Honda Pilot spongy pedal problems

Filed Sep 8, 2026 · Brakes, Engine · 98,512 miles · WA

The contact owns a 2016 Honda Pilot. The contact stated that while accelerating from a stop, the vehicle lost automotive power, and the battery, oil, and information warning lights remained illuminated. Several minutes later, the vehicle was restarted, and the contact continued driving. Another failure occurred while attempting to accelerate from a stop, and the transmission shifted into neutral, the brake pedal became stiff, and the contact was forced to restart the vehicle. The vehicle was not diagnosed. The failure mileage was 98,512.

Filed Oct 3, 2025 · Brakes, Driver assistance · 173,273 miles · NC

The contact owns a 2005 Honda Pilot. The contact stated that while driving 25-35 MPH, the vehicle slowed down unexpectedly, and the brake pedal was hard and slow to respond when depressed. The contact stated that the steering wheel was pulling to the left, and it was difficult to correct the steering wheel. The vehicle was difficult to control. The VSA light was illuminated. There was a triangle with an exclamation mark symbol displayed on the instrument cluster. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer, where it was diagnosed and determined that the VSA module had failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired because the parts were on backorder. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 173,273.

Filed Jul 17, 2025 · Airbags, Brakes · 25,000 miles · AL · crash

The contact owns a 2024 Honda Pilot. The contact stated while driving approximately 5 MPH in a drive-through and depressing the brake pedal, the brake pedal was stiff and the vehicle failed to respond on two occasions, and rear-ended the same vehicle twice. The contact stated that both vehicles sustained scratches. The air bags did not deploy. There was no injury sustained. No police report was filed. The contact was able to drive to the residence. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, where the recall inspection for the federal safety agency Campaign Number: 25V391000(Service Brakes, Hydraulic) was performed, and the dealer informed the contact that the vehicle had passed the inspection. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and sent an engineer, who inspected the vehicle and informed the contact that no failure was found. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 25,000.

Filed Jun 27, 2025 · Brakes, Driver assistance · CA

After starting my vehicle and leaving the office, several different warning messages began flashing on the dash ABS, lane departure mitigation, Power Sterring, Towing. I pulled over and turned the vehicle off. When I attempted to restart the vehicle, the brake pedal was hard and felt stuck. The car did not start. When roadside assistance came, they tested the battery, and it was fine. The car was towed to a Honda dealer and the technician informed me the Brake Pedal Position Switch failed. He said that it would have caused all the different warning messages to appear. This was the second time this occurred, where the different warning messages lit up, but that time the car restarted. When I took it to the dealer that time, they could not determine the issue, and no repairs were done. I am concerned because I have seen that these vehicles have issues with this and it is very dangerous and unsafe when it comes to issues with the brakes.

Filed Jan 13, 2023 · Brakes · MN

This Honda Pilot has a very low brake pedal , I describe it as a soft pedal. You have to depress the pedal almost to the floor let up and press it again to get fairly decent stopping power, still not the best. This increases stopping distance and in an emergency it takes time to double pump the brakes. There are complaints on the internet about this issue by other owners. Here are some examples, https://hondatech.com/forums/tsb_recall/tsbs/honda/pilot/2015 .There are reports/complaints to the federal safety agency, RECORD_ID: 1248839 , the federal safety agency Item Number: 10128555, the federal safety agency Item Number: 10128537 ,the federal safety agency Item Number: 10128536, I have been to a repair shop who bled the brakes 2 times it gets minimally better for a short time. I feel there is an issue with the brakes on this Honda

Filed May 10, 2022 · Engine · VA

Engine shuts off when you are at a red light and you press the foot brake pedal hard. When you release the brake the engine starts. In my case the engine shut off and when I released the brake the engine did not start had to put transmission in park and then did a restart.

Filed Feb 14, 2020 · Acceleration · NC

Honda pilot 2018 with 20,555 miles has a digital display. Car was on adaptive cruise. Weather was fine. My speed was approximately 61mph when the speed limit changed to 65mph as hwy became i73. I used + acceleration button on right hand column 4 touches to increase speed 1 MPH per touch to 65mph. Car began to rapidly accelerated to 79mph (last digital speed I saw) and I?m sure higher as I tried to gain control. . My foot had been off pedal while cruise was on so I looked and touched the gas peddle with my right foot to see what was happening. Pedal was depressed. At this point I believe I turned off adaptive cruise by the main button on right hand column but car continued to accelerate. I pushed the de acceleration button - many times and car began to slow down uncontrollably fast realizing this I then pressed brake pedal hard and that broke the control of the adaptive cruise and I was able to get the car to the shoulder of the road. Had car towed to dealership. Crown honda in greensboro said no code was stored for the incident

Filed Aug 9, 2016 · Brakes, Steering · 36,000 miles · GA

My honda pilot ex-l model has 36500 miles. It all started after 20000 miles, breaks started feeling spongy and takes longer distance to stop the vehicle. When I took it to dealership, they told me the breaks are working as designed. Now my steering is shaking vigorously when I apply break after 40 MPH speed. Anything lower that speed steering is less shaky but I can feel the steering is shaking even in that speed. Now breaking distance is lot longer and during red lights I am crossing the line during intense traffic stops.

Filed Sep 5, 2015 · Brakes · 6,125 miles · MI · crash

Brake pedal has been spongy since new. Selling dealer say there is nothing wrong with vehicle. They did nothing. A deer ran out in front of me, I hit the brakes and pedal when down and I hit deer $4,100 damage to front end? If I pump brake pedal one time I have a solid pedal!

Filed Dec 27, 2014 · Brakes, Driver assistance · 142,121 miles · MS

I had just started slowing down to turn at a stop light when the vsa warning light came on and my car became hard to steer. It almost came to a complete stop but I was at a major intersection and had no choice but to try and keep driving to avoid getting hit. I somehow managed to get it turned but it didn't want to speed up when I tried to accelerate. I managed to get into a parking lot and turned it off. I let it sit for a few minutes as we caught our breath (two of my kids were with me and it had scared them too) and then cranked it up again. The vsa light was gone but when I put it in reverse to see what it would do, it wouldn't move. It was like the parking brake was on. I then realized that's what it seemed like as I was driving when it happened. I'd thought the car wasn't wanting to run but it was like the brakes were on. Anyway, the brake pedal was stiff and I couldn't push it at all. I tried pumping the pedal to see if it would release but even though I could put the car in either park or drive, it wouldn't move. It was like the parking brake was on or I was holding the brake, neither of which was true. I called a nearby shop and two technicians came to where we were. They cranked it up and everything seemed okay but it was taken back to the shop where they ran every test possible and drove it three different times but nothing happened. They're perplexed as to what's wrong. I came home and got online only to find that there are tons of postings online about the exact same thing happening to others but only the 2005 pilot has been recalled. Honda, I love my pilot and don't want to get rid of it nor do I not want to buy another one when the time comes. But, I'm not putting my kids' lives in danger nor my life in danger to drive the car I love. Please, please, please consider recalling the 2006 models as well since there's definitely a problem with them too.