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: engine
812 reports, newest first. Show all
Other or unspecified, Engine, Jul 24, 2022
I’m having problem with the start/stop feature if my honda pilot 2016. For a couple of incidents already, when the car idle on a stop, it will not start back. It happened today 7/23/22 in Fletcher ave in Fort Lee, NJ. I had to jump start the car and it caused traffic for a while.
Engine, Jul 23, 2022
The Auto Engine Idle Stop malfunctions. This has happened multiple times. When this feature is NOT de-activated, the engine will turn off (at say a traffic light) and will not restart properly. While this has happened multiple times, today I took note of the specifics. When I realized the engine was turning off, I attempted to disable the auto engine idle stop. The car switched itself to neutral, the battery light came on and I had to push the button to start it again. During this time the A/C also turned off. On previous occasions, instructions have appeared on the digital screen (i.e. press brake, press start twice, etc,), but I do not recall the specifics as this causes anxiety and panic when it happens. I've had to turn on my hazard lights in the past while I attempt to restart the vehicle, while traffic is building behind my disabled vehicle. This issue does not always happen, but when it does, it's terrifying. It's dangerous as someone would expect you to be driving, but cannot because your vehicle has randomly shut off (say in traffic). I told the dealer about it a while ago, but they could not recreate the issue.
Engine, Jul 20, 2022
At lights when the vehicle stops for a short period, the engine goes off and is supposed to restart. Many times the engine is kicking off, this is not normal, it has almost caused us to get rear-ended a couple of times because the car goes off completely. You have to put the car in park and turn it off and on again to restart. As you can imagine this also frustrates drivers behind us. Please look into this, it is a HUGE safety issue. I don't see it as a recall as of yet, but read people have been reporting the same issue.
Engine, Jul 20, 2022
While waiting for green light,the gear transfer from D to P automatically and stuck there, the only thing I can do is turn off the engine and restart it, that happened four times in recent three months , the car became unreliable, I don’t know when it will happen again.
Power train, Engine, Fuel/propulsion system, Jul 18, 2022
The engine begins to idle rough, after a few days of driving a lot of cluster lights come on starting with check engine light, VSA as well as others. Disconnecting battery works to clear the the codes, engine will appear to idle ok but after a week of driving it will start idling rough again, then the cluster lights will light up as before. I believe this is due to Service Bulletin 20-100 or Service Bulletin A20-100 which states that issues with the fuel injectors were found relating to quality control. The TSB listed above states that if your vehicle is affected by these symptoms your warranty will be extended to 10 years of manufacture date or 150,000 miles. Our Pilot currently has under 80,000 miles on the odometer.
Steering, Engine, Jul 18, 2022
While driving on the highway on cruise mode, the car was driving fine. Then suddenly, cruise mode turns off, and the following four lights appeared on the dash: emissions system problem, vehicle stability assist problem, hill stability assist problem, and steering problem. When the car attempted to accelerate, it would not go above 50 mph on a 70mph highway. When it did go above 50mph, the car would bounce as if it was on a bumpy road even though the road was smooth. Additionally, when the problem would appear again, the car would suddenly slow down, increasing risk for an accident with the other cars driving so fast. We have bought many cars in the past but this was the first time we have ever experienced a problem like this with a Honda vehicle. I came on here to send this message to make other drivers aware that this is a common problem that 2016 Honda pilots have been experiencing, according to some mechanics.
Electrical system, Engine, Jul 15, 2022
When the auto idle stop is not disengaged (the default setting when the car starts is that the auto idle stop is engaged), the car will sometimes not restart when the idle stop occurs. It's unpredictable and scary, especially when it occurs at a light or in stop-and-go traffic. The dashboard lights up like a Christmas tree, and there is a clicking noise. I have to place it into Park, shut off the engine fully (it's not running - I think it's in Accessory mode), step on the brake and restart. Because of this, I make a habit of disengaging the auto idle stop when I start the car. Unfortunately, sometimes I forget to disengage and this engine restart failure happens. I have read that an old/weak battery is suspected. This is not true in my case. This issue has happened several times after I changed the battery on 12/15/2020. Interstate MTX48/H6 battery at $300. It's not just me - it has happened to my wife, and my 17 year old son, when driving this car. At first, I thought my wife did something wrong, then it happened to me. In total, I'd guess it's happened > 6-7 times. We try to be careful to push the button and disengage the auto idle stop. But you have to do it EVERY TIME YOU START THE CAR. If you forget or are distracted, then the problem can occur.
Engine, Jul 15, 2022
Cuando el motor se pone en reposo para economizar gasolina y emitir menos emisiones y le toca arrancar no enciende el motor.
Electrical system, Engine, Fuel/propulsion system, Jul 14, 2022
While stopped at a red light, with the auto start enabled, the car would not turn back on and placed the car in “neutral”. The dash info message prompted me to put the car in “park”. I did. It then instructed me to depress the brake and hit the “start” button to turn the car on. It did not after I tried a few times. Finally to get it started I pushed the “start” button with the key fob. It then turned on and allowed me to put it in “drive”.
Engine, Jul 11, 2022
Engine will intermittently not re-start after the auto-stop start function turns the engine off. Most recently happened on I-95 in stop and go traffic and took multiple efforts to re-start the engine. Was a very dangerous location to be stopped given the volume of traffic at the time and the number of large trucks.
Engine, Jul 11, 2022
Honda Pilot Elite shuts off at stop light due to idle-stop feature, the car did not turn back till after 5 minutes. Tried multiple times to restart engine.
Engine, Jul 11, 2022
On several occasions I have been stopped in traffic and the engine idle stop feature kicks in on my vehicle. When I remove my foot from the brake, the vehicle shuts off and I have to restart it. I took my vehicle to the dealer twice for this. The first time I was told that the battery tested fine and there was nothing that showed up during the diagnostics. The second time I was told that the battery and the starter tested fine, but the ignition switch needed to be replaced. They replaced the ignition switch so I thought the problem was fixed. I try to remember to turn off the idle stop feature when I start my car, but sometimes I forget. A little over a week after I got the ignition switch changed out I was at the gas station filling up my tank. As I was exiting the shopping center's parking lot I encountered a little traffic. I stopped and my car shut off completely. The cars that were coming behind me started honking, but I could not move because my vehicle would not start back up. I was able to put on the hazard lights, but eventually they died as well. Everything shut down in the car there was no power. While I was waiting for AAA some guys tried to give me a jump, but it didn't work. They also tried to push me out of the lane of traffic, but because all of the systems in the car shutdown, we were not able to put the car in neutral so they could push it to safety. We had to look up a video on youtube to learn how to manually put car in neutral. Meanwhile I'm in the lane of traffic and anyone could have rear ended me. Finally when AAA got there they were able to jump my car after trying repeatedly. Also, while the car was trying to boot back up, all sorts of system error messages started popping up on the dashboard.
Electrical system, Engine, Jul 10, 2022
Today was the second time my car has shut down at a traffic light in the last 2 months. The auto engine stop kicks in and the car shuts down. It took multiple combinations of pressing the start button and turning on/off the car before I could get it to restart. I’ve recently replaced the battery so I don’t think it’s a weak battery.
Electrical system, Engine, Fuel/propulsion system, Jul 7, 2022
When idling at a stop light, the auto shut off feature engaged and turned off the engine. When I engaged the gas to start moving again, the engine would not restart. I applied to brake, put the car into park and then tried to manually restart the car using the start button on the dash. The car engine would not start. The auxiliary power to the accessories would not go off when I pushed the stop/start button on the dash, but the engine would not restart either. I attempted to restart the car several times. It did not attempt to turn the engine over, but did literally nothing. I paused and waited for a minute and then attempted to restart the car again with the stop/start button and the car engine finally turned on. The exact same sequence of events has happened and two separate occasions some weeks apart. This incident put my and my passengers’ safety at risk by stranding me at very busy intersections with no way to move the vehicle out of the road. The auto-shutoff feature has engaged while in stop and go traffic on the freeway and if this had happened then, the results could be catastrophic. I now always manually turn off this feature due to fear of this happening again and would disengage it entirely if possible, but was informed by the dealer that was not possible. No one has inspected the vehicle as the problem is not reproducible on demand, but I am willing for any necessary inspections to occur.
Engine and engine cooling, Jun 30, 2022
The contact owns a 2016 Honda Pilot. The contact stated that while the Auto START/STOP feature was engaged, the engine failed to restart after a stop. Several unknown warning lights were illuminated. The contact called the local dealer but the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The contact stated the failure was related to NHTSA Action Number: PE22005 (Engine and Engine Cooling). The failure mileage was approximately 100,000.
Electrical system, Engine, Jun 30, 2022
The contact owns a 2016 Honda Pilot. The contact stated that on multiple occasions, the START/STOP feature failed to operate as needed while at a complete stop. The contact stated that the vehicle would shut off upon releasing the brake pedal with several unknown warning lights illuminated. The contact had the vehicle towed to an independent mechanic on several occasions where several electrical components were replaced. The dealer was notified of the failure and the contact was informed that they had no knowledge of the failure. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 75,000.
Engine, Jun 29, 2022
The contact owns a 2016 Honda Pilot. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle lost motive power with the check engine warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was diagnosed with a misfire in cylinder #3. The dealer informed the contact that the engine needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired and remained with the dealer. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 130,000.
Engine, Jun 28, 2022
The engine's auto idle stop-start system malfunctions intermittently and unexpectedly when stopped at traffic lights, intersections and other roadway stops. The engines shuts down after a normal idling stop, but instead of restarting when the brake is released and the accelerator is pressed to proceed the car remains shutdown and will not restart automatically to proceed out of the intersection or stopped position. There is NO warning of the impending failure to restart - when the brake is released and the vehicle should restart > Annunciator panel then illuminates to an engine off status, the engine remains off/stalled > the car must be put into 'Park', the Brake depressed and a manual restart attempted, all while disoriented and sitting stationary with traffic moving around the vehicle. This is extremely dangerous and completely non anticipatable. The vehicles engine will not restart without multiple cycles/attempts, often with as many as 6 tries or more - taking many minutes while other traffic attempts to maneuver around the vehicle. This has been present with the vehicle since 16,280 miles, now 53,000 miles(6yrs). Multiple Honda Pilot owners have reported this dangerous issue, Honda is aware, the safety concerns of Pilot owners are apparently being ignored by Honda without an effective investigation/engineered solution. I've taken the vehicle to Honda dealership multiple times and told there is no standard/effective 'fix' which has been communicated by Honda to their service centers for this issue - and any attempts to remedy it by replacing the battery, ignition switch or starter has been reported at best as temporary - Dealer service centers refuse to guarantee any remedy attempts or provide any warranty on repair attempts - that any attempt to fix the issue is at the owners expense and risk. This needs to be investigated as a very significant safety issue leaving vehicles full of occupants disoriented/stalled in busy intersections/roadways.
Engine, Jun 27, 2022
Engine is stalling / cutting out at stoplights or when slowing down or stopped in traffic. Car is still in drive but requires that I place it in park, shut off car completely (in traffic) and restart the car. This is an ongoing issue that I have reported to my Honda dealer but they have said there are “no codes” generated and cannot find anything wrong with my vehicle. This is becoming a safety hazard especially if my car slows and stalls in an intersection. It’s causing me severe anxiety when I drive anywhere.
Electrical system, Engine, Jun 26, 2022
Auto Idle System failure. This has been a problem for several years and continues to be a safety issue. If I don't disable the auto idle feature my car will die when I take my foot off of the brake to accelerate.. The vehicle has to do a complete computer reset before I am able to restart the engine. This has happened many, many times at stop lights when the light turns green and I attempt to accelerate, when waiting to merge onto the frontage road of I-35, when turning onto a main road out of a parking lot when traffic is backed up but someone was attempting to let me into the lane (I was half in and half out of the parking lot). In every situation, there is someone behind me expecting me to go (rightfully so). I could easily be hit if the other drivers weren't paying attention. This is a safety hazard and needs to be recalled and repaired. I've asked my mechanic about it and the Honda dealership. No one knows what to do. I've replaced the battery twice thinking maybe that would help but it didn't.
Engine, Jun 24, 2022
Rattling Noise in Engine after I stepped on the gas pedal at a light. Honda said the Engine needs to be replaced. 80,000 Miles never missed an oil change. Prior to the engine issue the pilot would stall at stop lights due to the auto shutoff feature. Honda attempted to replace the stop/start button, it did not fix the problem. When I brought it the 2nd time they said my battery was likely causing the issue and it needed to be replaced. I informed them I purchased a new battery two months prior. The issue was so bad that we had shut off the feature everytime we started the car.
Electrical system, Engine, Jun 24, 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 engaged. Making it necessary to restart manually.
Engine, Jun 22, 2022
The vehicle has what is called "auto idle," which means that when the brake is fully depressed under certain conditions (ie a stop sign or a red traffic light), the engine turns itself off. The engine is supposed to start again when pressure is lifted from the brake. However, during the summers of 2020, 2021 and 2022 (which makes me believe the use of the air conditioning is involved in this problem), the car stalls out after the auto-idle is engaged rather than the engine restarting as it should. It has taken me several minutes to then get the vehicle to turn off so that I can try to start the car once again to move out of the way of traffic. Last week this happened on a busy highway. The cars that were stopped immediately behind me all went around me while I was trying to get my car restarted, leaving me totally exposed to being backended by someone going fast and not realizing that my car is inoperable in the middle of a busy highway. This has happened approximately 10 times over the last three summers. I have had it investigated by Honda in Bel Air, MD, who informed me that while my battery was new and therefore working properly, it simply isn't giving enough charge to the car to restart after the auto-idle is engaged. This is completely unaccepable and someone is going to get hurt unless Honda addresses this problem. Yes, the system is availble for inspection. Yes the dealer confirmed the problem. No the vehicle has not been inspected by anyone. No, there were no warnings, messages or other sypmtoms prior to the failure (i.e. the car completely stalling out).
Engine, Jun 22, 2022
After Honda Idle-Stop feature engages at a stop light the car won't restart without putting car into park, turning off, and then turning back on. It often takes several attempts to restart the car before it works. This leaves the passengers at extreme risk of injury from collision.
Engine, Jun 22, 2022
System effected: Auto idle engine stop and start. My 2016 Honda Pilot-Elite has problems with auto start/stop. When I stop at traffic light the engine automatically stops but when traffic light turns green and I am ready to go the car engine doesn’t automatically start. Instead it asks me to put car in parking and push the start button. It doesn’t start with one push and I have to try numerous times. It’s causing problem to me as well as other cars in the traffic. It poses great danger to me getting stuck in car in the middle of the road