2020 HONDA PILOT Complaints

When I drive the 2020 Honda Pilot it has started to make a cracking noise when I turn or go over any bumps in the road. It cuts off navigation and phone conversations from my infotainment system. The cracking noise happens if the system is on or off. It makes it difficult to even carry on a conversation with someone in the car. Not what I expected when I paid over $40k.

While driving down the highway, we heard a loud, sudden pop and then wind. The sunroof shattered and the cover was closed so all glass ended up on the cover. There were no overpasses above us or vehicles in front of us that could have caused anything to fall on the sunroof. There was nothing other than glass found on the cover and no damage to the top of the vehicle (as if something would have hit the glass and bounced off). The driver was startled and, if the cover had not been closed, the glass would have ended up in the face of our backseat passenger. Prior to this, I had no problems with the sunroof and there had been no prior damage to it. When I took the Pilot in for repair at the Honda service center, I was told that they have heard of a few cases like this where the sunroof spontaneously imploded, but that it was not a safety recall or under warranty. I have photos of the shattered sunroof.

When stopped at a red light, the car went into idle stop mode. When I released the brake, the car did not restart. The electrical flashed. An error message was displayed to put the car in park, press the brake and engine restart button. That did not resolve the problem. The car would not start. We could not shift it from park to move it. I was in the traffic lane on the down side of an overpass with limited visibility behind me. I was concerned about getting rear ended. The car had to be towed and the battery replaced. The original Honda dealership performs all routine maintenance with the most recent service in June 2022. There has been no prior indication that the battery was weak or needed to be replaced.

I have owned the 2020 Honda Pilot Touring since Jan.2021. Up till now, theses similar situations have happened 4-5 times. It always happens when I am gradually slowing down to a complete stop at crossroads. My 2020 Honda Pilot has shut off a few times while stopping at a red light. Each time has been after coming to a complete stop at a red light and sitting there for a couple minutes. Suddenly there is a beep sound and the engine shuts down. Only the entertainment system is left on. The gear changes to N by itself and I am unable to change it to any other gear. With my foot on the brake, trying to change the gear and trying turn off the car for about 3 minute in the middle of traffic with my kids in the car, eventually I was able to shut off the engine completely off. I immediately try restart the car to avoid a car accident. It put itself in N (neural) and the dashboard screen said “Put it in P (Park) and hit bottom to restart car.” The car wouldn’t let me push anything. The power button did nothing and even if you pushed the P for park it stayed in N. The battery light immediately came on when this happened also. And went away as soon as it worked again. I scheduled an appointment after the third time the this happen leaving the car for them to run tests. They ran the tests and when I returned to pick it up, the technician said they tested the battery, wiring, and engine and that everything was good. Nothing was provided to me but they did show me the report as they talked about the results I am sure I can obtain if requested. They almost changed me for the testing but waived the fee which I was thankful. I am concerned and at times scared for the safety of my kids and I. I really hope Honda finds a fix for this and recalls for whatever the issues are as quickly as possible. I like the car but it really is making me want to get a new car and never purchase from Honda again.

Stop/start system shutdown the engine and failed to restart while at stop light. It occurred twice on 9/8/2022 and twice on 9/9/2022.

I understand there may be an investigation of Honda's stop-start system, the system which is meant to improve fuel economy by shutting the engine off when the vehicle comes to a stop. I experienced this one (1) time while stopping at a traffic light, date unknown. The engine went off, as it was supposed to, but when I took my foot off the brake and pressed on the accelerator nothing happened, the engine had not restarted. I attempted to restart the car by pressing on the start button but since I was in Drive it wouldn't start. I think I tried to shift the transmission into Park (it's been several months since the incident) but I'm not sure if it shifted or not. I turned the car off by pressing the start button, waited briefly and then pressed the start button again to start, which it did. I shifted into drive and pulled away. That was a long time, probably not as long as it seemed, sitting at the light as others were going around me or blowing their horn at me. I have not had any further incidents since that time but wanted to register this one with you.

I can't remember if I reported this already but here goes. My daughter was driving my 2020 Honda Pilot with 41,400 miles on it. She had baby in the back and was in slow traffic in Millsboro Delaware. She thought she smelled something burning. Then she got out of the vehicle, took the baby out and called 911. Fire started coming out of the engine compartment and the vehicle totally burned up.

The contact owns a 2020 Honda Pilot. The contact stated that while driving approximately at 65 mph the brother who was in a second vehicle ahead could see flames present in the front grill of the vehicle. White smoke began to enter the cabin of the vehicle and the contact pulled over, parked and exited the vehicle. Smoke and flames were present coming from under the hood of the vehicle. The fire department was called to the scene and extinguished the flames. No injuries were reported. The vehicle was towed away. A fire and police report was taken at the scene. The cause of the failure was not determined. The manufacturer and local dealer were not yet notified of the incident. The failure mileage was 100,000.

Issues with infotainment system, a continuous crackling sound, sounds like electric spark. This occurs for several days and now the system is not working and this affects the operation of backup camera.

My 2020 Honda Pilot (Touring edition) has begun having a rough restart after stopping and the Auto Engine Idle function has turned the engine off. Once it seemed to turn the vehicle off and the radio turned off and back on quickly. I've read about the investigation into Pilots with this issue and wanted to add my car to those that are affected. I called the dealership where I bought the car and explained the issue to a service technician and he indicated that he'd never heard of the issue. Since it just started having the issue in the last couple of weeks and so far it happens intermittently, I haven't taken it into the service department yet.