10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
4 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
1 / 0
Average Mileage:
14,368 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.

2018 Honda Pilot engine problems

engine problem

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2018 Honda Pilot Owner Comments

problem #16

Jul 192023

Pilot

  • miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

Since the purchase of my vehicle I have noticed from time to time it will accelerate when I-??m pressing on the brakes. Recently, this issue has gotten worse. I have almost drove my car in to our garage doors, or come close to hitting someone in front of my vehicle, because of its unpredictability. There are also issues with a delayed acceleration when accelerating from a stop. I will press on the gas and the car will not move for about 2 or 3 seconds and then accelerate very quickly as I-??m pressing the gas all the way down. I believe these problems are related. I-??ve taken my vehicle in twice to the dealership with no remedy as they claim they can-??t reproduce what I-??m talking about. Stop and go traffic is the best way, but not the only way, to reproduce the problems. This is dangerous, in my opinion, and unfortunately I-??m stuck with this vehicle that I don-??t feel safe in anymore and I don-??t want my child, who is learning to drive, to take this vehicle out once she gets her drivers license as I believe an inexperienced driver is in more danger with these issues.

- San Antonio, TX, USA

problem #15

May 162023

Pilot

  • miles
My wife was pulling into the dentist parking lot, made a slow right hand turn to a parking space when the vehicle suddenly and violently accelerated. Depressing and pumping brake had no effect and the car slammed into a tree destroying the right front of the vehicle. She assured me that she did not depress the accelerator. She is a very safe driver, never received a ticket nor involved in an accident. Research into similar accidents showed multiple cases where this occurred with Honda Pilot vehicles.

- Mobile, AL, USA

problem #14

Apr 012019

Pilot

  • 10,000 miles
The contact owns a 2018 Honda Pilot. The contact stated while approaching a stop, the contact attempted to accelerate however, there was a delay in responding. The contact stated that after a while the vehicle accelerated. There was no warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer who admitted knowledge of similar failures. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was 10,000.

- Austin, TX, USA

problem #13

Feb 272022

Pilot 6-cyl

  • 50,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

The contact owns a 2018 Honda Pilot. The contact stated that while driving at approximately 40 MPH, she depressed the brake pedal and noticed that her vehicle was not slowing down. The contact stated that as she was approaching another vehicle, she looked to make sure she was indeed depressing the brake pedal, however it would not allow her to press down and seemed to be accelerating faster than 40 MPH. The contact stated that her vehicle then caused her to crash into the rear of another vehicle, however, the vehicle still seemed to be accelerating, even though it had crashed. The contact stated that she attempted to power the vehicle off, however, the vehicle powered itself back on. The contact stated that she powered it off 3 times before the vehicle would remain off. The contact stated that the airbags did deploy and there were no injuries reported. The contact stated a police report was filed. The contact stated she then had her vehicle towed to a tow yard where it was deemed a total loss. The dealer and the manufacturer were not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 50,000.

- Atlanta, GA, USA

problem #12

Oct 012021

Pilot

  • miles
My transmission is having problems. During acceleration the car will jolt forward, also when using the brakes. The dealer did recognize the problem but said it is not covered by warranty and that transmission needed to be flushed.. which was going to cost $500. He said had it been flushed before they may cover it, yet Honda doesn-€™t recommend a flush before 45000 per my owners manual. Very dangerous.. could cause an accident with Speed going up and down at a moments notice without you doing

- Mandeville, LA, USA

problem #11

Jul 152021

Pilot

  • miles
"SUA, Sudden Unwanted Acceleration". I was in the process of parking on the 6th floor of a parking ramp in Rochester MN, I had selected my parking slot and drove very slowly half way into my parking slot. As i was stationary about 3 meters from the front wall and getting ready to reverse for a bit in order to better align in between the white lines in my slot and before i shifted gears to reverse and while my foot was still on the brake, the vehicle experience a sudden full-speed acceleration crashing the vehicle against the wall with full force, the dashboard showed a message that the airbag malfunctioned and could not deploy. Had not there been a wall but just rails in front of my parking slot, i am afraid the vehicle would have flown from the sixth floor into the ground. The insurance company deemed the vehicle a total loss. The vehicle is still under my name but in possession of GEICO, available for inspection, but because it was a total loss i was not able to bring it to the Honda dealership where i bought it. There were no warning signs that this would happen.

- Saint Paul, MN, USA

problem #10

Apr 172021

Pilot

  • miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

When accelerating from an idle position there is a 2-3 second delay. Very slow to bet moving and very dangerous in high volume traffic. The car often times jerks when I am accelerating in to a higher gear.

- Houston, TX, USA

problem #9

Apr 062021

Pilot

  • 52,000 miles
The SUV jolts and decreases speed. It takes a long time to take off again. The jolting can be strong and it has decreased on the freeway. This is not safe for a family vehicle. This has happened for a couple of months. I was told at the dealer I just needed a new battery I did change it and it still does it then I was told they found nothing.

- Moreno Valley, CA, USA

problem #8

Sep 202020

Pilot

  • 40,000 miles
I was pulling into a parking space at my church with my foot on the brake. As I neared the end of the space, the car suddenly surged forward. It went over the concrete barrier at the end of the space and came to a stop when the right front tire hit a tree and was knocked to a perpendicular position to the axle. I believe this is the only thing that caused the car to stop. The airbag did not deploy. The car surged forward about 5-6 feet at a high rate of speed even though my foot was still on the brake and I was slowly moving into the parking space.

- Saint Johns, FL, USA

problem #7

Apr 092020

Pilot

  • 25,000 miles
Car starts to stall when accelerating and when I let go of the acceleration pedal.

- Brooklyn, NY, USA

problem #6

May 102020

Pilot 6-cyl

  • 5,050 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

Honda Pilot adaptive speed control (acc) works well on freeway following another vehicle and maintaining a safe distance until the car ahead slows to approx 22 mph when the acc braking feature stops working and the Honda Pilot continues coasting creating a hazardous situation and potential to Ram the car ahead. This feature is corrected with a low speed follow feature in other Honda and later Honda Pilot models, and should be retroactively added to the 2018 Honda Pilot to prevent rear ending the car ahead.

- Huntington Beach, CA, USA

problem #5

Feb 112020

Pilot

  • miles
Honda Pilot 2018 with 20,555 miles has a digital display. Car was on adaptive cruise. Weather was fine. My speed was approximately 61mph when the speed limit changed to 65mph as hwy became I73. I used + acceleration button on right hand column 4 touches to increase speed 1 mph per touch to 65mph. Car began to rapidly accelerated to 79mph (last digital speed I saw) and I?M sure higher as I tried to gain control.. my foot had been off pedal while cruise was on so I looked and touched the gas peddle with my right foot to see what was happening. Pedal was depressed. At this point I believe I turned off adaptive cruise by the main button on right hand column but car continued to accelerate. I pushed the de acceleration button - many times and car began to slow down uncontrollably fast realizing this I then pressed brake pedal hard and that broke the control of the adaptive cruise and I was able to get the car to the shoulder of the road. Had car towed to dealership. Crown Honda in greensboro said no code was stored for the incident

- Summerfield , NC, USA

problem #4

Jul 282019

Pilot

  • 13,643 miles
Lane keep assist will trigger multiple times on two lane roads. It will activate with the "brake" message in the cluster. The system is totally unusable and unsafe. It has been into the dealership multiple times with a no problem found answer. During a one and a half or two hour drive the system will trigger fifteen times or more. Average speed is about 50 to 55 miles per hour. It happens on straight or curved roadways. Clear weather and in the sun or shade.

- Martinez, GA, USA

problem #3

May 072019

Pilot

  • 14,200 miles
The contact owns a 2018 Honda Pilot. While driving 30 mph, the vehicle accelerated without warning. The contact applied the brakes, but the vehicle lunged forward violently and made a loud noise. Also, the rpms increased. The vehicle was towed to headquarter Honda (17700 fl-50, clermont, fl 34711, (407) 395-7500) where it was diagnosed that an unknown part attached to the transmission was faulty. The dealer stated that they would notify the manufacturer. The vehicle was being repaired under the warranty. The VIN was unknown. The failure mileage was 14,200.

- Winter Garden, FL, USA

problem #2

Dec 302018

Pilot

  • 10,000 miles
2018 Honda Pilot elite-- while driving on a small, congested, curvy two-lane road, in a popular tourist destination, my frontal impact sensors alerted me to frontal impact multiple times by shaking my steering wheel. The dash lights also flashed the word "brake" in orange and black. This so-called "safety" feature almost cause me to lose control of the vehicle several times on this road because of the shaking steering wheel. This frontal impact alert always occurred when a large rv type of vehicle passed by me. Although I later discovered an "off" switch for this frontal impact alert system, I shouldn't have to turn off multiple "safety" sensors every time I start the vehicle. If you do not turn off these "safety" sensors, they will actual create unsafe conditions by shaking your steering wheel.

- Rogersville, TN, USA

problem #1

Dec 302018

Pilot

  • 10,000 miles
My 2018 Honda Pilot elite turns on the "auto idle stop" feature each time I start the vehicle. Basically, this means that the engine shuts off when I'm at a complete stop. When I release the brake, the engine starts again. However, there is lag time between the time I release the brake and acceleration. This has nearly caused a deathly accident on more than a dozen occasions during the past 6 months at intersections. I've nearly been T-boned each and every time because the vehicle will simply not accelerate at the precise moment when I need it to. There is over a 1 second lag before acceleration occurs. Perhaps this is meant to be an emissions control feature, but it comes at the price of safety. This "auto idle stop" feature makes the vehicle completely unsafe to drive for families. There should be a permanent on/off switch rather than having to turn this feature off each and every time I start the vehicle. Completely unsafe!

- Rogersville, TN, USA

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