2016 Honda Pilot
Problems, recalls and owner-reported issues
Engine is the leading concern among 1,706 owner complaints filed for this model year. This is the highest complaint count among 23 Pilot model years with reports.
Of the 2016 reports, 23 involved a crash and 10 involved a fire. 20 people were injured.
What owners report most often
Recalls and investigations
Structure, frame and membersJun 4, 2026
American Honda Motor Company (Honda) is recalling certain 2016-2022 Honda Pilot, 2017-2023 Ridgeline, 2019-2023 Passport, and 2014-2020 Acura MDX vehicles that were sold in Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, or Wisconsin. The rear subframe may corrode at the suspension mounting points, which can result in rear suspension component failure.
Failure of rear suspension components, such as the rear control arm, can cause a loss of vehicle handling and control, increasing the risk of a crash or injury.
Dealers will inspect the rear subframe and install a rear subframe reinforcement kit and, as necessary, repair or replace the rear subframe components, free of charge. Interim letters notifying owners of the safety risk were mailed July 27, 2026. Additional letters will be sent once the final remedy is available, anticipated in the fall of 2026. Owners may contact Honda's customer service at 1-888-234-2138. Honda's numbers for this recall are AOU and AOT. Vehicle Identification Numbers (VINs) involved in this recall will become searchable on NHTSA.gov beginning June 10, 2026.
Campaign 26V365000 on NHTSA.gov
Fuel system, gasoline, delivery, fuel pumpDec 18, 2023
Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) is recalling certain 2013-2023 Honda Accord, Civic Coupe, Civic Sedan, Civic Hatchback, Civic Type R, CR-V, HR-V, Ridgeline, Odyssey, Acura ILX, MDX, MDX Hybrid, RDX, RLX, TLX, 2019-2022 Honda Insight, Passport, 2020 Honda CR-V Hybrid, 2018-2019 Honda Clarity PHEV, Fit, and 2015-2020 Honda Accord Hybrid, Pilot, Acura NSX vehicles. The fuel pump inside the fuel tank may fail.
Fuel pump failure can cause an engine stall while driving, increasing the risk of a crash.
Dealers will replace the fuel pump module, free of charge. Owner letters were mailed September 6, 2024. Owners may contact Honda customer service at 1-888-234-2138. Honda's numbers for this recall are KGC and KGD. This recall is an expansion of NHTSA recall numbers 21V-215 and 20V-314.
Campaign 23V858000 on NHTSA.gov
Engine and engine cooling, engine, hard parts internal/mechanicalNov 13, 2023
Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) is recalling certain 2015-2020 Acura TLX, 2016-2020 Acura MDX, 2016 and 2018-2019 Pilot, 2017 and 2019 Ridgeline, and 2018-2019 Odyssey vehicles. Due to a manufacturing error, the connecting rod bearing in the engine may wear and seize, damaging the engine.
A damaged engine may run improperly or stall while driving, increasing the risk of a fire, crash, or injury.
Dealers will inspect and repair, or replace the engine as necessary, free of charge. Owner letters were mailed March 28, 2024. 2016-2017 Acura MDX owner letters were mailed November 1, 2024. 2016-2020 Acura MDX owner letters are expected to be mailed in mid-December 2024. Honda began mailing owner notification letters as of March 18, 2024. 2015-2016 Acura owner letters are expected to be mailed mid-December 2024, 2018 Acura TLX owner letters are expected to be mailed the end of March/early April 2024, 2019 Acura TLX owner letters are expected to be mailed mid-May 2024, 2020 Acura TLX owner letters are expected to be mailed mid-June 2024, and 2016-2020 Acura MDX owner letters are expected to be mailed January 27, 2025. Owners may contact Honda customer service at 1-888-234-2138. Honda's numbers for these recalls are XG1 and GG0.
Campaign 23V751000 on NHTSA.gov
Structure, body, hoodNov 29, 2021
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.
A hood that opens while driving can obstruct the driver's view and increase the risk of a crash.
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.
Campaign 21V932000 on NHTSA.gov
Fuel system, gasoline, storageMar 30, 2017
Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) is recalling certain 2016 Honda Pilot 2WD and AWD vehicles. The affected vehicles have fuel tanks that may leak.
A fuel leak in the presence of an ignition source can increase the risk of a fire.
Honda will notify owners, and dealers will replace the fuel tank, free of charge. Owners may contact Honda customer service at 1-888-234-2138. Honda's number for this recall is KE8.
Campaign 17V219000 on NHTSA.gov
Fuel system, gasoline, storage, tank assemblyJun 9, 2016
Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) is recalling certain model year 2015 Acura MDX 2WD and MDX 4WD vehicles, 2016 Acura MDX 4WD vehicles, 2015-2016 Honda Odyssey vehicles, and 2016 Honda Pilot 2WD and 4WD vehicles. The affected vehicles have fuel tanks that were manufactured with insufficient welds which may separate and allow fuel to leak out.
A fuel leak in the presence of an ignition source may result in a fire.
Honda will notify owners, and dealers will replace the fuel tanks, free of charge. Owners may contact Honda/Acura customer service at 1-888-234-2138. The recall began on July 29, 2016. Honda's numbers for this recall are KA9 (Honda vehicles) and KB0 (Acura vehicles).
Campaign 16V417000 on NHTSA.gov
Electrical system, instrument cluster/panelOct 16, 2015
Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) is recalling certain model year 2016 Honda Pilot 2WD vehicles manufactured May 4, 2015, to September 8, 2015 and 2016 Pilot 4WD vehicles manufactured May 7, 2015 to September 4, 2015. In the affected vehicles, when one of the safety systems such as tire pressure monitoring, anti-lock braking or electronic stability control malfunctions, there is potential that the instrument panel will not illuminate the corresponding warning light, however the warning lamps will illuminate when the ignition is turned off and then turned back on. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) number 126, "Electronic stability control systems", number 135, "Light vehicle brake systems" and number 138, "Tire pressure monitoring systems".
If a safety system cannot immediately warn the driver when needed, the driver may be at increased risk of a crash.
Honda will notify owners, and dealers will update the instrument cluster software, free of charge. The recall began on December 11, 2015. Owners may contact Honda customer service at 1-888-234-2138. Honda's number for this recall is JV7.
Campaign 15V668000 on NHTSA.gov
Seat belts, rear/otherJul 6, 2015
Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) is recalling certain model year 2016 Honda Pilot vehicles manufactured May 4, 2015, to June 5, 2015. Due to an assembly issue, the third row seatbelt may be trapped between the rear seat and the rear sideliner.
If the third row seatbelt is trapped, the occupants may not be restrained properly, increasing the risk of injury.
Honda will notify owners, and dealers will inspect and repair the rear third row seat belt, free of charge. The recall began on August 6, 2015. Owners may contact Honda customer service at 1-310-783-2000. Honda's number for this recall is JS7.
Campaign 15V424000 on NHTSA.gov
Representative owner complaints: electrical system
579 reports, newest first. Show all
Electrical system, Oct 5, 2022
The contact owns a 2016 Honda Pilot. The contact stated that after stopping at a red light the auto shut off feature activated and turned the engine off to consever fued. After releasing the brake pedal the engine restarted but immediately shut off after the vehicle had rolled into the busy intersection. The vehicle would not immdiatly restart. The message "keyless start problem" had displayed. The cause of the failure was not determined. The local dealer was notified of the failure. The manufacturer was not contacted. . The failure mileage was 120,000.
Electrical system, Engine, Oct 5, 2022
When at a stop, t he start/stop feature is enabled and the engine shuts off as expected. When I lift my foot off the brake, it doesn't always restart, and I am left stranded in an intersection or at a light, and almost in accidents. Very unsafe. I have to turn it off every time I get into the car. When I forget to turn it off, it always fails to restart.
Electrical system, Oct 4, 2022
The idle stop shuts off my engine as designed but then it fails to restart approximately 10% of the time. When this occurs I have to put my car in park, turn off the car completely, turn it back on and put it in drive. While this most frequently happens at stop lights it has occured on the freeway when I have needed to stop. The frequency in which this is happening seems to be increasing. I have already had the start button on the car replaced twice. The issue continues to happen with increasing frequency.
Electrical system, Engine, Sep 30, 2022
Start stop failed in middle of intersection. The car died and would not restart without a jump. Battery has been replay and it continues
Electrical system, Sep 23, 2022
Driving in traffic. Idle stop system kicked in to turn off the engine. I let my foot off the brake pedal to turn left in the intersection, and the engine failed to restart after stopping. I put the car in park, and the car would not re-start. Ultimately, I had to turn the car fully off and then back on before it would restart. I was blocking traffic for over a minute with the car unable to restart. There had been several prior instances where the car almost didn't re-start, but this is the first time that it would not restart. I have seen prior notices that the NHTSA ODI is currently investigating this issue.
Electrical system, Engine, Sep 21, 2022
The vehicle is equipped with start stop feature. The issue is it will stop, then crank for a second or two, but sometimes not restart. It’s a safety issue when you try to move with traffic, but the engine is now off. This issue has been reported to the Honda dealer numerous times over a 4 year period. The starter & battery has been replaced, but the issue still exists.
Power train, Electrical system, Engine, Sep 15, 2022
For years, dating back to 2018, our 2016 Honda Pilot Elite auto on/off switch operations has been failing. Vehicle will not restart the engine after its engaged the auto start off. Engine and all components including electrical are off. Dashboard indications light up and essentially we are stalled, at risk of not being able to drive. It requires to place the car into park and restart the engine. This is serious safety issue that could result in being struct by another vehicle without being able to move. I have been taking the car to several authorized Honda service dealerships to address the issue. They have replaced multiple times the auto on/off switch, battery, adjusted values and updated software with no resolution. One dealership claimed to disable the auto on/off switch but this is NOT feasible. With the latest inspection, another local Honda dealership contacted Honda Corp Tech Line for assistance. Once again they instructed the dealer to perform all the potential fixes above and to ignore a code P2638. After investigating this online, Honda and NHTSA have opened an investigation June 2022 on this issue after 220+ complaints. There is no known fix, yet Honda Corp Tech Line informed local dealer to conduct value adjustments yet again, at a labor cost to us.
Electrical system, Sep 15, 2022
The contact owns a 2016 Honda Pilot. The contact stated that while operating the vehicle, the engine would not immediately restart after the START/STOP feature was activated. The contact indicated that the vehicle occasionally restarted approximately three seconds after releasing the brake pedal. On other occasions, the vehicle would not restart. The vehicle was able to be restarted by pressing the START/STOP button. The cause of the failure was not yet determined. The local dealer was notified of the failure and a service appointment was scheduled. The contact referenced the NHTSA Investigation Number: PE22005 (Engine and Engine Cooling). The contact indicated that the vehicle had experienced the same failure listed in the investigation. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was 47,000.
Electrical system, Sep 13, 2022
Engine fails to restart after an automatic engine idle stop while completely stopped at a stop sign.
Electrical system, Sep 13, 2022
The auto start/stop feature activated while I was at a stop and shut the vehicle off. When I removed my foot from the brake the vehicle stalled and would not restart. Had to place the vehicle in park and apply the brake to get it to restart. The restart took multiple pushes of the start button. This was a busy intersection where I immediately became a hazard.
Electrical system, Engine, Sep 12, 2022
The engine's idle-stop feature shut off my car while stopped at a busy intersection in urban traffic, and took 15 seconds to restart the automobile. The idle-stop feature kicked in when at an intersection. When I took my foot off the brake to accelerate forward, the car instead turned off. The dashboard prompted me to shift the car into park, put my foot on the brake, and press the engine ignition button. I did so, but the car did not restart, even when I repeated the process 2-3 times. Finally, on the fourth time, the car restarted.
Electrical system, Sep 9, 2022
I own a 2016 Honda Pilot (Touring) model. Upon start-up the idle-stop feature is defaulted to enabled. When the vehicle comes to a stop the idle-stop feature shuts down the engine but leaves some features such as air conditioning and radio running. Upon disengaging the brake, the vehicle should automatically restart. However, on many occasions both on residential and freeway the vehicle has failed to restart and stalled. After putting the vehicle in park and attempting to restart it, it does not restart right away. Because of the stall, the vehicle appears to be left in an indeterministic state making restart more difficult and time consuming. After several tries of applying the brake and pressing the on/off button to restart the vehicle, the vehicle finally restarts. When the vehicle stalls, many of the dashboard lights come on... maybe all of them do. The major safety issue is that the vehicle becomes non-operative on busy streets or freeways. The driver will be required to turn on his hazard lights while trying to restart the vehicle. This failure places the driver and passengers at risk of being hit because it is non-operational in an environment/situation where other motorists believe you should be moving. I have made an appointment with my dealership to have it inspected. The problem has occurred multiple times on both the street and freeway. It is not always easily reproducible but has been witnessed by passengers in my vehicle. There appears to information from the public regarding this type of failure on social media.
Electrical system, Engine, Forward collision avoidance, Sep 7, 2022
AUTO START / STOP functionality won't re start engine after it has engaged. Engine won't crank over, multiple dash warnings come on. PUSH START bottom doesn't work, have to put vehicle back in PARK and have to attempt several times to start engine.
Electrical system, Engine, Sep 5, 2022
We have a 2016 Honda Pilot Touring model equipped with the stop-start feature. This feature has failed to restart the engine while stopped at an intersection 3 times; after the first failure we try to remember to disable the feature however it must be disabled every time the car is started (worse, there is a delay in the confirmation that sometime leads to pushing the button twice and inadvertently re-enabling the auto-stop-start). The first time the stop-start failed was near the end of a long trip (New Jersey to North Carolina); it was dark out and we stopped at highway traffic signal triggering the auto-stop, there was no indication that anything was wrong. When releasing the brake, the car failed to start and went into an "off/stalled" state, leaving us stuck in the dark intersection with no lights (presumably the brake lights still worked). Given the vehicle has both an automatic transmission and ignition controlled by buttons (not a shifter/key switch); it took nearly a minute to find the right combination of button (and brake pedal) presses need to get the car restarted (as this was a highway light, the cycles are long). We took it to get the ignition system tested the next day and everything tested OK. We did not experience the issue again for roughly 7 months. The second and third time occurred in the same drive: our son sustained a compound fracture to his arm and given our proximity (less then 2.5 miles) to the ER we opted to drive ourselves there. The auto-stop-start failure occurred at a busy 4-way intersection; upon getting the vehicle restarted (in an admitedly more panicked state) we unsuccessfully attempted to disable the auto-stop-start. The failure occurred again about a mile away at the stop light before the ER; this time the car would not start back up; ultimately we let the car sit for an extremely long minute (a full cycle of the traffic light) before attempting to successfully start the car again in time for the next green light.
Electrical system, Engine, Sep 4, 2022
When auto stop/start engages the vehicle occasionally will experience a complete engine and electrical shut down when auto start is supposed to engage; the is often leads to a dead vehicle in traffic at an intersection. Occasionally it will have extreme difficulty with a restart, often only starting after several attempts at push button starting. Fuel injectors and battery have all been replaced recently, fuel injectors under recall/manufacturer issue and battery at replacement lifetime. Is often unpredictable when it will cause issues and when it will operate correctly. Has occurred intermittently for several years with a somewhat unpredictable pattern.
Steering, Electrical system, Engine, Sep 3, 2022
When stopped at a red light with my foot on the brake and the engine in idle, the engine turned off when I put my foot on the gas peddle. The engine idle stop was on. This occurred while stopped in city traffic (6/2022) and again when I was stopped at a red light on a highway (9/3/2022). The car rolled backward. I had to put the car in park and restart the car. I now have manually turned off the engine idle stop.
Electrical system, Aug 29, 2022
My 2016 Touring Honda Pilot has an issue with the idle stop/start feature. I exited the highway and the vehicle shit down as I was decelerating. All of the dash lights flashed and the car would not accelerate. The flashing warning toggled bw engine idle problem and transmission. I was unable to shift gears even into neutral. After shutting the car off, It acted normally for a few weeks. Now, the car is doing it again and I had to have it towed to the dealership bc the lights continued flashing and the I couldn’t shift gears. Dealer says it’s an electronic control issue and costs $900 to repair.
Electrical system, Engine, Aug 29, 2022
This issue has occurred twice. First occurrence was when stopped in traffic. Auto stop engaged. When brake was released auto start caused vehicle to stall-out. Vehicle restarted after multiple attempts. Second occurrence was when stopped at traffic light. Auto stop engaged. When brake was released auto start caused vehicle to stall-out. Vehicle restarted after one attempt. For both occurrences, radio was on, air-conditioning was on and outside temperature was +85 degrees. This is a serious safety concern.
Electrical system, Engine, Aug 25, 2022
Car has auto engine stop/restart as a fuel saving measure. Several times the car has failed to restart after turning off. This happens in highway stop/go traffic, at traffic lights. This is dangerous, as my foot comes off the brake, cars behind me think i am moving, and then the engine fails as it is restarting. I have to then put my foot back on the brake, put the car in park, and restart the engine before being able to drive again. This happened on 8/25, and 3 other times within the last month. This did also happen perhaps a year or 2 ago, the dealer did examine the car but I don't believe they found any issues to be repaired.
Electrical system, Engine, Fuel/propulsion system, Aug 24, 2022
With increasing frequency of occurrence, the car will not start after the auto stop/start mechanism has been invoked. For example, when stopped at a red light, the engine will turn off as the car is not moving. However, once the light turns to green and the brake is depressed, the car will not start and/or will start and then the engine will cut-out. To start the engine, the car needs to be fully turned off, gear put into Park and then restarted. There appears to be something at fault with the automatic stop-start mechanism and/software. My car is a 2016 Honda Pilot Touring with less than 28K miles.
Power train, Electrical system, Engine, Aug 23, 2022
My 2016 Honda Pilot Touring stalls out at a red light while using the auto stop-start. It happens occasionally when I take my foot off the brake and put my foot on the gas. Instead of coming out of idle with the engine starting up again, the car would stall completely and I would have to put the car in park, press the brake pedal and push the start button to get it on again. I took the car into the dealer and they told me that there was no software update and that they couldn’t do a update anyways because check engine light wasn’t on. Also have a issue with transmission not switching gears smoothly on take off. Jerks on take of. Once again they told me transmission was fine and there was no software update and that they couldn’t do a update anyways because check engine light wasn’t on.
Electrical system, Engine, Aug 22, 2022
When start-stop feature is "on," the car will not start again in certain instances when the engine is shut down after a complete stop. The NHTSA currently has an investigation opened in this matter (opened in June 2022)
Electrical system, Engine, Aug 22, 2022
As previously described on the NHTSA website, this model has the 9 speed transmission and it randomly turns the vehicle off at intersections/red lights when the vehicle is stopped. It is different than the engine start/stop system since the full vehicle turns off. It is very random and stressful when it happens since other vehicles are then waiting on our Pilot to get moving again.
Electrical system, Other or unspecified, Aug 21, 2022
The auto engine idle feature malfunctions. When stopped in traffic and at intersections the auto engine idle feature turns off the engine; however fails to restart. I can put the car into park, but the brake remains engaged and the ignition button blinks white. I have attempted many different things to 'reset' the computer. Putting the car in park, waiting, unlocking seatbelt, open/shut door. The last time, i had to walk away from the vehicle with the key fob in traffic. Locking and unlocking the car seemed to reset the computer. This placed me in dangerous traffic. It has happened in a construction zone on interstate, at intersections several times, during rush hour when it was impossible to leave the vehicle due to high speed traffic, and once while towing. Each episode has generally taken about 15 minutes for computer to shut down/reset. There is no message on the dash before , during or after. I now disengage the auto engine idle button when driving due to fear of being stranded in dangerous traffic situations. If I forget to turn it off, it is likely to malfunction. I have contacted the dealership about this problem before. There was no code, so the problem was deemed a mystery and remains unresoved by Honda.
Electrical system, Other or unspecified, Engine, Aug 10, 2022
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. This happens intermittently, but has put my family in danger on several occasions. When the light turns green, the car turns off, and has to be put in park and restarted. I have come close to being rear-ended during these situations, as approaching vehicles have to stop suddenly because my car is disabled. I have taken a video of these incidents, but Honda is unable to recreate the issue and has not offered a solution.