure. This has been a problem for several years and continues to be a safety issue. If I don't disable the auto idle feature my car will die when I take my foot off of the brake to accelerate.. The vehicle has to do a complete computer reset before I am able to restart the engine. This has happened many, many times at stop lights when the light turns green and I attempt to accelerate, when waiting to merge onto the frontage road of I-35, when turning onto a main road out of a parking lot when traffic is backed up but someone was attempting to let me into the lane (I was half in and half out of the parking lot). In every situation, there is someone behind me expecting me to go (rightfully so). I could easily be hit if the other drivers weren't paying attention. This is a safety hazard and needs to be recalled and repaired. I've asked my mechanic about it and the Honda dealership. No one knows what to do. I've replaced the battery twice thinking maybe that would help but it didn't.
Rattling Noise in Engine after I stepped on the gas pedal at a light. Honda said the Engine needs to be replaced. 80,000 Miles never missed an oil change. Prior to the engine issue the pilot would stall at stop lights due to the auto shutoff feature. Honda attempted to replace the stop/start button, it did not fix the problem. When I brought it the 2nd time they said my battery was likely causing the issue and it needed to be replaced. I informed them I purchased a new battery two months prior. The issue was so bad that we had shut off the feature everytime we started the car.
the engine fails to restart on its own from a complete stop at a traffic light or road intersection with the Auto Start/Stop function engaged. Making it necessary to restart manually.
- Rocklin, CA, USA
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The vehicle has what is called "auto idle, " which means that when the brake is fully depressed under certain conditions (ie a stop sign or a red traffic light), the engine turns itself off. The engine is supposed to start again when pressure is lifted from the brake. However, during the summers of 2020, 2021 and 2022 (which makes me believe the use of the air conditioning is involved in this problem), the car stalls out after the auto-idle is engaged rather than the engine restarting as it should. It has taken me several minutes to then get the vehicle to turn off so that I can try to start the car once again to move out of the way of traffic. Last week this happened on a busy highway. The cars that were stopped immediately behind me all went around me while I was trying to get my car restarted, leaving me totally exposed to being backended by someone going fast and not realizing that my car is inoperable in the middle of a busy highway. This has happened approximately 10 times over the last three summers. I have had it investigated by Honda in Bel Air, MD, who informed me that while my battery was new and therefore working properly, it simply isn't giving enough charge to the car to restart after the auto-idle is engaged. This is completely unaccepable and someone is going to get hurt unless Honda addresses this problem. Yes, the system is availble for inspection. Yes the dealer confirmed the problem. No the vehicle has not been inspected by anyone. No, there were no warnings, messages or other sypmtoms prior to the failure (i.e. the car completely stalling out).
After Honda Idle-Stop feature engages at a stop light the car won't restart without putting car into park, turning off, and then turning back on. It often takes several attempts to restart the car before it works. This leaves the passengers at extreme risk of injury from collision.
System effected: Auto idle engine stop and start. My 2016 Honda Pilot-Elite has problems with auto start/stop. When I stop at traffic light the engine automatically stops but when traffic light turns green and I am ready to go the car engine doesn-??t automatically start. Instead it asks me to put car in parking and push the start button. It doesn-??t start with one push and I have to try numerous times. It-??s causing problem to me as well as other cars in the traffic. It poses great danger to me getting stuck in car in the middle of the road
When I'm driving this vehicle and stop at an intersection, the auto stop/start feature shuts my engine off. When I attempt to start driving again, the auto stop/start feature attempts to start my engine, but instead the car completely dies. This has happened to me three times this week alone! All three times I was running the air conditioning in the vehicle. This does not seem to occur asoften if I am not running my air conditioner.
Auto stop/start feature will leave vehicle disabled and stranded at lights, and or in the middle of busy roads. Has happened to my wifes 2016 honda pilot 5 times now. Luckily 3 of those times were in parking lots, but twice on a busy highway with kids in the vehicle.
No Restart After Auto Start/Stop Engages. The engine fails to restart on its own from a complete stop at a traffic light or road intersection with the Auto Start/Stop function engaged. The Vehicle stalls out, must be put into park and the start button must be cycled a few times before engine will restart. This has been occurring continuously for a year now.
Multiple times the vehicle wouldn-??t start. The start stop switch is the culprit after 7 months of dealing with it and taking it to dealership finally. Car will cut off at stop light but won-??t turn back on. Takes like 4 tries to get it back on. Also at 126k or 128k engine had a knocking sound and needed replaced and it cost $7000 the air conditioning doesn-??t work and this is very upsetting this isn-??t why I buy Hondas. The start stop event happens everyday and every time I start the car and don-??t deactivate the start/stop system
When stopping at a stop light the auto idle start stop will not start up immediately as it sometimes has a lag and the audio in the car also completely shuts off. The car stalls out. Have brought car to dealership and since they can-??t -??recreate-?? the problem they-??re acting like there is no problem. There is definitely a problem. This vehicle has been doing this on and off for sometime now and I have to remember to turn OFF the idle/stop function button every time I start up my car in order to avoid stalling in the middle of traffic. Very unsafe, dangerous and scary.
My 2016 Honda pilot stalls when my car turns off from the auto idle engine. If I do not manually turn the feature off EVERYTIME I turn my car on my car will stall out when i lift my foot off the brake. It has progressively taken longer to turn the vehicle back on (anywhere from 30 seconds to 2 minutes) I have been to honda 2x for this issue & their "fix" has never resolved the issue. They will not admit they cannot fix it, even when I showed them a video of exactly what happens when I try to get my vehicle back on.
Engine stops completely when I make a stop at the signal. I think this is due to the engine shut down idle function. When the engine shuts down completely, the car doesn't start for 5 to 10 minutes. This happened at least 10 times in 6 months on the middle of the road.
I bought this car used in May 2022. My wife is the primary driver and this incident happened to her three times and myself once. When stopping at a red light, the engine turns off to save fuel with the auto start stop feature. We normally turn this off, but sometimes when we forget, the auto start fails to start the engine leaving us stuck in traffic trying to start the car at a green light. It takes multiple attempts to restart the car. This wouldn't be an issue if we could turn off the auto stop start permanently. We don't like the feature anyway, sometimes it causes the car to lurch forward when removing your foot from the break while the engine is starting.
There have been many 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. I have to turn off the vehicle and then restart sitting in the lane hoping none will crash into me. I have also taken the vehicle into the dealership numerous time to no avail.
On 11/29/21, 1 block from home, the engine started making a very loud knocking noise. I was able to turn around and drive back home but no faster than 20 MPH. After having the car towed to Schlossmann Honda, the diagnosis was: Full engine seizure, cylinder 3 connecting rod broken, piston damaged bank 1 cylinder head, metal contamination in bank 2 cylinder head, scoring on bank 2 camshaft and cam journals. Replaced short block assembly and both cylinder assemblies. This happened at 101,587 miles, which was 1,587 miles after extended warranty expired. Repair was not covered but after pushing with Honda Corp, they agreed to charge me an $8,000 deductible for the repair.
On 6/11/22, while driving on I-94 in downtown Chicago in heavy traffic the vehicle engine turned off as part of the auto shut off/on feature. The vehicle would not start button. back up and was stranded in the middle lane. The engine would not start back up, even after putting in park, pressing the brake and holding the start button. After 10 minutes or so I was able to get the vehicle re-started by pressing the brake and holding the start button for 10 seconds. Totally an unsafe situation being in the middle lane in downtown Chicago! This has happened at least 7-10 times previously.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Alexandria, VA, USA