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:
2 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
25,811 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.
The auto engine idle feature malfunctions. When stopped in traffic and at intersections the auto engine idle feature turns off the engine; however fails to restart. I can put the car into park, but the brake remains engaged and the ignition button blinks white. I have attempted many different things to 'reset' the computer. Putting the car in park, waiting, unlocking seatbelt, open/shut door. The last time, i had to walk away from the vehicle with the key fob in traffic. Locking and unlocking the car seemed to reset the computer. This placed me in dangerous traffic. It has happened in a construction zone on interstate, at intersections several times, during rush hour when it was impossible to leave the vehicle due to high speed traffic, and once while towing. Each episode has generally taken about 15 minutes for computer to shut down/reset. There is no message on the dash before, during or after. I now disengage the auto engine idle button when driving due to fear of being stranded in dangerous traffic situations. If I forget to turn it off, it is likely to malfunction. I have contacted the dealership about this problem before. There was no code, so the problem was deemed a mystery and remains unresoved by Honda.
On multiple occasions when the auto idle engages the car stalls. The dashboard looks like the car is running by its not. In order for me to be able to drive it I have to put it in park, turn it all the way off, and then restart. This has happened at dangerous intersections where I-€™ve almost been in an accident. I read that it-€™s a known problem but Honda isn-€™t doing anything about it The last time it happened is noted below
After turning a corner vehicle turned off, in the middle of the road, stated put in park and press engine start button, had to press 2x for the car to start
My vehicle is equipped with with an Automatic Engine shutoff. The vehicle shuts off at traffic lights and then fails to turn back on. I have contacted Honda but only told that there is not currently a recall and it would cost 200$ for a diagnostic test to be ran and if they don-€™t find the problem I am still responsible for the 200$ charge.
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. This happens intermittently, but has put my family in danger on several occasions. When the light turns green, the car turns off, and has to be put in park and restarted. I have come close to being rear-ended during these situations, as approaching vehicles have to stop suddenly because my car is disabled. I have taken a video of these incidents, but Honda is unable to recreate the issue and has not offered a solution.
- Anchorage, AK, USA
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While stopped at a stop light the car totally shuts off when you go to start to move again causing you to have to put the car in park. Then start the car back up a begin to drive. This has happened 8 times now. There are no warning lights. The engine just seems to shut totally off in mind stream. What am I supposed to do with this issue that causes this to happen.
The stop/start system Isn-€™t working properly. When I stop at a light or stop sign the car will stop and the engine will stop like it is supposed to. But when I take my foot off the brake the car doesn-€™t start back up. The lights on the dash light up. The dash then tells me to put the car in park and press/hold the start button. It will then start. This has been going on for over a year now. I normally just try to remember to disable it by pressing the button but I shouldn-€™t have to.
My car shuts off and goes into Park at intersections or highway while stuck in traffic if the Auto Engine Idle is not manually disabled. It can take up to 3 minutes to restart my car.
The auto stop on my 2016 honda pilot is causing the car to not restart and have to put in park, restart and then put back into drive. If it doesn't stall completely, everything with shut off (AC, radio) and then start back.
When coming to a complete stop, the vehicles' start/stop feature was engaged and the car's engine turned off. Instead of turning back on when the brake was released, the car did not turn back on. Hitting the ignition button also did not start the vehicle back up immediately. This happened to me two times in the past month. Both times, I was stopped at a red light and the car left me stranded in traffic. After a few attempts of hitting the ignition button, the car would start back up. The vehicles start/stop feature malfunctioned and it would be available for inspection upon request. This put my family's safety at risk because the car left us stranded in the middle of a busy intersection. The vehicle has not been inspected yet. There were no warning lamps prior to the problem.
I have a Honda Pilot 2016 with a keyless start system issue. I see a recall document Service Bulletin 20-117 dated December 9, 2020; however, when I type my VIN number for my vehicle, I do not see a recall. I have been having the Keyless start system issue for the past 3 days.
Ocassionally when stopped at intersections my 2016 Honda Pilot touring edition will go into idle stop mode and not restart. Upon trying to proceed the engine will try to start and stall out. The engine goes dead and I am unable to accelerate out of the intersection. The info dash system indicates the vehicle was in Neutral and that I needed to shift to Park to Proceed. After putting the vehicle in Park the info dash system instructs me to start the engine by pressing the Brake and pushing the Start button. This action is not possible when the vehicle has stalled out as described above and continues to prevent the driver from accelerating out of the intersection. The only solution I found that works is to remove my foot from the brake and power down the vehicle completely. Only when the vehicle is completely powered down is it possible to restart the vehicle by pressing the Brake and Pushing the power button. This event has happened 4 times in the past 3 months on my Pilot. The mileage on my Pilot is ~125,000 miles.
I-€™m having problem with the start/stop feature if my honda pilot 2016. For a couple of incidents already, when the car idle on a stop, it will not start back. It happened today 7/23/22 in Fletcher ave in Fort Lee, NJ. I had to jump start the car and it caused traffic for a while.
Auto Engine Idle Stop has failed to restart the vehicle in multiple situations, including at traffic lights and in stop and go traffic. Inspection is available upon request. When a trafic light turns green and I have tried to proceed the vehicle stalls and will not restart quickly, the cars behind me are surprised and not happy when I have to go through a procedure to get the car to restart. I have almost been hit by cars behind me several times as they expected me to go when the light turns green. Sometimes my vehicle will not restart for a minute or more. This could be a major issue if you were in traffic and ended up stuck in a place where you should not stop or stall. One time I had to call AAA to get my vehicle to start. They had to disconnect my battery and reattach so the system would reset itself. Only then would the vehicle start. The dealer said they have heard from other owners of Honda Pilots that they want this auto engine idle stop permanently turned off. But they told me they can-€™t turn it off. This should auto engine idle stop should be something you opt into not have to opt out every time you start your vehicle. There weren-€™t any lights or warnings that this system would fail ahead of time.
The idle stop on the car is defective, if not turned off which had to be turned off everytime we start the car, The car will randomly idle stop at intersections and won't come back on, will have to forcefully turn off the car and turn it back on. Couple this happened on dangerous intersection and traffic lights. Honda has not resolution, they just say turn off idle stop everytime.
I was driving with the intention to turn left at a major intersection. I was the first car to pull into the left hand turning lane. I put my blinker on and pushed down on the brake waiting for the light to turn green so I could make the left hand turn but the car just shut down. At first I thought it was the auto engine on/off feature but I tried to lift my foot off the brake and the car did not restart. I tried to put the car in park and turn the car completely off (then on again) to see if that fixed the issue but the brake pedal was completely locked and I could not push it down. I ended up having to call the police and a tow company to tow my car out of the intersection. Both the police and the tow company tried to start the car with no luck. They could not even start it to put it in neutral and had to flat bed the car. There were not warning lights or messages on when this occurred. Although no one was hurt, it was an extremely busy intersection where this occurred and I was with my 4 year old daughter. While waiting for the police I had to cross multiple lanes of traffic carrying my daughter because it didn't want someone to rear end my car with her in it. It was also during the start of rush hour and caused a huge traffic back up. My car was subsequently towed to the Honda dealership where I purchased the car and they were able to start it the next morning multiple times with no issue. When they checked for error codes, nothing popped up. The battery was tested with good results. They requested other services be performed: brake system service, fuel system service, etc. but I was told these were unrelated to the break down. I ended spending close to $400 in towing fees and over $800 these additional services. I saw there was an official investigation into the Honda Pilot's start/stop feature and I believe this sounds very similar to what I went through.
Auto stop/start feature will leave vehicle disabled and stranded at lights, and or in the middle of busy roads. Has happened to my wifes 2016 honda pilot 5 times now. Luckily 3 of those times were in parking lots, but twice on a busy highway with kids in the vehicle.
Honda has a "stop / start" feature that when stopping at a stop sign or traffic light, with brakes applied, stops the engine. Once you take foot off brakes, the engine should restart. On four occasions, the engine did not restart. This is a fuel saving feature, however, in each case I'm stuck in traffic while trying to "restart" my Honda Pilot.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Kittanning, PA, USA