Sitting in a parking lot and the vsa light came on. Looked it up and saw the recall on the vsa so intended to get it checked out. A couple days later I'm tooling along at freeway speed and for a brief second it felt like someone slammed on the brakes and released, and the vsa light came on. Took it to the dealership and the codes they found were for some sort of a power drop and blamed it on a possible power outage or drop at some point. Maybe alternator, battery or something, but they didn't find anything wrong with any of those, but it cost me $125.00 to be told they don't know. The vsa recall was completed in 2012 for the wiring harness. Today (a week later) I'm going about 25 on a surface street and the exact same thing happened, so I took it to the dealership without turning off the engine and possibly clearing any codes. What they came back with was a faulty yaw sensor code, but they want to keep it for a couple days to do further research. I'm told it is connected to the main computer and if it is the yaw sensor then the main computer has to be replaced, at a cost of $1650.00 (they will credit toward the repair the $125.00 I paid last week for the non-answer). In reading online, I'm not the only person who has had this issue. Also reading online a quick review seems to lead me to believe that the sensor can be replaced by itself, separate from the main computer, at a much lower cost.
2005 Honda Pilot acceleration complaints
Page 2 of 3: complaints 11 to 40 of 46, newest first, as owners wrote them.
The vsa and/or ABS will unexpectedly apply the brakes while driving. It is a short and quick application of the brakes, hard enough to make the vehicle swerve. It then seems to release and you can continue driving. Once this occurs both the vsa and ABS lights on the dash turn on showing they are disabled. The brakes continue to be operational. Upon turning off the ignition the lights reset and the vsa/ABS seem to be operational. During cold temperatures I will sometimes find the vsa/ABS lights turn on and stay on during start up but again only during cold temperatures. After driving a short time (10-15 minutes or miles) I will turn the ignition off, wait 1-2 minutes, turn the ignition on and the vsa/ABS lights go through the normal start up test and turn off and expected. This vehicle has not been in any major accidents that would affect the braking systems.
Vehicle stalled and will not accelerate, vtm,vsa and engine lights on. Problem started in 2008 before honda issued a recall. Problem ongoing as of present. Seems like temporary fixes each time, honda can't seem to find a permanent fix. Keeps getting the run around. Very frustrating.
On october 4, 2014 while my son was driving the accelerator became stuck luckily he was driving and we were traveling 30 miles per hour. The car was shifted to neutral and stopped. Yesterday, after cutting the car off and removing the key the engine was sill running. The key was reinserted and removed. Today on 10/102014 once again, I pulled in the garage tried to turn off the car and remove the key but the engine was still running with the key removed. I reinserted the key as I did the day before, as I removed the key the car accelerated became stuck again, fortunately the car was in park. I did not step on the gas or accelerate since I was merely reinserting and removing the key. In any event the car pedal was stuck. I am concerned and hope this does not happen again so I am reporting for my safety.
On 06/15/2014, around 6:00pm, while approaching a curve at approx 30 MPH lightly applied brakes. Brakes locked up and vsa light came on. Had the car checked by dealership and told me the problem is the sensor of vsa, it happens mor and more often for last couple of months.
While driving around a bend towards a red light, without my foot on the pedal my car made a weird shutter or brake pulsing, I thought I had gone over some ripple strips. When the light changed, I proceeded to make a right turn in a busy intersection, when going almost 30 & out of the turn, my pilot came to an unassisted abrupt stop! Im so lucky the person behind me didn't rear end me! It sounded like the transmission was grinding & the tires were locked. I waited a few seconds let go of brakes & the vehicle began to move but in 5 ft it did it again. Towed to dealer who cant seem to find or recreate the problem. Multiple brake, ABS, vsc & electrical alarms were reported by dealer but still no solution. This car is unsafe to drive and by multiple reports this is a widespread problem.
As I was approaching a left turn lane I applied the brakes gently and the left front brake momentarily grabbed causing the vehicle to swerve into the oncoming traffic and the vsa lights activated. This has occurred 9 times in the last 300 miles. I took the vehicle to the dealer immediately and they told me they could not duplicate the problem and they found no problems with the car. Never had a problem until the "recalled" vsa module was replaced less than 6000 miles ago. The dealer tells me that the vsa module is not under warranty.
I had let the car warm up for about 20minutes before I left. About 8:30am saturday dec. 14th 2013 my 2005 honda pilot started to accelerate on its own at a very high rate of speed. I tried to push on the brakes but it would not stop. I started praying to jesus and saying out loud god please! God please! God please! I know this sounds a little dramatic but it was very scary! I got off on the side of the road and by the grace of god something gave way. Either the accelerator stopped accelerating or the brakes finally worked but I was able to get the car to stop. From one worried car owner to another who may have had this problem or that might have this problem. I now know that I could put it in neutral and maybe turn the key off to also to get it to stop.
After the recall of vsa it happens that the SUV experiencing the symptom of excessive braking and vsa light comes out... Before the recall we haven't experiencing this vsa problem.. I don't know in some reason why it comes out after the recall had been made..first occurrence I bring it to the dealer and advise that they been check , fixed and inform it won't come out any more .. After two weeks it happened again and my SUV will bring again to the dealer for the second time... I feel they make me feel worse this recall that been made ... Is there any advice ????
The vehicle would apply additional brake force on the driver's side front wheel while the driver use the brake to slow the vehicle on a downhill road. The extra brake force only last 1 second or 2 but it caused the vehicle steer to the left and the vsa come on. In several occasions, the vehicle crossed the lane to the oncoming traffic. The vsa light will come on until I turn off the ignition. The honda dealer initially suggest it was related to the vsa recall but after performing the recall work 4 times, the issue still exist. They finally determined the yaw sensor was causing the problem and replace it.
While braking for approaching a stop light, the vehicle suddenly accelerated. The engine RPM went way up (roaring). With my right foot heavily on the brake, I shifted to neutral for sometime and the engine RPM went back to normal. Being the first vehicle at the stop light, no accident occurred. The vehicle was taken to a honda dealer for testing. They stated that they could not duplicate the problem (of course, how can you duplicate a problem which only occurs intermittently).
I had the manufacturer's safety recall (recall: 13-026 vsa system unexpectedly activates) work done recently. Approximately a week after I had this service done, I experienced sudden acceleration when I made hard left turn. Sudden acceleration persisted for about 3 to 4 seconds. I could not control the vehicle during that time and eventually it subsideed. I am supsecting this has something to with the safety recall fix that was done. I had slightly overshot the left I had to make and made a hard left turn then I realized that vehicle went into a sudden acceleration. I am certain that I did not have my foot on the accelerator.
I've just brought my 2005 honda pilot in to the honda dealer to have the recall fixed but now it seems like the random breaking with the vsa on is more frequent after the fixed. The recall for the honda pilot 2005 with the vsa did not fix my vsa trouble. The trouble I getting is still the same after the fixed. "if the control unit was damaged, the vsa system may apply a small amount of breaking force even if the driver has not pressed the brake pedal."
I was driving my 2005 honda pilot probably around 40mph, a noise, I turned on the closest road to get out of traffic and was heading up hill, the RPM dial moved erratically, the vehicle did not want to go, there were no engine lights on, the temperature gauge was normal. The vehicle shut off. I had no steering control, because I was on a hill I had to use the emergency brake to stabilize the vehicle. The vehicle had died. I turned the ignition to the off position and then tried to restart since we were on a 2 land road with no guard rail and a steep drop off beside the passenger side. When I tried to turn it on, a light came on the alt temp. I was unable to get the vehicle down and had to wait for assistance. We lifted the hood and it was not hot coming from inside but there was a fluid leaking. My vehicle was towed to the honda dealership. I was told that this has happened to several other honda pilots. We could have been killed if we were on the highway when this vehicle died with no warning or lights. I was told that they think something when with the radiator which leaked fluid into the transmission. They don't know yet if the engine is dead until the work on the rest of the vehicle. The customer service person from honda, [xxx], is not willing to assure me that if my vehicle is repaired it wont happen again and that we will be safe. My family feels that this is a faulty design that cause the vehicle to have a catastrophic break down. We have own honda's for over 25 years and have never had a complaint. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6).
When accelerating the vehicle begins to shudder, jerk and lose power while accelerating from 0-40mph. Steering wheel begins to shake, acceleration seems to stall. At higher speeds on freeway there is some shuddering but not as noticeable. Braking or reducing speed does not immediately stop the shuddering. Its almost predictable at low speeds. Loss of power during acceleration feels as if the vehicle could stall especially when turning left with on coming traffic approaching.
Long story but I believe it is all related. Based on my understanding the anti-lock brake system and vsa are all part of the same system in a 2005 honda pilot. We were having a "noise" that was believed to be caused by a random anti-lock brake system self check. This would happen at any speed and appeared to be activated by any small bump in the road. This was more of a nuisance than anything but we thought we would have the dealership look into it. More on this later. In addition we also had the vehicle stability assist (vsa) engage once and the results were a little scary or violent at best. The problem occurred when traveling at approximately 70 MPH under windy conditions. The vsa system engaged, the brakes were heavily applied, and the vehicle was put into a control mode that pulled the vehicle left and right. We had very limited control of the vehicle when all of this was happening. We were able to pull the vehicle over without incident and deactivate the vsa to finish our trip. What our dealership found was a cracked electrical connector on the main engine wiring harness where it connects to the anti-lock brake and vsa module. The connector is located under the engine shroud in an area that isn't accessible during normal or routine maintenance and we have never had any service done on anything in this area. Our guess is that it was cracked during the original installation or it fatigued over time. The honda technician thought the root cause of the problem was moisture entering the control module via the damaged connector. This in turn caused damage to the printed circuit board that controls the braking and vsa system. We stopped investigating the repair at this point because of cost. It was over $2000.00 to get the harness and control module replaced. I wanted to share this because of all the recent news on 2005 pilots.
The vsa light and warning light come on within a minute of the first movement of the vehicle. When the light comes on there is a loud clunk noise and the front brake and steering locks for a fraction of a second. It has happened more than once on the highway nearly causing me to be hit from behind.
First incident, my wife was driving approximately 45 MPH when 2005 honda pilot began to vibrate and make a "groaning" noise or a noise almost like when you drive on a gravel road. 2005 honda pilot was also (while vibrating and making noise) abruptly slowing down/ stopping without depressing the brake pedal. It would also do this while applying the accelerator. Second incident was later that same day. I picked the 2005 honda pilot up from my wife as she was now to afraid to drive it. After about 10 mins of driving, I was doing about 55 MPH and the 2005 honda pilot made the same noise and vibration as described above and also slowed down abruptly as if I hit the brakes(which I didn't). About another half mile was a traffic light as I began to slow down for light I applied the brakes gently and as I applied the brakes the brake pedal left my foot and the 2005 honda pilot came to an abrupt stop. This happened two more times so I pulled into a parking lot because I did not feel safe driving at that point. When I stopped in the parking lot I noticed my vsa indicator light was on. It would not turn off until I turned the 2005 honda pilot off. Same day I took my 2005 honda pilot to the local honda dealership and they have not been able to reproduce the symptom.
I have a 2005 honda pilot sometime shuddering between 30-40 MPH. To make the shudder stop, I press or release the accelerator briefly. After checking on line about this problems with over 300 complaints. They all state that the torque converter cause the vibration. Honda still not recall. Couple of times someone almost rear end me. Please look into this problem.
Driving on the highway at approximately 45 MPH, my honda pilot abruptly pulled to the left. It felt like the anti lock brakes actuated. The vsa and triangle light illuminated. The pilot was pulled off the highway where it stopped. The ignition was turned off and on an the condition cleared.
When I am driving my honda pilot, as it is shifting between 2nd and 3rd gear, the entire car starts to shudder and seems to be fighting a stall.
Beginning 12/06 the car would slam it's brakes on, independently, when making a left turn. It happened a couple times and the dealer could find nothing. After having it happen yet again, and after detailing how this problem nearly took my life, honda agreed to take the car and the service rep. Would drive it. I was fortunate and it happened to him very quickly. Under warranty, 1/25/07, a ABS/tcs/vsa modulator was replaced. Now five years later the car has decided that if it can't independently slam it's breaks on, well, it will just independently speed up instead. Again, when making left hand turns. Guess what, now we are out of warranty and honda is out of caring. I would be very curious to know how many people honda has hurt or killed, just no one figured out why in the world the driver sped up or suddenly slammed on the brakes.
Vsa warning light and ! Light come on at the same time when vehicle is in motion. Lights come on after approximately 5 minutes and stay on until the vehicle is turned off and restarted. This problem began about one month ago and happens almost every day. The warning lights seem sensitive to the cold as well. The on board diagnostic computer has no registered any malfunction codes. Fortunately have not yet experienced the intense braking of other owners but there seems to be a significant problem with the vsa system on 2005 honda pilots.
We recently purchased this car used from anderson honda of palo alto. On several occasions the vsa has engaged for no apparent reason at speeds ranging from 10-35 MPH. The vsa engaged at slow speeds when turning and at the faster speeds on the straight-a-way. When the vsa engages the vsa light and warning light turn on. The lights do go off after the car has been turned off and at rest for a few minutes. Most often when the vsa engages the car shudders slightly, both the brake and the gas pedal shudder and vibrate. The car feels like it is slowing momentarily. In the most recent episode on nov. 27. The car was traveling 35 MPH down hill and the steering pulled slightly to the left.
I saw on the news that the federal safety agency was investigating a brake issue on the honda pilot 2005. I experienced a similar issue but thought it was a glitch as it only happened one day (although it happened twice that day). I've finally gotten around to filing an official report both with honda and the federal safety agency to hopefully aid in the investigation. The braking issue happened on two separate occasions on the same day, roughly 2 months ago. The first incident happened on the freeway. I was going the speed limit when all of a sudden I felt like the car completely lost power. The lights on the dashboard flashed, my speed decreased suddenly although I still had my foot on the gas. It only last a few seconds and then I regained control of the vehicle. An hour later, when I was off the freeway, it happened again, but this time I was going 25 miles an hour driving on city streets. Same exact issue where it felt like the car computer shut down with no power for a few seconds. It hasn't happened since, but I'm very scared that it may happen at any time again. We only have one car and have a 1 year old. I hope honda and the federal safety agency make progress into identifying the issue. Please let me know if I can contribute any more information. [xxx] information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6).
This problem began earlier in 2012 and was investigated by the dealer in june. While driving at various speeds (45-75mph), the vsa system engages, locking one wheel for a second or two, and pulling the steering wheel as if in a skid. When this stops, the vsa light is on as well as a yellow triangle with an exclamation point. When the dealer 'fixed' this in june, they repaired a TPMS sensor. They also found a brake caliper stuck and fixed that as well as replaced the brake pads. Since june the issue has not occurred until yesterday. It has happened at 3 times in the past 2 days, all at @ 45 MPH. This seems to be a widely reported issue and is certainly a safety concern. When this happened in june on the interstate, traffic on both sides of me dropped back because they could tell I lost control of the car.
Approximate date I put was today, but this has happened several times to my spouse within the last few years. Today is the first time I had been able to duplicate it. I just started the car, pulled out of the driveway on my way to work. About 300 yards down the road at approximately 25 miles per hour the car braked on its own twice and stopped the car. I had to get to work so I continued on. It occurred two more times on my way to work. I was never going faster than 40 miles per hour. It happened once while I was braking and two times while I was at a coast. My wife just told me that it happened again to her as recently as 3 days ago. I am concerned obviously because of the safety aspect of this. I have 3 children and god forbid this happen on the freeway or at high speeds. I have seen multiple complaints on the internet of this same occurrence with the 2005 honda pilot and they all said to file a complaint with this site.
This has happened several times to my wife and daughter over the past month or so. They are driving along at any rate of speed and all of a sudden the car looses all power and the vehicle abruptly slows down and then recovers and begins running again. During this time the lights on the dashboard go out and flash and there is a popping sound at times. The last time it happened there was loss of all electrical to dash board system including the radio. The radio needed the code reentered which is normal for when all battery power is lost to the vehicle. I had this checked by a mechanic and they were unable to locate any problems. They checked the alternator, battery, connections and the system for any errors and nothing can be found. This is consistent with all other complaints associated with the esa, vsa/vsc and electrical systems as reported on this forum. I believe there is a major and dangerous bug in the system causing the car to loose power and control and any rate of speed. I also informed honda customer service but they said that they are unaware of any problems (or I should say owning up to any of thier problems) and to issue a complaint through this forum. I'm afaid it's going to take a major accident and a loss of life, which is bound to happen based on the fact that the car comes to an abrupt halt, in order for honda to own up to thier responsibility of spending the effort to identify this problem and issue a recall and get this fixed. I've been a honda owner (currently 3 cars) for over 23 years. I'm beginning to loose loyalty and faith in the company and will definately strongly consider making a change to another make on my next purchase. Please honda own up to the problem before someone is killed!
Intermittent vibration in the front passenger side when accelerating, at about 30-35 MPH. Sometimes just slightly noticeable and sometimes significant enough so that the entire vehicle vibrates for a few seconds. We just purchased it used yesterday and did not notice the vibrations while test driving it.
While driving at 40 MPH, the vehicle suddenly brake to about 10 MPH. There was a vibration in the front end like the ABS system was working--even with the foot on the throttle. Drove about 2 blocks to a parking lot. Vsa and triangle with "!" was on display. Stopped the vehicle and turned the engine off. After 5 minutes, the vehicle was started and driven back home. There were no display lights or sudden braking. The speed of the vehicle was now 35 MPH. After driving for 10 minutes, the vehicle suddenly braked again and decelerated to about 10 MPH.the vsa and triangle w/"!" display lights reappeared. There was a groaning sound coming from the car and the vibration returned. The more the throttle was pushed, the more the braking effect increased. The vehicle finally made it back to my home. The vehicle was parked at home where it was later towed to a repair facility.
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