2018 HONDA PILOT Complaints

The contact owns a 2018 Honda Pilot. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle hesitated to accelerate and then lunged forward. The contact sustained whiplash from the vehicle lunging forward abruptly. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, but the independent mechanic could not duplicate the failure. The dealer was made aware of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and referred the contact to file a complaint with NHTSA. The failure mileage was approximately 43,000.

Hello, below are answers to suggested questions to help describe what happened. -What component or system failed or malfunctioned, and is it available for inspection upon request? Unknown but a constant "chirping" sound is heard from the car engine area when car engine is on or "running similar to descriptions at link https://www.piloteers.org/threads/2018-honda-pilot-chirping-noise-audio-file.160027/ -How was your safety or the safety of others put at risk? Unknown. -Has the problem been reproduced or confirmed by a dealer or independent service center? Negative -Has the vehicle or component been inspected by the manufacturer, police, insurance representatives or others? Few weeks or month after purchase in Sept 2018, dealer serviced the car and the sound disappeared but reappeared recently (approximately 3 years later). -Were there any warning lamps, messages or other symptoms of the problem prior to the failure, and when did they first appear? No symptoms. First appearance mentioned in above answer.

I was driving my kids to school when I stopped at the school intersection. I go to press on the accelerator as I normally would and it would not drive, so I pressed on it a little harder as I was turning left since there were cars approaching. My vehicle suddenly jolted, making myself and the kids shift/jump from the force. I then proceeded driving down the road and let go of the accelerator, and my SUV suddenly started to feel like it was slowing itself down instantaneously. It felt like it was trying to make the vehicle's speed go down to 0. I then pressed on the accelerator again to prevent it from happening, but it continued to do so whenever I let go. I had to stop at the school's parking lot and turn off the SUV completely. When I turned it on again and began to drive, it was functioning normally. Since then, it has happened about 3 or 4 times, 1 of which happened on the expressway, which was way scarier. I had to get out of the expressway as it was dangerous. Just yesterday, I had a separate issue with the SUV that may seem related in retrospect. My SUV did not want to turn on. I experienced all of the dashboard lights flickering, and being unable to start it. It was not the battery because at some times, the radio would turn on, the lights, and the windows/locks would function normally. I was unable to get the vehicle to go to neutral, or anything then on. When the lights were not flickering, it presented me with the smart entry system light problem. Soon after, all the lights on my dashboard turned on and stated there were air bag problem, brake problem, abs problem, and etc... My vehicle is currently being looked at.

My transmission is having problems. During acceleration the car will jolt forward, also when using the brakes. The dealer did recognize the problem but said it is not covered by warranty and that transmission needed to be flushed.. which was going to cost $500. He said had it been flushed before they may cover it, yet Honda doesn’t recommend a flush before 45000 per my owners manual. Very dangerous.. could cause an accident with Speed going up and down at a moments notice without you doing it

The Auto Engine Idle feature does not work properly. When the car is at a light, the engine idle is activated and the car is put into a slumber mode, when the brake is depressed. On occasion, when it is time to go, the car then turns off when the gas is depressed. This is extremely dangerous as then you are stuck at an active intersection and need to turn the car back on. I've discovered a wealth of other owners with this issue here. My issue is consistent with their reports. https://www.carproblemzoo.com/honda/pilot/car-stall-problems.php In my research, the Honda dealers are not doing anything to fix it, and there has been no thoughtful feedback from the company. I will be taking this to our dealer as well, but am not hopeful given that it appears to be a fundamental design / software issue, not repairable in the fields. I literally have found no evidence that it is fixable without maybe a software upgrade.

around 30k miles the keyless system degrades. Car won't start, says key is not present. afraid of getting stranded somewhere. forum shows MANY people having this issue, I believe a recall for this is needed. Problem seems to just get worse and worse over time. happens with both key fobs, replaced batteries no difference. https://www.piloteers.org/threads/keyless-start-system-problem-error.142385/

I have been experiencing issues with the auto engine idle stop feature. The electrical system (radio & blue tooth) cut off and on when the auto engine idle stop tries to start again. There have even been several instances of the car cutting off completely and having to be restarted. This is very unsafe. One of the instances of the car cutting off occurred in traffic as we stopped and then started moving again. There were several people in the car at the time. The dealer has not been able to recreate the issue.

The driver side sun visor fails to swing down. Dangerous to drive in bright sun Replace commercially and mechanic said this is a common Pilot failure Why is this not a recall?

The High beams are giving a warning when driving during the day and at night. “High support system problem “. I have taken it to the dealership and they can’t find the issue and I have reported twice and they still can’t figure it out. The high beams come on and off during driving which is a safety issue for both drivers, this issue continues to occur since July 2021 and is reoccurring.

"SUA, Sudden Unwanted Acceleration". I was in the process of parking on the 6th floor of a parking ramp in Rochester MN, I had selected my parking slot and drove very slowly half way into my parking slot. As i was stationary about 3 meters from the front wall and getting ready to reverse for a bit in order to better align in between the white lines in my slot and before i shifted gears to reverse and while my foot was still on the brake, the vehicle experience a sudden full-speed acceleration crashing the vehicle against the wall with full force, the dashboard showed a message that the airbag malfunctioned and could not deploy. Had not there been a wall but just rails in front of my parking slot, i am afraid the vehicle would have flown from the sixth floor into the ground. The insurance company deemed the vehicle a total loss. The vehicle is still under my name but in possession of GEICO, available for inspection, but because it was a total loss i was not able to bring it to the Honda dealership where i bought it. There were no warning signs that this would happen.