NHTSA Complaint #11422792 — 2014 HONDA PILOT

As I was driving home during rush hour, I smelt an odd smell. I thought that it was coming from the vehicle next to me but that vehicle turned and the smell remained. I looked down at my dashboard and the OVER HEATING WARNING LIGHT WAS BRIGHT YELLOW-- I immediately pulled over into a parking lot with my 2 young kids, got them out of the car, and began to try and figure out what was going on. Thank goodness I didn't ignore this issue and that I was able to pull off of the road when I did. This could have been a very unsafe situation for myself, my kids, and other motorists. Prior to this moment there were NO indicators of anything being wrong with the vehicle, there was absolutely no warning of what I am about to describe either. LUCKILY, my husband was nearby and able to pick us up. There was a milky fluid leaking from underneath the car and when my husband opened the hood he said that oil and water had mixed--it looked like something had just exploded. Needless to say I had to have the vehicle towed to a shop. After taking the engine out and sending parts off to a machinist it was determined that the front cylinder head had cracked and the rear cylinder head had to be resurfaced due to the damage. Several mechanics have noted that there is NO REASONABLE EXPLINATION FOR THE CYLINDER HEAD TO CRACK before 200,000 miles. I had just purchased this vehicle in September 2020, it had 72,000 miles on it then. It currently has around 80,000 miles on it. I purchased this vehicle because I thought it would be a SAFE FAMILY VEHICLE but now I'm not comfortable driving it because I'm worried that it will "blowup" on me. I contacted Honda Customer Service and they basically said that nothing can be done to assist me. I have seen an identical scenario posted on here and was shocked by it as well--because I thought that my mechanic wrote it but alas it was someone with the same situation! There is obviously something faulty here and it should be repaired/replaced by Honda!