NHTSA Complaint #11506924 — 2019 HONDA PILOT

I am writing you today to discuss ongoing transmission problems that I am having with my 2019 Honda Pilot Elite AWD. On two occasions in the past several months, the transmission has reacted unexpected shifting into neutral on it's own and giving the error message "STOP DRIVING WHEN SAFE" "REFER TO OWNERS MANUAL". This has happened both on a busy interstate in heavy traffic and at low speeds while backing out onto a busy residential street. In both cases, my wife was driving with my children in the car. The incident yesterday had her stuck in the middle of a residential street with a Honda Pilot that would neither go forward nor back, finally went into park, and would not engage forward gears until the care was restarted 4 times. My family was terrified and embarrassed. This could have resulted in a broadside or T bone impact if traffic had been busier or distracted. We took a picture of the dashboard fault and took the vehicle immediately to Northside Honda in San Antonio, TX. The service manager Jose stated that they were unable to read any faults recorded by the computer and that I knew as much as they did about the problem at that time. He stated that they would be happy to hang onto my car for several days and try and make it act up and give a code. I told him there was no way that I knew as much as they did as I don't make a living servicing and repairing Honda vehicles. This is the job I expect them to be able to do. I was also told that they would not just start replacing things randomly. In the end, I have a Honda Pilot back that my wife is afraid to drive in what is a very busy city. I purchased this vehicle for the safety and reliability I expect from Honda. I am well aware that Honda knows there are substantial issues with the ZF9 speed they are putting or have placed in these vehicles. This is a safety concern for me and my family and I want someone to reach out to discuss this issue further.