2018 Honda Pilot: won't start

Filed Jul 15, 2026 · Brakes, Electrical · TX

The vehicle will not start occasionally and states brake issue. The brakes becomes rigid and I'm left stranded until it corrected itself. This is a KNOWN issue, and yet they won't do a recall. It seems like a deceptive practice.

Filed Aug 28, 2024 · Engine, Fuel system · CA

My 2018 Honda Pilot is part of a Safety Recall Notice per American Honda Motor Co. Inc. and is in regards to a defective fuel pump. Issues include engine not starting/stalling and check engine light illuminating. Over the past 3 years I have experienced the following symptoms with my 2018 Honda Pilot: 1.) The engine wouldn't start on several occasions 2.) My wife noted she was driving in parking lot when engine stalled 3.) Dash illuminates "EMISSIONS SYSTEMS PROBLEM/ CHECK ENGINE" On March 11, 2024 I took my vehicle to Honda of Pasadena and spoke to Svc Advisor Eddie and told him I am experiencing all of the above and is this covered under the safety recall? He stated he will have the Svc Tech inspect and let me know. Shortly thereafter I was told by Eddie that my issues are not related to said safety recall and charged me $720.45 in un-necessary repairs (none of which included replacing the faulty fuel pump). In response I filed a claim with Kassandra @ American Honda Motor Co., Inc (CASE# [XXX]), who reached out to dealer and ultimately denied my claim and noted issues are not related the Safety Recall. To date I have filed a BAR complaint which is pending and and I am currently driving said defective vehicle which is experiencing all the above safety issues: 1.) engine not starting and/or stalling 2.) "EMISSIONS SYSTEM PROBLEM/ CHECK ENGINE" light illuminates INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

Filed Aug 10, 2023 · Engine · AR

When I came to a stop sign the car died and would not start for several minutes, causing traffic to back up and a dangerous situation at a busy 4 way stop. This has happened on multiple occasions when the auto stop feature is not disabled.

Filed Jul 16, 2023 · Electrical, Engine · TX

I previously reported issue 11360107 which Honda attributed to a bad battery cell and replaced the battery on this vehicle. I followed up with them that I consider auto-idle-stop functionality that doesn't restart despite the battery being capable of restarting to be a safety issue. I re-iterated to them that I "rebooted" the car by holding the car start button down until the Honda logo appeared in the driver display. The car then proceeded to start and I didn't have any issues with the battery being able to start the car before or after that. As stated in that issue, this happened on the access road of a major Texas Freeway while stopped at a stop light. Cars were flying by at 50 mph with my family in the car sitting at a green light. Honda has apparently issued a "fix" for this, but today I experienced a similar issue at the gas station. Today was different b/c my auto-idle-stop was disabled. My Honda dealership had disabled it the second to last time I brought it in for service, but didn't tell me. I had complained to my dealership about this issue in the past, but the feature had been disabled when I received it, without notating the change in any paperwork. I asked about it the last time I had my car at the dealership and they acknowledged that Honda was telling them to disable the auto-idle-stop on vehicles where the owner said something. Today, July 16th, 2023, I experienced the same behavior when I stopped for gas. The car would not restart, the starter would not attempt to star the car. I had driven about 60 miles in this 100 degree weather in Aransas, Texas. After filling up with gas my car wouldn't start, the electronics worked, the radio came on, but the car wouldn't start. I got out of the car while the electronics were on, went to talk to another person in the caravan. I came back and tried again and the car started. The battery was obviously capable of starting the car without jumping.

Filed May 19, 2023 · Engine, Transmission · NY

While stopped at an intersection, the vehicle's Auto Start/Stop technology engaged. When driver attempted to drive, the Auto Start/Stop wouldn't disengage, as a result the car would not start. The vehicle prompted the driver to put the car in park and push the ignition button to start the car, however nothing happened, meaning the car would not start. After about 2 minutes, the car was able to start and the driver was able to continue driving. An immobilized vehicle at an intersection put its passengers at risk, including 2 children under the age of 3. Dealer will be notified of this occurrence.

Filed Dec 21, 2022 · Engine · NJ

he auto start/stop is not working for my 2018 Honda Pilot Elite. The vehicle does not start in the middle of the traffic when it stops. I've stuck stuck multiple times and now for last 1 year I have to force switch off that feature every time I drive the car.

Filed Oct 6, 2022 · Engine, Fuel system · OR

The auto off/on is dangerous. Multiple time the car does not turn back on and everything turns off. A few times the car started to roll backwards, when on a hill and I took my foot of the break. The car didn't start, I had to reapply the break and push the start button again.

Filed Sep 13, 2022 · FL

auto start/stop failure - Vehicle stops, engine shuts off as usual. however, when brake is released the engine does not start back up. It then needs to be put in park and takes several takes to start again.

Filed Jun 8, 2022 · Engine · DE

I just read about the auto stop / start difficulties applicable to my vehicle and reportedly corroborated by Honda. I may have twice experienced the same or similar failure. Fortunately, both of my experiences were in my driveway. Safety was a concern in that I could not start the car, and it was blocking my other vehicles. I am unsure of the date, but I think that both were last summer. My recollection is somewhat vague as these were a while ago, and I was able to rectify. In both cases, I pulled into the driveway. I am guessing that the auto stop turned off the engine when I came to a stop. I most likely only pressed the engine start/stop button and put on the emergency brake after coming to a stop. I usually do not press the park button as it unnecessarily restarts the engine. In both cases, tried to restart the car a few minutes later, but it would not start. I don’t know whether or not the car locked. I use the automatic lock feature but may have had a door or the tailgate opened. I don’t know whether or not I used my key fob at all in trying to restart, or whether or not I moved the key fob near the start button. I remember the car seeming like the battery was dead. In one of the cases, I definitely used jumper cables from another car. In the other, I may have used a charger. The article did say that a jump was required to restart in some cases. At some point, the car just came alive. In the case of the jumper cables from another car, I moved the car out of the way (rolled up several yards) and shut it off and then restarted. The car restarted strongly, and the car acted like nothing ever happened. It almost seemed like a security lockout had occurred. Until there is a fix, I would like to know is what sequence is needed to restart if I have this problem again? Can you please help me with this?

Filed Jun 8, 2022 · Electrical, Engine · NE

Car shuts off and does not turn back on properly when stopping while driving. It does not happen all of the time, but when stopping at light/stop sign the car will turn off like it is supposed to but fails to start back up. When it fails to start it will not start back up, because the car is not in park, so the push button will not work until you hit the park button.

Filed May 11, 2022 · Engine · AZ

My vehicle was stopped at a red light in a busy turning lane. When I pressed on the brakes to stop the vehicle the "idle-stop" automatically came on. As my vehicle was idling, I waited for the light to turn green to go. Once I pressed on the gas to go my vehicle went haywire. I couldn't drive forward or put the vehicle in any park mode. Every light started flickering on the dash, MY HAZARDS WOULDN'T COME ON, the car wouldn't start and every time I tried attempting to turn on the car it continued to do the same. I was stalled at a very busy intersection with no hazard lights with two kids, this was frightening. My husband had to restart the vehicle with a battery pack. After getting the car checked, there were no signs of any battery issues or any other problems, the car seemed perfectly fine. Now we have to completely turn off the "idle-stop" before driving or the car will stall, shut off and go haywire. We have to constantly restart the vehicle with a battery pack in order to continue driving. I asked several people and apparently this is a huge issue and problem for many with no help from Honda dealerships to fix it.

Filed Sep 24, 2021 · Engine · CA

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/