2020 HONDA PILOT Complaints

Auto Engine Idle engaged and the vehicle died and would not restart. The vehicle has died a couple of times in the past in similar circumstances but always restarted until the most recent incident. This left us stranded in the middle of the road at an intersection with no way to put the vehicle in neutral and push it to the side of the road which is another unrelated safety complaint. The car cannot be taken out of park when not running. The component has not been inspected as of the time of this complaint but is being scheduled for review by the service shop. There were no warnings or messages prior to the incidents occurring.

Automatic Emergency Braking engaged while I was driving on the highway with no cars and no warning brake light on dash. There were no cars in front me ( this is the second time). Periodically the Braking light flashes on the dash if I’m driving on a two way road in the curve part of the road.

The infotainment screen in the vehicle which includes the backup camera display, navigation, radio, Bluetooth and other important vehicle functions and settings, shuts down and reboots in a continuous loop and sometimes turns off (blank screen) completely. This results in a backup camera function that is no longer useable as the screen does not/cannot display the camera image behind the vehicle. This is an SUV with a large rear blind spot that cannot be viewed simply by turning your head especially if there are short/small objects below the view of the rear glass. The other functions that rely on the screen also do not work and this constant rebooting/flashing is very distracting to the driver. There are also strange noises emanating from the sound system regardless of whether the system is on or off. This appears to be a widespread problem with this vehicle that still does not have a permanent solution. Several repair attempts by the OEM have not fixed this issue.

When the 2020 Honda Pilot sits for over 3-6 days, the battery goes dead. I have brought it to the Honda Dealership and they have checked out the battery and alternator and say it's working properly. I have jumped the Honda Pilot 6 times because of a dead battery and had the battery replaced once. Never had a vehicle ever do this before. Very dangerous for anyone parking and flying from an airport. Unbelievable!!!!!! This has been going on since we purchased NEW!

I passed a walker on my side of the road by slowly moving over the center line to the other lane to give the pedestrian a wide birth. The lane departure migration system was turned on. I did not use a turn signal. There was not a car behind me or approaching me in the opposite lane. The car started to warn me I was going out of my lane by shaking the wheel and flashing a brake/lane departure warning at me. I ignored it since I didn’t want to hit the pedestrian and continued to move into the other lane. Then the car took over the wheel, braked and brought me almost to a complete stop suddenly. If a car had been following behind me, I would have been rear ended. I no longer trust the lane departure warning system. If I forgot to use a turn signal on the highway or suddenly had to leave my lane on the highway to avoid a car or object, this system could cause a serious accident. Thank you!

Over the last few years, after a long highway drive of approx. 20 miles when I stop and sit and idle, a strong gasoline smell is entering the vehicle via the HVAC Heating system. Also, after the same longer drives, when I return home, turn off and park the suv in my garage, shortly after my garage smells of gasoline as well from the Front Passenger side of the suv nearest the hood cowl. It does not happen 100% of the time but this winter it has occurred more frequently (a few times a week) during our Mon-Fri commutes.

The automatic collision avoidance system continually gives false warnings, shaking the steering wheel and beeping, while flashing a brake warning. This occurs even if there is no other traffic on the road, which could cause an accident by startling the driver when it unexpectedly activates. The automatic brakes are also overly aggressive, which could cause a rear end collision.

The automatic emergency braking system will sometimes just start flashing as if there is an object in front of me. There are no objects in front of me and it would flash. There has been 2 occasions where the vehicle would slam on the brakes and then release even though no objects are on the road. This has happened at least 10 times where the warning would flash. Also, the adaptive cruise control would slam on the brakes even though we are following at a safe distance. Of all the times I have used the ACC, the car would slam on the brakes 80% of the time.

The infotainment system makes a popping/crackling sound. The dash display and infotainment display flickers on and off at times. This condition makes impedes the use of the the user controls and feedback systems. The vehicle went in for service on October 15, 2021 to have a technical service bulletin update implemented. The vehicle started exhibiting the issue again on February 9, 2022 in a much more extreme and severe way. It went back for service on February 15, 2022 to have the original work "inspected". The dealer said everything was fine and did nothing. Honda as implemented a couple of Technical Service Bulletins, but no permanent fix has been implemented. The dealer mentioned that they apply this TSB to approximately 2 Pilots per day.

My Honda often displays the brakes warning and on rear occasion apply brake in response to oncoming traffic on two-lane roads. I already went with onboard camera recalibration at one of the safe glass location but this problem persist on narrow two-lane roads.