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 vehicle comes to a stop, vehicle start/stop feature engages, then vehicle stalls. Vehicle then indicates that it should be shifter into park before it can be re-started. This has happened numerous times. Vehicle was brought into dealer, they are aware an investigation is underway with Honda but had no known solution besides updating the main computer program. They also recommended replacing the batter which tested ok. The fact that the vehicle stalls when you come to a stop is a very big safety concern.
I was stopped at a stop light and the car was in auto engine idle. After releasing the brake when the light turned green, the engine shut off and the dash told me to put the car in park and restart by pushing the brake and hitting the engine start button. This process took about 30 seconds for the car to finally restart and I was sitting in the middle of traffic with cars behind me that had anticipated me moving forward when the light changed. Several warning symbols popped up including the collision mitigation system. This is an easy way to get rear-ended. In other instances, I have had issues where the radio and engine shuts off after releasing the brake when in auto engine idle at a stop light or driving in slower traffic but it kicks back on in just a second with no need to stop and restart. Both of these issues are very concerning. Battery life is fine, so that is not the issue. Issue stops when auto engine idle is disabled.
Car when in the idle stop has not restarted for several minutes. Some times it starts back up within 5 seconds. Other times it shuts the engine down and tells me to hit the start button to turn vehicle on, but then nothing happens. I am not even able to put car in neutral. Most recently this happened while exiting off a highway on the ramp. A bus driver pulled over in attempts to help me get the car off the ramp. However, a minute into trying to get it into neutral, the car popped back into drive and the engine on so I could get home. Car has been brought in multiple times and the dealership says they cannot find anything wrong with the car.
The contact owns a 2018 Honda Pilot. The contact stated that while stopped at a traffic light, however, the brake pedal was not fully depressed; the contact then depressed the accelerator pedal and the vehicle stalled without warning. The contact restarted the vehicle soon after the failure and resumed normal driving. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where a diagnostic test was performed; however, the mechanic was unable to duplicate the failure or determine the cause of the failure. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and informed the contact that the VIN was not under recall. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 52,500.
Car shuts off and does not turn back on properly when stopping while driving. It does not happen all of the time, but when stopping at light/stop sign the car will turn off like it is supposed to but fails to start back up. When it fails to start it will not start back up, because the car is not in park, so the push button will not work until you hit the park button.
- Gretna, NE, USA
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My car shuts off all the time. I called Honda last year to let them know because I was concerned there had been a recall. I took it to the dealership. They did some transmission work. One time it shut off when I was going 60mph on the Highway. It will also shut off when I-??m actively breaking and not to a complete stop yet. I-??m very concerned for my safety. Again, I reported this to Honda customer service and they told me there was nothing they could do. This has been going on for over two years.
Stopped at a traffic light and car didn-??t restart. Battery completely drained and left my wife stuck in a main busy road. Auto start feature is causing this to happen.
The contact owns a 2018 Honda Pilot. The contact stated that while driving at approximately 40 MPH, she depressed the brake pedal and noticed that her vehicle was not slowing down. The contact stated that as she was approaching another vehicle, she looked to make sure she was indeed depressing the brake pedal, however it would not allow her to press down and seemed to be accelerating faster than 40 MPH. The contact stated that her vehicle then caused her to crash into the rear of another vehicle, however, the vehicle still seemed to be accelerating, even though it had crashed. The contact stated that she attempted to power the vehicle off, however, the vehicle powered itself back on. The contact stated that she powered it off 3 times before the vehicle would remain off. The contact stated that the airbags did deploy and there were no injuries reported. The contact stated a police report was filed. The contact stated she then had her vehicle towed to a tow yard where it was deemed a total loss. The dealer and the manufacturer were not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 50,000.
The auto engine idle "feature" automatically shuts the engine off when the car comes to a stop. This "feature" is supposed to improve gas mileage, however, I believe it is very dangerous. This "feature" has caused my vehicle to stall numerous times in stop and go traffic, requiring me to completely stop the vehicle, place it in park, and then restart the vehicle. This sequence has created several scary and dangerous situations where I was completely stopped on a busy freeway. This "feature' WILL cause accidents if it has not already caused them. This feature currently cannot be permanently disabled. It must be disabled manually every time I drive the car. I have also contacted Honda directly to notify them of this defect.
The Auto-Idle feature will unexpectedly over-engage while coming to a stop and the entire vehicle will shut off. I am unable to shift, steer, etc. It will also completely shut the engine down when at a complete stop. To be clear, this is not the normal auto-idle. When the full engine disengage happens, the entire vehicle loses power and the dash flashes. The vehicle states, "put into P". Once in "P" for park, the vehicle still will not restart. It is as if the vehicle has to "reset" itself. It has taken upwards of 4 minutes for the vehicle to restart. This has happened on a highway during construction traffic, approaching a stop sign, slowing at a red light on multiple occasions. I have almost been rear-ended as a result on mutiple occasions. I am not even able to put the vehicle in Neutral to move it to a safe spot. Honda informed me that I "just need to disengage this feature each and every time I start the vehicle". That is not the solution. This feature should be permanently disabled by Honda. Immediately.
The contact owns a 2018 Honda Pilot. The contact stated while driving 55 MPH, the keyless control module unit would shut off. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. The contact was able to drive to her residence. The contact took the vehicle to the local dealer, where it was diagnosed with needing the keyless control module unit to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired but was pending repairs. The manufacturer had been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was 60,372.
To Whom It May Concern: I writing in regards to a possible defect with my 2018 Honda Pilot. It is having internal electrical issues stated by the dealership and needs a keyless control module unit replaced. However, my car has been in the dealership since November 15, 2021 due to Honda not being able to get the part needed to repair. American Honda has failed to remedy the defect in my vehicle within a reasonable time period. Can someone please assist me on how I rectify this situation. Thanks [XXX] INFORMATION Redacted PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).
The Auto Engine Idle feature does not work properly. When the car is at a light, the engine idle is activated and the car is put into a slumber mode, when the brake is depressed. On occasion, when it is time to go, the car then turns off when the gas is depressed. This is extremely dangerous as then you are stuck at an active intersection and need to turn the car back on. I've discovered a wealth of other owners with this issue here. My issue is consistent with their reports. https://In my research, the Honda dealers are not doing anything to fix it, and there has been no thoughtful feedback from the company. I will be taking this to our dealer as well, but am not hopeful given that it appears to be a fundamental design / software issue, not repairable in the fields. I literally have found no evidence that it is fixable without maybe a software upgrade.
While stopped at a stop light/sign the engine stalls, dies, shifts to neutral (push button shift) leaving me disabled in the middle of the road. This issue has also occurred while slowing to take a sharp corner. The engine died at approximately 25 mph while slowing for the corner. I had taken it to the dealership and they claimed they could not reproduce the problem. I took the vehicle home, then later that day I drove it approximately 17 miles to a racetrack that I work at part time. At 12:30 am, I was leaving to head home, and while idling in the parking lot, it had died yet again and took several minutes to restart. Once it did restart, I had no throttle response in park, neutral or in drive. I shut the vehicle off and restarted it with no other issues for the 17 mile trip back home. The dealership suggested that I take picture/video when it happens, which poses another safety concern to do that in the event I am driving when this event occurs. This is a severe safety concern as there is the potential for the engine to die/stall during a hard braking event in which I could lose power brakes. Only the dealership has inspected the vehicle, and the only lights that have been illuminated on the dash was the battery light and the caution light. This issue has been going on for approximately a month and a half. After completing some research, I have noticed there is a large collection of this or very similar complaints.
Push start does not work, says wireless key issue. Car does not start up (crank) and it does not turn completely off (it's stuck in start/ignition on, car is not running). Alarm would randomly discharge and have to relock the car, but would go off again. The ignition would flicker on and off constantly draining the battery. Doors would eventually unlock and stay unlock.
After about 20 miles of freeway driving I exited and stopped at a stop light. I believe my car went into the engine stop mode where it turns off the engine to save gas. It did not restart and would not restart. The car told me to put it into park, so I did. I touched the car start button and it would not start it kept reporting an error on the screen. I panic'd because my family was in the car and the light turned green with cars coming from behind very quickly I kept pressing the button get the car to start but it would not. It kept reporting errors. Finally, after about 5 minutes, the Honda logo showed on the screen indicating the car was effectively rebooting and the car started after that. This is completely unacceptable for any car. Related: I've previously reported that the car engages the engine stop feature far too quickly, literally within a second of coming to a stop, which is dangerous because you may just be stopping quickly at a stop sign or exit where you're required to stop. The car cuts out and it takes 3-5 seconds to get acceleration. After reporting this to Honda directly they declined to change the feature to be fully disabable and I've since gotten into a couple of situations where I need to go, but my car was in the stopped mode B/C I come to full stops at stop signs, apparently unlike Honda's testers. This feature is only enable on elite models of the Pilot and is faulty, it is dangerous and needs a full review. As someone who was also impacted by the Saturn ignition switch incident this seems very similar.
Failure to start. My car was located in my driveway. As soon as I pushed the start button the car completely shut off no power to any part. No lights were working, nothing, couldn't even lock it with key fob. The car was completely dead. With only 17K mile on a almost 3 year old car this should not be happening. After I few minutes, checking the battery, and many attempts to start, it eventually started with a sputter and the gauges jumping.
I have a 2018 Honda Pilot ex 2wd, VIN number [xxx] with 57,100 miles that I purchased from earnhardt Honda avondale, AZ on Feb 13, 2018. On March 1, 2020 at 0830 my family of 6 and I were seated in our car in our garage preparing to leave to go to church. As I pushed the start button we were all shocked as we heard a loud bang and saw smoke spewing from underneath the car hood. I quickly instructed my family to get out of the car and move to safety. I then opened the hood to inspect what happened. After removing the plastic cover from the battery I found out that the battery was cracked and leaking fluid. The explosion was so powerful that it cracked the battery and the battery holder. Information redacted pursuant to the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Grafton, MA, USA