2025 Honda Ridgeline: start-stop system problems

Filed Oct 30, 2026 · Electrical · MD

When driving the vehicle and you come to a stop, the auto start-stop system will shut the engine off but fail to restart the engine when the foot is removed from brake. Warning lights come on, and you have to put the car in park and repeatedly press the brake and start button. Because I am blocking traffic and trying to restart the vehicle, I cannot get photos of the warning lights. After 30-60 seconds, the vehicle will restart and drive normally. But during that time, you are blocking traffic and cannot move the vehicle. This has happened approximately 10x to me in the 22 months that I have owned the vehicle- 3 times in the past week alone. The problem first started when the vehicle was approximately one year old with approximately 20k miles. Dealer says there is a recall or warranty extension on vehicles with the same engine (Honda Pilot) but not on the Ridgleline. The Honda dealer has confirmed the problem and recommended a new starter and batteryff at a cost of over $1,500. But the car starts normally most of the time, so there must be something that causes it to fail to start at only certain times.

Filed Oct 21, 2026 · Electrical · FL

I've been having trouble with the auto start stop on my vehicle pretty much since i bought it. If I don't forget to disable it, when i come to a stop light my truck won't restart and shut off. Leaving me scrambling to restart it while i have cars flying by me. I've taken it to the dealership multiple time. They've changed the throttle body when it was under warranty, that didnt fix it. they've changed the battery, that didn't fix it. Also when it happens a bunch of warning lights come on for power steering, lane assist, hill decent braking etc.. Then when i turn the vehicle off they all disappear. I've done research on this and its a known problem with other honda years and models. Why this hasn't been recalled and fixed I have no idea, but I am genuinely afraid for my and my childrens safety.

Filed Oct 20, 2026 · Engine · TN

When sitting at a traffic light, the auto start/stop feature engaged and shut down the engine, when my foot was removed from the brake, the truck did not restart. I had to put the truck in park and manually press the start button. This caused a safety issue by making the vehicle inoperable in the middle of an intersection. The vehicle has not been inspected yet, but will in three days when i take it to the dealer.

Filed Oct 14, 2026 · Engine · NJ

I bought the vehicle with around 13k miles in May of 2026. Since I have had the vehicle, I have had 4 incidents with the vehicle auto idle-stop (auto engine start/stop). I have experienced the vehicle completely die when trying to start back up during idle stop. Of the four times - one was on a major 3 lane highway in stop and go traffic. Another time, I was stuck in the middle of an intersection waiting to make a turn. It usually does not restart and battery lights come on the dashboard. After several attempts, or sometimes 30 seconds to 1 minute it does restart. I usually shut off the idle start/stop but sometimes I forget. After researching this issue, it seems to be a common problem. It is a severe issue and needs to be addressed. I use the truck as a second vehicle, but I am scared to let my son or wife use the vehicle. Honda needs to address the issue immediately before someone gets hurt or killed.

Filed Oct 5, 2026 · Electrical · FL

Auto start stop system. Shuts off engine at stop lights, will fail to re-start engine when I release the brake and step on the gas. Has happened several times. Came close to being rear ended. Dealer service manager told me to dit the disable switch every time I start the vehicle.

Filed Sep 21, 2026 · MN

On several occasions after operating the vehicle for an extended time (picture 1 hour of highway driving) the auto start stop will fail to engage the engine the next time the vehicle comes to a stop. Vehicle stays stuck in traffic until the ignition fires after several attempts. This has happened more than once over several different days.

Filed Sep 12, 2026 · Electrical · FL

The Auto Idle Stop/Start feature has malfunctioned multiple times, leaving me stalled out at a green light in traffic. Sometimes the system hesitates to restart and shows a warning message on the dash that is too long to read for the split second that it shows, and other times it requires a full manual restart of the vehicle. The feature works to shut the engine off, but intermittently does not start back up when taking foot off the brake, and requires a few shut off instructions that are complicated to follow when sitting in a parked vehicle in moving traffic. This is highly unsafe. The hesitation warnings were visible on my maintenance report, but nothing was said about them at the service center, so I did not think they were an issue. I will be taking the vehicle back to Honda to address this auto start failure, but I am aware that there is currently not a recall for this Auto Idle Stop/Start feature, despite it being well documented by other Honda vehicle owners.

Filed Aug 16, 2026 · Electrical · TX

Multiple failures of the Auto Start Stop system to restart the vehicle. This has happened several times in an intersection creating a safety hazard.

Filed Jul 31, 2026 · Engine · SC

Engine idle start/stop feature shut off the engine while I was waiting to turn at a busy intersection. When I took my foot off the brake, the engine did not restart and all the lights in the dashboard came on. Multiple attempts to get the engine to re-start failed. Police had to block traffic while we waited for a tow truck. After about 15 minutes the system finally allowed the engine to start again, but the tow truck was already there so the car was towed to a local dealership. Problem was diagnosed as a starter pulling excessive voltage causing hard starts and failure of the auto start/stop system. The starter was replaced under warranty. Vehicle is just over a year old with 10k miles. I was lucky there wasn't an accident or any injuries but with cars swerving by me while I blocked the intersection before the police arrived, it could easily have been much worse. Even after the system was repaired, I do not feel safe driving with the automatic start/stop feature engaged. I know I can turn it off every time I get in the car, but it is too easy to forget to do that. I would like for Honda to reprogram the system to allow the driver to permanently disengage the auto stop feature, but I'm told that is not currently an option.

Filed Jul 12, 2026 · Engine · TX

This is a followup to a complaint that I submitted on July 10, 2026 at 10:19:37 AM, tracking #11749522. The incident that I am reporting today occurred on July 7, 2026 when my son was driving my 2025 Ridgeline alone. I was not aware of this incident until I happened to mention to him what I had experienced with the auto stop re-start failure (no restart after auto start/stop engages). He then reported to me that on July 7th while he was driving the Ridgeline he experienced a similar incident. When he pulled up to a busy intersection the vehicle failed to re-start after shutting off at the intersection. He said he did not know what was happening and panicked a bit. Until I brought up my incident to him he said that he thought he had done something wrong when operating the Ridgeline because he does not drive the vehicle very often. He said that he placed the vehicle in park and opened the door, similar to what I had done. He said that after he did this the vehicle did re-start which is exactly what I experienced. This is two failures with same vehicle within the same week. I called the Honda Service Department on Friday, July 10, 2026 and have scheduled an appointment for Tuesday, July 14, 2026. When I mentioned the federal safety agency ODI had launched new Investigation on March 26, 2026 and mentioned Service Bulletins 23-008 and 23-099 to the Service Advisor he told me that they did not apply to my model year including 10-year extended warranty with unlimited mileage also did not apply. He said that my vehicle was still under factory warranty and to bring it in so that they can complete an analysis and order parts if needed. The Service Advisor said "full disclosure, Honda has not developed or provided the updated part needed to fix the problem." Those were his words. I have read that SB 23-008 and 23-099 do not fix this problem and if not completed correctly can create additional problems making me very concerned with what the dealer will propose to fix this problem.

Filed Jul 10, 2026 · Engine · TX

No restart after auto start/stop engaged. The engine failed to restart on its own from a complete stop at a traffic light and road intersection with the auto start/stop function engaged. This occurred at a very busy intersection on a road under construction. I had passengers in the truck with outside temperatures above 100 degrees. Traffic was extremely heavy and other vehicles were honking heavily. The vehicle would not re-start even after many attempts to push the ignition re-start button. At first I thought it was a battery issue but when pushing the ignition button there was absolutely no response by the starter. I was in a panic so I did not take a photo of the dash but everything seemed to go dead. I opened the door, got out and popped the hood. I checked the battery terminals. They seemed tight. I got back in the truck and pushed the starter button and the engine started like nothing was wrong and worked fine the rest of the day. This is the only the next morning so I have not driven the vehicle today or contacted the dealer service department yet. I intend to do so. I believe my truck experienced an Auto Idle Stop Restart Failure. I have read that opening and closing the door resets the vehicle's electrical system, allowing the push-button start to engage again. It seems this might be what happened when I got out to check the battery and then re-entered the vehicle. This situation left me and my passengers in a very dangerous situation. There were no warning lamps, messages or symptoms of the problem prior to the failure. I have read that this exact situation is a reoccurring issue with my model and year Honda Ridgeline and that Honda has not been able to effectively resolve this problem. This is a very serious problem and now I am almost afraid to drive my Honda truck which is almost new. Please help to correct this problem quickly as it creates very dangerous situations. I will be contacting the dealer service department today.

Filed Jul 10, 2026 · Electrical · MI

The auto stop start shuts off and does not always restart. While in traffic at a light multiple times it has shut off and not restarted .I have to turn off the vehicle and put it in park and restart the vehicle!