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
1,706 reports, newest first.
Engine, Sep 17, 2022
While driving between 30-45 MPH the engine RPM’s will start bouncing by around 500 RPM’s up and down. Usually on flat to slight grade with RPM’s in the area of 1500. The engine will bounce between 1200 up to 1800 RPM’s. Vehicle has 52,000 miles, just started in last couple thousand miles. Doing a Google search I found numerous complaints of same issue. This is a safety issue when the engine will unexpectedly surge or slow down.
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.
Engine, Sep 15, 2022
The contact owns a 2016 Honda Pilot. The contact stated that on several occasions without warning, the vehicle stalled. Additionally, the contact stated that a year ago, the vehicle stalled with several unknown warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where the battery was replaced and the contact was informed that the Start/Stop switch needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired however, the failure recurred. The dealer was notified of the failure and the contact stated that she was informed that there was no fix for the failure. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and the contact was informed that an appointment was scheduled for September 20th for a diagnostic test. The failure mileage was 89,529.
Engine, Lane departure, Sep 15, 2022
When the car stopped at red light, sometimes it can not restart. I got a few time too hard to restart to drive.
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.
Seat belts, Structure, Sep 13, 2022
Hood - flutters and wobbles significantly at highway speeds. Per recall check, this vehicle is not included. Seat belt - more of a personal thing, but the driver's seat belt cuts into the driver's neck, even when high of shoulder strap is adjusted. When using a device to help control where the shoulder strap lays, it was found that the driver's seat belt is MUCH shorter than all other in the vehicle. Therefore not allowing the driver to use something to adjust the shoulder portion and still safely check blind spots.
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.
Engine, Sep 7, 2022
The Honda Pilot includes an engine-idle stop feature that is specifically for energy savings. When this feature is on, when the vehicle comes to a stop, the engine idles and then is to restart upon release of the brake and by pressing on the accelerator. On a few occasions now, upon coming to a stop, my engine idles, and then when I attempt to press on the accelerator, the engine does not restart, but rather shuts off completely. When this occurs, multiple interior dash lights ignite and it states to shift to park. When attempting to shift to park the engine still does not come on, and rather I have had to wait until I am able to fully restart the car completely. This has occurred unexpectedly while in the middle of city traffic, while at a stop lights, and while at stop signs. On each occasion, it has been a safety issue as the vehicle is idle in the middle of traffic and there is no immediate resolution.
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.
Other or unspecified, Sep 5, 2022
My 2016 honda Pilot Touring model won’t restart after idle stopped. I have to place car in park and restart using the start button. Issue occurs only when can idle stops. This has happened to us about 5 - 6 times over a course of 1 year. Detailed says they are unable to find the issue after a software scan. This is a serious safety concern.
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.
Other or unspecified, Sep 4, 2022
This like the third time this has happened where the stop-start feature on my Honda Pilot almost have gotten me into a serious accident. It has happened during stop and go on I95 when I was heading to Maine and I stopped and it literally almost shutdown after I got ready to go forward. Most recently it happened 4 Sep 2022 at about 11:05am EST and was in a turning line in Chelsea, MA and it when it into stop idle shutdown feature but then completely shut off and it took about 2 to 3mins to get it to start back up. The car behind almost hit the back thinking I was pulling off but my Honda Pilot shutdown right when I was getting ready to take off. This is serious danger and defect in this when I see other vehicles operate with no problem with this feature. This could cause someone to get into a serious accident especially in Massachusetts.
Engine, Sep 4, 2022
On numerous occasions, the auto-engine stop/start feature that turns off the engine when the car comes to a stop has had issues where the engine does not restart and the car enters into an error state. I must then turn off the car, then turn it back on. Sometimes this happens after I've pulled out into an intersection but have to stop before proceeding.
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.
Engine, Sep 1, 2022
The vehicle stalls at stop signs, traffic lights and in stopped traffic. Sometimes takes multiple trys to restart the vehicle. Been happening regularly for several years. Have had multiple repairs done with no affect.
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.
Structure, Aug 28, 2022
I have a 2016 Honda Pilot, color, Pearl White. The paint started to peel appointmently one month ago. The area is on the roof in front of sunroof behind the front windshield. There is a recall on the same color, make, year and model. Peeling in the same area. I was told by Honda of America that it was only for Honda that were painted at a certain factory that are covered by the recall. I did have the vehicle inspected by Honda and a body shop that they sent me too. Total estimate is around $1200. They both confirmed that it's the same area as the recall. I do have the email with pictures that they took to send to Honda. Honda is only willing to cover 25% and told me to put a complaint into your department. PER Honda they said if there is enough complaints. There would be a recall for the other vin numbers to cover the paint job. We find there response unacceptable based on pass practice and previous recalls.
Other or unspecified, Aug 28, 2022
When you start the car it is always in economy mode so that the engine can shut off when you are stopped. I like to turn this feature off manually as a few times if I don’t the car has stalled and also goes into neutral. Happened while I was on California highway 80 in stop and go traffic which was pretty scary as I was in the center lane. This was about two months ago. It happens about 10% of the time when I am in this mode if not completely stalling it splutters and feels like it won’t start or delays to restart. Happened yesterday at a light. Became a safety issue as cars tried to go around me by getting into the next lane which was flowing freely. Basically if I don’t turn the function off when I first start the car it is not safe. The dealer took a look about a year ago and found nothing and said they had not heard of the issue. I pointed out I had read about the issue in Honda forums they could find them easily it however they had no interest, maybe because they focus on known issues? Love the car apart from this issue.
Engine, Aug 26, 2022
The engine will stall at stoplights. It appears the auto start/stop feature fails when engaged. Car has stalled 4xs in the past week. To fix issue: You have to put the car in park, foot on brake, and hit the start engine button in order to restart the car. Also put hazards on for safety reasons. Once car starts, you can put into drive and go forward. We've been fortunate not to have an accident. It's a significant safety issue stalling at stop lights with traffic behind you. Local Honda Service center could not replicate the issue. I instructed them that you have to drive car for ~20-25 minutes before it will stall. Car was scheduled for regular A156 Maintenance. They are looking at the stall issue today, 8/26/2022.
Other or unspecified, Aug 25, 2022
My 2016 Honda Pilot is displaying a "Keyless Start System Problem". There is a Service Bulletin 20-117 that extends the warranty for affected vehicles so they can be repaired under the warranty for free. The Service Bulletin states that ALL Trim levels are affected vehicles, however, my vin #[XXX], does not come up as an affected vehicle. My vehicle needs to be included in and covered by the Service Bulletin 20-117, which will extend the warranty so I can have my vehicle repaired. Please address at your earliest convenience. Thank you. INFORMATION Redacted PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).