general problems of the 2026 Honda Odyssey

The vehicle was slowing due to stopped traffic and the engine suddenly shut off (before the vehicle had come to a complete stop) and put itself into park. The vehicle could not be immediately restarted. The car was blocking traffic. After leaving the car off for approximately 10 minutes the car was able to restart.

My 2026 Honda Odyssey has only been driven for 7 months so far but several times has left me stalled in the middle of the road due to the auto idle stop (start-stop) system failing to restart the engine. When it happened today, I was stopped at a light, but when it turned green, the engine didn't restart, leaving me stuck in the middle of the road with cars going around me. This created a serious threat of a rear-end collision, which could result in serious injury or death. Three children were in the vehicle at the time, which is especially common for most people who drive this vehicle. When it occured, the dashboard displayed the message "to continue to drive, depress the brake pedal and push switch," but this did not work. The vehicle had to be completely turned off first then restarted normally. There was no prior warning or indications this would occur. The problem only occurs sporadically making it hard to reproduce by a dealer.

When the car is stopped at a light. The car will shut off and shift into park and kill and I cannot restart the car until several times of trying.

The van turns completely off very often when at a complete stop. I am not referring to the auto start/stop feature which is equipped standard on the vehicle. The van physically turns completely off, as if I turned off the car, requiring me to turn the car on completely. This has created very dangerous situations as im often traveling trying to merge into traffic etc and the vehicle is off on active roadways. There is no warning, just turns off completely.

Our 2026 Honda Odyssey ex-l repeatedly shuts off completely while stopped at a traffic light or intersection and does not restart on its own. This is not normal auto idle stop operation. When the brake is released, the engine fails to restart; the vehicle must be manually restarted by pushing the engine start/stop button. This happened four times in the week of October 19, 2026 alone, in addition to earlier occurrences. Each time the vehicle is left stranded in live traffic in an active intersection, blocking traffic and creating a risk of a rear-end collision. No crash, fire, or injury to date. Approximate mileage 8,000. This appears to be the same auto idle stop failure-to-restart condition under NHTSA engineering analysis ea25-004, but that investigation covers only 2018-2025 Odyssey -- this vehicle is a 2026, outside its scope. The vehicle is under factory warranty. We request that the investigation be expanded to include the 2026 model year.

Start stop engine when on drive, car wont tyrn on got stuck on a interstate very damgerous I consider this a lemon.

On xxx my 2026 Honda Odyssey touring, bought new on xxx and driven about 6,000 miles, was stopped at a red light in [xxx], with auto idle stop engaged as designed. When the light turned green and I released the brake, the engine did not restart. The transmission shifted itself into park, and the display showed a message to hold the brake and press d to restart. I followed it, but the vehicle would not shift into drive. The only way to get moving was to turn the vehicle completely off and restart it with the start button, stopped in a live traffic lane while cars behind me honked. The vehicle was disabled without warning in a travel lane at an intersection, exposing its occupants to a rear-end collision. Had the same failure happened while I was turning or crossing an intersection, the vehicle would have been stranded in cross traffic. For about two before this, restarts from auto idle stop had become slow and labored, with a noticeable delay before the engine caught. No warning lights appeared before the failure. The failure appears to involve the auto idle stop restart system. The vehicle has not yet been inspected. It is scheduled for warranty diagnosis at a Honda dealer on xxx, and is available for inspection on request. I understand NHTSA’s engineering analysis ea25-004 covers this failure on 2018–2025 Odysseys; this 2026 model shows the same failure. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

Three times in the past two months my car has failed to switch out of auto idle stop to drive when at a stop sign or light. A warning appeared all three tomes and I could not switch out of park. I had to restart the car, which took longer than usual to restart, and then out it back into drive.

There is some sort of starter issue. It has a way to turn the starter off when I’m idle but multiple times it’s taken a long time to start after idling. Today it would not move after I was idle at a light so I had to park and restart the car. Then I went home and was going to go out again and it didn’t start. I waited a minute and it started again. I feel unsafe in this vehicle.

The contact owns a 2026 Honda Odyssey. The contact stated that while at a stoplight, the auto-start failed to function as intended. The contact stated that the engine shut off, but while attempting to start the vehicle, the vehicle started. The contact stated that several unknown warning lights were illuminated. The dealer was contacted and made aware of the failure. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, where it was diagnosed with starter failure. The contact was informed that the starter needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. In addition, the gas cap warning light was illuminated. The contact attempted to close the cap, but the gas cap was already closed. The contact stated that while attempting to unlatch the sliding door, the sliding door failed to unlatch. The contact's minor kids had to exit the vehicle through the door. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, where it was diagnosed with an unknown sensor failure. The contact was informed that the sensor needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 21,000.

I was stopped at a red light. When the light turned green, I stepped on the gas pedal to proceed forward. The vehicle suddenly stopped and shifted into park on its own. The emergency brake light also came on, and the vehicle would not move. I attempted several times to shift the vehicle back into drive, but it would not move. I continued shifting between park and drive and attempting to release the brake until the vehicle eventually allowed me to move. Because the vehicle would not move when the light turned green, another vehicle struck my vehicle. This created a serious safety risk because I was unable to move the vehicle when traffic began proceeding through the intersection, resulting in a collision. There were no warning lights, messages, or other symptoms before the incident. The vehicle unexpectedly did this without warning. The emergency brake light came on when the failure occurred. The vehicle has not been inspected by a dealership or independent service center, and the problem has not been reproduced or confirmed by a dealer or service center. The vehicle is currently available for inspection upon request.

Sitting at a light, the auto stop system activated and shut the engine off. When the light turned green, I took my foot off the brake and the engine failed to. Start and the entire electrical system shut off. The card was completely dead. I sat there for several minutes and I was able to restart the car.

While driving my 2026 Honda Odyssey, I stopped at a red light and the engine shut off through the auto idle stop system. I pressed the auto idle stop off button because I wanted the engine running again before proceeding. Instead of restarting the engine, the vehicle completely shut down and became inoperable in traffic. I repeatedly attempted to restart the vehicle, but it remained unresponsive for approximately 20 seconds before it finally restarted. This created a serious safety hazard because I was unable to move the vehicle while positioned in active traffic. This was not normal auto idle stop operation, as the engine should have restarted when I pressed the button. This has happened several times already, where the car will not restart the engine. Requesting that NHTSA investigate possible auto-idle stop/failure-to-restart problems affecting the 2026 Honda Odyssey.

My ais system kicked in causing the engine to shut off. Unfortunately, the engine did not restart. I was unable to start my car or even shift it to neutral for a helpful bystander to help me push my car off of the road. I was blocking traffic on a busy road and I am very fortunate that I was not rear ended. Eventually, after about half an hour, was able to get the car restarted (even then, lots of “clicking” and hesitation with starting). I then drove the vehicle home. I took it to Honda and they made me aware today that they were unable to get the car to repeat this problem, nothing was wrong, I could pick it up and let them know if it happened again.

While my 2026 Honda Odyssey was parked and stationary, I operated the driver-side power sliding door normally. The door began opening but became stuck. When I activated the power sliding door again, there was a sudden mechanical failure involving the sliding-door mechanism. The sliding-door rail was severely damaged/deformed, the mechanism appeared to disengage from its normal track/rail path, and the fixed rear quarter/third-row side window shattered. Exterior molding covering the rail was also dislodged and fell to the ground. There was no collision, accident, external impact, obstruction, or other outside force involved. The failure occurred during normal intended use of the power sliding door. Fortunately, my three children had already exited the vehicle. The shattered glass is directly adjacent to a passenger seating position normally occupied by my children, creating a serious risk of injury had a passenger been seated there. There were no warning lights, messages, or known prior symptoms before the door became stuck. The vehicle has not yet been inspected by Honda or a dealer. It is currently parked at my residence and is available for inspection. I have extensive photographs taken immediately after the incident documenting the damaged rail, shattered glass, displaced molding, and debris. After the incident, because I was approximately three hours from home with my three children, I was able to carefully reposition the door enough to close and secure it, temporarily cover the shattered window, and drive home. The affected sliding door has remained closed and locked since, and I am no longer operating the vehicle pending inspection.

Auto start/stop is not working properly. Traffic had came to a hault on an exit ramp which caused the auto stop to activate. Once traffic started moving, foot was taken off the brake and gas pedal was pressed. Van would not go. Confused on what was happening, panic mode was setting in. Other cars were blowing their horns. We felt stuck. Husband looked down and realized it had went into p (park) mode on its own. So, he pressed the brake and tried to put it in drive but it would not switch over. So, he had to turn it off completely and restart it. It has done this 2 other times. Probably would be even more often if I didn't turn the auto start/stop off. We had less than 12000 miles on our van at the time of last incident. We have made an appointment with the dealership which admitted that they have had a lot of complaints regarding this same issue. I love everything about this vehicle except for the number 1 thing I should love, safety. I do not feel safe at all times in this vehicle.

Idle stop function error during waiting at red light. Engine failed to restart so I had to turned it off and restarted the engine at the traffic light. Happened twice already. Idle stop system is defective need to be recalled.

At a stop light the van turned off and would not turn back on. . . Finally was able to get it to auto zone who said it was a bad battery, we then took it to Honda with it only having 7k miles on it. They determined it was the starter from the auto/start/stop feature. What if this was the highway? a 2026 vehicle this should not happen to.

I own a 2026 Honda Odyssey elite. On multiple occasions, the auto idle stop system shut the engine off while stopped at a traffic light. When I released the brake pedal to proceed, the engine failed to restart, leaving the vehicle disabled in traffic. I was forced to shift the vehicle into park and manually restart the engine using the start/stop button. This defect has occurred multiple times. I first reported the issue to my Honda dealership on June 2, 2026. After two visits where the dealer was unable to duplicate the concern, I captured the failure on video. During my third repair visit, the dealership's engineer personally experienced the failure twice while testing the vehicle. Honda customer relations opened a case and worked with the dealership. The dealership ultimately replaced the battery but advised me that this was only the next diagnostic step and not a confirmed root cause of the failure. This defect creates a significant safety hazard because the vehicle can become immobilized in an active traffic lane after the light turns green, exposing occupants to the risk of being struck by other vehicles.

I own a 2026 Honda Odyssey elite equipped with the factory rear entertainment system and apple carplay. When using apple carplay navigation (apple maps, google maps, or waze) while passengers are watching a movie on the factory rear entertainment system, every navigation voice prompt causes the movie playback to stop. After playback stops, the movie cannot be restarted from the vehicle controls. The only way to restore normal operation is to stop the vehicle, turn the vehicle completely off, restart it, reconnect apple carplay, and restart the movie. However, the problem repeats the next time a navigation instruction is given. This creates a driver distraction because passengers immediately ask for the movie to be restarted, and the driver is presented with an infotainment system that does not respond as expected while the vehicle is moving. Drivers may attempt to troubleshoot or repeatedly interact with the infotainment controls instead of focusing on driving. My Honda dealership advised me they were able to reproduce this issue on multiple new 2026 Honda Odyssey vehicles on their lot, indicating that this is not unique to my vehicle. Honda customer relations has also been notified.

My 2026 Honda Odyssey was stopped at a traffic light with auto idle stop engaged. When traffic was ready to move, the engine appeared to restart for about half a second and then shut down. The vehicle then shifted itself into park and would not resume normal operation. The battery warning light was illuminated. Pressing the engine start/stop button caused all of the screens/displays to turn off briefly, but they came back on in the same failed state. The vehicle was disabled in traffic at an intersection. The component or system that failed appears to be the auto idle stop / engine restart system, possibly involving the starter, starter relay, battery/charging system, or engine control software. The vehicle is available for inspection upon request. My safety and the safety of others were put at risk because the vehicle unexpectedly failed to restart and became disabled while stopped at a traffic light, creating a traffic obstruction and risk of being struck from behind or causing other drivers to maneuver around the vehicle. The problem has not yet been reproduced or confirmed by a dealer or independent service center. Unknown whether diagnostic trouble codes were stored. The vehicle/component has not yet been inspected by the manufacturer, police, insurance representatives, or others. There were no warning lamps, messages, or symptoms prior to the failure that I noticed. The battery warning light appeared after the engine shut down and the vehicle would not restart normally.