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
My car has been put in PARKING on its own and won't allow me to put it back in DRIVE or REVERSE. I can't turn it off when this happens (I pressed the START/STOP PUSH button, and nothing happens) and the steering WHEEL locked up and the brakes too. This has happened to me on two occasions: one time when I stopped in a red light. When the light changed to GREEN and I released the brake to move, the car went into PARKING and locked up itself, NOTE: when I stopped in the red light the car went into AUTO idle engine mode (April 19 2022). My safety was put in risk because it happened in a busy road. On another occasion it happened when I was entered the garage slowly and I pressed the brake to completely stop, the car went into AUTO idle engine mode and then changed its own to PARKING (April 7). The car just like "turned off" although everything seems ON without warning messages. I couldn't start it until a few minutes later. After this event happened the "CRUISE CONTROL" and "LANE KEEPING Assist" features stopped working. I went to a place, and they checked the battery and the battery is not the issue.
Upon stopping for a red light, the car turned off the engine and is supposed to restart when the brake is released. However my car stalled out and wouldn't auto start. After 20 seconds it then prompted to restart the car. This was on a busy road and I was lucky no one rear-ended me or got into an accident themselves while trying to avoid my car that should have been moving with traffic but was just sitting idle at a green light. I called the Honda dealership and they weren't alarmed by this or even interested in looking at the car. The told me to select the "disable auto stop" when starting the car so the engine won't idle. This is OK as a short-term solution but remembering this every time we start the car isn't a sufficient solution. On instances when I forgot, the car stalls out, and now occurs at least once a week. I'm now resorted to adding a post-it note to remind myself (and anyone else that uses me car) to turn the auto stop off. This isn't practical solution for a defective, default feature that Honda added to their cars. There needs to be a permanent override for this unnecessary feature that compromises safety, not only for the vehicle occupants but for those trying to avoid the stalled vehicle.
I was driving on highway in a stop and go traffic with "auto idle" on. The engine was completely shut down when at a complete stop and the vehicle was stalled in the middle of a highway with all kinds dash flashes. I was unable to press the brake and "start" button to restart car or put car in neutral to move the car. Had local Honda dealer's tech on line for about 10 minutes to help restart the car with no success. Contacted insurance company requested a road service. About 55 minutes later the tow truck come and the tow truck drive successfully start the car. Feel unsafe to drive the car and towed the car to local Honda dealer and they could not find any error code in system and failed to repeat the situation.
THE CAR SHUT OFF WHEN TRYING TO RECOVER FROM IDLE STOP MODE. ALL LIGHTS TURNED OFF. THE CAR BECOMES INVISIBLE WHEN DARK.
Transmission temperature too hot Seems like every 8k miles I have this pop up. Only been serviced at Honda.
IN MAY 2018 I PURCHASED A NEW 2018 HONDA PILOT. UNFORTUNATELY DURING THIS FIRST WINTER I HAVE FOUND OUT THAT THIS VEHICLE DOES NOT HAVE A FUNCTIONING HEATER. AS SOON AS THE WEATHER TURNED COLD I NOTICED THAT THIS NEW HONDA PILOT DID NOT HAVE SUFFICIENT HEAT. WHILE DRIVING AT HIGHWAY SPEEDS THE HEATER FUNCTIONS OK BUT DURING CITY DRIVING, OR ESPECIALLY AT IDLE, THE TEMPERATURE FALLS WELL BELOW ANY ACCEPTABLE MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS. BELOW IS A CHART SHOWING A COMPARISON BETWEEN A FUNCTIONING HEATER IN A 2014 CRV VERSUS THIS NEW 2018 HONDA PILOT. PLEASE NOTE THE DIFFERENCES IN OUTSIDE AIR TEMPERATURES: THE CRV MEASUREMENTS WERE TAKEN AT AN OUTSIDE AIR TEMP OF -8 WHILE THE PILOT DATA WAS RECORDED WITH AN OUTSIDE AIR TEMP OF + 8. THE VENT TEMPERATURE VARIES CONSIDERABLY BASED ON THE ENGINE RPM. WHILE ACCELERATING THE TEMPERATURE IS WARM / HOT BUT WHILE DRIVING IN TRAFFIC OR STOPPED THE TEMPERATURE CAN DROP 80 DEGREES OR MORE IN 1-2 MINUTES. BASED ON THIS DATA, I MADE TWO SEPARATE APPOINTMENTS TO HAVE THE PILOT SERVICED UNDER WARRANTY AT MY LOCAL HONDA DEALER. THE WEATHER ON THE 2ND VISIT WAS COLD (-17 DEGREES F). THEY 'VERIFIED THE COMPLAINT' AND FOUND THAT THE VENT TEMPERATURE FROM A FULLY WARMED UP ENGINE WAS 28 DEGREES (YES, BELOW FREEZING!). THEY SAID THEY HAVE ANOTHER PILOT IN THEIR SHOP THAT DOES THE SAME THING THEREFORE THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH MINE AND CONSIDERED MINE AS FUNCTIONING 'NORMAL'. THEY DID NOT DO ANY DIAGNOSTIC WORK AND REFUSED TO DO ANY WORK, EVEN SIMPLE WORK SUCH AS TRYING TO FLUSH THE HEATER CORE OR REMOVE ANY AIR FROM THE SYSTEM. THEY STATED THAT HONDA PUT IN AN UNDERSIZED HEATER CORE IN THE PILOT AND THEREFORE THEY WERE NOT GOING TO WASTE THEIR TIME TRYING TO FIX. SINCE I LIVE IN CHICAGO THERE ARE 5 MONTHS OF COLD WEATHER SO I DO NOT CONSIDER A LACK OF HEAT A MINOR INCONVENIENCE NOR AN ACCEPTABLE TO LIVE WITH.
SIDE DOOR GLASS SPONTANEOUSLY EXPLODING. WE WERE IN MOTION 65 MPH ON THE HIGHWAY. NO OTHER CARS AROUND US OR AROUND ANY HOUSES. WINDOW WENT BOOM AND JUST EXPLODED.
VEHICLE AUTO LOCKED WITH KEYS IN CAR AND COULD NOT UNLOCK. FORTUNATELY, CAR WAS IN MY GARAGE AND DID NOT CREATE A SAFETY ISSUE. HOWEVER, HAD THIS OCCURRED IN THE SUMMER WITH A SMALL CHILD OR PET INSIDE, IT COULD HAVE BEEN AN EXTREME SAFETY HAZARD, POSSIBLY LEADING TO FATAL CONSEQUENCES. THIS VEHICLE IS NEVER SUPPOSED TO LOCK WITH KEYS IN THE CAR.
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Quick Summary
The 2018 Honda Pilot has 33 UNKNOWN OR OTHER complaints on file. Review the timeline above for detailed owner experiences.