2017 Honda Pilot
Problems, recalls and owner-reported issues
Engine is the leading concern among 926 owner complaints filed for this model year. This is the 2nd highest complaint count among 23 Pilot model years with reports.
Of the 2017 reports, 9 involved a crash and 5 involved a fire. 6 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
Air bags, sensor, occupant classification, front passengerMay 21, 2026
Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) is recalling certain 2018-2021, 2023 Acura TLX, 2019-2024 RDX, 2017-2020, 2022-2026 MDX, 2017-2021, 2023, 2025 Honda Ridgeline, 2017-2022 Pilot, 2019-2021 Passport, 2018-2026 Odyssey, 2019-2022 Insight, 2019-2021 HR-V, 2018-2020 Fit, 2020-2022 CR-V Hybrid, 2017-2022 CR-V, 2017-2018, 2021 Civic Type R, 2017-2021 Civic hatchback, 2016-2020 Civic coupe, 2016-2022 Civic, 2017-2022 Accord Hybrid, and 2016-2022 Accord vehicles. The front passenger seat weight sensor may crack and short circuit, which can cause the air bags to deploy unintentionally during a crash.
Air bags that deploy unintentionally during a crash increase the risk of injury.
Dealers will replace the seat weight sensors, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed July 7, 2026. Owners may contact Honda's customer service at 1-888-234-2138. Honda's numbers for this recall are BOL, WO9, OOA, WOM, XOH, NOC, POD, BOE, UOF, POB, EOG, AOI, QO8, TOJ, DO7, and SOK. This recall expands previous NHTSA recall number 24V064. Vehicle Identification Numbers (VINs) involved in this recall will be searchable on NHTSA.gov beginning May 29, 2026.
Campaign 26V332000 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
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
Representative owner complaints: engine
481 reports, newest first. Show all
Engine, Jun 10, 2022
The contact owns a 2017 Honda Pilot. The contact stated while coming to a stop at a traffic light or traffic sign, the vehicle shut off while the vehicle was stopped. The contact stated that several unknown warning lights were illuminated as soon as the vehicle came to a stop. The contact stated that it took several attempts to restart the vehicle. The contact had taken the vehicle to a local dealer who diagnosed the failure and determined that the battery needed to be replaced. The contact had the battery replaced by an independent mechanic. The vehicle was repaired; however, the failure recurred. The manufacturer had not been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was unknown.
Engine, Jun 10, 2022
My 2017 Honda Pilot Elite is equipped with an auto idle/stop functionality. I depress the brake all the way (at a full stop) and the engine temporarily turns off. Much like the other 200+ complaints you received, I'm also experiencing the issue where the car stalls after I remove my foot from the brake (so that the engine turns on again). Sometimes the electrical system "resets" (sounds like everything clicks off and then on again), but recently I have had the car stall (more than once). Additionally, the other day when this happened the car "shuddered." A couple of times I've had to turn off the car completely and then turn it on again. Fortunately, I have not needed a jumpstart.
Engine, Jun 9, 2022
During auto start/stop car will not restart when the brake is release.
Engine, Jun 9, 2022
The system that has failed involves the auto-idle feature which is automatically engaged when the car is turned on, and operates by putting the car into idle and turns off the engine when the vehicle is stopped; when the brake is released, the engine is supposed to automatically restart. However, in our vehicle, when the brake is released, the car stalls. Sometimes it cannot be restarted for several minutes. This is extremely unsafe, as it has happened in bumper to bumper traffic, and at traffic lights, where the car stall unexpectedly, then we are stranded in traffic and this puts the occupants of our car at risk, as well as the occupants in cars around us who don't know that we are stalled and are expecting our vehicle to continue in traffic. We reported this to our local Honda dealer, and they said that they have not heard of this problem and don't know what is causing it. The car has not been inspected by others. There have been no warning signs that this will occur. We are able to manually disable the auto idle feature when we turn on the engine, so that the car will not stall. This is what we generally do every time we drive our car. If we forget, the car stalls after we brake at a full stop then release the brake. We don't recall the date that this first occurred, but it has happened at least a dozen times over the past several months or longer. The date below is the date of a recent incident when the car stalled at a traffic light on a high speed road and we were unable to start the car for several minutes. We had four occupants in the car at the time.
Engine, Jun 9, 2022
The auto-stop and -start function is not working correctly. When I am stopped at a light or in traffic and the auto-stop engages, the engine sometimes refuses to start back up when I take my foot off the brake and put it on the gas. It has been dangerous when the light turns green and my engine won't start. I've had to tell other cars to go around me. Usually I have had to turn off my SUV and try to re-start it several times before the engine finally turns on again. This started happening about a year or two after I got the 2017 model year SUV (new in May of 2018). When I first told Honda about it, my service tech told me he thought it was the battery, and he had it replaced. That solved the problem temporarily (for many months maybe close to a year). The issue started happening again and I went to Honda asking for another battery based on what happened the last time. They tested the battery and said it was fine. They could not explain why the auto-stop -start function wasn't working properly, but suggested I may be hitting the gas too soon (which I disagree with because I didn't change my driving habits after the battery was replaced the first time and the problem went away for a short while). The problem keeps happening, so I have to remember to turn off the auto-stop and -start manually every time before I drive to prevent it.
Electrical system, Engine, Fuel/propulsion system, Jun 9, 2022
I own a 2017 Honda Pilot Elite, with 65000 miles, that was purchased new. The vehicle has repeatedly stalled at various point of operation. Upon stalling, every light appears to activate on the dashboard. The vehicle remains stalled until the computer "recycles." I can usually restart the vehicle within 2+ minutes. The dealer, located in Rancho Santa Margarita, California, has identified the vehicle’s stop-start as the problem. The dealer suggested to turn off the stop-start while driving the vehicle but that is problematic as this needs to be done each time the vehicle engine is turned off and then restarted. The dealer, upon inspection, found some errors in the ECU, but none that would create this problem. The dealer is unable to recreate the problem and admitted that many Honda Pilots have this issue. To possibly fix the problem, the dealer suggested a valve replacement at a cost of $1000+ and a new battery, even though the battery has been tested and is fine. These vehicles are dangerous, and Honda has done nothing to correct the problem.
Engine, Jun 9, 2022
I just read an article which says the FEDS are investigating Honda Pilot SUV engine failures. The compliant being that the fuel-saving stop-start system on some Honda Pilot SUVs can fail to restart. I personally have experienced this issue at least three or four times in my Honda Pilot. For this reason, I do not use the fuel-saving stop-start system anymore. However, when I did experience the issue it was exactly as described in the article. I was at a stop light. I took my foot off the brake and the engine did not restart. I was fumbling pushing buttons trying to get the car to start. I would turn on my emergency blinkers to let cars know I was experiencing a problem. I think eventually I turned the engine start button on and off and the car started. I had complained and expressed my frustration with the Honda repair people when I took my car in for regular servicing. They were either not really aware of the issue or not concerned. After reading the article, I wanted to let you know that I have experienced the issue. I think if other people were aware there was an investigation they might come forward to. I didn't want you to think it was only 221 people that had experienced it as stated in the article, because perhaps the problem is more wide spread that we are aware of. Honestly, it is a very uncomfortable feeling to be stuck a stop light with a car that won't move and you have no idea why.
Engine, Jun 9, 2022
I would like to formally report an issue with my 2017 Honda Pilot Touring's auto stop/start feature. I have had several scary incidents where my Honda would not restart at an intersection or on the highway due to high traffic and needed to stop. This is very scary and it is not easy to restart with the fear of getting rear ended by vehicles approaching. With the push button start feature it can be very difficult under stress to re-start your vehicle when the auto stop/start features stalls and needs to be restarted. My wife refuses to drive my car and the inability to permanently turn off the feature creates risk if you don't manually turn it off after starting the vehicle each time.
Electrical system, Engine, Jun 9, 2022
Hello, I was driving down the road and my collision mitigation light quickly flashed on and then went off with no objects in front of me or bad weather or rain. Also, my vehicle felt like it tapped the brakes and the steering wheel slightly jerked a little. It was maybe a half second long and then went back to normal. I kept driving and the vehicle did it once again and then 2 more times. The last time I was pulling up to a light when it did it. I should have pulled over first but I decided to turn the vehicle off and turn it back on to maybe reset the computer. Also, I know the car does this anyway when I have my auto start/stop button on. I usually turn it off when I drive. I've had the vehicle since 2018 with no issues before so I was pretty confident it would immediately start. When I tried to turn the vehicle back on, it had completely lost all power and wouldn't start or give me any sign of power. The scary thing was that I was in rush hour traffic with my young kids in the car and I couldn't put my caution lights on or put the car in gear to push it to the side of the road. Again, I should have pulled over first, but there was no logical reason the vehicle wouldn't start. I put the hood up but nobody behind me could see the hood up. I'm stuck in the middle lane of traffic and had to get out of the car to signal traffic to go around me. I checked my key fob batteries and the vehicle battery connectors and everything was fine. I kept trying to use the key fob to unlock the doors every minute or so to see if I could get any kind of power, as well as try to start the vehicle again. After about 7 minutes or so I regained power and was able to drive home, which was about a half mile away. A message on my dash screen displayed "Anti theft System" "This system has lost power. Push and hold the power button for more than 2 seconds to enable the system". I did this and cleared it. I think the Anti Theft System turning on when it shouldn't is the real issue.
Electrical system, Engine, Jun 9, 2022
On multiple occasions with the auto engine restart engaged, the engine has shut off while stopped at a stoplight and then failed to restart the vehicle upon attempting to go. On some occasions, the power blips but the engine restarts. On other occasions, the power blips and the car stalls, leading to having to fully shut the car down and turn it back on, with a successful restart. On a few occasions, this has taken multiple tries leading to the vehicle sitting at a green traffic light for over 15-20 seconds while attempting to restart the engine. This is a safety issue as I am now scared to leave the auto-restart feature engaged for fear of being stuck at a green light and rear-ended. I have tried to turn the feature off, but there is no way to disable it permanently… instead, I have to remember to turn it off at the beginning of each drive. This issue has been ongoing for over two years. I have replaced the battery which did not solve the issue. It has not been looked at by the manufacturer, police, or insurance.
Electrical system, Engine, Jun 8, 2022
Periodically, while using automatic engine idle stop, when I release the brake to restart the engine, the engine will shut off and not turn on. Only pushing and holding the start button will restart the engine after about a minute. Also, more often, when the engine restarts, all electronics will flicker off then on.
Engine, Jun 8, 2022
Malfunction with the auto start/stop function on my 2017 Honda Pilot. When the car was in the first 40K miles, sometimes I would notice a longer than normal pause for the car to restart and engage the engine. It happened occasionally and I noticed it most often when pulling into traffic and needing to do a fast acceleration. This felt unsafe because I didn't feel like I could reliably pull out into traffic with speed and immediate timing. At approximately 40K miles I started having issues when my engine would die when pausing at a stoplight, a stop sign, or a round a bout. One particular time I had my children in the car, was in rush hour traffic turning left (so was in the intersection). As I tried to make the left turn at the yellow, the engine went into neutral and my car was unsponsive and would not shift into drive or re- engage. I tried to restart the engine a couple of times. Finally I waited approx 10 seconds and tried again. The engine turned on at that point and I was able to pull out of the intersection. It was a really horrible and scary experience for my children and for me. For the past 20K miles, I try to consistently turn OFF the auto start/stop, because I feel it is too dangerous. I don't always remember, so still have had issues with the engine dying. There is not a way, to my knowledge, to engage a setting where it is always disabled. It is very frustrating to have to remember to manually turn it off every time I start the engine. I estimate, even with regularly turning off the auto start/stop, my car has died 10 additional times....at traffic lights, stop signs, and round-a-bouts. It always moves to neutral in those cases. A few times it will start right back up after I shut my car down (in the middle of the road with traffic behind me). Other times it takes several attempts, or a long pause where I count to 10 and try again. When I talked to the dealer, they said they had no knowledge of the issue, which was also frustrating.
Engine, Jun 8, 2022
My car shuts itself off at stoplights to save fuel. There have been 4-5 times where I couldn't get the car to restart when the light turned green. It is a scary situation to not be able to restart the car in traffic or when I'm in another city away from my home. I have heard this is happening to others too. Please investigate.
Engine, Jun 8, 2022
The auto Start / Stop feature that shuts the engine off while stopped at stop lights has failed to restart the car dozens of times over the last year. While stopped at a light, the engine shuts off as expected. Then when going to release the brake pedal to pull away from the stop light, the car fails to restart. The method to restart requires putting the car into park, applying the brake, pushing the start/stop button, and then putting the car back in drive. All while traffic behind me is trying to move forward. This is a very scary situation in a busy intersection. After many instances, my wife and I are very fast at the restart procedure, but we get nervous anytime someone else drives the car. Replacing the battery seemed to help for a few months, but did not stop the issue. The issues seems to happen more frequently in hot weather situations where the air conditioning is pulling a large load on the electrical situation, although it also happened a few times over the winter when the heater was running. There are no warnings, lights, or messages that appear on the dashboard. This relates to Investigation # PE 22-005.
Engine, Jun 8, 2022
My 2017 Pilot has a "feature" where the engine will turn itself off when fully stopped and in drive. Sometimes the car won't restart when you remove your foot from the brake, and sometimes it struggles to restart. I have been stuck at an intersection before and had to restart it myself manually. When this happens, it also gives me a warning that one of the safety features has a problem (I'm not sure which one, maybe collision warning?) I've started to simply turn off this "feature" when I start the car, but sometimes I forget and then it happens again.
Engine, Jun 8, 2022
In January 2021 our 2017 Honda Pilot Battery was replaced by the dealer, Anderson Honda, in Hunt Valley. In February we started experiencing problems when Auto Idle is engaged (as it is when you start the car). We were sitting at a red light and the car shut off (as it is supposed to with auto idle). When the light turned green the car was off and wouldn't turn on for about 8 minutes we were stuck at the light with no abiltiy to turn the car off or move the car. This happened repeatly, the car does not start again for many minutes. We took the car to the dealership numerous times with no solution. It is very dangerous to be blocking traffic with an immobile car.
Electrical system, Engine, Jun 8, 2022
Vehicle will stall out at an intersection, or stop sign after the auto restart shuts the car off. When I lift my foot off the brake for the gas peddle, the entire car stalls and I get a series of warning lights and messages about shifting the car into gear before restarting. Despite attempts to restart the car, I'm generally stranded for 1-2 mins. I brought the issue up to the dealership last time I brought the car in. After 1 test drive they claimed to have found no issues, and that if it happened again I should "film it happening with my phone". This is now the 4th time this has happened within the last 6 months.
Engine, Jun 8, 2022
stop/start functionality stalls the engine, forcing me to restart it
Engine, Jun 8, 2022
On several occasions, the automatic idle and restart system has failed. While setting at a red light with a breaking engaged the engine goes off. When releasing the break the engine does not restart automatically. Sometimes it restarts easily and sometimes not taking two to three attempts to do so while traffic is backed up behind me at a stoplight
Electrical system, Other or unspecified, Engine, Jun 8, 2022
The auto stop/start feature does not always restart the car when I release the brake after stopping. Mostly in town at stop signs and red lights but recently it happened while I was in stop and go traffic on an interstate. At all locations I was blocking traffic (flashers on of course) and hoping no one hit me while I sat for a few minutes trying to restart my car. From experience I have found that I have to release the brake and push my engine start button a couple times to completely turn off everything then push the brake and button to start the car. A few times it I had to do that cycle several times before it actually restarted. Meanwhile I am in the middle of the road completely blocking traffic. My dealer was “unable to replicate” so my solution has been to turn off that feature. Unfortunately, auto stop/start is automatically on every time I start my car … so this happens when I forget to turn it off. There are times that it works and the car restarts but even then the electrical system shuts down. Radio turns off and back on as the car is restarting and dash lights turn off then on, which reminds me to once again turn the feature off. I have had a lot of electrical issues with this car due to a sunroof leak so I chalked it up to my ongoing electrical problems until I saw the article today about other complaints from people having the same issue. The date listed below was the most recent incident but it has occurred many times.
Engine, Jun 8, 2022
My 2017 Honda Pilot does not want to start after the auto idle comes on. For example. When my Pilot comes to a stop and the auto idle system shut the engine off. The vehicle does not want to start when I take my foot off the brake. I thought it may have been my battery, it the problem still happened after I got a new one.
Electrical system, Engine, Jun 8, 2022
When at a stoplight, auto idle causes car to completely stall and shut down and won’t restart unless car turned completely off and try to restart again. This has caused me to be placed in some dangerous situations where I have almost been rear ended from behind. Dealership says that it’s the battery but from hearing from multiple people, this has not fixed the problem. It seems like it’s something electrical with auto idle stop feature.
Engine, Jun 8, 2022
Many times over the past few years, my car has stalled out at a light or stop sign when the auto start-stop has been engaged. I noticed this happens more in the summer than winter. I have to disengage this function when driving, however, with no permanent way to shut off this feature, I often forget to shut it off every time I start the car. As a result, I frequently have to deal with the stalling. I have always been able to restart the car after a minute or so, but it's obviously a safety issue with cars stuck behind me. No warning lights come on before this happens, and I have no taken the car to a dealer or repair shop.
Engine, Jun 8, 2022
Auto start stop - car turns off and will not restart via auto start/stop system at red lights and stop signs. This is extremely dangerous in a heavy traffic situation. The system, if doesn’t completely shut down is very delayed in responding to turn back on. I’ve had this issue since I purchased the car. Dealership had no idea how to fix. They replaced the fuel injectors, thinking it would solve issue, which didn’t help. I still own this car. 75,000 miles and this still happens.
Engine, Jun 8, 2022
The car auto stop/start feature is failing to restart the engine when coming to a complete stop, sometimes while in a turn lane turning left with oncoming traffic.