2017 Honda Pilot Complaint Log

Auto Start/Stop feature malfunction. Vehicle fails to restart after shutting off using Auto Start/Stop feature.

I owned the referenced 2017 Honda Pilot vehicle. I was having transmission issues, which there were recalls for. I went to an authorized dealer to have the recall addressed. 6-8 months later same issue or I thought. Honda Dealer told me that the car was no longer in warranty, now I had to pay. What tripe! 6 months later engine blows up. Took car to a non-Honda repair shop. They tell me that there was an issue with the crankshaft and that the rod bearing went through the engine block. NICE. I pay for a used Honda engine over $8,000, NICE! I pick up the car now they tell me the transmission is shot. I take the car back to another Honda dealer complaining about a blown engine and previous trips to the other Honda dealer about transmission issues. Now after a new engine, which this dealer tells me there were no bulletins or recalls, that they'll push back on Honda about the transmission. They get Honda to pay for roughly 60% of a new transmission. Which cost's me another $3,600. Fantastic! I spend almost $12,000 on, at that time a 6 year old vehicle with just 80,000 miles, that I purchased used, in 2019 with just over 13,000 miles. I decided not to push my luck and sold the car to a dealer in 2023. I AM CONTACTING THE REPAIR SHOP THAT REPLACED THE ENGINE FOR A COPY OF THE INVOICE. Now, after almost 2-years, I find out Honda had issued recalls for the same issue I paid for. Do I have any recourse? Can the NHSTA assist with this issue? Anything you can offer would be greatly appreciated.

The idle stop feature not working properly. Many times the engine will not restart after releasing the brake and pressing the accelerator. This has left me stranded in busy traffic situations including intersections. This is very dangerous and a hazard for me and my family.

Since purchasing my car in 2018 the idle stop sometimes seemed like it "glitched". It would take an extra second or two to restart, the radio would turn on and off and lights on the dash would flash, but the car still worked. Within the last few months I've had 3 occasions where the car just wouldn't start again when I hit the gas. I need to shut the entire car off, wait a few seconds, and restart the entire car. This is extremely scary when you are stopping for a quick turn and an huge safety concern when your car won't go when you hit the gas during an unexpected stop (during a turn, at a red light, stop sign, etc.)

Vehicle failed to restart when stopped at signal light the idle function shut the vehicle down but I had to completely restart the engine rather than it automatically restart as usual. A real traffic hazard

Multiple times the cars engine shuts down at a light due to the auto start/stop and then stalls immediately when trying to restart the car to proceed. It takes a few attempts to restart the car .

Auto engine start/stop has failed multiple times causing dangerous conditions in traffic. Engine will not restart for minutes after cutting off due to start/stop component.

Moving from a stationary position while driving under 10 mph the vehicle shifts from 1st gear to 2nd gear with a heavy jerk motion.

Multiple times in the past year the car has stalled when at a complete stop. It's when the car idles down and then we try to go by stepping on the gas. The engine dies completely and we need to put the car in park and then restart the car. This is very dangerous when in traffic on the highway or starting on a green light or stop sign with cars behind us. We've talked to the dealer numerous times and they haven't had any solutions. We need this fixed but think Honda should be paying for it, not us.

Was driving on a not busy road on the morning of august 30th, 2022 when I heard a large bang/ boom sound and my sunroof literally exploded with Glass luckily falling onto the sunroof viser.

While driving in the highway , took an exit and slowed down and stop in a traffic and the car ‘s engine stop suddenly and Iam unable to restart it, the brake pad feels stuck and the neutral and drive button does not work, when you turn it on the other electronic still works like the audio and air conditioning but the engine will not turn on . It took us about an hour before the car start working again , causing a long traffic jam in the highway due to we can’t even put the car on neutral for other cars to help us move it on the side, 2 police officers came to the rescue to help us but it didn’t work until we tried again and for some divine intervention the engine start working again. I will have my car check at the honda service in the next few days.

I was stopped at a stop sign and the auto-idle engaged. When I went to start again, the entire car shut down and would not start. I told me to depress the brake to start the vehicle, but the brake would not depress. I was stuck at the stop sign in the middle of a busy intersection because the car wouldn’t restart after the auto-idle engaged. After about 10 minutes, the car was able to start and I was able to drive it home. Prior to this, I have had some instances where the auto-idle would engage and when I went to drive again, all the lights would flash and it would delay in starting. The code reader read zero codes. Previous inspections from the deal found no errors as well. We are replacing the battery, but there are no other indications the battery was dead, dying or faulty and would cause this issue.

The contact owns a 2017 Honda Pilot. The contact initially noticed that a water leak had developed from the passenger’s side of the windshield. The contact had taken the vehicle to the dealer where they determined that the leak had come from a crack on the driver’s side of the windshield. The contact was then given an estimate for the repair. The contact then took the vehicle to an independent mechanic who refuted the dealers claims and determined that the the cause of failure was due to a manufacturing defect. The contact discovered a 1-inch gap between the sheet metal and the roof at the top of the passenger’s side windshield. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 111,000.

1. The problem is linked directly to the Auto Start/Stop capability. The Car is available for inspection upon request. 2. Car shut down electrically in the intersection of the road and caused traffic and police presence, semi trucks rolling through were frightening 3. Honda West Dealership in Las Vegas inspected the problem but had no resolution to fix it. 4. No warning lights indicated a shut off was emminent.

The contact owns a 2017 Honda Pilot. The contact stated that alarm on the vehicle would activate erroneously. The contact stated that after deactivating the alarm, the alarm sounded again hours later. The vehicle was not taken to be diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was 100,000.

On numerous occasions, when the auto engine start/stop engages, due to coming to a temporary stop, the vehicle completely shuts down. I then have to restart the car manually. Usually a notification pops up on the dash telling me there’s an issue and you have to follow the instructions. It’s very stressful because I am usually in traffic and have my children with me. This is a huge safety issue.

Vehicle failed to restart after stopping at a stop light while auto stop feature was on (defaults on). Had to completely turn off (the) vehicle and restart it for it (for) engine to fire back up. It created a unsafe situation. It took several efforts to get car restarted while traffic had to drive around on shoulder.

we bought April 2021 and 1st issue not even 60 days after purchase, dealer removed warranty without us knowing! We have had problems ever since with warming lights coming on & flashing on multiple occasions, even while traveling @ 50 mph!. Huge safety issue as the vehicle jolts and then looses power and can't pick up speed and go with flow of traffic! Someone will get in an accident because of it and that will be a HUGE liability for honda as you all are ware of these issues and are doing NOTHING to recall them and fix the problem! This is a problem for many honda pilot owners from all the honda forums i have read and research ive been doing! i want the issue resolved as this is NOT a random. I just read that there was a service bulletin in 8/2019 pertaining to this specific car/VIN and it references faulty fuel injectors. i have no way to know if this was completed. i feel i should be able to have the injectors serviced/replaced at NO COST to me as this is a HUGE problem with 2016-2017 pilots and the fact a honda dealer pretty much sold us a LEMON of a car! I want our pilot fixed as it is a problem that Honda has been having with 2016-2017 pilots and Honda should be liable for this! Happened again today and has been happening more frequent in the past few months but have been dealing with it since we bought the vehicle. recent mechanic said the ECM/PCM may be faulty as you cant get a viable code as everytime it happens it throws all kinds of warning lights & codes that are not accurate.

While driving at highway speed and applying the brake the car independently accelerated. Vehicle continued to accelerate while applying greater brake pressure in an attempt to slow down. Vehicle had to be driven onto shoulder to avoid hitting the vehicle in front of it. Acceleration stopped after several attempts at braking.

Failed to restart when auto engine stop engaged in the middle of a busy intersection. Large truck with heavy duty battery jump started but it took 10 minutes of being connected to the battery for the engine ignition to start again. No lack of charge (all electronics working but turned off just in case) but a defect in the restart after cutoff.

Our 2017 Honda Pilot has been having issues restarting after the automatic start-stop system idles the engine after a complete stop. The automatic start-stop feature shuts down the engine when coming to a complete stop, and then the engine doesn’t turn back on after shutting off. This happened the first time about a year ago, of all places on the I-95 interstate highway during a backup. It then happened only sporadically but has since been happing more often. Last week, it happened multiple times on the same day (8/17/22) and became dangerous and stressful to the entire family. It is always annoying, but it is very much a safety hazard in most situations.

The auto restart feature fails to restart the car after releasing the break sitting at a busy intersection. The car information center provided information to put the car in park and hit the ignition button again. I was able to get the car to restart after several tries by putting the car in park, shutting it off and turning it back on. This the third time this has happened in the past month.

The contact owns a 2017 Honda Pilot. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the hood would flutter and shake. The contact called the dealer and was informed that his VIN was not included in NHTSA Campaign Number: 21V932000 (Structure, Latches/Locks/Linkages). The manufacturer was also notified of the failure. The vehicle had yet to be repaired. The failure mileage was unknown.

On multiple occasions, while the auto idle was one, I stop at a red light or intersection and when I lift my foot off the brake the vehicle shuts completely off. One time, I called 911 for police officer assistance to alert that I was stranded in the middle of the highway. I was so afraid I was going to be rear ended by fast moving traffic. Just yesterday, while stopped at a red light, a fire engine stopped and 4 fire fighters got out to offer assistance while I sat there stranded alone on this busy highway trying to get my vehicle to start back up. The brakes lock up and the vehicle completely shuts down. Each time I try many times to get my car started and it takes many attempts to crank the vehicle. I asked my service agent about the problem and he was unaware. He said they would have to drive the car to see if it happens with them and there is a diagnostic fee for this. I declined because it does not happen every time and I felt quite sure it would not happen when they were looking for it. This malfunction is sporadic.

Emissions System Problem On 8-11-2022, multiple lights came on the dashboard with multiple systems errors. Brought to dealership and they replaced the fuel injectors. The dealership stated that this was a known problem with the 2016-2017 Honda Pilot's. Honda is giving a 10-year, 150,000 mile extended warranty from the date of purchase to cover fuel injectors and pipes leading up to the fuel injectors. On 9-27-2022, dash lit up with another Emissions System Problem. Brought to same dealership and they stated that the vehicle needed a software update. On 10-31-2022, dash lit up for the third time showing Emissions System Problem. Brought to same dealership. Currently waiting on diagnosis.

The auto idle often causes the car to stall and restart with a collision system warning, or sometimes requires a push of the start button.

When my auto stop idle engine kicks on, and stalls when I try to depress brake and press gas. It has happened approximately 10 times over the past year and a half, always in an intersection when it’s dangerous. I have taken to the dealership more than once and they have been unable to resolve and recommended I replace my battery which I did which has not made the situation better. I also just filed a complaint with Honda but this is very dangerous and needs attention.

We own a Honda Pilot 2017 Touring trim. I saw your news report that there is a document out there published by the NHTSA that is investigating this issue. I’d like to add my experience to this. On or about April 2022, we started experiencing the start/stop issue while living in Kansas. When the issue occurred, an error message would flash very briefly across the dash, quick enough where we could not take a picture of the message. Our Honda would stutter then start back up. At this point, we took it to the Legends Honda dealership [10050 Parallel Pkwy, Kansas City, KS 66109] and after a free diagnostic they told us they could not A) replicate the issue, B) find evidence of the error message in the system. The next week, we had a complete engine failure while at a stop light for a full 5 minutes. During those 5 minutes, the engine remained off, the transmission shifted to Park on its own, and the vehicle could not be restarted manually. Traffic built up behind and around us as we were trying to figure out how to get off the road and we could not turn the hazard lights on. It seems this issue is related to an electrical component. After 5 minutes, we were able to push the ignition button to turn off the car completely and restart the engine. The vehicle operated normally afterwards. On August 12, 2022, the same issue occurred where the vehicle engine would not restart and we were prevented from manually restarting the vehicle for about 5 minutes. Once again, the transmission shifted itself to Park, an error message flashed across the screen briefly this time, and after 5 mins we could manually restart the car and continue as normal. Between these catastrophic failure dates, we would experience multiple start/stop stutters with error msg The only experience we have where this would not occur is to manually turn off the auto start/stop feature when driving the car. We see this as an issue that could cause injury, aggressive drivers, and other safety concerns.

Car stalled at a busy intersection and was unable to be restarted. The auto-idle restart was on as this is the default when the car is started and it engaged while I was at a stoplight (had driven approximately 1 mile prior to stopping at stop light) when light turned green, I pressed the gas peddle but the car did not restart instead it stalled. I was unable to get the car restarted. The car was in the road at a busy intersection, ultimately the police had to respond to keep traffic moving and the car was towed. Please note that during my attempts to restart the car by engaging the brake and pushing the ignition (what dash tells you to do) my hazard lights would go off - leaving me very vulnerable. This is an incredibly scary situation to be in. I usually turn off the auto restart when I get in the car because the car has previously stalled, but in the previous situations I have been able to get it restarted. Unfortunately, I forgot to turn it off on my morning commute today. This is a HUGE safety hazard and needs to be addressed. I have made a formal complaint to Honda and my car is currently at a Honda dealership being evaluated.

Had the no restart after auto start/stop of my engine occur. While I was attempting to make left turn at a light, vehicle remained off and completely shut down. All the lights on dashboard came on and had to place in park. Fortunately after two attempts, vehicle restarted. Turned feature off vehicle. Took to Honda Dealership today. Service Rep. had no idea that there is a current investigation into this matter. Gave me no assure that this issue would be resolved or repaired. Also told me I’d have to authorize a $155 diagnostic fee just to have it looked at, since there is currently not an official recall.

This vehicle is equipped with an Auto Stop/Start feature when the vehicle is in idle and the brake is depressed. Once the brake is depressed the engine will shut off and then it should re-start as soon as the brake is released. This feature is malfunctioning on my vehicle. When the brake is released and the engine is restarted the electrical system on the car occasionally shuts down momentarily. This includes the HVAC, Stereo, Meter, Lights. On 3 separate occasions the car has stalled. The vehicle is then needed to be put in park and restarted. This has happened at traffic lights and could cause an accident if the reaction time to restart the vehicle is not quick enough. I had the dealer review the problem during an oil change but they only checked the battery level and determined it was not an issue. This issue seemed to appear around 35-40k miles on the odometer. The vehicle now has 56k miles on it. The issue does not occur 100% of the time, but occurs over 50% of the time.

Vehicle stalls REPEATEDLY when the automatic anti-idle function is active. Whenever the air conditioning and audio is on and I stop the car, the engine stops (as the anti-idle system is intended to work), then stalls out as the engine restarts. This has been happening for about 2 years and happens almost every time the anti-idle system engages. It’s terrifying when it stalls in stop and go traffic on the highway.

There was a rattle coming from the middle seats, specifically on the passenger side. Upon checking I found out that the middle seats were not locking properly. Actually, they could be folded down using your bare hands rather than the buttons and other mechanism to fold the seats. Therefore, in case of an accident, the seats are not likely to keep latch and may fold on any individual sitting in the middle seats. This is a safety issue that needs to be addressed. Seats are not supposed to fold using your hands but by either pressing a button or using a handle.

Vehicle would shift into neutral upon acceleration such as when passing and take up to a minute to reengage in a gear to continue acceleration. Generally happened at 50-60mph on the highway. Called dealer multiple times and brought in at 47,000 mi, but no codes generated by vehicle and dealer couldn't replicate. Finally at 81,000 transmission completely failed on a busy highway exit ramp and car could not be put in gear. Blocked traffic for 2 hours before car could be towed to the dealer. It appears Honda had transmission based recalls up to 2016 but not 2017 model year.

In support of NHTSA Action Number: PE22005 2017 Honda Pilot multiple experiences with the auto idle cutting off and not restarting. 8/4/2022 was worst experience to date. The vehicle cut off at a stop light and would not restart. The ability to roll down the windows and unlock the doors was disabled so 2 occupants were potentially trapped inside. Fortunately a door had just been opened to waive backed up traffic around the disabled vehicle. AAA and Sheriff's were called to the scene. It was successfully jumped and the AAA diagnosis was that nothing was wrong with the battery, starter, nor alternator. This is a major flaw in engineering and a fix has to be developed or the vehicle appropriately replaced.

The contact owns a 2017 Honda Pilot. The contact stated that the vehicle previously had the battery and Auto Start/Stop button replaced; however, the while stopped at a traffic light, the vehicle lost motive power. Additionally, the brake pedal was firm while depressed. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic; however, the vehicle was able to restart and no error codes were retrieved. The vehicle was then taken to the dealer where it was diagnosed that the battery needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired and remained at the dealer. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The contact related the failure to NHTSA Action Number: PE22005 (Engine and Engine Cooling). The failure mileage was approximately 70,000.

While stopped at stop sign, vehicle's engine auto stop feature engaged and shutoff engine. When driver went to apply the accelerator to move past stop sign, vehicle totally shutdown. The dash instructed driver to depress brake and start engine, which was unsuccessful. Driver had to open and close door to totally shut vehicle down to get engine to turn on again.

Today (8/2/22) is the second time this has happened to my vehicle: 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. My car died, with bare components still working (windows and a few lights came on - battery and oil), but I was in the middle of a busy intersection when this happened, which is also a few feet away from a railroad crossing, which would have endangered the lives if others were behind me if they failed to pay attention to my hazard lights - which they did). My battery was replaced at the Honda dealership in April 2021, so it's less than 2 years old. A jump was required for the vehicle to restart and is now at Germain Honda of Dublin (again) for inspection of the issues.

When the auto off/idle shuts the pilot off at a street light, sometimes the car will not turn back on. This has happened to me twice.

Car stalls when auto stop turns back on

The auto start/stop on my vehicle doesn't always work. I come to a complete stop, the vehicle turns off and when I pick my foot up off the brake to restart the car sometimes it will stall. There is no warning message or indication whether or not the car is about to stall, it just happens randomly. We cannot consistently replicate the issue. In order to restart the car I have to hit the start button, wait for the car to completely shut off and then turn the car back on creating a huge safety issue especially if I'm in the middle of an intersection waiting to make a left-hand turn. This is an accident waiting to happen. I brought my car to a Honda dealership approximately 6 months ago and brought the issue up to them. They told me they could find no issue with the car, couldn't replicate it and told me they had never heard of it before. It wasn't until I did an online search a few days ago that I realized that I wasn't the only one having this issue. I drive my children in this car and would be willing to allow anyone to inspect my vehicle to try to get to the root of the issue. This is a huge safety issue for what is supposed to be a safe family vehicle.

Engine fails to restart on its own from a complete stop at a traffic light or intersection with the Auto-Idle Stop engaged.

Engine stalled at signal after auto stop and car didn’t start back

I was stopped at a red light. The stop idol engaged and the vehicle did not start when I attempted to make my turn. The instrument panel indicated that I should shift to park. I did so and attempted to restart the vehicle but it did not start. After a number of attempts to restart it eventually turned on and I drove straight home. I was in the middle of a major intersection with my son in the car. Car zooming by me as my car was stuck in the turning lane. If a car failing to start as a result of a feature that was integrated by the manufacturer isn’t a safety issue then I don’t know what a safety concern would be classified as according the this institution. Permanently shutting off the feature is not an option as it renegades every time you start the car initially. The car has stalled a few times prior to today’s incident but this is the first time it failed to restart. As I drove home I reengaged the system to see what would happen, if failed to restart again and began the stall every time once the idol stop was engaged. This is unsafe. If I forget to turn off the function of this feature and I am on an expressway what happens if the car fails to restart, my brakes lights may not be pressed as I am thinking I am simply going to drive off and I could get rear ended at 60 miles an hour. This is a safety issue. This is a ticketing time bomb and further delays are putting thousands of lives at risk. I did I not know about the problem until I research the internet to find a solution. Why haven’t we been informed of this problem? Is this institution waiting for the body count to be high enough to warrant a consumer alert? This is a safety issue.

Auto stop start failed to restart the engine while in heavy traffic on an interstate. We had to put the car in park, turn on the hazards, turn the car off completely and restart it twice before engine would crank up completely. No warning lamps lit up prior to the car stalling out. We just had our emissions inspection and there were no error codes reported on the ODB scan. We took this to Honda in 2021 and they replaced the car battery but gave us no indication that the start stop feature was malfunctioning. Happy to have Honda or anyone else inspect the car.

The problem is that which is reported here: https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2020/MC-10184330-0001.pdf My problem is that I am being told that my VIN number is not included in the group eligible for the warrantee extension and fee coverage for the replacement of the keyless start sytem. Seeing how my vehicle is the model, make and year that this problem is known to effect, I am confused and frustrated by the inequitable and arbitrary use of VIN numbers as determinant of coverage. This is a known issue for 2017 Honda Pilots. My vehicle CLEARLY demonstrated all the malfunctions described and therefore, I believe it should be provided the warrantee extension and that I should not have to pay for the replacement ($168.17).

When the idle stop is engaged the engine will shut off and won’t restart despite depressing the break pedal. This has happened a couple of times on interstate highways in the Boston area. Both instance have occurred during rush hour traffic. A police officer once had to assist and direct traffic. The vehicle eventually begins but takes a good 5 minutes.

Vehicle does not start back up after auto shut off activates. It is also stopping suddenly on the road

The Auto Start/Stop feature on my 2017 Honda Pilot has had issues for the last 2 year. It started with the engine occasionally "hesitating" to restart after I held the brake pedal down at a stop light. As it started to happen more frequently, I took it to my Honda dealer and they told me that they could not recreate the issue and thus could not diagnose and fix it. Within the last 6 months, the issue has become more and more frequent and severe to the point that I have been worried about the car not restarting and have been manually turning off the Auto Start/Stop feature when I drive the vehicle. It does seem to occur more frequently in hot weather when I running the A/C and there is more of load on the engine and system. On July 16, 2022, I forgot to turn off the Auto Start/Stop feature, and at the first stoplight that I stopped at, the feature turned on, shut off my engine and then failed to restart. I had to put the car in Park and then it took me a few moments to get the car to re-start. The vehicle was very slow to respond, as I was afraid of the car not restarting at all. After a couple of minutes the car did restart. I turned off the Auto Start/Stop feature and did not have any further issues on my drive home. After the failure to restart from the Auto feature, my dashboard told me to put the car in park and restart. I do not recall if any other warning lights appeared, as I was franticly trying to get car restarted in the middle of traffic and cars honking at me. Once the car restarted all warning lights disappeared. Upon returning home that day, I Googled the issue before making an appointment with my dealer again. I became aware of NTHSA's investigation into this issue. From my experience, Honda should recall these vehicles and fix the issue. Someone could have hit me from behind at speed, as it was a green light and not everyone is always fully paying attention, or has poor depth perception.

For several year I've had a problem with the fuel-saving stop-start system on my Honda Pilot. Unless I turn this system off each time I drive it routinely (several times a week) fails to turn back on after making a complete stop, usually at a traffic light or stop sign. This has placed me in several dangerous situations as cars are speeding behind me, not expecting my car to be at a dead stop when a green light turns. It takes several tries to re-start the car and causes chaos at intersections. I took the car to a Honda dealer and was charged $975 to replace the battery, which they said would fix the problem. I have also followed all the safety recalls and yet the problem persists. I wanted to file an official report because this faulty system is a major accident waiting to happen. Given that my car fails to re-start once or twice per week, it's only a matter of time before I'm hit from behind while I'm stalled at an intersection. Honda has made it so that I am unable to permanently disable this feature and has yet to provide a repair so that it doesn't occur. Meanwhile, I've spent almost $1k trying to fix the problem myself without success. If the fuel-saving start-stop system is going to be a required feature please hold Honda accountable for providing a system that keeps their drivers safe and will not be the cause of an accident bringing harm to my family or others.