CarComplaints.com Notes: It's worrying when the top category for 2016 Honda Pilot problems are transmission problems. Owners report jerking when accelerating. Also as the first model year of the redesigned 3rd generation Pilot, it's not a good sign.
Honda released a TSB on October 29 2016 that's possibly related. The TSB deals with a "a judder from the torque converter lock-up clutch ... while driving between 20 and 60 mph" due to deteriorated transmission fluid resulting from "specific driving conditions". In the TSB, Honda states they are developing a software fix to try to keep the transmission fluid temperature within spec.
We are keeping a close eye on this defect trend because if certain driving conditions can affect transmission shifting in the first year of ownership, we'd hate to think what 10+ years will do.
10.0
really awful
Crashes / Fires:
4 / 2
Injuries / Deaths:
1 / 0
Average Mileage:
21,837 miles
About These NHTSA Complaints:
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.
i driving home from a local costco and slowed to a stop at an intersection not far from my home. The car stalled and would not restart. After several attempts the car completely shut off and I was unable to even turn on any of the accessories. Ultimately I had to have the vehicle towed to a local shop because I was obstructing traffic and was at a dangerous intersection. I late continued to have similar issues after several battery replacements and jump starts. I had my vehicle serviced at a local dealer and they advised that it was the central power module that was bad. I was advised that this also controls the Intermittent Idle control function that is designed to save gas when the car is idle and not running. The car was was not under warranty so I had to pay for the new part and installation. The car is now experiencing similar issues. The car will randomly loose power and most recently will be completely non operational and jump starts are necessary to restart the car. A Keyless start System error has now been appearing randomly. Their is a TSB out for this particular part but have been advised that code has to be present in order the the local dealership to initiate a repair. I am going to attempt to have the vehicle brought to a local dealer for inspection.
When I was driving my Honda Pilot 2016 on highway 59, suddenly my car lost power and jerking. Multiple warning light went on. It was very dangerous and almost got me killed. It turns out that Honda knew this problem, TSB# A18010i, due to a part is out of spec. Honda should recall this problem.
Since buying my 2016 Honda Pilot Elite in June of 2021 I have had innumerable instances of my vehicle's auto stop start feature failing to START after being engaged. I believe the first instance was in Sept 2021 (after the lemon law time frame passed for my state). When my vehicle is stopped, I try to hit the gas and the vehicle does not go. At this same time an error happens on the screen that says "shift car to P". The first few times this has happened I tried to shift to P and that did not help. I figured out that it is best (i.e. quickest, I am not sure it is the best for the vehicle) to just turn the car off. Wait a few seconds, and then turn the car back on and put it back into drive and go. Keep in mind that I have cars peeling by me, screaming at me, honking, yelling, etc. all with my 6/7yo daughter in the vehicle. I am often stuck in an intersection going left. Additionally, sometimes but not always, the radio and heat/ac turn off when this happens. This has occurred far more times than I can count but a few examples in bumper to bumper city traffic, when waiting to make a left hand turn in intersections, while taking turns at a stop sign both flat and uphill (which is terrifying), just while being stopped at red lights and having the light turn green, when taking turns to enter a rotary, when trying to go at a yield sign, etc. There is no warning light or lamp. The warning lights/sounds occur while/after its already happened. Sometimes the radio turns off and the heat/ac. I have had the vehicle repeatedly serviced by the dealer I purchased it from. They said they cannot replicate the issue. They have asked me to take video of it which is infuriating and UNSAFE as I am in the vehicle with a child in traffic, sometimes in the middle of an intersection, trying not to get T-boned. We have changed the battery. The dealer has cleaned carbon build up out of something. They continually say it is not an issue and cannot be replicated.
I am experiencing the same issue as is described in NHTSA Action Number: PE22005 for my 2016 Honda Pilot. It has been in for service numerous times and Honda has no solve for it. The auto idle stop turns the engine off correctly, however, it has failed to restart more than a dozen times over the last 2-3 years. Honda has replaced the battery twice since the start of this issue. This stall has caused dangerous situations and has impeded traffic while I get the car restarted. I see the NTSB has an open investigation about this issue and I would like to add my name / car to the list of people reporting the issue. The date I am listing in this report is the last time it happened.
Two weeks ago after a 4 hr drive, I pulled in to by gas and when I tried to restart the car, all the panel lights came on but the car would not "crank" on. Tried it several times with same result. outside lights OK, interior lights OK. Added problem as the car would not start there is no way to get it into neutral and the car was unmovable !! Fellow driver offered to jump it and it started right up. Took it right to the dealer and test the battery. Tested good. I then turned it off and on several times and it worked. I have driven it over the last two weeks and have not had a problem. Last night the same think happened in a parking lot. Again a jump started it right up and has worked "normal" since. This could happen anywhere, anytime (Safety) and the inalienability to move the car out of the way is a road hazard.
- Goodyear, AZ, USA
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Hi, today my 2016 pilot elite stop working on a red light. Once the brake pedal was released, the engine stop and warning lights appeared on the dash board: Neautral message light and Battery light. My wife and two daughters were scared and helpless. Cars were honking. After around 2 minutes and at least three tries to turn on, it finally did. We are happy to know that Honda is working on this matter, thanks.
Auto Start for Idle fails at start intermittently. If stopped at an intersection, when proceeding to go, engine cuts off and gear shifts to N, requiring a shift to P and Start pressed before then going to D and continuing. This is always at intersections and the delay puts driver in jeopardy.
We own a 2016 Honda Pilot Touring AWD. For many years we have experienced issues with the idle-stop system as the vehicle fails to restart after the engine is switched off. It appears that the battery lacks the power to restart the engine or there may be a deeper issue with the engine restart system itself. We have taken the vehicle to the dealership twice and they cannot detect any issues. We have changed the battery twice, at our own expense, and the issue seems to improve temporarily while the battery is new. This issue is concerning when the engine does not restart at a busy intersection or when turning into incoming lateral traffic. The engine just shuts off and we need to switch to park to restart.
A couple of times, while sitting at a stop light, the auto stop feature has failed to restart the car, resulting in a need to completely turn the car off and restart it in traffic. We have also had it occur when stopped at a stop sign and not having the car restart, as we've attempted to pull out in to traffic. We have not taken it to a dealer or service center, and have elected to turn the feature off to mitigate the system failure. There are zero indications that the car won't restart. Occassionally, when we forget to turn the auto start feature off "when it does work correctly" radio audio drops out while the car restarts. This problem has been ongoing for about three years.
When car stops due to Auto Idle it then stalls and the engine completely cuts off. Then having to restart the car. This has happened to me an immense amount of times, in streets, freeways and it is going to kill someone. I have on. numerous had near misses where people have barely avoided rear ending me. I have reported to dealer, American Honda and nothing has been done. Every time it has gone into dealer for this they just say they can not replicate it. It is a Lemon and a dreadful defect in this car. something has to be done before someone is killed.
Emission system problem light - is VERY COMMON 2016-2018 Honda Pilot. Why is there NO recall/permanent fix for this? This is a Honda Defect in manufacturing/workmanship. Honda should resolve!
My 2016 honda pilot will not restart after it idles at a stoplight. This has happened multiple times and is happening more frequently (twice today). Both times today I was in a line of traffic and was in fear that someone behind me would hit me. The dashboard message said to put the car in park but that did not work. I had to turn the car completely off and restart it. The second time it took me three tries to get the car started. The guy behind me was very angry, gesturing and yelling. Road rage is scary too. I had the car looked at several months ago due the same issue and they could not find anything wrong when they ran diagnostics. I cannot recreate the problem on demand. It is sporadic. And scary.
My 2016 Honda Pilot has been experiencing an issue with the auto start-stop system, in which the vehicle's engine fails to restart after a stop and/or the dashboard indicators flash on and off with multiple error codes displaying. This has happened many times on the highway and on streets, one time where it would not restart on the highway and cars were going around me on both sides which was very dangerous. I reported this to Honda corporate and opened up a case, which was open for many months while the Pauly Honda dealer in Libertyville, IL and the Muller Honda dealer in Gurnee, IL tried to diagnose the problem. They ended up trying several fixes, including replacing the battery, but nothing has fixed the issue. The dealer also contacted the engineers at Honda Corporate, and they indicated that they were not aware of the issue and have not been able to provide any fixes. This is still an issue today, and the only workaround I have is to disable the auto start/stop function manually, every time I start the car. Dates: - I checked and we actually brought our car into Muller Honda of Gurnee in September 2021 where we reported an issue where "C/S (customer) feels like it wants to die coming to a stop. Dash lights turn off like vehicle died. All displays go dark." They felt that it was "Caused by: Technician verified keyless remote system problem light on dash. Tech found code B12C5 stored in system. Corrected by (Y9300) (6S100) Warranty extension. Keyless start system error with DTC B12C5. BulletinS". This did not fully resolve the issue. - Then in October 2021 we brought the car into Pauly Honda of Libertyville where we again reported the same issue where "Customer states in eco mode the center screen now goes blank then cycles and comes back on." This did not fully resolve the issue. - Then in the spring of 2022 we brought it back to Pauly Honda as more severe issues started occurring. I also opened up Case #13103604 with Honda Corporate.
When driving and stopped, the fuel saving features shuts the engine off to save fuel, it should restart the engine after letting your foot off the brake. At least 25 times now, the car fails to restart. In a panic, you have to put your foot back on the brake, put the car in park, restart the engine by pushing the start button, then put the car in drive before you can resume. This has nearly caused us to be hit by other vehicles that assume you will start to move when traffic resumes. On the interstate there was an accident ahead and the car did this when a semi was moving at great speed toward us with our family. I-€™m not sure this car is safe. The Honda service department suggested we have valves adjust at a cost of $700-$800 claiming that could help. There are no warning lamps. The car has had the battery replaced in the last year and starts every time, the first time when we begin a trip. Our teenagers can-€™t drive this car due to this safety issue. This started about a year ago and is becoming more frequent. It happened three times in the last week.
Repeatedly, the engine idle auto-stop function fails. The dealership and authorized Honda repair facilities say it is a known issue to them but not acknowledged by Honda. They state it must be due to driver error. When this function fails, it is random and creates an immediate emergency situation. The engine auto-stop feature is on by default. We try to remember to turn it off every time. But when we forget, we come to any stop (light, traffic etc), the engine will go from idle to stall! No notice, no warning, no indicator light. The car will completely turn off with the car in drive. You need to put the car in park, try to restart the car, get back into drive and hope an accident doesn't occur. We have a college teen now who drives this Honda Pilot. Soon to have a High School teen. They do not have enough driving experience to react to something like this. My fear is that a serious accident may incur. Last year this same engine had some type of issue where every light on the dashboard would light up. Apparently a know problem with a defective fuel injection system. We were never notified about this issue from Honda. Honda repaired it at no cost but, it was another know issue about a major engine flaw. Now this auto idle which is going out of control. Honda needs be accountable before fatalities occur. This car is becoming a lemon.
About a year after we bought the car the engines fail to restart after stopping, in some cases the jump start was required to get the engine going again. After it happened on the highway a few times we took the car into service and they said it was the battery they changed the battery which cost us a lot of money. After changing the battery it happened over and over again, we took the car again into service and they said it is not related to the battery and that they shouldn't change the battery in the first place. They said it's a software issue and they updated the software and we paid a lot of money and the problem continued. We report the issue every time we take the car to a car maintenance and they say it's a Honda problem and they can't help us (the service we go to is Honda car service). Whenever there is traffic we are afraid the car will stop and we will cause a collision. No warning lights before the failure.
I was exiting a highway and entering a right hand turn lane. There was traffic in the turn lane and I came to a complete stop. When I stopped my car shut down. I attempted to restart by pushing the engine start/stop button but the car did not restart. It took about 30-60 off trying the butting, attempting to shift into drive and opening/closing the door and trying to restart before I could get the car to restart.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Mableton, GA, USA