Brake Grinding Noise problems of the 2005 Honda Pilot

While driving I went to apply my brakes to begin slowing down, I only applied a very small amount of pressure when a grinding noise started and lasted only a few seconds then a slight jerk as if my car was braking on its own and then a warning light turned on (exclamation inside a triangle and the vsa letters appeared) this stayed on until I turned off the car. This has occurred now 4 times. Fortunately I only have to drive 5 miles to work. Firstly, I am afraid to drive any distance especially on the highway should this get worse and secondly I have grandkids that I transport and am concerned that I could possibly be putting their lives in jeopardy!! I do hope that something is done or a recall is made so that this can be fixed.

On three hot afternoons (around 75 degrees) the car repeatedly had problems - mostly when turning. It felt like the antilock brakes went on by themselves even though my foot was not on the brake. The car quickly slowed and made grinding noises. Most of the times that it happened, the stability control warning light came on. It felt and sounded similar to the way it stops on icy roads in the winter, but the slowdown was more severe. The car seemed fine during the cooler morning hours and the problem worsened as the temperature rose. It is currently sitting at the Honda dealership while the problem is being diagnosed.

The contact owns a 2005 Honda Pilot. The contact stated that the vehicle made a grinding noise and the brakes activated erroneously, bringing the vehicle to a complete stop. The failure recurred several times. The vehicle was taken to a private mechanic where the failure could not be replicated. The manufacturer was contacted about the failure. The failure mileage was 100,000 and the current mileage was 120,000. The VIN was unavailable.

I was driving my 2005 Honda Pilot form my home and made a left turn out of my subdivision. Suddenly the vehicle made a loud grinding noise that seemed to come from the front of it. It went away and I continued driving slowly (about 15 - 20 mph) to see if I could detect something further wrong or if I had run over something. As I found no indication of the cause of the noise I continued on. Within approximately one city block the vehicle seemed to apply the brakes and slowed itself to a crawl. I did not apply the brakes! the noise again occurred while this happened. The noise, I realized, was similar to anti-lock brakes activating during a hard stop. This occurred three more times in rapid succession and then went away. I continued on trying to figure out what was wrong and applied the brakes myself. They seemed to work ok. As I proceeded , the brakes once again applied themselves (with absolutely no action from me) another four times. At this time the vsa light came on the dash. I attempted to turn it off, but was not sure if it did turn off or not. I drove another two to three miles without further problems. On may 10, approximately three weeks after the first incident, the vsa light came on. I pulled over, shut off the car and restarted it as directed in the owner's manual and the vsa light did not come back on. Later that day, while driving with four people in the Pilot I had made a left turn and had accelerated to about 40 mph when the brakes again applied themselves, the Pilot dived to the left and came to a complete stop. Again, I did not apply the brakes, the Pilot did this itself. The vsa light had come on again and I followed the procedure in the owner's manual. This seemed to work once again. As everyone in the Pilot had their seat belts on, no one was injured.