2019 Honda Pilot ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE

The Auto Idle Stop feature on my 2019 Honda Pilot is a critical safety defect. The engine repeatedly fails to restart automatically after the Idle Stop engages at a complete stop, resulting in the vehicle stalling in traffic. This is a major crash risk, not a minor inconvenience. I have experienced this dangerous failure multiple times while waiting to make a left turn in busy intersections. When I release the brake to proceed, the engine remains stalled, leaving my vehicle immobilized directly in the path of oncoming traffic and creating a high risk of a side-impact or rear-end collision. On one occasion, the engine stalled as I was attempting to clear a red light, leaving the Pilot stationary and exposed. I manually disable this feature every time I drive because of the known failure risk, and the stall only occurs when I occasionally forget this essential step. Replacing the battery, as recommended by the dealership, did not resolve the high rate of failure. Honda's existing fixes are inadequate, and this defect puts vehicle occupants and other drivers at serious risk of injury or death.

Stopped at an intersection at approximately 2:40pm on August 28, 2025. The auto -stop/start stopped the engine and it would not restart.

My 2019 Hoda Pilot Touring often suddenly changed to N (Neutral), not moving when I release the brake pedal on the freeway when traffic is slow (stop and go) or when at the stop at the intersession. I had to hit (shift) to D (Drive) or sometimes it was getting worse, I had to hit Restart button to resume driving. Many times, it was a nervous moment when the cars from behind were too close and unexpecting my car was stop. It's hard to convince the car dealer it is a real problem when I brought the car for other recall problems. They only worked on the other recalls and verbally advised just to see if the fixes on the recall would fix the problem I experienced since there is no recall related the problem I described.

Sometimes when I stop in traffic, the idle-stop feature doesn't turn the engine back on. Engine fails to restart on its own from a complete stop at a traffic light or road intersection with the Auto Start/Stop function engaged. This has happened multiple times. I try to remember to disable the idle-stop feature but don't always remember to.

Several times now when stopped at a red light, my vehicle's idle-stop features turns of the car and fails to restart when taking my foot off the brake. The screen behind the steering wheel says to take the vehicle out of neutral and restart but it is still in drive, the battery light also comes on. I have to put it in park (after putting on my hazards because there are cars behind me), turn off the vehicle and restart it. As far as I know there are no recalls for this as of yet.

Operating vehicle on Interstate. After pulling onto off ramp engine shut off completely during application of brakes. This has happened twice in hot (above 90 degrees) conditions. Car restarted after multiple attempts. I was in danger of being rear ended. No warning lights, no I dictations there was a problem. Dealer cannot reproduce the problem, no solution offered.

Auto start stop feature did not restart engine after I stopped in traffic ahead of me on [XXX] in New Hyde Park. This has happened twice to me and a few times to my wife although she did not report them through this site. All this is after I had reported earlier the same incidents and Honda diagnosed it to the battery needing replacement after 2 years. There is a problem with this feature and NHTSA SHOULD ACT. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

Auto Idle function stopped the engine while waiting to make a left hand turn on a busy street. When trying to make the left hand turn the engine was unable to restart resulting in engine warning lights as well as battery warning lights and a complete shutdown of the car and all systems. Warning lights only appeared when I took my foot off the break and pushed the gas pedal to reengage the engine and move. This left the vehicles lifeless and stranded in the middle of the street for a few minutes before I was able to restart the car after a few failed attempts to do so. This left me stranded in the middle of a busy multi lane street in San Diego with cars having to go around me back into traffic to get by. I have had other instances of stopping at lights where the auto idle stop function engaged and my entertainment system / radio / navigation system shut down until i turned off the car and restarted it completely later. The other instances did not have a failure to restart the engine. Honda has told me there is no current recall for the auto idle function and that I had a software update for this last visit prior to this latest incident occurring. They are also stating I can come have a full diagnostics run but it is no longer covered by warranty. I will be taking the car to Honda for a diagnostic but have read about ongoing issues with this feature and feel like i will be stuck with this ongoing issue. Currently manually turning off this function every time in the car now and have had no further issues since manually disabling for all trips.

Auto start-stop failure. After the auto start-stop engages (turns off engine at intersection), sometimes the vehicle does not restart. I have to press the starter on the dashboard to restart and put the transmission back in gear. Other times, when it does restart like it is supposed to, it flashes a "collision alert warning" on the dashboard when it restarts. These incidents started about three months ago and are now happening much more frequently.

On friday March 3, 2023 driving home from work, stop at a light and the car does not turn back on. It took at least 10 minutes to finally turn on for me to at least get home. I know that this is probably once again a battery issue. On April 1st of 2022 we replaced the battery for the 3rd time. The first time it was replaced the car was still under warranty. I usually turn off the auto start because I have had this problem at least 8 times prior to this last problem. This is a dangerous problem that this keeps happening. I shouldn't have to replace a battery every year like this. There should be a way of seeing if the battery has low voltage but I have not seen anything in the car regarding voltage. There should be a recall, Honda says that no other customer has complaints about this. I do see other people on this forum that have this issue. It really is hard to keep taking days off to go to a Honda dealer to get a new battery at 350 each pop. Please let me know what Honda plans on doing for this issue.

When my car is at a stop, the engine idles and will not restart. Sometimes, charging the battery will upstart the engine, while sometimes it will not start at all. We've had the battery checked several times, and the battery checks out fine. The car has an electric shift, and I can't place it into neutral to push the car tot he side. So, we wait in the midst of a heavily trafficked intersection until a tow truck comes. This has happened several times in heavy traffic and once in our driveway. After yesterday's incident, I asked my friend who has the same car to see if she has similar issues. She said YES! After bringing the car to the dealer numerous times, she turns off the idle engine everytime she drives, and she hasn't had the issue. I also researched on Google, and this seems to be a recurring problem for Honda cars with the same engine. This needs to be remedied as a global recall. My car is at the Firestone waiting for tomorrow to come, so I can call Honda dealership to remedy this problem. It won't start, even with a charge. We had the battery checked in July, 2023 when it last happened, and the battery is fine. This defect is a safety hazzard for its owners and passengers.

When stopped at a light, the auto engine idle stop/start did not re-engage after taking my foot off the brake. It took the car a few seconds to turn back on and be able to accelerate. This could happen in the middle of an intersection and cause accidents. This happened a second time today and the LKAS system was alerting that maintenance is needed.

In heavy traffic at the airport, when I was slowing down and stopping the Automatic Start/Stop functionality caused the vehicle to stall. The vehicle then went into neutral on it's own. I put the vehicle in park and it would not start (As if the vehicle had a dead battery or alternator issue). I charged the battery and it still would not start. I have read several other forums on this MY and other Honda Pilot's where the vehicle will stall at intersections/stopping points and refuse to start despite several efforts. I see this as a serious safety issue if in heavy traffic on a free way or working to clear an intersection. I believe this issue needs addressed. Honda also states that it can not turn off the Auto Start/Stop feature.

Our 2019 Honda Pilot has issues when the start-stop is active. When we come to a stop at a traffic light, gate, etc. it often will not restart on brake release. This creates serious concern in heavy traffic and we have been close to being rear-ended at stop lights. To restart the car we often have issues if it stalls during this brake press and release. It seems to electronically show in park, but not able to restart since it is not in park. We also see the issue when brake is pressed and tries to restart based on time. There are various lights on when this occurs. If we don’t activate the start-stop we don’t see the issue. If we manually turn the start-stop we don’t see the issue. However we need remember to turn this off manually defeating the fuel savings. I believe we can replicate this.

The automatic start/stop system turns the car off at red lights, as it it supposed to. However, several times the car will not start when I push the gas pedal but instead the whole car turns off. It takes opening and closing the door while pushing the park button and the engine start button to turn the car back on. This usually occurs at red lights which is very dangerous.

In AUg 2021 when the auto stop engaged the car would fail to turn on. Errors would come on on the dash and while car would die at stoplight. Took to dealer and they could not replicate so nothing was done. This happened randomly and we would need to put in park, wait a while and turn back on. Then in Oct 2021 the battery died and they replaced under warranty. There was no issues until Nov. 2022. The same started happening. Again dealer could not replicate and nothing was done. They did note the 1 year old advanced battery was low and charge and have charged it.

My 2019 Pilot continues to randomly turn off. This happens at stop lights mostly, but did happen while driving as well. Latest was at a gas station where it would not restart. Had it to a mechanic and auto zone and both said that nothing is wrong with the car.

The contact owns a 2019 Honda Pilot. The contact stated that after coming to a red light and stopping the vehicle, the fuel-saving feature malfunctioned and the vehicle would not immediately restart when releasing the brake pedal. Additionally, while driving at various speeds, the vehicle failed to properly accelerate. Occasionally, the vehicle would not start after being turned off. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer who replaced the battery but the failure persisted. The manufacturer was also notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 70,000.

Vehicle is equipped with auto engine shutoff when vehicle stops. It started failing and has caused the car to stall at red light. Purchased vehicle 4 months ago

When the car is stopped it will sometimes turn off. It has happened at least twice in the last week - once in a drive through and once at a stop sign. The cat comes to a stop normally but when it is time to accelerate the engine turns off & the electrical starts acting weird. I have to power the car off and on a couple of times before I can get it going again. I took the car into Honda today and they could not find any problems with the car. I am scared that this will happen on the freeway during traffic and someone will come crashing into me.

The car stopped at a stoplight and the engine shut off from the normal start/stop function. When I tried to drive, the engine did not restart and the car was dead in the intersection. I was stranded for 2 hours due to unavailability of tow truck. It eventually was jumped, charged overnight, then was dead again the next day.

The problem, I believe, it with the auto start/stop feature of the car. At least 10 times (starting in mid 2021), while stopped at a traffic stop, the auto stop feature enables causing the engine to stop when the brake pedal is pressed down. Upon taking my foot off the brake pedal, the car stalls and does not start up right away. This always seems to happen at a busy intersection, and I have to put on my hazards until I can get the car to start up again which takes up to 2 minutes. This happens in both hot and cold weather. The danger here is that I can be hit by another car expecting me to move and also causes me to block traffic in dangerously busy areas. The problem cannot be reproduced at the dealership as per the dealership. There are never any symptoms prior to the car auto start/stop feature failing. This is a safety issue that can literally cause serious injury

On my drive home this afternoon the auto idle stop feature on my 2019 Pilot touring began to hesitate to restart after releasing my foot from the brake. The result was an orange warning light telling me that there is a problem with the collision mitigation system and a shudder before the engine would resume running. I had to turn off the auto-start feature to avoid stalling in rush hour traffic.

Car fails to start after a short drive and parked and always requires a jump start. Car also fails to restart after a stop/start at a complete stop! Has happened multiple times in busy intersections where you’re a sitting target for moving traffic. Always requires a jump start. Have checked battery many times and the battery checks out fine. Maybe electrical or charging system issue. Dealer can’t reproduce the problem as it happens sporadically. Can’t figure out problem and a hazard to drive with kids in car.

this is my second complaint as the auto start stop has failed again. This morning on the way to work, the auto start/stop engaged at an intersection. When the light turned green and i tried to go, the car wouldn't turn over. Stranded yet again at another intersection. Have to go through the whole process of putting the car in park, restarting the engine manually, then putting back into drive. The process isnt as quick as you'd think. There is a delay in all of this. Honda refuses to acknowledge the issue and has left me with an extremely unsafe vehicle.