There are 50 owner-reported electrical system complaints for the 2018 Honda Pilotin NHTSA's database. These are unverified consumer reports and may not reflect confirmed defects.
All warning lights triggered on by faulty rear view camera sensor making one unable to discern if there is a true issue with one of the systems
The car unexpectedly sent out emissions failure systems warning Effecting the ability to accelerate without a pause in a forward movement. I had my mechanic diagnose the warning lights which indicate a connector rod issue. This diagnosis aligns with all of the symptoms. My mechanic warned me the engine could stop at any time. We will have the repair done this month. Honda put out a recall and stop production for this issue in March of 2024 but my car does not show up in the recall when I inquired to Honda about the issues I was experiencing. They basically said there is nothing for me to do.
The "start/stop" function has always been an issue and also the response to acceleration. Luckily the start/stop failed at the mailbox in front of our home. The car shut off just like at a light but instead of picking back up upon acceleration, it completely died. We have had it shutter and slowly pick up in an intersection before but we have learned to really over exert the acceleration to complensate. We have had the fuel pump recalled but i dont think it fixed our problem. Luckily nobody has been hurt yet, but this is my wife and eight year old daugthers car. We have had multiple warning lamps "fixed" in the past, but there are currently no indicators on the dash.
Start stop system would not restart vehicle. Came to a stop at a stoplight. Engine stopped with system engaged. Let go of brake to creep up in traffic and the engine did not restart. Warning on Dash told me to place vehicle in park and restart. It took a couple of tries to restart . The vehicle eventually did restart.
On at least four separate occasions the idle engine stop has failed to restart when the vehicle was stopped at an intersection. The car not only does not restart but it also won’t respond for some time to attempts to turn the car off (in park mode and brake applied) so that it can be restarted. We must try to remember to disengage the idle engine stop at each use of car to avoid this issue as there is no way to do that permanently without installing an aftermarket product.
Auto restart failed. Vehicle failed to move forward at a red light. Dash instructed to place vehicle on park then press the engine start-stop button hence restarting in the middle of the road presenting a safety hazard, cars behind me almost tail ending mine. People were honking and I couldn’t move fast enough. Why is the Honda dealer saying they will charge $222 to inspect to see if it’s a starter issue? Just fix the problem. I already had the system reset due to recall. This is a prevalent problem, shouldn’t it be inclusive to a recall. Also putting the customers at risk knowing its an issue is a huge problem. Please advise and help resolve this safety issue.
Odometer Fraud. The contact purchased a 2018 Honda Pilot. The contact stated that while attempting to register the vehicle, it was discovered that there was a mileage discrepancy. The vehicle was a private sale. At the time of purchase, the vehicle mileage was 98,423 and at the time of registration, it was discovered that the mileage was over 230,000.
The car shut down on its own, the only way to started was with a jumpers, doesn't turn on screen nor dash,, Also the ac fan relay stays on and doesn't shut down making the car to over heat
Unfortunately, due to the extended delay in this repair, my vehicle has experienced significant mechanical problems, which I believe are directly related to the faulty fuel pump.Fuel Injector Contamination, Catalytic Converter Stress, Transmission Performance Issues
The car was placed in park, and somehow it rolled backwards into a gas station post causing serious damage. The very badly designed 9 speed transmission is designed to shift into park when the door is opened this is a safety feature that failed! My child could have been in there! It could have rolled back into the file pump! DANGEROUS! I have heard of others complaining this happened to them too. I have video evidence but I need to obtain it from the gas station it happened at.
The original manufacturer windshield and the adhesive holding it to the body of the vehicle was improperly installed by the manufacturer allowing water to leak into the A-pillar of the driver's side down into the lower dash and foot well. Moisture and degradation of the factory installed windshield adhesive can cause electrical faults, mold, a loose windshield, and other issues that can disable the vehicle and/or cause bodily harm. The dealer noted and advised about the possibility of the adhesive degradation before the vehicle was inspected, which confirms this is a common issue with this vehicle. Upon inspection, they advised that the windshield adhesive was the issue. The issues/symptoms presented themselves during recent and prolonged rain events at which time it was reported to the nearest authorized dealer. The local dealer claims a crack in the windshield as the cause of the problems. Unfortunately, there are no cracks in the area where the leak is originating from. The vehicle leaks from the upper driver's side corner of the windshield, with the crack noted being on the lower mid section of the windshield. Water would not run up into the corner from where the adhesive leaks.
The contact owns a 2018 Honda Pilot. The contact stated that while his wife was stopped at a stop light, the vehicle inadvertently lost motive power; however, the vehicle was able to immediately restart. After restarting the vehicle, the vehicle returned to normal functionality, but the failure became a regular occurrence. The STOP/START warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer or an independent mechanic. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 94,000. The VIN was not available.
This issue started last year upon purchasing my used Honda Pilot. The gas save mode that allows the engine to shut off at stops and restart does not work properly. Rather than the engine restarting, the car will instead shut down. Taking about 2-3 minutes to have to put the car in park and being able to restart after several attempts. The Pilot was taken to Honda last year where they did a computer upgrade. This issue happened again last week on 5/8/2024 and again this morning, 5/13/2024. This can cause a safety issue as the car is stopped at a stop sign or a light, and when traffic is trying to move, I am holding traffic up which may cause cars to attempt to go around or cause an accident. I need to know why this is happening and when Honda plans to have a solution.
Unknown
As of 11/21/23, our honda pilot has approx 75,000 miles, we purchased it new so we are the only owners. A few weeks ago, the vehicle while driving about 45 mph, completely shut off, all lights on the dash cam on and the transmission became disengaged. We were able to shut it off for a few minutes, and drive it about 1/2 mile to the local Acura dealership. The car did not operate normally though, it would only go about 20-30 mph, before the transmission disengaged for a few seconds, then re-engage and continue driving. Acura said it was a producing a bad cam-shaft sensor code, they reset it, but said if it happened again, they would need to open up the engine to inspect the cam-shaft. Two days later, the exact same thing happened, we returned it to the same Acura dealership, where they said the cam shaft, and abunch of other parts needed replacement, at a cost of about $2,500. We had no choice since the car was immobilized. Now, the week of 11/20/2023, a recall regarding the rod bearings was issues, which cause the exact same immobilization issues we experienced, which is very dangerous as a driver. Upon research online, the cam shaft sensor and faulty cam shaft is more common than I expected, and I believe should be investigated before someone is seriously injured. To add, our specific pilot is not showing the engine rod recall, but we have experienced issue with the vehicle in regards to the auto start/stop feature and the car not restarting, as well as cruise control issues where the car will go into neutral at 70+ mph when cruise control is activated. We will probably not have this vehicle much longer because of the issues we have had in the first 75K miles, and the continued safety issues that plague this model. More needs to be done for the safety of it's drivers and passengers.
The wave radar came on during out travel. We traveled in south Dakota on through construction when the light came on. Now I went to the dealership to get an oil change and ask them about the error. I was informed the the wave radar part had been over worked and need to be replaced. Cost $1268.70. We never got in a collision. The part should not fail for being used causing the error message. I also belive it is a huge safety concern because I dont know if the collision system will work. The second issue we are having with the vehicle is that we turned it in for the recall for the idle stop function. It continues to turn off our vehicle at stoplights and on stops on s hill. I dont feel safe operating this vehicle with me and my family.
I previously reported issue 11360107 which Honda attributed to a bad battery cell and replaced the battery on this vehicle. I followed up with them that I consider auto-idle-stop functionality that doesn't restart despite the battery being capable of restarting to be a safety issue. I re-iterated to them that I "rebooted" the car by holding the car start button down until the Honda logo appeared in the driver display. The car then proceeded to start and I didn't have any issues with the battery being able to start the car before or after that. As stated in that issue, this happened on the access road of a major Texas Freeway while stopped at a stop light. Cars were flying by at 50 mph with my family in the car sitting at a green light. Honda has apparently issued a "fix" for this, but today I experienced a similar issue at the gas station. Today was different b/c my auto-idle-stop was disabled. My Honda dealership had disabled it the second to last time I brought it in for service, but didn't tell me. I had complained to my dealership about this issue in the past, but the feature had been disabled when I received it, without notating the change in any paperwork. I asked about it the last time I had my car at the dealership and they acknowledged that Honda was telling them to disable the auto-idle-stop on vehicles where the owner said something. Today, July 16th, 2023, I experienced the same behavior when I stopped for gas. The car would not restart, the starter would not attempt to star the car. I had driven about 60 miles in this 100 degree weather in Aransas, Texas. After filling up with gas my car wouldn't start, the electronics worked, the radio came on, but the car wouldn't start. I got out of the car while the electronics were on, went to talk to another person in the caravan. I came back and tried again and the car started. The battery was obviously capable of starting the car without jumping.
The back-up camera / navigation / infotainment screen is intermittently off. Without this screen one cannot get a camera view directly behind the car to back up, park, or see the rear position of the vehicle for loading and unloading. After visiting the dealership with an estimate of $2000 to $3000 for replacement, the message was clear they did not want to replace this part at a reasonable cost. On about 11/01/2023, this problem was taken to our dealership and it did re-occur at the dealership but does remain about 50% intermittent since the middle of 2023. When doing on-line searches, this must be a repeat problem for other Honda Pilot owners. Other manufacturers have implemented recalls for this same problem but not Honda to my knowledge. This vehicle now has about 60,000 miles on it; but this problem is a safety concern as well as a resale concern… but we would like to be able to keep it. This part seems to have been designed to be difficult to remove and replace with 5 separate cable connections, attached air vents, and without disassembling the two full panels across the full width of the dash. The dealer did remind us that this vehicle is out of warranty as well.
Emissions light comes on due to a faulty Fuel Injector and Catalytic Converter. This continues to show up in multiple forums when it comes to this problem.
When the vehicle is turned off, the lights panel will flicker. You can hear the relays clicking behind the panel. The headlights will come on. The car alarm will go off at random. On average 7-10/per day. I’ve taken the vehicle to the dealer and there appears to be a back order of the part needed to fix the issue.
Showing 1–20 of 50 complaints
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 26, 2026