NHTSA Complaint #11440006 — 2020 HONDA PILOT

I have constantly had to bring my car in again for the same problem since I bought it brand new in May 2020. On September 22, the audio/entertainment system completely shut down—it stopped playing music from the device connected to it and would not connect to a new device. The console then went completely black, and the audio system began to crackle incessantly, even when I turned it off. When I turned off the ignition and restarted the car, there was an error message on the display: “No Audio Connection” This had already happened multiple times since I had brought the car in for this problem a year prior. In some cases, I lost all displays, meaning I had no GPS, speedometer, fuel indicator, or other safety indicators. Each time I called and/or I brought the car to the dealership, I was told that sometimes the system just crashes and that I should “reset it by restarting the car, just like an iPhone.” However, this has never actually worked. In every instance, I had to restart the car 2-5 times and hope that the system would correct itself. Usually it did not, and I would just have to wait for hours or even days before the entertainment system would spontaneously begin functioning again. When it happened in September, I brought the car in and demanded that something be done. After a day, a service advisor called me and said the previous repair from a year ago was done incorrectly, which led to recurring problems with the wiring harness. You can imagine how furious I was since I had to bring the car back several times during the first ordeal in 2020. Fast forward another 24 days (October 16), and the same problem occurs. When I lividly informed the service department that I was having problems again, I was informed that this is a common issue with 2019 and 2020 models (citing a lawsuit that was filed against Honda). The dealer was fully aware that these cars have this problem that pose a severe threat to passenger safety, yet it continues to sell them.