2016 HONDA PILOT Engine Problems

Engine will intermittently not re-start after the auto-stop start function turns the engine off. Most recently happened on I-95 in stop and go traffic and took multiple efforts to re-start the engine. Was a very dangerous location to be stopped given the volume of traffic at the time and the number of large trucks.

Today was the second time my car has shut down at a traffic light in the last 2 months. The auto engine stop kicks in and the car shuts down. It took multiple combinations of pressing the start button and turning on/off the car before I could get it to restart. I’ve recently replaced the battery so I don’t think it’s a weak battery.

When idling at a stop light, the auto shut off feature engaged and turned off the engine. When I engaged the gas to start moving again, the engine would not restart. I applied to brake, put the car into park and then tried to manually restart the car using the start button on the dash. The car engine would not start. The auxiliary power to the accessories would not go off when I pushed the stop/start button on the dash, but the engine would not restart either. I attempted to restart the car several times. It did not attempt to turn the engine over, but did literally nothing. I paused and waited for a minute and then attempted to restart the car again with the stop/start button and the car engine finally turned on. The exact same sequence of events has happened and two separate occasions some weeks apart. This...

The contact owns a 2016 Honda Pilot. The contact stated that on multiple occasions, the START/STOP feature failed to operate as needed while at a complete stop. The contact stated that the vehicle would shut off upon releasing the brake pedal with several unknown warning lights illuminated. The contact had the vehicle towed to an independent mechanic on several occasions where several electrical components were replaced. The dealer was notified of the failure and the contact was informed that they had no knowledge of the failure. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 75,000.

The contact owns a 2016 Honda Pilot. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle lost motive power with the check engine warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was diagnosed with a misfire in cylinder #3. The dealer informed the contact that the engine needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired and remained with the dealer. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 130,000.

The engine's auto idle stop-start system malfunctions intermittently and unexpectedly when stopped at traffic lights, intersections and other roadway stops. The engines shuts down after a normal idling stop, but instead of restarting when the brake is released and the accelerator is pressed to proceed the car remains shutdown and will not restart automatically to proceed out of the intersection or stopped position. There is NO warning of the impending failure to restart - when the brake is released and the vehicle should restart > Annunciator panel then illuminates to an engine off status, the engine remains off/stalled > the car must be put into 'Park', the Brake depressed and a manual restart attempted, all while disoriented and sitting stationary with traffic moving around the vehicle. This is extremely dangerous and completely non anticipatable. The vehicles engine will not restart without multiple cycles/attempts, often with as many as 6 tries...

Engine is stalling / cutting out at stoplights or when slowing down or stopped in traffic. Car is still in drive but requires that I place it in park, shut off car completely (in traffic) and restart the car. This is an ongoing issue that I have reported to my Honda dealer but they have said there are “no codes” generated and cannot find anything wrong with my vehicle. This is becoming a safety hazard especially if my car slows and stalls in an intersection. It’s causing me severe anxiety when I drive anywhere.

Auto Idle System failure. This has been a problem for several years and continues to be a safety issue. If I don't disable the auto idle feature my car will die when I take my foot off of the brake to accelerate.. The vehicle has to do a complete computer reset before I am able to restart the engine. This has happened many, many times at stop lights when the light turns green and I attempt to accelerate, when waiting to merge onto the frontage road of I-35, when turning onto a main road out of a parking lot when traffic is backed up but someone was attempting to let me into the lane (I was half in and half out of the parking lot). In every situation, there is someone behind me expecting me to go (rightfully so). I could easily be hit if the other drivers weren't paying...

the engine fails to restart on its own from a complete stop at a traffic light or road intersection with the Auto Start/Stop function engaged. Making it necessary to restart manually.

Rattling Noise in Engine after I stepped on the gas pedal at a light. Honda said the Engine needs to be replaced. 80,000 Miles never missed an oil change. Prior to the engine issue the pilot would stall at stop lights due to the auto shutoff feature. Honda attempted to replace the stop/start button, it did not fix the problem. When I brought it the 2nd time they said my battery was likely causing the issue and it needed to be replaced. I informed them I purchased a new battery two months prior. The issue was so bad that we had shut off the feature everytime we started the car.

System effected: Auto idle engine stop and start. My 2016 Honda Pilot-Elite has problems with auto start/stop. When I stop at traffic light the engine automatically stops but when traffic light turns green and I am ready to go the car engine doesn’t automatically start. Instead it asks me to put car in parking and push the start button. It doesn’t start with one push and I have to try numerous times. It’s causing problem to me as well as other cars in the traffic. It poses great danger to me getting stuck in car in the middle of the road

After Honda Idle-Stop feature engages at a stop light the car won't restart without putting car into park, turning off, and then turning back on. It often takes several attempts to restart the car before it works. This leaves the passengers at extreme risk of injury from collision.

The vehicle has what is called "auto idle," which means that when the brake is fully depressed under certain conditions (ie a stop sign or a red traffic light), the engine turns itself off. The engine is supposed to start again when pressure is lifted from the brake. However, during the summers of 2020, 2021 and 2022 (which makes me believe the use of the air conditioning is involved in this problem), the car stalls out after the auto-idle is engaged rather than the engine restarting as it should. It has taken me several minutes to then get the vehicle to turn off so that I can try to start the car once again to move out of the way of traffic. Last week this happened on a busy highway. The cars that were stopped immediately behind me all went around me while I was trying to get my car...

When I'm driving this vehicle and stop at an intersection, the auto stop/start feature shuts my engine off. When I attempt to start driving again, the auto stop/start feature attempts to start my engine, but instead the car completely dies. This has happened to me three times this week alone! All three times I was running the air conditioning in the vehicle. This does not seem to occur asoften if I am not running my air conditioner.

Multiple times the vehicle wouldn’t start. The start stop switch is the culprit after 7 months of dealing with it and taking it to dealership finally. Car will cut off at stop light but won’t turn back on. Takes like 4 tries to get it back on. Also at 126k or 128k engine had a knocking sound and needed replaced and it cost $7000 the air conditioning doesn’t work and this is very upsetting this isn’t why I buy Hondas. The start stop event happens everyday and every time I start the car and don’t deactivate the start/stop system

No Restart After Auto Start/Stop Engages. The engine fails to restart on its own from a complete stop at a traffic light or road intersection with the Auto Start/Stop function engaged. The Vehicle stalls out, must be put into park and the start button must be cycled a few times before engine will restart. This has been occurring continuously for a year now.

Auto stop/start feature will leave vehicle disabled and stranded at lights , and or in the middle of busy roads. Has happened to my wifes 2016 honda pilot 5 times now. Luckily 3 of those times were in parking lots , but twice on a busy highway with kids in the vehicle.

My 2016 Honda pilot stalls when my car turns off from the auto idle engine. If I do not manually turn the feature off EVERYTIME I turn my car on my car will stall out when i lift my foot off the brake. It has progressively taken longer to turn the vehicle back on (anywhere from 30 seconds to 2 minutes) I have been to honda 2x for this issue & their "fix" has never resolved the issue. They will not admit they cannot fix it, even when I showed them a video of exactly what happens when I try to get my vehicle back on.

When stopping at a stop light the auto idle start stop will not start up immediately as it sometimes has a lag and the audio in the car also completely shuts off. The car stalls out. Have brought car to dealership and since they can’t “recreate” the problem they’re acting like there is no problem. There is definitely a problem. This vehicle has been doing this on and off for sometime now and I have to remember to turn OFF the idle/stop function button every time I start up my car in order to avoid stalling in the middle of traffic. Very unsafe, dangerous and scary.

Stop/start feature fails to restart the car. I have to turn off the car completely to restart.

I bought this car used in May 2022. My wife is the primary driver and this incident happened to her three times and myself once. When stopping at a red light, the engine turns off to save fuel with the auto start stop feature. We normally turn this off, but sometimes when we forget, the auto start fails to start the engine leaving us stuck in traffic trying to start the car at a green light. It takes multiple attempts to restart the car. This wouldn't be an issue if we could turn off the auto stop start permanently. We don't like the feature anyway, sometimes it causes the car to lurch forward when removing your foot from the break while the engine is starting.

Engine stops completely when I make a stop at the signal. I think this is due to the engine shut down idle function. When the engine shuts down completely, the car doesn't start for 5 to 10 minutes. This happened at least 10 times in 6 months on the middle of the road.

There have been many instances of the vehicle failing to restart after a complete stop at a stop light. In these situations, the vehicle's auto stop-start system engages and turns the engine off. When the brake peddle is disengaged and the engine is supposed to start, the engine fails to restart. There are some errors on the dashboard but nothing was captured on the vehicle computer when I took it into the dealership. When the engine won't restart it takes a minute or two of blocking traffic before the engine will start up. I have to turn off the vehicle and then restart sitting in the lane hoping none will crash into me. I have also taken the vehicle into the dealership numerous time to no avail.

On 6/11/22, while driving on I-94 in downtown Chicago in heavy traffic the vehicle engine turned off as part of the auto shut off/on feature. The vehicle would not start button. back up and was stranded in the middle lane. The engine would not start back up, even after putting in park, pressing the brake and holding the start button. After 10 minutes or so I was able to get the vehicle re-started by pressing the brake and holding the start button for 10 seconds. Totally an unsafe situation being in the middle lane in downtown Chicago! This has happened at least 7-10 times previously.

On 11/29/21, 1 block from home, the engine started making a very loud knocking noise. I was able to turn around and drive back home but no faster than 20 MPH. After having the car towed to Schlossmann Honda, the diagnosis was: Full engine seizure, cylinder 3 connecting rod broken, piston damaged bank 1 cylinder head, metal contamination in bank 2 cylinder head, scoring on bank 2 camshaft and cam journals. Replaced short block assembly and both cylinder assemblies. This happened at 101,587 miles, which was 1,587 miles after extended warranty expired. Repair was not covered but after pushing with Honda Corp, they agreed to charge me an $8,000 deductible for the repair.

The auto engine restart does not always engage when pressing on the accelerator after a stop. When it happens, it takes about 30 seconds and several pushes of the ignition button for the engine to restart. I have been stranded in the middle of a busy intersection waiting to turn left with my kids in my vehicle, vulnerable to a broadside hit as the light has turned. I have not taken it in because the problem is not easily reproducible, and I don’t have time for them to give me the run around. The battery is not original; it was replaced in 2020. I disengage the auto stop/restart system with the button each time I turn on the vehicle.

While at a stop light, with the engine "Auto Start/Stop" switch engaged, I released my foot from the brake, and the car died. I was totally confused as to what occurred. After a minute or two I was able to restart the car. I was very concerned about being re-ended as when the light changed to green is when the car died. I had no advance warning of a problem, and it just died unexpectedly as I released my foot from the break. No lights on the dash either. I notified my dealer, who had never heard of this happening, and said when I can, please bring it in. In as much as the incident occurred in May 2022, and hadn't happened since, I did not take my car into the dealer. I can take my car in at any time to be examined.

There have been two instances of the vehicle failing to restart after a complete stop at a stop light. In these situations, the vehicle's auto stop-start system engages and turns the engine off. When the brake peddle is disengaged and the engine is supposed to start, the engine fails to restart. There are some errors on the dashboard but nothing was captured on the vehicle computer when I took it into the dealership. When the engine won't restart it takes a minute or two of blocking traffic before the engine will start up.

The vehicle’s Auto Stop/Start feature routinely fails to restart the engine when releasing the brake, turning the steering wheel, or selecting Park. In order to start the vehicle, it must be placed into Park, turned off, and then turned back on by holding the Start button. This has worked on most occasions (approx 90% of occasions thus far); other times a jump start was required. Attempts to resolve from Honda have required several purchases of a new battery and denial of there being a larger issue. There is no indication or warning that the feature has failed until attempting to resume driving (or the vehicle attempts to restart itself based on the vehicle’s self-monitored parameters). The failure to start leaves the vehicle stuck in traffic risking collision and/or personal injury as a result.

The problem has happened at-least 5 times won’t restart on its own from a complete stop at a traffic light or intersection with the stop-start feature in use.Brought to Honda dealership and they stated the do not see a problem. This is a safety problem that needs to be addressed. It stopped completely when i was in traffic also almost caused an accident.

If I forget to turn the auto idol off my car shuts down when stopped and won't restart. This has been going on for years and when I tell the Honda service to check it out they find nothing wrong and tell me this is normal. I know this can't be normal as it's a safety hazard. I fear for my life when this happens as I am afraid a car will drive into me until I can get my car started again. It's very stressful and I have just dealt with it as I have not been able to afford to get a new car. I recently heard this safety problem has been recognized. I should have sent this in much sooner but when my Honda service tells me this is normal I didn't think there was anything I could do. I can't enter a date below because this...

Start-stop failure on Honda Pilot. When this feature is in use, car will shut off completely and has happened at intersections which creates a danger.

I have been having trouble with the auto-engine idle/restart feature for over 2years! (I saw this is a current investigation) I reported the problem to my local dealer at time of routine maintenance visit ~2yrs ago and (without driving it except from the garage to the customer driveway) they said “there’s no problem, looks fine”. I now try to remember to disengage that feature as soon as I turn on the car, but when I forget I stall out at red lights. It’s always been a design flaw that you can’t just turn off the feature! I’ve never had to be jumped off but it does block up traffic for a minute to have to restart the car. This same vehicle also had the failed fuel injectors at ~35k miles, starting almost a year before the official recall, and it took over 6 mos to diagnose that problem through multiple...

Auto/start stop function causes car engine to shut down completely. Car will not be able to start again until battery is jump started again. Dashboard will display “engine fail” error message. Battery has been changed but still have this problem. This has happened multiple times over the years I have this car. Dealership has not been able to fix problem. I am afraid to get stranded so I will have to manually turn off auto start/stop every single time I start the engine.

The engine in my vehicle fails to restart after coming to a complete stop. My car stalls out and can take several attempts to try to restart the car. This has been very dangerous. It can occur whether I'm stuck in traffic on a major highways or even just at a stop sign. It always occurs when the start/stop function is engaged. I have taken the car to the dealer multiple times to deal with this issue and even tried to get the start stop function removed. Unfortunately, they have never been able to fix the problem.

This car has feature to turn off engine while stopped at stoplight to conserve fuel when brake pedal is engaged. On multiple occasions when the brake pedal is released the car fails to restart engine and the engine and car “turns off” entirely. Sometimes I can restart car by pressing ignition button but other times it take up to several minutes for the car to restart. Very dangerous while in traffics.

I recently saw an article that NHTSA is investigating Honda vehicles 2016-2019 regarding the idle stop/restart of the car and want to corroborate that this issue does exist. My husband and I bought a 2016 Honda Pilot Elite in late July of 2019. We believe we are the second owners of the vehicle. All was fine except for occasionally, the idle stop/restart feature would not work: the car would cut off at a red light, but when taking my foot off the brake and expecting a restart, you would see and hear all of the electrical turn off--radio, a/c, etc. and sometimes the car would not restart. I would have to wait 30 seconds or so, then restart the car as normal. The most harrowing experience with this happened on a six-lane highway where I was the last in line at a red light. The light turned green, all cars...

When engine turns off it won't turn back on

Almost every time I forget to disable the auto stop function on my pilot and I come to a stop it will more likely kill the engine. Not all the time, but more times than not. It’s annoying because it literally takes me a good 10-20 seconds to start it back up and get moving with cars behind me honking their horns . Issues with this started about a year in to owning this vehicle and have progressively gotten worse. Have taken my 2016 Honda Pilot into Honda multiple times with no help. They always say they could replicate the issue which is complete bull. This needs to be fixed

Honda Pilot 2016 auto idle feature stalls engine completely when recovering from idle to Run (e.g. complete stop at a signal or busy traffic, engine goes to auto idle and upon releasing the brake the engine stalls). Issue started during warranty period and multiple repair attempts were made by Honda dealership, replaced battery and starter motor (50% paid out of pocket though the car was in warranty, 50% was courtesy credit from Honda). Even after multiple attempts the issue remains unresolved. Honda/Dealership recommended to turn off the feature and use the car. This is a safety issue as engine keeps stalling and only starts after full power cycle (about 1-2 mins).

In 3 occasions my Pilot was stopped waiting for the light to change and all of the sudden the engine died and refuse to turn itself ON as usual. The first time it happens in Miami, Fl. The second time in our hometown of Teaneck, NJ and the third time it happens in New York City (Manhattan) The first time the car re-started after 5 minutes trying (more than 5 times). The second time the car died and 5 took about 5 times to restart again. The third time, we had to use our battery jump starter because the battery died. After the car turned on, all the systems were fine, including the battery.

My vehicle came equipped with a feature that shuts the car off at stops/stoplights. It is supposed to restart immediately once the gas pedal is pushed. My vehicle, however, doesn't always start right away and often dies altogether. To restart, I have to put the car in park and restart and even this sometimes doesn't work. This has happened at several red lights and I have almost been rear ended by cars who have to swerve around me while I'm trying to get the vehicle started. I have taken it to Honda and their answer is to always push the button to override this feature, but if I forget to push the button, I'm in danger. This feature is suppose to save fuel but it's a complete hazard and needs to be remedied.

Vehicle died when auto start/stop was activated at a stop sign. The vehicle had to be jumped to restart. My wife and 8 month old baby were in the vehicle alone in heavy traffic and nearly caused an accident.

Auto Start/Stop function fails constantly. When coming to a stop light, the engine will stop as designed, but will not then re-start when pressing on the accelerator. Sometimes after this happens, it will take 30 seconds or more for the engine to actually start back up. At busy intersections, this creates a dangerous backup with a lane being blocked by a stall which is created by this issue. Took vehicle to repair shop and they replaced battery, but a new battery was installed less than 7 months ago from same dealership.

For the last 6 months (or maybe a bit more) my 2016 Honda Pilot Touring does not successfully re-start after it's auto-idle-stop feature kicks in at stoplight or in stop/go highway traffic. This maybe happens 20% of the time, but more likely on a hot day or when AC/radio all running high or uphill start. When this happen car stalls and needs to be completely restarted which takes 30 secs and a requires a "reboot" by pressing the start button 2-3 times. To add to the annoyance you cannot permanently disable the auto-idle-stop feature. Instead every time the car restarts it is on by default and the user has to manually turn it over ever time. This is happening with the original 2016 battery from new dealer purchase. The dealership claims it's an old/weak battery issue, but the car has no problem starting on a fresh cold start. This is...

The auto idle feature doesn't always result in the engine restarting at a stop. Sometimes the whole car system needs to reboot before the car will restart which can leave you in a vulnerable road position that can cause an accident. This problem occurs several times a week for me. I was told a new battery would solve the problem, but after spending $300 the problem still persists.

Engine fails to restart when automatic engine start/stop is engaged. Once the car took over 15 mins to start back up again and I was at the end of an off ramp of a major highway. When the automatic engine start/stop is not disabled the cars engine turns off at a stop light or intersection and then will not start back up again. The worst example (taking over 15 mins to restart) occurred on Jan 31, 2019 however it has occurred since this incident multiples times and before this date as well.

If I forget to turn off the auto idle button. It is a 50/50 shot whether my vehicle will restart. If the vehicle does shut down it takes quite the process to try to get the vehicle to start again. Numerous times I’ve had angry drivers behind me beeping their horns and throwing their hands up as I’m frantically trying to get the vehicle to restart. When I finally do get the vehicle running again it’s several minutes later. I have addressed this issue with Honda of Fort Myers multiple times. They have replaced the start/stop ignition button twice, but this has not fixed anything. They have also forced me to purchase a new battery as they ensured this was the issue. This again did not fix the problem. This continues to be an ongoing safety issue that Honda is aware of, but neglects to do anything about it.

Every single time I get in my car to drive. I experience julting when I am speeding up but it mostly happens in between 30mph and 50mph. Sometimes in between 70mph and 80mph as well. It has been going on for a year and a half and no one can figure out what it is. There needs to be a recall because it is dangerous for myself and other drivers. To the point where I am going to sell this car and get a different make

Last Fall I was driving, exiting freeway, I slowed down before I got to traffic light, then my vehicle stalled. I looked down and push the drive button (i had the auto idle-stop on), then pressed on gas, but car would not move. I pushed the start button twice and nothing happened. After a few minutes I pushed the start button gain and the vehicle started. I was in the middle lane and thankfully no one was behind me when this happened. Similar issue happened to my husband last week after car was picked up from Honda dealer for Transmission fluid exchange ( I in passenger seat). We were exiting the freeway going into another freeway, we slowed down because there was bumper to bumper traffic when the vehicle stalled. The vehicle was on auto idle-stop on. My husband pushed the park button, then the drive button but noting happened....