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.
While driving with auto-idle on the car, I stopped at the red light on the left lane by stepping on the break and Auto-idle comes on and the engine stopped while continue to step on the break. When the green lights comes back on, I release the break, but the car completely shut down and require me to power off the car completely and push the start button on the car again. It took a few tries for the car to start. All while there were trucks passing by and cars behind me are honking at me for stopping at a Green light, by the time I got the car to start again, the light turned RED again. I feel like it is very dangerous for me as all the cars behind had to go around me to continue their way, as result, accidents can easily cause because cars on the right side are driving faster than the left lane and cars in the left lane had to move to the right lane in order to continue. With more blind spots on the right of all cars, it is more dangerous to shift lanes where right lane are going faster.
Issue with auto start-stop. Upon being stopped at a light, the auto start did not reengage and upon starting back up again the radio defaulted to an AM station and would not allow us to change anything.
The engine completely shut down in the middle of the road after driving with auto Idle ON after stopping due to traffic. The car's engine would not restart. I had to shut down the car completely to have engine on again. (push the start/stop button to shut it down, and then to start it again). This was during a busy traffic and resulted in cars cutting in to my lane when I had to wait for the car to restart. This has happen a few times on the street as well, when stopping for RED light, but the engine does not auto-start again when ready to drive on GREEN light. Note that, this feature of auto-idle come auto start every time the car starts unless you manually turn it off. I feel like this can be dangerous and can result in accidents due to the fact that the car stopped completely while others might expect you to move as the light change/ traffic free up ahead.
There is a popping and crackling sound that comes from the speakers whether it is on or off. When this occurs the infotainment system, rear entertainment system, and blue tooth stops working. This happens every single time the vehicle is used. This causes distracting driving because the noises happen all of a sudden when driving. Second problem-the car seems to shut off and turn back on by itself after pressing the gas when its on auto idle shut off. For a few seconds when I let go of the brake peddle, instead of turning on from the auto idle shut off it just shuts off, then I press the gas and it turns on. It has done this several times that it is concerning and I fear it can cause an accident if it moves forward when I think it shut off on its own.
The Honda Auto Start Stop system has been taxing my battery through daily use and creates unsafe situations. On more than one occasion, similar to the following, I have experienced the Honda Pilot stop the engine via the A.S.S. System. Upon releasing the brake, the system attempts, but fails, to come to ignition and the electrical system lacks the ability to start the engine, creating a need to re-start (or attempt restart). On 1 such occasion, my family was traveling through a city on the interstate. After driving on the interstate for a few hours we came to a stop light and stopped. At the green light, upon releasing the brake, the Honda Pilot attempted to start again and failed. The car went completely dead in the middle of a 4 lane interstate with my family inside. The car did not start again until the 3rd time attempting to restart the vehicle. Approximately 10 seconds later than intended, we were able to clear our vehicle from the interstate intersection. On normal occasions, such as the course of business with the Honda A.S.S. System, driving in situations that would be categorized as "start/Stop" situations, the Honda A.S.S. System leads to stalled response and delayed lurching into traffic creating situations due to the delay in response. Multiple times this has been reported to my dealer. They acknowledge it as a "Battery" problem. They test my battery per HONDA WARRANTY and tell me it "Passes". They basically are just charging my battery and sending me out the door. The time between vehicle events is decreasing. Please help address this obvious vehicle shortcoming. There is no permanent means to disable it. Thank you.
- Jasper, IN, USA
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When stopped at a traffic light my Pilot's engine stops because of the fuel conservation feature of the car. The engine is supposed to restart when I take my foot off the brake. However, 4 or 5 times in the last month the engine did not restart. A message would flash that my car is in neutral (I did not put it in neutral) and that I needed to shift to park. Once I put it in park I have to hit the start/stop button several times to get the engine to restart. The radio becomes inoperable during all of this and even after I eventually get the engine to start again. The radio is inoperable until I drive, park the car, shut it off and restart it. This is a major hazard to me and my family. My car has stalled in city traffic and it takes a few minutes to get it restarted. I'm concerned that this could cause an accident at some point. My Honda dealership is not aware of this problem or how to fix it. I found that there is an open investigation with Honda and the NHTSA. I hope this can be fixed soon.
I have owned the 2020 Honda Pilot Touring since Jan.2021. Up till now, theses similar situations have happened 4-5 times. It always happens when I am gradually slowing down to a complete stop at crossroads. My 2020 Honda Pilot has shut off a few times while stopping at a red light. Each time has been after coming to a complete stop at a red light and sitting there for a couple minutes. Suddenly there is a beep sound and the engine shuts down. Only the entertainment system is left on. The gear changes to N by itself and I am unable to change it to any other gear. With my foot on the brake, trying to change the gear and trying turn off the car for about 3 minute in the middle of traffic with my kids in the car, eventually I was able to shut off the engine completely off. I immediately try restart the car to avoid a car accident. It put itself in N (neural) and the dashboard screen said -??Put it in P (Park) and hit bottom to restart car.-?? The car wouldn-??t let me push anything. The power button did nothing and even if you pushed the P for park it stayed in N. The battery light immediately came on when this happened also. And went away as soon as it worked again. I scheduled an appointment after the third time the this happen leaving the car for them to run tests. They ran the tests and when I returned to pick it up, the technician said they tested the battery, wiring, and engine and that everything was good. Nothing was provided to me but they did show me the report as they talked about the results I am sure I can obtain if requested. They almost changed me for the testing but waived the fee which I was thankful. I am concerned and at times scared for the safety of my kids and I. I really hope Honda finds a fix for this and recalls for whatever the issues are as quickly as possible. I like the car but it really is making me want to get a new car and never purchase from Honda again.
I understand there may be an investigation of Honda's stop-start system, the system which is meant to improve fuel economy by shutting the engine off when the vehicle comes to a stop. I experienced this one (1) time while stopping at a traffic light, date unknown. The engine went off, as it was supposed to, but when I took my foot off the brake and pressed on the accelerator nothing happened, the engine had not restarted. I attempted to restart the car by pressing on the start button but since I was in Drive it wouldn't start. I think I tried to shift the transmission into Park (it's been several months since the incident) but I'm not sure if it shifted or not. I turned the car off by pressing the start button, waited briefly and then pressed the start button again to start, which it did. I shifted into drive and pulled away. That was a long time, probably not as long as it seemed, sitting at the light as others were going around me or blowing their horn at me. I have not had any further incidents since that time but wanted to register this one with you.
I can't remember if I reported this already but here goes. My daughter was driving my 2020 Honda Pilot with 41,400 miles on it. She had baby in the back and was in slow traffic in Millsboro Delaware. She thought she smelled something burning. Then she got out of the vehicle, took the baby out and called 911. Fire started coming out of the engine compartment and the vehicle totally burned up.
My 2020 Honda Pilot (Touring edition) has begun having a rough restart after stopping and the Auto Engine Idle function has turned the engine off. Once it seemed to turn the vehicle off and the radio turned off and back on quickly. I've read about the investigation into Pilots with this issue and wanted to add my car to those that are affected. I called the dealership where I bought the car and explained the issue to a service technician and he indicated that he'd never heard of the issue. Since it just started having the issue in the last couple of weeks and so far it happens intermittently, I haven't taken it into the service department yet.
Vehicle has died when at a stop light, would not automatically restart. Days later the vehicle-??s electrical system would not allow the car to start, many code warnings on display. Have had it towed. Battery would not jump and vehicle would not shift into neutral. Found out it needed a specialized tool only the Honda service had.
The contact owns a 2020 Honda Pilot. The contact stated while his daughter was driving at an unknown speed when she smelled an odor of smoke coming from the vehicle, then she noticed fire coming from the vehicle. She was able to exit the vehicle safely as it started to burn. The fire department was able to extinguish the fire. No one was injured, and a police report was filed. The vehicle was towed to a Collision center. The manufacturer was contacted, and a complaint was filed. The failure mileage was 42,000.
died and switched into neutral by itself, wouldnt start or switch into drive mode- in the middle of a busy intersection! it was scary and dangerous trunk doesn't open/close properly Infotainment center dies unexpectedly, freezes, won't restart on it's own. Have to pull over and restart car a few times or let the car sit off for a while speakers crackle at random times Took the car numerous times to Marin Honda, the computer they plug the car into showed "no codes" so they said there wasn't an issue. No warning lights of any kind. electrical just shuts down
Once the engine stops (idle engine auto stop feature) on the intersection when I yield to another vehicle before a left turn and auto-starts but teh car refused to move - was solved by shutting down the car and starting it again. All that on a busy intersection in the middle of the road. Very uncomfortable and unsafe situation to be in.
Upon acceleration up a hill of speeds 10 mph -25 mph the transmission "lurches" causing the RPM to jog up and down. While traveling the speeds of 35 mph - 60 mph, regardless of being on flat ground or not, the transmission has the same "slipping" and "lurching" feeling while jogging the Rpm up and down (can happen on cruise control as well). Both incidents will shake the honda pilot. These incidents havae increased in frequency and intensified in sensation.
I have owned the 2020 Honda Pilot Touring since Jan.2020. Up till now, theses similar situations have happened 4-5 times. It always happens when I am gradually slowing down to a complete stop at crossroads. Then suddenly a beep sound appears, then the engine shuts down to only the radio is playing, gear shifts to N by itself and I-??m unable to restart the car. After about 1-3 minutes of unable to control the car, sitting in the middle of the Highway, then I was able to shut off the engine completely, then restart the car. When it happens, the dash board would have the battery light on and commend would say -??you can not start the engine, shift to Park-??, but it was on P, and I couldn-??t shut of the engine anyway. It was not controllable. My car drives great normally and no messages would pop up on the dash board. I brought this issue to the dealership, left my car there for a total check. I even said I have it in video when it happened. They didn-??t want to even watch it. They said the computer will tell them, so they don-??t need to see my video. They returned with nothing wrong, they could not find the problem. Since they did not see anything wrong, there is nothing to repair. They ask me to bring it back next time it occurs so they will have it on record. They did not solve any problem for me. I was frustrated and worried when it would happen to me again. It is a hazard for me to drive on fast traveling highways not knowing when this will occur and the worst part is that the dealership isn-??t willing to go above and beyond to solve it.
Vehicle shut down and failed to start at stoplight. It was as of it shifted off or in to neutral. Battery light showed red when initially tried to restart. Finally engine started after tuning off and back on again. I believe it was a failure of the auto engine stop system currently under investigation. It has had repeated issues lately getting going at stop lights but this was the first couple shutdown
On multiple occassions, my Engine Auto Idle Start/Stop has malfunctioned. In particular, when the car goes into idle while stopped at a traffic light, there are times when the car completely shuts off. This is dangerous at any time because it has been unpredictable. The problem gets more frequent until finally the car won't start. Upon taking the car to Keating Honda in Conroe TX twice for the inability to start the car, I have had my battery replaced twice within the last year. They have not been able to identify any parasitic drains to the battery. At 39,000 miles, my 2020 Honda Pilot Elite required it's 3rd battery. The problem has been labeled battery failure, but frankly the problem has been the Engine Auto Idle Start/Stop feature and I am certain this feature is directly related to the battery failing.
My Pilot has approximately 25,000 miles. I was stopped at a red light, my vehicle has the ignition shut off feature, which engaged while I was stopped. When the light changed and I went to accelerate, instead of the engine restarting, the entire car stalled and would not restart. There were a variety of flashing lights and the car appeared to have power but the engine would not turn over. I immediately turned my hazard lights on, but each time I tried to restart the car, the hazards would turn off which was particularly concerning. The police responded and we looked for options to get the car into neutral so we could move it out of the intersection but there appears to be no option for a layman to manually override the transmission and place the car in neutral. As a result I was stranded in my vehicle for nearly 3 hours in an intersection while I waited for a tow truck. There had been no prior indication of any issues with the vehicle. It was purchased used and I have only put approximately 2,000 miles on it since purchasing. The vehicle was towed to the dealership and is awaiting inspection. While my experience was terrible, I am terrified to think of how much worse this could have been if I had stalled in traffic on a highway or with my children in the car.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Oakland Gardens, NY, USA