2018 Honda Pilot Driver assistance Problems

The contact owns a 2018 Honda Pilot. The contact stated while driving 35 MPH, several unknown warning lights illuminated. The vehicle failed to accelerate, and the RPM became elevated. The vehicle lost motive power and stalled. The vehicle was towed to the local dealer, where a partial diagnosis was performed, and it was determined that there was a catastrophic failure in cylinder #3. The dealer informed the contact that the failure was associated with NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V751000 (Engine and Engine Cooling). The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was contacted, a case was opened, but no additional assistance was provided. The failure mileage was approximately 102,000.

NHTSA ID

11721976

Incident

Feb 24, 2026

Mileage

102,000 mi

Whining noise during acceleration in any gear, gets louder as acceleration advances

NHTSA ID

11704189

Incident

Nov 25, 2025

Camera unit failure causing failure of safety systems and resultant safety issues.

NHTSA ID

11695583

Incident

Oct 9, 2025

All warning lights triggered on by faulty rear view camera sensor making one unable to discern if there is a true issue with one of the systems

NHTSA ID

11694219

Incident

Jul 1, 2025

Leaking front shock, front differential, and transmission

NHTSA ID

11683241

Incident

Aug 26, 2025

I did mentioned this recall when I got my car I am having issues with acceleration, fuel pump . Car takes a bit long to take offline

NHTSA ID

11675724

Incident

Aug 9, 2024

The contact owns a 2018 Honda Pilot. The contact stated that while driving at 10 MPH during traffic, the vehicle hesitated, jerked, and suddenly accelerated. Multiple unknown warning lights illuminated. As a result, the vehicle rear-ended a U-Haul trailer that was in front, then crashed into a wall and from the impact into the trailer where it came to a stop. None of the air bags deployed. The contact suffered injuries to the head when she impacted the steering wheel, the right leg near the hip, and the right arm. The contact was taken to the hospital by an ambulance. A police report was filed. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic but was diagnosed or repaired. The contact stated that the sensors on the vehicle malfunctioned weeks before the crash. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where unknown repairs were completed. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The insurance company was contacted and pending results. The failure mileage was 26,000.

NHTSA ID

11641167

Incident

Jan 17, 2025

Mileage

26,000 mi

My vehicle has been in the Honda Dealership (Honda of Fort Worth and Norm Reeves Honda) with no resolution to the engine failure issues I have had since purchasing my vehicle. Mainly in the heat of the summer if I was in traffic idling, stopped at a red light or in stop and go traffic my car would shut off and hesitate to restart. The collision mitigation system would show failed. Honda could never find a solution. The last time I had it in their shop they said I needed a new battery. I bought a new battery from them but the problem continued. I believe my car is part of the engine recall.

NHTSA ID

11624623

Incident

Aug 17, 2019

Warning lights for the ACC, LKAS and FCW have been blinking everyday. One day they just started blinking. I took to dealership and they said it's $180 to diagnose issue. I have seen 100s of pist of different forums about the issue which means it is a known problem. As of the last 6 months or so these features do not work on the car.

NHTSA ID

11622053

Incident

May 6, 2024

When attempting to accelerate the vehicle does not respond and experiences a three to five second delay. The delayed response began occurring shortly after purchasing the vehicle in 2018 and has only increased in frequency. This issue appears to be systemic with this model and year and the dealership has no remedy to mitigate this safety issue / concern.

NHTSA ID

11617158

Incident

Dec 10, 2018

“Transmission system problem” message is displayed. Vehicle still runs fine, but reverse camera becomes disabled.

NHTSA ID

11590299

Incident

Nov 7, 2023

I am experiencing a delay in acceleration. This can occur when I am completely stopped and press the gas, there is a delay (3-5 seconds) and then the car jerks forward and accelerates quickly. Or, when I've slowed down to almost a stop, begin a turn, step on the gas and it won't accelerate for a couple of seconds, almost causing an accident on several occasions. This occurs about once every 10-15 times I drive the vehicle. It's unpredictable.

NHTSA ID

11586031

Incident

Apr 29, 2024

The adaptive cruise control doesn't work for the vehicle in front of me but the vehicle on the side. It will slam on the brakes when there is no vehicle in front of me but with a vehicle on the side. Tbsi has almost caused numerous accidents. The automatic braking/forward Collison warning happens when a vehicle is passing me going the oposite direction.

NHTSA ID

11584524

Incident

Apr 15, 2024

The wave radar came on during out travel. We traveled in south Dakota on through construction when the light came on. Now I went to the dealership to get an oil change and ask them about the error. I was informed the the wave radar part had been over worked and need to be replaced. Cost $1268.70. We never got in a collision. The part should not fail for being used causing the error message. I also belive it is a huge safety concern because I dont know if the collision system will work. The second issue we are having with the vehicle is that we turned it in for the recall for the idle stop function. It continues to turn off our vehicle at stoplights and on stops on s hill. I dont feel safe operating this vehicle with me and my family.

NHTSA ID

11536321

Incident

Jul 24, 2023

Since the purchase of my vehicle I have noticed from time to time it will accelerate when I’m pressing on the brakes. Recently, this issue has gotten worse. I have almost drove my car in to our garage doors, or come close to hitting someone in front of my vehicle, because of its unpredictability. There are also issues with a delayed acceleration when accelerating from a stop. I will press on the gas and the car will not move for about 2 or 3 seconds and then accelerate very quickly as I’m pressing the gas all the way down. I believe these problems are related. I’ve taken my vehicle in twice to the dealership with no remedy as they claim they can’t reproduce what I’m talking about. Stop and go traffic is the best way, but not the only way, to reproduce the problems. This is dangerous, in my opinion, and unfortunately I’m stuck with this vehicle that I don’t feel safe in anymore and I don’t want my child, who is learning to drive, to take this vehicle out once she gets her drivers license as I believe an inexperienced driver is in more danger with these issues.

NHTSA ID

11533328

Incident

Jul 19, 2023

Vehicle was being driven in a construction zone on the highway when the CMBS (collision mitigation braking system) error message appeared on the dashboard. This is the 2nd occurrence of this issue (1st occurrence also happened while driving through construction zone) When error occurs all advanced safety features (auto-emergency braking, lane keep, etc) become disabled. I believe there is a fundamental design flaw in how Honda's Sensing system handles obstacles such as temporary construction zones. American Honda claims the only way to turn off the light is to pay a diagnostic fee and labor charge. A safety design flaw should not be the responsibility of the vehicle owner to pay to fix.

NHTSA ID

11523483

Incident

May 19, 2023

My wife was pulling into the dentist parking lot, made a slow right hand turn to a parking space when the vehicle suddenly and violently accelerated. Depressing and pumping brake had no effect and the car slammed into a tree destroying the right front of the vehicle. She assured me that she did not depress the accelerator. She is a very safe driver, never received a ticket nor involved in an accident. Research into similar accidents showed multiple cases where this occurred with Honda Pilot vehicles.

NHTSA ID

11522402

Incident

May 16, 2023

The contact owns a 2018 Honda Pilot. The contact stated while approaching a stop, the contact attempted to accelerate however, there was a delay in responding. The contact stated that after a while the vehicle accelerated. There was no warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer who admitted knowledge of similar failures. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was 10,000. The consumer stated the vehicle now has 52k and still exhibits the 2-3 second hesitation when depressing the accelerator. The contact stated the vehicle has started to roll backwards on a hill. The vehicle has just less than 60k miles and has always been serviced by a dealership.

NHTSA ID

11507286

Incident

Apr 1, 2019

Mileage

10,000 mi

Unknown. I was using cruise control maintaining approx 60mph. The car in front of me started to slow and I tapped the brake to disengage cruise control. The car lunged forward and the accelerator went towards the floor. I tried to turn the car off and the push button did not respond. As my speed increased I narrowly missed rear ending cars in front of me as I swerved in and out of lanes, with the brake pedal not responding. I drove into the dirt medium of the road on the left and pushed the shift into park and the car eventually slowed to a stop. I was very shook up and sat in this dangerous area until I was calm enough to start the car and see if I could get across the highway to an exit. I tried turning the car off twice before attempting this to see if I could get it to respond. Both times it responded and the light on the dash indicated to put it into Park. I made it across the highway to an exit where I drove around a parking lot for 1/2 hr turning the car on & off to see if it was safe to get it home. I did not touch cruise control again. It was nothing short of a miracle that I didn’t kill anyone on the road or myself.

NHTSA ID

11505988

Incident

Feb 6, 2023

While driving, the transmission would not gear up to any higher gears and could only drive 40mph with 3000+ RPMS. The MIL lights showed "Check Engine," "Emissions System Problem," "Transmission System Problem," and "Blind Spot Info System Problem," all at once. When pressing the "P" button for Park, it did not always want to engage in Park. The engine would sometime stutter on acceleration. The "P" and "D" for Park and Driver on the MIL would constantly blink. This action placed the driver and occupants at risk of injury because of the stutter and slow speeds on the highway. Also, when the "Park" button did not engage, the car was at risk of rolling into person or property. Currently, service has been scheduled for the dealership to diagnose the issue. There were no warning signs prior to all of these warning lights showing up all at once.

NHTSA ID

11483921

Incident

Sep 11, 2022

The contact owns a 2018 Honda Pilot. The contact stated that while driving at approximately 40 MPH, she depressed the brake pedal and noticed that her vehicle was not slowing down. The contact stated that as she was approaching another vehicle, she looked to make sure she was indeed depressing the brake pedal, however it would not allow her to press down and seemed to be accelerating faster than 40 MPH. The contact stated that her vehicle then caused her to crash into the rear of another vehicle, however, the vehicle still seemed to be accelerating, even though it had crashed. The contact stated that she attempted to power the vehicle off, however, the vehicle powered itself back on. The contact stated that she powered it off 3 times before the vehicle would remain off. The contact stated that the airbags did deploy and there were no injuries reported. The contact stated a police report was filed. The contact stated she then had her vehicle towed to a tow yard where it was deemed a total loss. The dealer and the manufacturer were not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 50,000.

NHTSA ID

11455080

Incident

Feb 27, 2022

Mileage

50,000 mi

Just saw the article concerning the automatic braking in Honda CR-V's and Accords. Since purchasing my 2018 Pilot, in September 2018, this has occurred multiple times. While driving "Brake" will flash on my dash screen and a momentary braking action, along with a shimmy in the steering wheel will occur. I have never had a complete stop happen. I went to my local Honda dealers in Modesto and Stockton, CA. Spoke to their service personnel and they both had no idea what might cause this to happen. I then called Honda customer service and they hadn't heard of this problem. After it happened a few more times I called them again. I voiced my concerns of it happening and causing me to be involved in an accident. Laura, the rep I spoke to, gave me a case number (09698440) to reference should I call again. She could provide no explanation for this happening. This does not happen on a regular basis. I can go for long periods of time and nothing will happen. Then it can happen multiple times in a week.

NHTSA ID

11453829

Incident

Nov 13, 2018

The adaptive cruise control doesnt pick up a vehicle in my lane but a vehicle to either side of me and brakes hard. Also the automatic emergency braking will pick up vehicles in the opposite lane going past me and brake hard.

NHTSA ID

11448791

Incident

Jan 24, 2022

My transmission is having problems. During acceleration the car will jolt forward, also when using the brakes. The dealer did recognize the problem but said it is not covered by warranty and that transmission needed to be flushed.. which was going to cost $500. He said had it been flushed before they may cover it, yet Honda doesn’t recommend a flush before 45000 per my owners manual. Very dangerous.. could cause an accident with Speed going up and down at a moments notice without you doing it

NHTSA ID

11435294

Incident

Oct 1, 2021

"SUA, Sudden Unwanted Acceleration". I was in the process of parking on the 6th floor of a parking ramp in Rochester MN, I had selected my parking slot and drove very slowly half way into my parking slot. As i was stationary about 3 meters from the front wall and getting ready to reverse for a bit in order to better align in between the white lines in my slot and before i shifted gears to reverse and while my foot was still on the brake, the vehicle experience a sudden full-speed acceleration crashing the vehicle against the wall with full force, the dashboard showed a message that the airbag malfunctioned and could not deploy. Had not there been a wall but just rails in front of my parking slot, i am afraid the vehicle would have flown from the sixth floor into the ground. The insurance company deemed the vehicle a total loss. The vehicle is still under my name but in possession of GEICO, available for inspection, but because it was a total loss i was not able to bring it to the Honda dealership where i bought it. There were no warning signs that this would happen.

NHTSA ID

11428298

Incident

Jul 15, 2021