2018 Honda Pilot UNKNOWN OR OTHER
Owner-reported problems and safety issues filed with NHTSA. Review common failures, severity levels, and complaint trends over time.
Complaint Timeline
Chronological view of owner reports
Reporting recall for crankshaft connecting rod bearing and the fuel pump. Notified Jan. and Feb. 2024. Have called many times. "Never had the parts". "Not on the list to be called". "Recall not on list to be called". "No suitable appointment time available. Will call when they have one." Left messages. Have never gotten called! Frustrated. Almost 2 years. What do I do?? Seriously, do I need a lawyer or what. Lately the car seems to hesitate. Kind of a rocking sensation while driving. Is that from the fuel pump that should have been replaced more than a year ago?? Recall issued 11/9/2023
The driver side sun visor quit staying up after just 1 year. It’s dangerous always stuck hanging halfway down.
I have called about this recall at least three times. I brought it in to be serviced and told them that I felt like something was wrong with the car and that it did not feel like it was driving right like it wasn't getting power and sluggish. They assured me that my car would be given thew replacement part soon it's been over a year. I drive with my daughter on the highway 4 times a week. Two days before Christmas my car broke down. I was driving and it started to not shift properly and would stutter when I stepped on the gas to accelerate. The check transmission and emissions system sensors came on and I just barely made it into my parking lot at my apartment. It has several system warnings coming up and was not shifting right. It is now in the shop and they can't look at it for several days. I am just glad I was not on the Interstate highway when this happened.
My auto idle start/stop has been causing my engine to stall out when I come to a complete stop. I believe it started about a little more than a year ago. It doesn’t happen all the time and never happens when I remember to turn it off. I had it at the dealership multiple times mentioning about this problem and was dismissed every time. They told me they found nothing wrong and all codes were fine and nothing was popping up. Finally, someone tested my battery and found it wasn’t operating fully. I replaced the battery after be reassured this should fix the problem. It was fine for less than a year, maybe 6 months and then it started happening again back in mid/late July. This is a major safety concern and after reading online that many others are experiencing the same issue is causing me an even greater concern.
Vehicle lagging when and most of the time does not run right away when you press the gas several times. Whenever I'm in an intersection and am trying to cross to my left when cars are coming towards me, I push the gas slightly so I can see the road complete; when I'm certain that there is no car, I try to push the gas right away to cross the intersection when I do this the car would lag in the middle of the street and has caused me almost to get hit several times with my kids and a baby inside the vehicle. I had been to the dealer many times and explained this situation, but they always made me spend for something that did not fix the issue. I had to beg them many times and even called the corporation to do something about the recall with the fuel pump, but I was always dismissed and told to wait. It has been almost a year since this started happening today. I got an emission light on again and am scheduled to return on Wednesday. I am hoping to get the recall for my car fixed. Please help me investigate this matter. I don't want to be in an accident, especially since I drive with my toddler and two kids every day to and from school. Thank you
Unsure what component or system is failing. From purchase of vehicle, there has always been hesitation when accelerating from a stop. Vehicle was taken in several times while under warranty. On at least one occasion, dealership did not even address concern on paperwork. Dealership suggested on 2 occasions that transmission fluid was cause and needed changing. Transmission fluid change at 33,000 miles(when not needed) and also at 103,000 miles. Vehicle was taken in recently due to issue possibly being related to recall. Recall has been in effect since December and still no parts available to repair. Dealership indicated that issue was not apparent and that fluid change caused improvement on test drive. NO. Did not happen. Issue continues and has worsened over time. Driving this car is a risk, as there is so much hesitation at times that near accidents have happened. There have also been honks from others as I am trying to accelerate and it takes time.
We were on a road trip to Gatlinburg from Brentwood TN. We were about a mile from our cabin when we saw a mama bear and cubs. We rolled down the window to take photos and my [XXX] smelled smoke. We didn’t see any smoke but thought maybe someone was burning brush or cooking out. We rolled up the windows and continued to drive for about thirty seconds when we saw smoke billowing out of the front hood. There were no warnings on my dash of any problem. We jumped out and I saw a small ember under the front of the car. I called 911 and we started to run, the car quickly went up in flames and then exploded before fire department arrived. We lost everything inside and are grateful to be alive. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
Torque Converter - DTC P0741. I received 'Transmission System Problem' warning message. Took to the dealer and was told that it is Torque Converter issue. However, my VIN is not included in the extended warranty of 8 years or 150,000 miles. This is the same 2018 Honda Pilot and should be included in the warranty.
Honda contacted me to say parts are available to complete recall. Plymouth Honda stared no parts are available. Email is either not accurate or dealer doesn't have accurate information. Please work with Honda to contact customer base with accurate information.
Regarding the Action Number PE22005 that is still in open investigation, I would like to report having this same issue with a 2018 Honda Pilot Elite that I purchased through a dealer on June 24. I recently had this same issue, where at a stoplight the car went into the engine idle stage, and the engine completely shut off, instructions popped up on the dashboard to put the car in park and restart the car. Hopefully this will be figured out by Honda soon, as this can be a real issue. I had a similar issue, when stopped in the road to turn left, the engine went into idle stage, it restarted when going to turn however there was a huge delay in this.
Engine stalls from a stop to accelerating It has happened several times and nearly caused an accident at an intersection The transmission shifts rough The mechanic can’t find the problem but it’s been ongoing since I purchased the vehicle new
Our 2018 Honda Pilot Touring has had auto idle stop issues from the moment we purchased this vehicle. We have addressed this safety concern with multiple Honda service centers and were repeatedly told this is how the car was designed. The auto idle stop function stalls every time the vehicle is stopped at an intersection and fails to automatically restart the engine as expected. Instead of the engine starting up again after take foot off the brake and press the gas pedal, the car stalls completely and have to put the car in park, press the brake pedal and push the start button to get it on again. Sometimes have to try several times before car restarts. This has been a major safety concern for our family and Honda refuses to fix it.
The sun visors on both driver’s side and passenger side are unusually difficult to pull down. It got to the point that you needed two hands to pull it down. The stiffness progressively got worse over the last year. In the last six months the visor does not return to flush with the ceiling, impeding clear view thru the windshield. Taller drivers needed to move the visor to the side position in order to view clearly out of the windshield. Dealer mentioned that it’s not the first Honda vehicle with this issue and a quick google search shows evidence of such as well.
The timing is not working correctly. And have to pay 2500 to repair. I can see that is open safety recall for this par for the same model that I have. But when I enter the VIN say that not have that recall
I had brought my vehicle to the dealership to perform the repair for the auto-restart recall issue. I was told this would fix the issue. Several weeks later, my husband and I were driving the car. I stopped at a red light. When the light changed and I lifted my foot off the brake, the vehicle would not restart. I repeatedly tried applying the brakes and shifting into neutral, then shifting into park, but neither would work. I tried turning the car off by pushing the start button, but that would not work either. I immediately placed my hazard lights on, but vehicles were already approaching our car rapidly on this six-lane road. I began blowing my horn to try to alert them, that we were stopped despite the green light. Several vehicles almost slammed into the back of us, since the speed limit on this major road was 50 mph and vehicles did not expect a car to be stopped with a green light. Fortunately, no cars actually hit us. When I brought my vehicle back to the dealership, I was advised this was related to the prior recall, but that the more lengthy, expensive fix was considered a "warranty extension" and not a recall, so it would only be performed after the vehicle continued to have problems after the initial, cheaper, easier recall was performed, but the car still had a problem not restarting. I was shocked that Honda would allow its customers to continue to drive a vehicle that that know can place them in danger. The repair for the "warranty extension" was completed on this vehicle, however, we have another Honda vehicle that falls under this same "warranty extension"/recall issue. Honda refuses to perform the "warranty extension" portion of the repair on that vehicle, until it actually occurs, thus placing my family in danger again! I called Honda and was told they did not care that this placed my family at continued risk and that I should contact NHTSA if I still had concerns. They refused to tell me how often the problem occurs after the recall fix.
Vehicle auto start/stop feature actually shuts the car off (at times) and requires me to put the car in part and go through the car startup process. This causes issues when you’re at a green light. I have taken the car to Honda and so far they’ve performed a software update, replaced the starter, and tuned the valves.
I was driving 55 miles per hour on a highway when I intended to press the hazard button to illuminate my hazard lights, but instead accidently pressed the ignition button. When I pressed the ignition button the car turned off while going 55 miles per hour. I lost all power including steering. I was able to muscle the car off an exit ramp and put it in neutral to press the brake and restart the vehicle while moving on the ramp. This could have been a catastophic event for me and my daughter and others driving along with us one the highway. I have not tried to reproduce this event as it would put me in an unsafe situation. The vehicle has not been inspected. I plan to do this next week at the dealership. No warning from the vehicle occurred when the event occurred. No warning lamps or messages or symptoms.
The engine had failed to restart multiple times on its own from a complete stop at a traffic light and in the middle of an intersection with the Auto Start/Stop function engaged. I am very concerned for the safety of myself and occupants because the inability of the vehicle to restart and move forward to clear through the intersection creates a very high risk for a potential collision that could be life threatening. The vehicle has not been inspected by the dealer, manufacturer or any appropriate organization. There have been no warning signs alerting me to a potential problem. I started to experience the problems commencing last month (May 2022).
Unknown component or system malfunction. There is sometimes a delay in acceleration when I press on the gas. Most of the time it's when I'm accelerating from a stop but can happen at any time. Once I press the gas and the car doesn't accelerate for about 2or 3 second I'll then have a surge of acceleration. This is very dangerous when I'm trying to pull out in to traffic or turn at a light as I end up dead stopped with oncoming traffic. I did take my SUV to be seen at a dealership but they could not reproduce the problem, someone needs to drive the car longer than 10 min to try and reproduce issue. Stop and go traffic is the best way to try and reproduce this issue. This issue began soon after purchasing in 2019
The auto stop and start has almost caused multiple accidents. When I remove my foot from the break the vehicle will not always start. Sometimes it dies and I must restart it and sometimes the vehicle rolls backwards before it starts.
On multiple occasions the idle stop feature will engage and upon re-engage it will stall my vehicle. When I place the vehicle in park, press the brake and press the ignition start, nothing happens. Upon multiple attempts to restart the car it will either do nothing or making a chug without restarting. Continuing my attempts to restart the vehicle it will finally restart. During these times I will be stalled at a stop sign or traffic light with impatient drivers going around me which I believe is unsafe for motorists or pedestrians. If this happens while I'm in an intersection or other location with moving traffic it could be very unsafe for myself, other motorists and/or pedestrians.
auto start/stop failure - Vehicle stops, engine shuts off as usual. however, when brake is released the engine does not start back up. It then needs to be put in park and takes several takes to start again.
I have had multiple (5 times) over the past month where when stopped at a stop light or other stopping point my Pilot failed to re-start on it's own. In all 5 instances I had to put the car in park and restart the vehicle. It is August (warm weather) in Chicago and there were no other weather/local environmental issues that should have caused this issue. There were no warning messages prior to the automatic re-start failure. I have not yet reported this issue to Honda but plan to do so.
I have, on several occasions, been driving my vehicle and when I stop and try to start again the engine fails to start again. This most recently happened when I got off the highway and had to stop suddenly and then had difficulty getting my car started back up in almost the middle of the intersection. This could have ended up being a really dangerous situation. This has occurred now several times. I brought my car in because I was concerned about it and they just told me that I would need to replace the battery. The battery worked fine except for this, so I am unsure why they aren't helping us understand this all better. They did confirm the issue was happening and said that they have seen it a lot. Lots of warning lots would pop on and back off when this happened.
On 8 August 2022, 1220 pm Chester, Virginia. I was driving my SUV and I heard a loud boom, I thought it was an back fire from another car. When, arrived home, checked my SUV for any possible damages. I noticed there was a slight budge on the sunroof. I opened the sliding portions of the sunroof and I noticed the entire glass had shattered with a large hole in the middle of the sunroof. I inspected the area and didn’t notice anything that could have shattered the glass. In my opinion, with increasing temperatures, the sunroof glass shattered because extremely hot weather. The outside temperature was 97 Degrees Fahrenheit which the inside temperature was much higher.
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The 2018 Honda Pilot has 33 UNKNOWN OR OTHER complaints on file. Review the timeline above for detailed owner experiences.