Auto Start does not work. Car frequently stalls when in traffic or at red light and fails to auto start when removing foot from brake.
2017 Honda Pilot engine complaints
Page 10 of 18: complaints 251 to 280 of 491, newest first, as owners wrote them.
The issue with our 2016 Honda Pilot pertains to the Auto Start/Stop feature. The pilot began stalling out after being at stop signs/traffic signals and the vehicle would attempt to re-start and then stall. When stalled it was very difficult to get the car restarted. On several occasions, the vehicle has stalled in the middle of intersections which has been highly dangerous as the vehicle was stalled for several minutes. We have first logged a complaint with the Honda dealership on 06/10/2020. The dealer claimed it could not replicate the issue. We filed another complaint on 04/23/2021 as the problem persisted. The dealer, again, claimed they could not replicate the issue and then stated we needed a new car battery. The dealer is not being honest as we took our vehicle to a local mechanic (Henn Automative in Waxhaw, NC) for general servicing and he called us to inform us of a dangerous problem with the Auto Start/Stop. This independent service center performed their review on 12/20/2022. He alerted us that a formal action number had been opened by ODI under “PE22005”. Currently our fix is to disable the Auto Start/Stop feature every time the vehicle is operated. In rare occasions when we forget to do so, the vehicle stalls consistently. There have been no alarms, warnings or the like. I believe the dealer & Honda are well aware of this problem but have not garnered the necessary resources to address the issue and pretend that their customers are imagining these occurrences.
This vehicle is equipped with an "idle off" feature meaning the engine stops for a period of time when the car is at zero speed (for example a stop light) then restarts when the brake is released or the steering wheel is turned. In 3 separate instances, my vehicle has stalled during the re-start process. The vehicle will restart for a second or two moving about 5 feet then stalls bringing the vehicle to an abrupt stop. All instances have occurred in or approaching an intersection. Once stalled, the vehicle will not re-start immediately, it takes approximately 15 to 30 seconds to get the vehicle restarted. All 3 incidents have posed a safety concern for myself and other people traveling behind me.
Approximately 6 times in the last several weeks the engine of my Pilot has auto shut off at a stop light but then it will not restart when I try to go. I have to shut down the whole car and it takes several tries to get it restarted. The most recent time it would not restart for several minutes. I am then stuck in traffic unable to move. I have to remember to disable the auto shut-off/restart or this occurs.
Auto-stop feature failed to restart vehicle after auto-stop was engaged at a stop light. When letting off the brake, the auto-stop disengaged, but the vehicle engine failed to start, posing a safety risk as the vehicle did not restart in heavy traffic. This has been reproduced numerous times by the owner, but not by a dealer or independent service center. The component has not been inspected by the manufacturer, but the owner is an ASE certified mechanic. Warning lamps illuminate after vehicle fails to start, but the only way to restart the vehicle is to shift into park, completely shut off the vehicle electrical and attempt to restart. The system is receiving appropriate recharge from alternator, and battery is in acceptable condition.
On Sun NOV 13th, 2022 I was on I-75 going north and had to slow down and then stop at a 'stop and go' traffic in the beginning of or just before the construction zone. With my foot on the brake, complete stop on the highway, the Honda Pilot suddenly went into Neutral and I was unable to put it in drive mode. I panicked, as there was a lot of traffic behind and I put the blinkers on, put the vehicle in park, tried to restart and didn't work. After a couple of tries, fortunately the engine restarted. In the middle of the one lane construction, I had to stop once again as the traffic was stopped. Once again the Pilot did the same thing. It stalled, and I had to restart the engine. It was very scary and a big safety problem. I have placed a call into Honda service but no response as yet. It is scary now to stop at red lights and stop signs! It happened 2 times in the same construction zone within 5 minutes.
The engine would not restart at the red light. Start/Stop system was active, came to a red light and the vehicle turned off as normal with my foot on the brake, when the brakes were released the vehicle did not restart and I heard a click sound. I had to manually(push the start button) to completely turn off the car and then press it again to start the car. I had my entire family in the car including my child, with vehicles behind me on a main multi lane road. I almost got rear ended due to this malfunction.
Problem with the auto engine idle stop system. With the Honda stopped at a traffic light, the engine turned off completely and pressing the accelerator pedal did not restart the car. And continually pressing the Start button didnât start the engine, either. It has happened three times so far. My family and I were unexpectedly immobile in the middle of traffic, with vehicles driving around our stranded automobile. We were nervous that an accident would occur. The brake pedal locked and I had to press the brake pedal firmly numerous times before the Start button would allow the car to start.
Auto engine start/stop has failed multiple times causing dangerous conditions in traffic. Engine will not restart for minutes after cutting off due to start/stop component.
When driving the vehicle with the auto start/stop engaged upon stopping the engine will turn off at an intersection however it will not turn back on. It takes several tries for the vehicle to start back up.
The engine idle stop is extremely dangerous and is going to cause someone to be seriously injured or killed. Ever since I have owned the vehicle, I have had a problem with the engine auto idle stop malfunctioning. The dealership can never find an issue. It has become so bad that if I forget to disable the idle stop, as soon as I step on the brake my entire car resets/shuts down and will not turn back on for several seconds. I was left in the middle of an intersection with other drivers blaring their horns at me, scaring my children, because my car shut off in the intersection as I was attempting a left turn. As soon as I take my foot off of the brake, the car resets and the dash tells me to shift to P. Which I cannot do. Then it shuts down again and I am at the mercy of the vehicle and other drivers to not collide with me until my vehicle decides to turn back on. It is extremely dangerous.
Multiple times while driving with the auto start/stop engaged, the vehicle will turn off when coming to a stop at a traffic light or stop sign and then need to be restarted with the actual start/stop button. Call to purchasing dealer was met with unrealistic demand that the vehicle be left there for an undeterminable amount of time so that it could be inspected. No other lamps have come on or warned against this. Only way to make it not happen is to turn off the auto start/stop after the vehicle is started.
When at a red light the engine turns off when you press the brake. When you life you foot it should restart automatically. Multiple times my car has no restarted. It sends me a message to put the car in park, press the brake again, and restart with the push button. But it did not work immediately. I had to do the process 5-15 times before it restarted. This is a safety issue because I’m in a stalled car at a red light with traffic trying to get around my car or worse cars coming at a regular speed who don’t see I’m stopped. After researching I have seen that this issue has happened to other owners as well. I called my local dealership who said to bring it in so they could inspect it - which I have not done so yet. Just today there was a brief flash of an alert right after it restarts mentioning the collision assist or one of the other safety issues but it disappeared before I was able to fully read it.
While the vehicle was stop, the auto shut off went off, and upon moving the foot from brake and depress accelerator, the Honda Pilot 2017 turned off and restarted requiring driver to depress Engine Start again.
Our 2017 Honda Pilot is having issues with the idle stop feature at a stop light or other standard stops. The engine completely shuts off and all electronics also shut off. It then needs to be placed in park and restarted. However, it sometimes takes multiple attempts to restart the engine. We are now having trouble with it even starting when the engine has been off. All the dashboard lights come on and it sometimes takes several attempts to start the engine. This issue is very unsafe when traveling and having your engine completely shut off while in traffic and could easily lead to a traffic accident. We have spoken to our local Honda dealer several times about this issue and they have said that Honda knows about this issue but does not have any solutions for the problem. Something needs to be done about this before a serious accident happens because of it.
The engine fails to restart on its own from a complete stop at a traffic light or road intersection with the Auto Start/Stop function engaged. This has happened infrequently in the past but is now occurring more often, multiple times a month.
While driving the car has been giving quick warnings that we weren't able to capture when the start stop was active. Today while at a light at a complete stop and about to make a right the car suddenly shifts to Neutral and prompts us to put in park, then once on park the car shut off completely. While at the light still on park we tried to restart the call, but it would not. It took a few tries to finally start.
The engine shut down at a stop light. Never started again. Had it towed to dealership (Swope Honda World Louisville KY). They ran diagnostics and cannot get the engine to turn over. Checked starter, battery, reset all electronics. Can't even hand turn the engine . They are recommending we replace the engine for $8200 on a Pilot that has 70K miles.
This is my third incident of being stopped at a red light and the auto idle turns on. When the light turns green, and I release my foot from the break, my car stalls and tells me put it into park. My car essentially stalls out and I have to shut it off and on. Usually takes about 30 seconds to a minute for it to start up again. I almost got rear ended today at a light and I am concerned for my safety. How can we turn this into a recall and get this fixed before somebody gets injured?
I am the owner of a 2017 Honda Pilot Touring. My car has been dealer maintained. It was most recently in for routine maintenance less than 3 weeks ago. On October 7, 2022 at approximately 2:00pm I was stopped at a major intersection. My Auto Idle Stop engaged and my engine went idle. When the light turned green, I let off the brake my car jumped 2-3 times and went dead. The dashboard showed the car to now be in Neutral and the battery indicator was lit. I quickly attempted to restart the car and/or put the car in Park. Over the course of 30+ seconds, I tried various combinations pushing the Start button or the Park button. There was no response. I attempted to call my husband, he was unavailable, so I tried again and the car started immediatley (while in neutral).  I have had numerous instances of the Auto Idle Stop not responding quickly when it should restart. The delay can be up to 4 seconds after lifting my foot or turning the wheel. It has become my habit to turn off Auto Idle Stop when starting the car. I believe 90%+ of my driving is without it due to the unreliability. However the latest incident has me very concerned about driving the car. This along with other transmission/computer issues have been mentioned to my dealer during routine service. Many of those issues were corrected, however an issue with the Auto Idle Stop has not been discovered and I was advised to deactivate it when starting the car. Please keep in mind that the default setting is on. If I forget to deactivate or when someone borrows my car, this becomes a concerning issue.  I contacted my Honda dealer and made an appointment to have it looked at again.Â
The issue occurs when the car is stopped (at a traffic light) and the auto engine off is engaged, when I lift the brake to press the accelerator, the car shuts off the engine completely, puts itself in neutral and requires me to put the car in park and restart (press brake and ignition button). I then struggle to start the car (attempting multiple times) and restore it to drive. This is a major safety issue that occurs in the middle of traffic.
The engine fails to restart on its own from a complete stop at a traffic light or road intersection with the Auto Start/Stop function engaged. It's very serious safety issue when this problem happened on the road. I visited HONDA service twice for fixing this problem but they couldn't fix it. Pilot does not have the ability to completely stop the automatic Engine Stop-Start function, so I have to manually turn off the Auto Stop-Start function every time I start the engine. But sometimes we forget to turn this feature off. And this problem is recurring again and again. I'm going to log it here because one day I'm in danger of a following car crashing into my car because of this problem.
The vehicle is equipped with auto idle/engine disable. When stopped at a stop light and depressing the brake pedal, the engine shut downs. The engine is supposed to restart on releasing the brake pedal. On a number of occaisions the engine has not restarted, but rather has stalled, leaving me stalled in traffic. It takes several seconds (which feels like a lot when cars are driving around you, honking, etc.) for the engine to completely shut down and then restart. And sometimes the restart is not smooth. Takes time. The dealer service has not reproduced the problem - they did suggest that I replace the battery to see if that would help. It seemed to help a bit - but the problem returned after a short while. This has occurred approximately 5-6 times. I now try to remember to disable the auto idle feature on entering the car. The default is for the feature to remain on, so I have to remember to disable it each time. I have one maintenance record from January 2022 which shows my report of the issue to the service department, and the replacement of the battery. I did ask about the issue prior to, and after, the January 2022 record, but I have only the one documented complaint. I know that this now a known problem and that the federal safety agency is investigating. I wanted to share my experience. Thank you.
Idle stop engages and cuts the car off, but it won't start back up automatically. We have to put the car in park and try to restart it completely. Sometimes it takes multiple attempts; long enough to miss a cycle at the stop light.
What component or system failed or malfunctioned, and is it available for inspection upon request? Yes it is available for inspection upon request The start/stop idle feature doesnt work sometimes. The car is supposed to turn off when you come to a stop light or any stop at all. You put on your break and the car stops and then when you start to go the car turns back on and off you go. For about a year now this has been malfunctioning and my car just stalls. Twice now in the last 6 months this has happened where I have been stuck in traffic with cars yelling and honking there horns at me. How was your safety or the safety of others put at risk? Countless times in the last year my life, my childrens life, and those drivers around me have been at risk. There isn't any warning before it happens and can happen at anytime. Twice I thought I would have to call the police to direct traffic and get my car towed but thank goodness after 5-10 minutes it ended up starting on its own. The problem also is when it stalls like this, you can get the car in neutral to move or anything. Your just stuck. Its so scary and unless I disable this feature every time I drive the car, I risk getting in an accident!! Has the problem been reproduced or confirmed by a dealer or independent service center? No it hasnt been reproduced. It is at the dealership right now because the second incident where it completely stopped for 10 minutes in traffic happened yesterday. Took it to the dealership 6 month after the 1st very dangerous incident and they said it was the fuel injector which I got replace and it didnt have any incidents for 6 month but as I stated it started back up Has the vehicle or component been inspected by the manufacturer, police, insurance representatives or others? Yes, the dealership Were there any warning lamps, messages or other symptoms of the problem prior to the failure, and when did they first appear? No
After stopping and the auto start-stop system is utilized to turn off the engine, the engine does not restart on its own when releasing the brake pedal. The vehicle must be shifted to park, turned off, and restarted before you can begin driving again. This has happened many times and poses a major safety risk since it happens predominantly at stop lights.
While at a stoplight, my auto start/stop feature shut the engine down. When I released the brake after the light turned green, the car didn’t restart. Instead it shutdown in put the car in neutral. This resulted in traffic being halted and me frantically attempting to get it restarted. After getting it back in park, I was able to get it restarted.
For years the stop and auto-start feature will not restart automatically. Sometimes the entire vehicle itself will shut down, lose, power, then restart by itself. It is more frequent now. Last week while on the freeway, the car shut down and failed to restart altogether. The engine did not respond. I had to put it in neutral and restart the car. I had to attempt to restart it a couple of times before it finally turned on again.
When stopped, the engine idles off but when I go to accelerate, the engine shuts off. This is becoming a safety issue as the last two times were on a highway although it is really always a safety issue. Last year the dealer had me get a new battery. While that worked for a bit, the issue is back and worse than ever.
The auto stop/start feature is defective. It turns off the engine when stopped at red lights, but many times the engine then fails to start again when the gas pedal is pressed when the light is green, and the car stalls. This has left us stalled in intersections many times, and sometime it takes 10-15 minutes before the car starts again. We even had to call for a tow once. This problem has been ongoing for a few years and I have communicated it to my Honda dealership many times, and have brought it in multiple times, and they have failed to rectify the issue.
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