2007 Honda Pilot: fire, smoke or burning smell

Filed Sep 9, 2019 · Body, Electrical · 172,000 miles · FL · fire

On 09/09/2019 1:00 am I was awakened by neighbors that my 2007 honda pilot was on fire, police and fire dept. Responded and put out the flames, flame were in side dash board, ceiling, left and right quarter panels, sun roof and hood burned, front burned, plastic melting and fire everywhere, flames were 1 to 2 ft. High, all front lights in vehicle burned and melted, wires hanging, half the front vehicle totaled, during day light it was visible to see half the dash burned colapsed melted, you can see fuse box protruding hanging under dash. Wire harness, electronics, computer, burned. This does not even include damage inside engine under hood, flames were reaching out of hood. Neighbor has security cameras right in front of car, when she gets back from trip we'll see how it started I hope. I have police report available and pictures attached; you are welcome to visit and inspect vehicle. It's a total loss.

Filed Apr 15, 2015 · Electrical · 103,000 miles · MA · fire

After leaving work and traveling approximately 7 miles to the local home improvement store my 2007 honda pilot caught fire sometime after I parked, shut off the car, walked into the store. I was in the store for no more than 15 minutes when I heard that a red truck was on fire. Never would I have thought it was my car, because it is not a truck but an SUV. As my curiosity got the better of me, I went outside the garden area to see my honda pilot on fire. After calling 911 and making sure the appropriate fire and police departments were called I walked a little closer to see the damage occurring. The fire department extinguished the fire and the car was a total loss. The fire department stated it is a mechanical failure. This happened minutes before I was going to pick up my children. What would have happened if they were in the car with me or I was driving on the highway? There was no indication that something was wrong.... After further investigation I have found out that there is a wiring harness problem that wears out on the cowling ( the metal area between the engine compartment and the dashboard). Other people have had issues with the wiring and some had said their cars have caught on fire. When is honda going to acknowledge there is an issue and do a recall???

Filed Dec 29, 2014 · Electrical, Lights · 99,100 miles · NC

While driving with headlights on during daylight hours, we noticed a burning smell as we arrived at our destination. It was dark when we returned home and the headlights seemed very dim when using low beams. We were in a very rural area and able to use high beams for most of the trip. When switching to low beams due to oncoming traffic, I had difficulty seeing the road. When we reached the highway and had to use low beams more, it was obvious something was wrong. I used high beams as much as possible. At one point, I switched to low beams as a car passed me. The lights were dim again but suddenly brightened up a second after switching to low beams (possibly due to a bump in the road?) and I realized we had been driving with only fog lights for the past 30 minutes. Without the fog lights, we definitely would have crashed when we dimmed our high beams on the rural roads earlier in the trip. The following day, I turned on the headlights and the low beams were not working. Tapping on the lens sometimes temporarily fixes the problem, so the burning smell may not have been connected to the loss of lights. The sudden onset of this problem is a major safety hazard and seems very similar to the problem experienced with headlights in several other models, including 2003-2005 pilots. The previous recall (the federal safety agency action number : ea11012 the federal safety agency recall campaign number : 12v136000) was specific to 2 bulb systems. The 2007 pilot uses a 4 bulb system, but the problem seems similar and I don't have access to any technical information that would explain why the 4 bulb system is immune to the problem. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6).

Filed Feb 22, 2014 · Electrical · 105,000 miles · ID

Vehicle battery indicator illuminated and car died. Repair shop attempted to jump start the vehicle and smoke and burning smell came from dashboard. Vehicle towed to dealer.

Filed Jul 7, 2008 · Electrical · 21,500 miles · CA · fire

2007 honda pilot ,numerous complaints about stalling and drivable issues, took pilot to dealer with same complaints of engine light, stalling,dealer found several codes in system drove pilot home on the evening of the 24th drove to work on the 25th and that when I experienced the same problems and within several hour of that the pilot caught fire while running! Fire was in the engine compartment concentrated near cowl of pilot then consumed whole engine compartment and heavily damaged interior.

Filed Jun 22, 2007 · Engine · 2,200 miles · NC

2007 honda pilot with 2,200 miles. Pulling off the highway on an exit, we saw white smoke coming from under the hood. Not knowing the cause, we pulled to the side of the road (no breakdown lane, so we were mostly out of the traffic lane). We were unable to determine the cause of the smoke, so we had the car towed to the dealer. The cause was determined to be a break in the condenser cooling coil due to a road object hitting the unprotected coil. Searching on the internet showed dozens of complaints of this for honda vehicles (but very few for other manufacturers). Honda said that this wasn't covered by the warranty, but after complaining to honda corporate customer service, they paid for the part. I also complained to the local honda dealer, who paid for the labor. I paid for the towing. The safety issue is that seeing the white smoke without knowing the cause can make the driver be stopped in an unsafe location to do problem determination, leading to various possible injuries or death.