2021 HONDA PILOT Engine Problems

While driving vehicle downshifted with no warning and went into neutral. Was driving on a busy street. Was not able to shift back into drive. When car stops was not able to put it into park. No previous warning of anything wrong. No engine light, battery etc. illuminated on the dash. Earlier that day did hear from time to time a tick or tap like noise that had not been heard before. Car had to be towed to auto shop. Upon inspection was told all components are in working order but the engine is not working and needs to be repaired. Given the engine only has 109,000 miles this was odd to them based on condition of the vehicle. There is a known issue with Honda engines similar to this vehicle and asked we check with Honda as to what could be done to diagnose further. This is very concerning...

The Honda Pilot completely lost power on my husband's way home from work in a snow storm. It would not start but it did yesterday. It sounds like clinking/clunking when started but stalls out if you try to put it in drive or reverse. It has a brand new battery. But otherwise it had to be towed and is now sitting. It didnt give any warning signs or lights on the dash until after it completely broke down. It has the engine light on when started. It has not be confirmed by a dealership as times are really rough right now with a new baby and not having the extra funds to have it looked at. And not to mention the closet dealership to look at it is almost an hour away. It seems that the rods/engine area are at fault.

After driving the vehicle for a few hours during a very cold day, as we got off an exit ramp. We then turned onto the next road in our travels and the check engine light went off and blinked. The vehicle went into limp mode. Pulled the vehicle over, turn the car off and then back on and everything worked just fine. Had an oil change already scheduled for 2 days later. Brought the vehicle in for it oil change and we told the Honda Mechanic (dealership) what just happened. His response was: That is a common honda problem. "You did what we would have told you to do. Turn the car off and then back on. When the engine compartment gets really warm when driving for long periods of time with the cold weather, something tells it to misfire and throws a check engine code. We tell people to...

While my husband was taking our daughter to school on 01/05/2026 around 6:00am, a warning message flashed on the radio screen: "EMISSIONS SYSTEM PROBLEM: The engine is not operating properly. Avoid high speeds and visit your dealer as soon as possible. If the indicator is blinking, stop in a safe place where there are no flammable objects. Turn off the engine for 10 minutes or more to let it cool. Restart the engine. If the indicator continues to blink, immediately have your vehicle checked by the dealer. " This was a safety at risk for my husband, my child, and the public - anyone driving near the vehicle. My husband pulled over and called me to let me know what was happening. He called AAA to have the car towed to the dealer. And called the dealer to let them know we were having the vehicle towed to them. They...

The auto-idle feature on this vehicle stalls out the engine on a regular basis, causing risk of accident from surrounding traffic. When breaks applied for red light, stop sign, traffic, etc., the auto-idle feature first engages and powers down the engine, however upon releasing the breaks, the engine stalls out, shifts into neutral, and the battery light comes on. I then have to get it into park and try to restart the vehicle. Sometimes it starts right away, other times it can take a few tries. Meanwhile, cars behind me are honking because I can't get my vehicle to move forward with traffic. Several times I have almost been rear-ended because the car behind me is expecting me to move forward when they see my brake lights turn off. I've talked to my dealer who informed me they completed a auto-idle recall software update in 2023 (recall #23-008) but the...

Check Engine Light came on during normal highway driving with Cylinder 2 Misfire as the readout. The vehicle was brought to local Honda dealer for troubleshooting and maintenance. Dealer maintained vehicle on schedule with 96,000 miles on it. Initially, informed us that this was due to the air filter housing being improperly placed and low power from the battery. Resolved both and then informed us it was an issue with the connecting rod/crankshaft and the engine would need to be replaced. During most recent fluids service about 2 months prior, had raised concerns about an intermittent shifting/low RPM jump and was told it was just debris but no real issue.

While driving the check engine light started flashing and lost a lot of power. Pulled over and turned the car off. Turned the car back on and the light was gone and power seemed to be back. Trying to get home about 15 minutes later every light came on. Lane assist, check engine, blind spot, traction control, literally all warning lights. When these came on the car lost all power within a minute. Wouldn't turn over or even power on to use lights or the radio. Got the car towed to two separate garages both stating engine failure. Honda dealer provided documentation of a bearing failure which damaged cylinder 5.

Car does not want to start even though the batter and alternator are good (tested by tow truck company). Restarts fine once batter is disconnected and then reconnected again. This has now happened twice.

I have had two major problems with this car. At approximately 84,000 miles, the engine started making a very loud noise, regardless of speed. It was first diagnosed by an independent service center as a control arm bearing failure. I contacted Honda Corporate and was told that it had to be diagnosed by a Honda dealer/service center. It was then diagnosed as a failure of the control arm bearing by a Honda dealer/service center. I was told the engine had to be replaced. Honda Corporate offered a 50-50 split, leaving me with a bill of $8480. This is completely unfair and unjust for me to have to pay this for a manufacturer's defect. In the second incident shortly thereafter, I was on the highway in traffic when the automatic stop-start function failed, and the car stopped and did not re-start. I had cars backed up behind me, and it was...

While stopped at an intersection, the car died, the transmission shifted to neutral automatically and the radio would not turn on. The AGM battery was replaced approximately one year ago when a similar situation took place.

When driving and wanting to accelerate at 65mph car just because limp, won’t go when accelerating for a few seconds, speed drops, then you press back on the accelerator and after a few times the car goes back to normal. So, you loose control of the accelerator for a few seconds and you cant go faster, it just freezes and speed drops. This has been happen g for awhile. I even called Honda Corporate to advise them. It’s been happening for over 2 years. It comes and goes. We are starting to hear a clunk noise now.

While driving on the freeway at a slow speed due to two freeways merging, my Honda Pilot suddenly stopped/stalled. When I tried to restart the car by pressing the Auto Idle Stop button to vehicle did not start. It took three times of pressing the Auto Idle Stop button for the engine to restart. I am lucky that the traffic was going at a slow speed due to the merging of freeways so I was able to right away press my emergency signal lights on. I panicked and was scared for my safety and what could have happened to myself and others if the vehicle was running at a higher speed. This could have caused a major accident. Because this happened yesterday, I will be calling Honda to report the issue as well and have my vehicle inspected. My vehicle has had issues many times in the past with the...

Wife was driving car and it stalled when slowing down for a red light. No check engine light or dash warning notices. Car then displayed instructions to restart the car Tried to restart 4 or 5 times. Finally started. We were lucky she was not on a highway driving at highway speeds.

While stopped at a traffic light the “Auto Stop” engine shut off feature engaged. When releasing the brake, the vehicle completely shut down, all dash lights came on as did the transmission mode lights. Upon trying to restart with the start button, prompts came up to place the vehicle in park. Trans select button did not work. Pressed the Start button several more times. At one time all dash lights went off, except for the battery light. Brake pedal went all the way down to the floor. Opened the drivers door and then tried the start button one more time with the AutoStart button switched off after dash lights returned. Vehicle started after that. Blocked traffic for one traffic light sequence. Occurred on Route 30 and Schoolhouse Road; New Lenox IL on 10/25/25. Attempted to restart several times afterward and vehicle restarted. Trying to drive with “autostart” feature manually turned...

Per the mechanic the rod bearing broke into the engine and caused sudden engine failure. I was on a highway when this occured, thankfully I was already in the right lane and right before an exit to which I took and secured the vehicle in a safe location. It was extremely dangerous location for this to occur and thankfully no one was right behind me. There were no warnings or messages prior to the incident. It was just routinely serviced within the past month. I heard a loud clank, the engine light started flashing, and the car started to slow down, there was knocking sounds in the engine. We had it towed to D and M service center then moved to Gillman Honda service center. It was confirmed by two different shops, D and M service center at 1029 Pat Booker Rd, Universal City, TX 78148 and Gillman Honda dealership...

Car is slow to start or doesn't start at all, particularly after frequent engine stops/starts or when engine has idled for a period of time. Battery has been replaced. Symptom comes and goes, but seems to get worse with frequent engine stops/starts (i.e., driving to different locations with short stays at each, or with the automatic engine shut off)

After stopping at a traffic light or stop sign the car's auto-stop/restart feature has failed multiple times to restart the engine. This has left the car stalled at a light and needing to manually place the car in park, turn off the electrical, then attempt to restart the vehicle. The problem started about 4 months ago and has been starting to happen more frequently.

The contact owns a 2021 Honda Pilot. The contact stated that while his wife was driving 50 MPH, the engine seized, and the functions on the vehicle became inoperable. After waiting for an hour, the vehicle restarted. The contact was unaware if there were any warning lights illuminated. The contact stated that on a separate occasion, while the contact's wife was driving 30 MPH, the engine seized. No warning lights were illuminated. After waiting for a long while, the vehicle was restarted. The vehicle was taken to another dealer, Honda of Whittier; however, no cause for the failure was found. The dealer restarted the vehicle. The contact stated that the failure persisted. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 15,000.

when stopped at a stop light the engine idle kills the engine and want start back up causing traffic backups...have to go through process to setting back to park and trying to start which does not happen quickly leaving people behind you frustrated and honking. This needs to have an option to disable it if you don't want that function as it's very frustrating and dangerous. Please get honda to fix issue. Thanks for your help.

AFTER I had the softwear update! When idle at stoplight, auto idle feature kicked on. When light turn green and I pushed gas, car shut off entirely. This happened on multiple occasions. While waiting for an appointment to get this issue looked at, my car failed to start after being parked. It would not start after a jump from another vehicle. The tow truck driver was able to bet it jumped using a battery pack case. At the dealership, battery failed load test. Waiting to see if starter needs to be replaced and valves adjusted under extended warranty.

The contact owns a 2021 Honda Pilot. The contact stated that while at a complete stop with the START/STOP feature activated, the engine shut off while depressing the accelerator pedal. There was no warning light illuminated. After waiting for several minutes, the contact had to perform several procedures to restart the vehicle. The vehicle was initially taken to a dealer where a software update was performed; however, the failure returned weekly. Recently, the contact stated that upon restarting the vehicle after the failure, the vehicle began to jerk while accelerating, with an abnormal tapping sound coming from the engine. The vehicle was taken to a dealer and was diagnosed with a defective engine rod bearing. The contact was informed by the mechanic that the repair could not be warranted. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure but offered no assistance. The contact was referred to...

1. ABOUT A YEAR AGO THE ENGINE STOP/START FUNCTION STARTED TO FAIL INTERMITTENTLY. I WENT TO THE HONDA DEALER WHO THEY CHARGED US ABOUT $500 FOR A BATTERY AND NEVER MENTIONED A RECALL OR REPAIR. 2. ABOUT SIX WEEKS AGO THE AUTO ENGINE STOP/START FUNCTION FAILED TO RESTART THE ENGINE AFTER STOPPING. I THOUGHT IT WAS THE BATTERY AGAIN AND WENT BACK TO THE HONDA DEALER. THEY CHARGED ABOUT $1,500 FOR VARIOUS THINGS BUT STATED THAT THE AUTO STOP/START FUNCTION SOFTWARE HAD BEEN UPDATED AND IF THERE ANY FUTURE PROBLEMS TO RETURN. 8/19/2025. WE WERE ON THE INTERSTATE HWY IN STOP AND GO TRAFFIC. WE WERE STOPPED IN THE LEFT LANE AND THE TRAFFIC STARTED GOING AGAIN. THE CARS IN FRONT OF US STARTED GOING AND WE WERE LEFT BEHIND. THE CARS BEHIND US WENT AROUND AND WE WERE LEFT STALLED IN THE MIDDLE OF AN INTERSTATE HWY. AFTER A...

When stopped at a stop light the auto idle stop turned the car off. When we tried to go at the green light the car wouldn't move. The transmission shifted to neutral and was stuck. We couldn't put the car in park, we couldn't turn the car off, we couldn't put it in gear. We considered calling the police for help since we were stuck in an intersection. The car eventually turned off and we tried pushing all the buttons to do something it finally allowed us to turn the car 100% off and restart it. Then we could go.

My 2021 Honda Pilot SE FWD would not restart after the auto off/on turned my engine off at a stop light. Of course this happened at a busy intersection causing backup and an unsafe environment to get out and inspect the vehicle. The car had to be jump started by a kind individual.

The Auto Idle Stop (AIS) feature on my 2021 Honda Pilot intermittently causes the engine to shut off at a stop and fail to restart. When this happens the vehicle remains completely unresponsive until I shift into Park and manually restart the engine.This has happened multiple times in traffic and at intersections, creating a huge safety risk. I have already replaced the battery and had the latest software update installed at my local Honda dealership, but the issue persists. The problem is intermittent and difficult for the dealership to replicate. The auto idle stop issue is a known problem with Honda even extending a warranty coverage for the starter assembly and starter relays. The NHTSA number EA25004 addresses this yet the local dealership will only update the software and change the battery. They are failing to honor the second stage of the repair calling out specifically replacing the starter assembly,...

The contact owns a 2021 Honda Pilot. The contact stated that while temporarily stopped at a traffic light or a stop sign, the vehicle occasionally shifted into neutral, or the vehicle shut off unintendedly. There was no warning light illuminated. The local dealer was contacted; however, the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The contact was informed that the VIN was not under recall. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 68,000.

On multiple occasions, when sitting at a stop light and then attempting to drive as the light changes, the engine just shuts off as I take my foot off the brake. It then takes several attempts to get the car started.

Auto start/stop feature turned off the engine at a stoplight. When the light turned green and the brake pedal was released, the engine did not restart. There also appeared to be some sort of electrical malfunction since the start stop button would not turn off the ignition system in an attempt to reset the vehicle. This happened on a light regulated highway with a posted speed limit of 55 mph.

Vehicle when trying to start locks up, have had the battery alternator starter checked, changed the brake switch and still having issues with hard start to my 2021 Honda Pilot. When this happens all the lights come on. I push the Idle/Start switch when I do get it started so that it does shut off when I’m at a red light or stop sign. Because I’m afraid it will not start. Dealership could not find any issues with the vehicle, I’ve taken it to another mechanic and they could not. It has been put on diagnostics several times. I keep putting money into trying to find out what the issue is!!!

This is another incident of the auto start/stop system failing to restart the engine after a stop in traffic.

My wife was driving the family down the highway I was a passenger. While we were traveling approximately 70mph down a 4 lane highway there was a loud clunk with a consistent knock and an immediate loss of power. I was able to help navigate her to safety on an off ramp so that my family would be safely off the road. The vehicle was towed to the Honda dealer where it is currently under warranty. The mechanics at the dealership have confirmed a spun bearing on piston number 3 and the motor will need to be replaced. There were zero warning lights and and no notification from any sensors with an OBD tool. Honda America is only willing to replace the motor with a salvaged motor. Unfortunately the VIN from the car with the salvaged motor will not match my current VIN, so if there is an active recall...

FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE, FUEL PUMP FAILURE CAUSES THE ENGINE TO STALL WHILE DRIVING.

The contact owns a 2021 Honda Pilot. The contact stated that after idling at a red light, the Auto Start failed to operate as designed. The contact had to shift to park(P), and several attempts were needed to restart the vehicle before the contact was able to continue driving. There were no warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, who diagnosed that the battery had failed and needed to be replaced. The battery was replaced; however, the failure persisted. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer to be diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 33,000.

The engine fails to restart at times after the auto engine idle cuts the engine off when stopped. The previous recall has been completed. When I returned my vehicle to the dealership to have it checked again because the same issue continued to occur, I was told the battery needed to be replaced. I have since replaced the battery with a Honda battery from the dealership yet the issue still occurs. It seems to be worse in cold weather.

My Honda's engine start-stop system isn't restarting at stop lights. Very frightening when the light turns green and I can’t go anywhere. I have to turn off the car and restart.

Engines sometimes fails to start again after being turned off briefly. Will have so turn off all electrical and push button to start multiple times before it engine starts again

The car randomly fails to start up again after stopping it during an auto start auto stop cycle.

While stopped on a red light the auto idle engine restart was engaged, when I released my brakes the vehicle did not restart and went into neutral stalling the vehicle..

My push start is not starting the car. Then while driving the car will shut off on parkway, at a light and won't start. This has been going on since I purchased the vehicle 9/23 I have warranty and th auto dealership keep acting like they fixed it yet the haven't. This is the most dangerous issue. We can die getting hit from behind or the car can catch fire keep pushing start button and not turning on

I have had numerous issues with the car stalling while in idle- it will shut off but still display all the warning lights on the dash. It would require the car engine to be restarted. Has happened at stop signs, stop lights, carpool lights. This has happened at least 10 times over 3.5 years. Last week I had a similar issue but this time it was much scarier- it did that same shut off but completely shut off the engine. All systems were black and the start button did not trigger a response for at least a minute. Once it finally restarted it displayed a “lost power” message on the screen. More similar issues to report.

So on Oct 25, 2024 I took my car to get an oil change at the moss bros Honda dealership. I always get all maintenance done there. Then a week later on Nov 3, 2024 my suv pilot broke down on the freeway it just started jerking and the screen kept glitching then right after the engine light went on. I was not aware of any signs for it to happen but Luckily there was a cop and a tow truck close by because who knows what would have happened. After that I took to the dealership on Tuesday and they inspected it then they come and tell me that my engine is done. So they were trying to charge me $8792 for a used engine. I just think is so weird that how everything happened knowing that is a semi new car and I been taking care of the...

Our vehicle continues to randomly turn off and not go while driving. Whenever the idle start/stop is engaged, the vehicle will randomly not restart when traffic is moving. When this occurs you must completely turn off the vehicle, wait a few seconds, restart the vehicle, wait a few seconds, then attempt to place back into drive before being able to move. We have been having this same issue many times now. We have taken our vehicle in to the dealer service department multiple times with this issue. We have replaced the battery ($400) and it still happens. They act like they have never heard of this happening to anyone before and we must be "making it up". They then proceed to tell us that we need to let it keep happening until it is much more common. Then bring it back in again so they can see it happen. I...

While stopped at a light the engine completely shut off and put itself into neutral. Nothing worked. Had to press and hold the ignition button for at least 5 seconds to shut down and restart the vehicle.

Twice in the last 6 months this has happened while car was stopped at red light. The auto engine restart system failed, causing the car to shut down. Car had to be placed in park and restarted. Local dealer was unable to detect cause : no codes captured and there were no problems with battery or starter detected.

Vehicle spontaneously caught fire. There were no known/indicated issues with the vehicle. Vehicle was eventually extinguished by the fire dept. It took them 45 mins to render it extinguished. Vehicle was parked in my driveway at the time of the incident.

Like others have reported, similar to the odyssey we own that did have a recall to fix the issue, the vehicle fails to restart after it idles at a light. Causing very stressful situation in traffic because it take 10-20 seconds to get vehicle going. Happened 5 times in 6 months.

when auto-idle engaged and car is stopped, it will not restart the car's engine. My safety was at risk because the event took place while I was in traffic with my family. The problem has not been reproduced. It is a problem known by Honda for many years. The vehicle has not been inspected. Unknown.

When driving the car and stopped, the car goes into idle engine automatically. There are have been 5 incidents where the engine wouldn’t turn back on. The car starts beeping and flashing to put in park, shut off and restart. This is extremely dangerous when in the middle of traffic, cars honking and my children in the car getting nervous. Luckily I have not had an accident yet and figured out how to not use the “idle stop” feature to prevent this from happening but it’s not a long term solution as I have to stop idle feature every time the car is turned on.

My Honda Pilot has, on multiple occasions, just died after the auto engine idle stop engaged. I have had to put my vehicle back in park, restart it, immediately disable the auto idle stop and put it back in drive. On several other occasions it has also said "engine idle stop system unavailable". Even with that useless feature disabled my car will hesitate and kinda sputter when I stop at red lights. It's dangerous. I just bought this car from the Toyota Dealership in my area so I shouldn't be having these issues. There's less than 28,000 miles on it, I shouldn't be having any issues whatsoever.

The automatic idle stop does not restart engine upon release of the brake pedal. It has been happening with increasing frequency.