Started up vehicle, and (all the bashboard warning lights illuminated),tsa,check engine light,power steering, brake lights.....all of them. Doors won't lock, and the raido stays on, even when the vehicle is completely turned off. Vehicle purchased on:12/02/2024. 3 miles on the odometer. Currently 14,000 miles.. honda corporation attempting not honor the warranty. $8400 dollars, to fix,and to contact my insurance company, and claim rodent damage; I, wouldn't have to pay, the insurance company will cover the cost.
Honda Pilot door locks problems
48 of the 9,442 owner complaints about the Honda Pilot describe doors won't lock, open or latch, most of them for the 2003 model year.
- owner complaints
- 48
- worst model year
- 2003
- typical mileage
- 70,000
By model year
Often reported together
Key fob 4Won't start 2Jerking 2Tire blowout 1Sudden acceleration 1Steering noise 1Steering lock-up 1Shudder 1
What owners say
Summary and Description of Incident: - Owner was driving the vehicle in traffic when the failure occurred. - While shopping, parked the vehicle, opened drivers door, manually pressed inside door lock on driver's door, closed door. While walking away, the car began to beep. Returned to the car, unlocked the car with the remote key, opened the driver's door, closed the driver's door, and locked with the remote key button. Proceeded back to the shopping center. - Returned to the car 3 hours later, entered the vehicle, put on seat belt and started car. All instrument panel lights come on and stayed on. This looked strange, so the car was shut off, and restarted. Instrument panel appeared normal and departed shopping center to return home. - While traveling with the flow of traffic in the center lane of 3 travel lanes, the vehicles engine died while at road speed (45-50 mph). Applied the brake and kept in the center lane coming to a complete stop (brake and power steering stiff as happens when motor is not running). The center lane traffic behind also slowed to a stop, remaining in the center lane. Once stopped, transmission put into park, pressed stop button to turn off, pressed again to restart vehicle, transmission put into drive and proceeded to drive, cautiously coming up to driving speed. - Travelled 0.3 mile and vehicle engine died a second time. Same scenario as before with stiff steering, stiff brakes, staying in center lane, stopping, putting in park, stop, restart, putting into drive and proceeding to drive. Traffic behind did not stop, they moved either left or right to go around. They did not appear to slow down while passing. - Travelled 0.1 mile and vehicle engine died a third time. Same scenario as both incidents before, with traffic behind not stopping and going left or right. - Proceeded to drive home and made dealer appt. 2 visits. Weeks in shop, no repair completed, stated "nothing more can be done". Same response from manufacturer.
Door locks do not respond. I will use the driver unlock button on the driver door panel, or sometimes by key fob, and the driver door will unlock, but the passenger (with less frequency than rear) and rear doors will remain locked. Sometimes they will all work. Generallly it’s the rear doors. Very intermittent and hard to reproduce. They tend to stay locked until I power the vehicle off.
This issue occurred [XXX]. The fuel door would not open when we were at the gas station to fill up. We opened the side panel inside the back of the vehicle and tried to open using the emergency lever but that did not work either. Had to take to our local Honda dealer, Swickard of Thousand Oaks in Thousand Oaks, California. Our vehicle had only 59,088 miles when this stopped working. On the service order from our dealer In the description of the concern it states that after inspecting the fuel door actuator, fuel door cable and the fuel door grommet it was found that the cable was kinked, causing the plastic grommet to break apart. From the description from the dealer it sounds like the cable was installed incorrectly when the vehicle was made causing the failure. We were fortunate that we were not traveling and not been near a dealer or mechanic when this issue occurred. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
We discovered that both right and left rear door locks were not operating properly in our brand new 2022 Honda Pilot Touring, preventing the passengers from being able to exit the vehicle. From the original purchase on Oct 27, 2022, the kids had complained of being unable to unlock and open the rear doors from inside the cabin. After continuing problems, I discovered that once the door locks had been locked electronically, either via the drivers side door switch or the key fob, it was impossible to manually unlock and open the right or left rear passenger doors. Again - the rear seat passengers were NOT able to exit the vehicle on their own. Once all doors had been unlocked electronically via the switch of key fob, then the rear doors could be manually locked and unlocked using the lock tabs by each door handle. We took the vehicle to the dealer on Nov 30, 2022 and they confirmed that the locks were not working properly. (Note at this time, the vehicle had already had the rear entertainment system fail and had been at the Honda World Westminster service facility for five (5) days for repairs and while they replaced the control unit) On Dec 2-3, Honda World Westminster service took 2 days to diagnose and repair the vehicle (now 7 days total in the shop), replacing both rear door lock assemblies (Right Rear Latch Assembly Part # 72610-T5R-A31; Left Rear Latch Assembly Part # 72650-T5R-A31). When we received the vehicle I asked what exactly had failed and how could both locks be inoperable on the new vehicle from the dealer, but they could offer no explanation other than poor quality control. I explained that this was more that simply bad parts, it created a serious safety concern as the rear passengers were essentially "trapped" in the rear seat area as they were unable to unlock and open the doors had they needed to exit the vehicle in an emergency. I also called Honda Corp. and advised of the issue, they created ticket # 13512638
The driver side door lock does not work, which, by what I read on the internet, is a very common problem.
I returned from work at approximately 5 pm on 03-01-22. As I prepared to enter my garage, I realized I could not pull in due to objects in the way. I put my foot on the brake, and as I planned to reverse, the car lurched forward and into the side of my house! No warnings, no air bag deployment, and a sudden lurch, stopped only by my (less than 2 year old, custom-built) house! Garage door would not close after the car was backed out. Car was towed to Performance Honda in Fairfield, Ohio. No codes were recorded and they did not indicate reproduction or attempt to reproduce the problem. They reset all computer systems in the vehicle. The included photos also show the skid mark on the driveway, indicating to us that the brakes were on when the car "lurched" into the house.
When my car fuel went down to empty the light came on and I pulled over to get gas. When I pushed the automatic release button my fuel door would not open. I searched up possible causes and found a video of a man demonstrating where you can find a manual lever to pole to release the fuel door. I found the lever and pulled it at the door would not open. Thankfully I was not too far away from home and drove home on my empty tank. If I had been somewhere far away this could have been disastrous. I took it to the honda dealer who had to pull apart half of my car to get to the place to fix it. I had also read online that this has happened to other honda pilot owners. It seems dangerous.
When the car is started, dashboard displays message "keyless start system problem." this is being reported frequently on the internet and appears to be a common problem for this vehicle. When it occurs, the automatic walk away door lock feature also quits working. Supposed fix is to replace the start/stop switch which I did. This resolved the dashboard error message but not the automatic lock issue. This same result is being reported frequently on the internet and the problem is being reported for honda pilots beginning with the 2016 model and continuing up to the 2021 model.
I bought a 2020 new honda pilot elite on october 2, 2019 with 245 miles on it. I brought my pilot elite into the dealership on december 26, 2019 after discovering a popping noise which sounded like a firecracker going off that seemed to be between the windshield and dash while driving.mileage was at 3,956 at this time. On january 17, 2020, I brought my honda pilot into the dealership again. It developed a popping noise again between the windshield and dash sounding like a firecracker going off when I was driving. On february 5, 2020, the honda pilot was once again brought back in. It was popping and cracking this time in the audio unit but now also door locks we're making noise when in stationary or while driving. The control panel had also shut off a couple times where you only saw a dark screen and it would reboot. On july 14th, after hearing this loud popping noise for a couple months now while driving, I have taken it back to the dealership. It is worse when you go around any type of curves or on bumpy roads. If the road is completely straight and smooth, I do not have this problem. This whole ordeal is scary because it is a huge distraction for me and I fear for my safety. I have been told by the service advisor again today that honda is aware and working on this issue. He stated a recall is coming out for it as well as the odyssey and passport but they are making the parts for it before they recall it. He said they can put a band-aid on it in the meantime until the part can be made. Since this is the 2nd time in the last 6 months I have been told this, I'm worried they are covering up the issue and waiting for my warranty to be up. Also, the sensor that tells you when a vehicle or object is close to you is faulty. I will be driving with nothing around me and it tells me to brake and goes into its 'safety mode' which has caused me to almost have a wreck.
Related recalls
Latches/locks/linkages: hood: latch
- What is wrong
- Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) is recalling certain 2019 Passport, 2016-2019 Pilot, and 2017-2020 Ridgeline vehicles. The hood latch striker may become damaged and separate from the hood, which can result in the hood opening while driving.
- Risk
- A hood that opens while driving can obstruct the driver's view and increase the risk of a crash.
- Remedy
- Dealers will either repair the hood latch striker, or replace the hood if necessary, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed January 18, 2022. Owners may contact Honda customer service at 1‑888‑234‑2138. Honda's number for this recall is PBV.
Recall number 21V932000 · Recall details
Questions about the Honda Pilot door locks
Which Honda Pilot years have doors won't lock, open or latch problems?
The model years with the most reports are 2003 (15 complaints), 2004 (9 complaints) and 2016 (6 complaints).
VIN decoder
See the problems and recalls for an exact car
Buying a used Honda Pilot?
Check the exact car before you pay: accidents, salvage or flood titles, odometer readings and previous owners.
Check its history