2024 Honda Pilot

On June 3, 2022, the Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) opened Preliminary Evaluation PE22005 after the agency received VOQs and several field reports concerning the Auto Idle Stop (AIS) feature on 2016-2019MY Honda Pilot vehicles. The complaints allege that the engine fails to restart on its own from a complete stop at a traffic light or road intersection with the AIS function engaged. The subject vehicles are equipped with a 3.5L engine with a 9-speed automatic transmission. On January 6, 2023, Honda released service bulletins 23-008 and 23-009. These service bulletins address the failure to restart issue in the 2016-2019MY Honda Pilot vehicles, as well as the 2015-2020 Acura TLX, 2016-2020 Acura MDX, 2019-2022 Honda Passport, and 2020-2023 Honda Ridgeline vehicles. The repair outlined in the service bulletins is a two-stage countermeasure to remedy the issue. The first stage is a Programmed Fuel Injection (“PGM-FI”) software update. The second stage is only deployed if the software update fails to remedy the issue. The second stage, depending on the model and model year, consists of replacement of the starter assembly, starter relays, and a valve adjustment. Additionally, Honda extended the warranty coverage to 10 years with unlimited mileage for vehicles requiring the second stage component replacement. ODI continues to receive complaints of the AIS failure to restart, with many complainants alleging the campaign countermeasures had been completed.NHTSA has reviewed Honda's Information Request Letter responses involving warranty claims, lawsuits, and consumer complaints in addition to ODI's own data. This Engineering Analysis is being opened to further consider the potential safety defect, including gathering additional data regarding Honda’s service campaign efficacy. ODI is additionally expanding the scope to encompass all vehicles addressed in Honda’s service bulletins 23-008 and 23-009 as well as newer model year vehicles, which are substantially similar to the vehicles covered by the service campaign. To review the ODI reports cited in the Opening Resume ODI Report Identification Number document, go to NHTSA.gov.

On October 28, 2025, the Office of Defects Investigations (ODI) opened PE25-017 to investigate allegations of inaccurate rear seat belt warning status indicators. These allegations concern both false positive and false negative status indications in model year (MY) 2023-2024 Honda Pilot vehicles manufactured by American Honda Motor Co. (Honda). A false negative occurs when the occupant’s seat belt is latched and the warning light illuminates, indicating the occupant is not belted. A false positive occurs when the occupant’s seat belt is not latched yet no warning is provided to the driver of this unlatched condition. ODI’s data analysis revealed that nearly all complaints involved false negative alerts. Regardless of the type of failure, there is no effect on the performance of the rear seat belts or on occupant protection during collisions. ODI is closing this Preliminary Evaluation. The closing of this investigation does not constitute a finding by NHTSA that a safety-related defect does not exist. The Agency reserves the right to take additional action if warranted by future circumstances. To review the ODI reports cited in the Closing Resume ODI Report Identification Number document, go to NHTSA.gov.

The second-row right (passenger-side) seat belt reminder falsely reports the belt as unfastened. Whenever someone sits in that seat and fastens the belt, the seat belt warning chime sounds and the reminder shows that seat as unfastened, as if the belt were not buckled. The belt latches and holds normally, so the fault appears to be in the buckle's latch sensor. The vehicle has approximately 37,700 miles. Safety risk: Because the system shows that seat as unbuckled even when it is buckled, the driver cannot tell whether a passenger in that seat has actually unbuckled while the vehicle is moving. The constant false chime is also a distraction and trains the driver to ignore seat belt warnings, which defeats the purpose of the system. This matches Honda Service Bulletin A26-027 for 2023-2025 Pilots (second-row right seat belt reminder incorrectly indicates unfastened after the passenger has fastened it) and the condition under NHTSA investigation PE25017 (inaccurate rear passenger seat belt warning status, 2023-2024 Pilot). The vehicle has not yet been inspected by a dealer as of this report. The buckle is available for inspection on request. I request that this complaint be associated with PE25017 and that NHTSA pursue a recall so the buckle is replaced at no cost to owners, regardless of mileage.

NHTSA ID

11776544

Incident

Oct 20, 2026

The passenger side seatbelt sensor continues to go off when buckled.

NHTSA ID

11774838

Incident

Aug 19, 2026

For no reason at all the Panoramic view stationary window shattered

NHTSA ID

11773928

Incident

Oct 23, 2026

Seatbelt alarm sporadically goes off on second row passenger seat, causing a great distraction for driver, assuming a child has unbuckled seat belt, when in truth, they have remained securely buckled. Has been inspected by Honda service and we have a quote for right at $400 for seat buckle replacement. This began occurring in aug of 2026 and continues

NHTSA ID

11770007

Incident

Aug 10, 2026

The vehicle battery will die and then 10+ error codes come up. After battery is recharged the codes disappear. No difficulty with turnover after that. The vehicle has also turned off after coming to a complete stop even when the idle option is unselected.

NHTSA ID

11768738

Incident

Oct 3, 2026

In April 2026 we had a windshield crack that appeared spontaneously and went horizontally over half of the windshield. It occurred while the vehicle was parked in a garage. There could have been a rock or other object that had previously hit the window, we are not sure. The windshield was replaced through an insurance claim. On 9/23/26 we got in the vehicle to notice a vertical crack running from the very top of the windshield to the bottom. This occurred while the car was parked overnight. We had driven the vehicle the previous day and the crack was not there. Two days prior we had cleaned the windshield and there were no dings or marks but we did notice a ding at the very bottom of the windshield in the darkened portion. That could have happened the previous day but we do not recall anything hitting the window. We are concerned there is a defect with the windshields in this Honda model because we had two very large cracks in less that six months that occurred while the vehicle was parked.

NHTSA ID

11766877

Incident

Sep 23, 2026

The back windshield spontaneously exploded while parked

NHTSA ID

11765396

Incident

Sep 18, 2026

AC Compressor internally failed at only 37k miles.

NHTSA ID

11763528

Incident

Sep 9, 2026

Dealer Message - American Honda Motor Co., Inc. (AHM) is searching for certain 2023-2024 Pilots with a sunshade INOP or binding due to a broken roller clip. To better understand the cause of this condition, AHM would like to inspect the vehicle prior to you attempting a repair of any kind.

Service Bulletin - The driver-information interface may display a warning message when a malfunction in the Auto Idle Stop System is detected due to possible insufficient wire length at the Battery Management System (BMS) connector causing the wires to break.

Over The Air - This update contains various performance enhancements and UI improvements.

Service Bulletin - The seat belt reminder incorrectly indicates that the second-row right passenger seat belt is unfastened even after the passenger has fastened it.

Dealer Message - American Honda Motor Co., Inc. (AHM) is searching for certain 2023-2025 Pilots with a customer complaint of a no auto re-start condition after going into an auto idle stop. The push button ignition may or may not restart the engine. To better understand the cause of this condition, AHM would like to inspect the vehicle prior to you attempting a repair of any kind.

Dealer Message - American Honda Motor Co., Inc. (AHM) is searching for certain 2023-2025 Pilots with a customer complaint of a no auto re-start condition after going into an auto idle stop. The push button ignition may or may not restart the engine. To better understand the cause of this condition, AHM would like to inspect the vehicle prior to you attempting a repair of any kind.