2017 Pilot with the 6 speed transmission would hesitate to switch gears and the fix the first 2 times was a triple transmission flush. It was covered by the normal warranty the first time then 20,000 miles later around 65,000 miles it did it again. Thankfully we got the extended warranty and it covered the $450 triple flush. The problem now is a hard shift into 6th gear that after a third triple flush won’t go away. Honda says nothing they can do until the transmission completely fails. So now waiting to be left on the side of the road. Will be last Honda for us.

I had previously thought very highly of Honda, that it sold good quality, reliable cars. My opinion has since changed with the 2017 Honda Pilot as this has been my worst car experience. At 5 years, the transmission failed, and I was stuck with a defective part that should never have failed this soon. This defect is well known and discussed on Honda forums and with so many existing issues, it seems like an unfair business practice to require the consumer to be responsible for footing the bill for a product defect. There are many consumer complaints about this.

The timeline for my situation occurred just after the 65,000-mile warranty. My transmission began failing at 66,480 miles so I brought it to the dealer on December 1, 2021. The dealer performed a service and mentioned this would be the first step to repair the problem with the transmission. A few months later, at 71,033 miles, the transmission system warning light came on, and I brought it back to the dealer March 23, 2022 at which time I was told that the transmission would need to be replaced at a cost of $9,000. The dealership told me they would do me a favor and ‘share the cost’ with me so my portion would only be $5,300. I tried to negotiate further claiming a defective part, but the dealership wouldn’t budge and in fact told me that if I didn’t take the offer, they would rescind the offer. I needed a car so I agreed to pay it.

I had to uber around for a couple days at the cost of $63 then I had to rent a car for $1,636. I also did quite a bit of research on what the problem was with this transmission, what internal parts actually failed, and how long this repair should take. The notion that I had marginally exceeded the warranty so the defect isn’t covered seems harsh, poor customer care, or just an excuse to avoid responsibility for manufacturing and selling a faulty part. This event is likely related to an internal failure (the clutch failing prematurely) something that should not have occurred this soon. The vehicle has been well maintained and the transmission fluid was serviced at 40,270 miles in June 2020. I was also told that if I had serviced my car 100% at honda then I would have received a better deal? This doesn’t make sense as the only service I had outside of the dealership was oil and tires – unrelated to a faulty transmission.

To make matters worse, the service advisor was a challenge to deal with. I initially asked how long it would take to repair – he advised a couple days to get the part and a couple days to repair. I checked in with him daily and each day he seemed to have a new story. The advisor even told me he’d work on getting me a car to rent/borrow but he never followed up on this. I checked every day for a week and the part didn’t arrive until April 1. I was told that same day, the car was on lifts and being worked on so it would be done “Monday”, “no Tuesday”, “no Wednesday.” I did not feel as though I was getting the truth – it was a complete run around, but I was at the mercy of the dealership. I had already researched this and learned from the internet that it would likely take 2 weeks for this car/this transmission to be repaired. I learned this from the internet, so why didn’t the service advisor just tell me this in advance instead of feeding me a daily story that was unrealistic? If he didn’t know the timeframe, wouldn’t he ask a supervisor or shop manager for guidance? It was finally completed exactly 2 weeks from the day I brought it in – April 6 but I couldn’t pick it up until the next day since I was told so late in the day that it was complete. (I had to coordinate returning the rental car and getting a ride to the dealership).

A product should meet the ordinary expectations of the consumer. When a product has an unexpected defect, the product cannot be said to meet the ordinary expectations of the consumer. When the product is defective, it is irrelevant whether the manufacturer exercised great care to design and/or manufacture a quality product – in the end, the part was defective and should be recalled. This transmission should have at least lasted until 130,000-150,000 miles. It is negligent for Honda to knowingly keep selling or refusing to replace a part that is defective. I don’t believe it is right to charge me to repair the cost of a defective product. I can tell you that based on this experience (and unless this situation is made right) I would never purchase a Honda again – the reputation of Honda has now been tarnished so badly that I no longer feel that Honda sells quality, reliable cars nor do they back up their products. It's not the right thing to do to treat a customer like this. It’s not right to avoid responsibility for defective products.

Took my 2017 Honda Pilot in to have a transmission flush as they suggested. Suffice to say the problem was fixed and it is running great. They told me it needed to be done at 30,000 miles, but no mention of such service was ever mentioned. I'm fairly certain a lot of other Honda Pilots are having the same issue and Honda is aware of it, but do not want to say anything about the flush because it would then make them responsible for the service. Instead, they are passing the buck on to the owners in rather quiet fashion. It's not an expensive fix, but it will add up for them when thousands of cars are affected. Anyway, glad to have it running great again at a feasable price of $102.00.