There are 13 owner-reported brakes complaints for the 2016 Honda Pilotin NHTSA's database. These are unverified consumer reports and may not reflect confirmed defects.
I was pulling into a parking space. Hit the brake. Instead of stopping, the car accelerated, jumping a curb and barreling across into another business drive. It hit a sign and a stone garbage can, which caused the car to recognize a collision and automatically go into park which caused it to stop. If it hadn’t been for the stone garbage can, it would have gone through the store window where people were sitting. Luckily at that moment there wasnt a car parked in the space or something coming down the road. Because I didn’t understand what was happening , so I looked at my foot to see if I had pushed down on the gas instead of the brake. My foot was firmly on the brake. I talked to the local Honda dealership. They had never seen that issue before. They said they could do the diagnostic which I would have to pay for, but couldn’t promise it would show what happened. I also called Honda customer service. They started a claim, but also would do nothing unless diagnostics showed the problem and also said it may not. I was very fortunate that i didn’t kill or seriously harm someone. I am now scared to drive the vehicle. If I had not looked at my foot to see where it was placed, I would say possibly driver error; but I know it wasn’t. My foot was on the brake
While driving and starting to brake the whole dashboard lights up stating there is brake failure. And low brake fluid.
At times, when you start the car, on the screen where the radio and Honda link and Bluetooth are a message ( like an email) with a red exclamation point appears. I check the HONDA LINK app and it says that it has to do with the brake system. I drive the car and it stays on or disappears. It will come back and the go away. It happens around every few months since July.
There is pulsating vibrations when applying brakes. This vehicle is rarely driven and has only logged 25,642 miles since I first bought it in 2016. I believe the rotors are warped. Must be a defect as this vehicle is rarely used.
There have been multiple times where the automatic emergency braking system engaged almost causing an accident with no car ahead of me. The latest incident caused a whiplash related injury to my daughter's neck. The tractor trailer behind me also locked up the brakes and luckily did so in time to avoid colliding with my car.
Steering wheel shaking violently when braking especially at highway (down hill) speed.
I AM HEARING A CLICKING NOISE WHEN I STEP ON THE BRAKES. I TOOK IT RO HONDA AND THEY SAID IT'S SOMETHING PEOPLE COMPLAINING ABOUT AND THEY DON'T HAVE A FIX AND THWY KNOW ABOUT IT. THEY DON'T KNOW HOW TO ADDRESS THE SITUATION.
WHILE PULLING INTO A PARKING SPOT AND PUSHING THE BRAKE LIGHTLY, THE CAR ACCELERATED UNCONTROLLABLY AND STRUCK A CONCRETE WALL. THE ENGINE REVVED UP AS IF IT WAS REALLY TAKING OFF. IT JUMPED A CURB ON THE WAY TO THE WALL, STRUCK THE BUILDING AND THEN ENGINE WENT BACK TO NORMAL RUNNING.
VEHICLE IS 16 MONTHS OLD WITH ONLY 5,200 MILES ON IT. BRAKING ACTION CURRENTLY SEEMS UNAFFECTED, HOWEVER, THE BRAKE FLUID RESERVOIR HAD GREEN ALGAE ON THE STRAINER, HEAVY BLACK SEDIMENT ON THE FLOOR OF RESERVOIR, AND THE FLUID WAS BROWN. THE RESERVOIR WAS NEVER OPENED UNTIL 2 DAYS AGO WHEN I NOTICED THE FLUID WAS BROWN WHILE LOOKING THROUGH THE SIDE OF THE RESERVOIR AS I WAS CHECKING THE FLUID LEVEL AND DECIDED TO INVESTIGATE FURTHER. THE CAP WAS PROPERLY SEALED BECAUSE THERE WAS A SLIGHT SUCTION AS I BEGAN TO LIFT THE CAP AFTER TWISTING AND THE SEAL WAS IN PERFECT CONDITION. THE HONDA DEALER STATED THAT HONDA WOULD NOT COVER UNDER WARRANTY A FLUID FLUSH BECAUSE THEY ASSUME IT WAS FROM SOMETHING I DID AND FURTHER ASSUMED IT WOULD NOT BE FROM CONTAMINATED FLUID THEY PUT IN AT THE FACTORY. AS A RESULT I JUST FLUSHED THE SYSTEM MYSELF WITH DOT 3/4 SYNTHETIC FLUID. MY COMPLAINT IS THAT HONDA MAY HAVE USED CONTAMINATED BRAKE FLUID AT THE FACTORY THAT COULD HAVE AFFECTED OTHER CARS OR, IF NOT, SOMETHING SPECIFICALLY HAPPENED TO MY VEHICLE PRIOR TO MY PURCHASING OF IT FROM HONDA.
SINCE PURCHASING NEW, I HAVE NOTICED A PECULIAR PHENOMENON WHEREBY THE BRAKE PEDAL DEVELOPS A VERY HIGH RESISTANCE FROM THE TIME OF BEING PARKED, UNTIL THE NEXT TIME I GET IN THE VEHICLE. I WILL ROUTINELY DEPRESS THE BRAKE PEDAL TO PLACE THE VEHICLE IN PARK AT THE CONCLUSION OF A DRIVE. THE PEDAL FEELS NORMAL AT THIS POINT. APPROXIMATELY 80-85% OF THE TIME UPON RE-ENTRY IN TO THE VEHICLE AFTER ALLOWING THE VEHICLE TO SIT STATIONARY (OFF) FOR 2-12 HOURS, THE BRAKE PEDAL BECOMES VERY FIRM. TO THE POINT WHERE I FEEL UNCOMFORTABLE WITH THE AMOUNT OF FORCE I MUST PRESS WITH MY FOOT, IN ORDER TO THE ENGINE TO START. I DON'T WANT TO OVER-PRESSURE THE BRAKE LINES UNNECESSARILY. HOWEVER, MOST OF THE TIME, IF I SIMPLY PRESS THE BRAKE WITH AN AVERAGE AMOUNT OF FORCE TO START THE CAR, I PRESS THE "START" BUTTON, AND THE SYSTEM WILL ONLY TURN ON TO AUX MODE, THE ENGINE STARTER WILL NOT ACTIVATE. DUE TO THE HIGHLY FIRM PEDAL, MY "ACCEPTABLE" LEVEL OF FOOT FORCE WILL NOT SUFFICIENTLY DISPLACE THE BRAKE PEDAL TO ENABLE "ENGINE START" READY MODE. I AM PERPLEXED BY THIS ODD BEHAVIOR. I HAVE NEVER EXPERIENCED THIS IN ANY OTHER VEHICLE I HAVE OWNED IN MY 17 YEARS OF DRIVING EXPERIENCE. I WOULD REALLY LIKE TO KNOW HOW THE BRAKE SYSTEM BECOMES "LOADED" IF IT IS JUST SITTING. THIS IS THE SORT OF RESULT I MIGHT EXPECT IF ONE WERE TO "PUMP" THE BRAKES WITHOUT THE ENGINE RUNNING, BUT I AM DOING NOTHING OF THE SORT. PLEASE HONDA, ADDRESS THIS. I REALLY HAVE TO WONDER IF OTHER 2016 AND NEWER PILOT AND RIDGELINE OWNERS ARE EXPERIENCING THIS.
TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 2016 HONDA PILOT. WHEN THE VEHICLE WAS IN REVERSE OR DRIVE, THE CONTACT HEARD A CLICKING NOISE COMING FROM THE BRAKES. THE DEALER DIAGNOSED THAT THE BRAKE PADS NEEDED LUBRICANT. THE VEHICLE WAS REPAIRED; HOWEVER, THE FAILURE RECURRED. THE MANUFACTURER WAS NOT MADE AWARE OF THE FAILURE. THE APPROXIMATE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS 3,858.
COLLISION MITIGATION BRAKING SYSTEM (CMBS) DOES NOT WORK IN STAGE 2 OR STAGE 3. ONLY THE WARNING LIGHT COMES ON. BRAKES ARE NEVER APPLIED. GOING MORE THAN 10 MPH FASTER THAN THE CAR AHEAD OF YOU, ONLY STAGE 1 COMES ON WITH A WARNING NOTICE. NO LIGHT BRAKING FOR STAGE 2. NO HARD BRAKING FOR STAGE 3. I AM EMERGENCY VEHICLE OPERATOR COURSE TRAINED. I HAD SOMEONE WHO I KNOW KEEP A CONSTANT SPEED OF 30 MPH AND THEN RETESTED AGAIN GOING 50 MPH. I WOULD APPROACH GOING 10 MPH FASTER THAN THE LEAD CAR AND ONLY STAGE 1 WARNING WOULD ACTIVATE, EVEN WHEN I WAS ONLY 10 FEET AWAY BEFORE I HAD TO MANUALLY APPLY THE BRAKES HARD. APPARENTLY HONDA/ACCURA HAD AN EARLIER ISSUE WITH THE CMBS FALSELY ACTIVATING DUE TO BEING TOO SENSITIVE. THEY DID A SOFTWARE UPDATE BUT NOW IT IS NOT ACTIVATING STAGE 2 OR STAGE 3. THIS OCCURS NO MATTER WHAT SETTING ( LONG, NORMAL, SHORT) YOU HAVE THE CMBS SET TO. I BROUGHT IT IN TWICE TO THE DEALER AND ALTHOUGH THE SERVICE TECH TEST DROVE IT AND COULDN'T GET THE BRAKES TO WORK THE COMPUTER STATED EVERYTHING WAS FINE. HONDA TECH LINE WAS ALSO CALLED BY THE DEALER AND THEY SAID IF THE COMPUTER SAID THERE WAS NO ERRORS THERE IS NOTHING TO DO. I CALLED HONDA CORPORATION AND THEY ALSO SAID THERE WAS NOTHING THAT COULD BE DONE. AUTOMATIC CRUISE CONTROL WORKS SO IT CAN'T BE THE RADAR OR CAMERA. THIS IS A 2016 HONDA PILOT ELITE WITH CMBS
I MOVED CAR OUT OF DRIVEWAY SO FRIEND COULD LEAVE GARAGE. WHEN I WENT TO PUT CAR BACK IN DRIVEWAY, THE CAR WOULD NOT STOP AND HIT THE CAR IN OTHER SIDE OF GARAGE. WHEN I PUT THE CAR IN REVERSE TO MOVE AWAY FROM CAR/GARAGE THE CAR WOULD NOT STOP IN REVERSE. I TURNED THE WHEEL TO PREVENT CAR FROM HITTING TRUCKS IN DRIVEWAY ACROSS THE STREET I HIT NEIGHBORS MAILBOX AND BROKE TAIL LIGHT AND LEFT A PAINT SCRATCH ALONG ENTIRE DRIVER SIDE OF VEHICLE. I CALLED A TOW TRUCK DRIVE WHO SAID THERE WAS SOMETHING WRONG WITH CAR BRAKES WHEN HE MOVED CAR TO BED OF HIS TRUCK. HE USED EMERGENCY BRAKE TO STOP CAR. THE HONDA DEALER I HAD THE CAR TOWED TO WAS IN MYRTLE BEACH, SC. THE TECH SAID HE RAN ALL THE DIAGNOSTIC TESTS AND DID NOT FIND ANYTHING EXCEPT AN AC ISSUE. THE AREA SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE ALSO TESTED THE CAR AND SAID IT WAS "SAFE TO DRIVE". I DID DRIVE IT TO RALEIGH LATER IN THE WEEK AND THEN HOME TO CHANTILLY VA. I HAVE HAD NO REPEAT ISSUES BUT I AM VERY CAUTIOUS WHEN I APPLY THE BRAKES AT A LOW SPEED FOR A STOP SIGN OR RED LIGHT.
Complaints are unverified consumer reports submitted to NHTSA. A high complaint count may reflect vehicle popularity, not defect severity. Data sourced from NHTSA public records.
Data synced from NHTSA on Apr 25, 2026