Engine Shut Off Without Warning problems of the 2016 Honda Pilot

The vehicle is equipped with an auto shut off and restart feature. There are many instances when the vehicle shuts off at a stoplight or in a parking lot and then does not restart automatically as it should. The vehicle must be powered off and on multiple times before the vehicle will restart. There seems to be a faulty sensor or some thing. The Honda dealership has provided no explanation except it's a battery issue which it is not connected as we have replaced the battery. I am concerned that when I am in traffic at a stoplight if I have forgotten to press the button to disengage the auto restart then I'll be stranded while trying to restart the car. It has become more frequent the last 18 months.

Over the past few years, I have had issues with my car shutting off when at a stop after the auto off feature engages and does not turn back on. I have to put the car in park and manually restart the engine to continue. This was happening at least a couple times a month. I took it to the Honda dealer and no problem was found according to the dealer. I began to get in the habit of disabling the auto off feature every time I started the car and this seemed to avoid this problem I was having. Two days ago, however, when I was driving, it began to shut off every time I was idling at a red light (8 times in one day) even with the auto-off disabled. And when I got on the freeway, driving at about 55mph, the engine shut off and I had to emergently coast over past the fast lane into a narrow inside shoulder. I had my young children and elderly parents in the car and it was a very scary and dangerous experience for us. We were thankful able to restart the car and get off the freeway with the car shutting off two more times in the middle of the street while driving at slow speeds (10-20 mph) before arriving at a gas station parking lot. The display cycled through many error messages ie emission systems problem, power steering system problem, transmission system problem, emissions system problem, hill start assist problem, etc. I am very concerned that we have got continued to have problems with this vehicle shutting off which is very dangerous.

Three times the car has stalled and shut down after stopping at a red light on a busy city street while the auto idle feature was on. When the light turns green and your foot comes off the brake the car shuts off and puts itself in park. The car will not start and each time we tried to start it all the different warning messages cycle through on the dash such as hill start assist, trailer stability assist, road departure mitigation etc. The first time the car finally started. The second time it would not start and a tow truck had to be called. Since the car would not go into neutral the car had to be dragged onto the flatbed tow truck. The third time the battery was jumped and the car finally started. The battery has been test each time and it is fine. This has caused a very dangerous situation for my family by being stuck in busy intersections. Our local Honda dealer said they don't know why it is happening and will need to run tests. I have read hundreds of complaints online so I know it is a known issue. Honda need to recall and fix the problem.

The keyless start system problem light has come on and the dealership finds no codes to resolve the issue. The auto engine shutoff to conserve gas when the bake is depressed will completely shut off the car and I am not able to start the car again. This has happened many time from driving on the highway and stopping in traffic to being in the city stopping at a red light. It can take up to a minute or more to get the car to start again. The only way to disable this from happening is to manually shut off this feature every time I start the vehicle.

I have a 2016 touring model. I purchased it used from gladstone Honda (now swickard) in 2017. In 2018 my battery suddenly died during errands. I had the car jumped and replaced the battery from a local auto supply store. Last year, we started hearing an occasional weird clicking during idle-stop. Now, this year, when in idle-stop at a stop sign or stop light, often the car shuts off, slips into park mode, flashes error messages and will not immediately start again when pushing the ignition button. Sometimes, I have been on a hill and the car rolls backwards. There is no way to permanently disable this feature, so unless you remember to disable it every time you start the car, the safety malfunction repeats itself. It's terrifying and dangerous.

We own a 2016 Honda Pilot elite with auto start/stop feature. The vehicle has approximately 78,000 miles and began exhibiting issues with the auto start/stop feature. When stopped at any location, the auto stop engages and turns off the engine and should restart when you lift your foot of the brake; but it is now turning all the power to the vehicle off (radio off, a/c off, dash lights off). In some cases the dash will flicker with and dash lights will eliminate for a second. As a result you cannot move the vehicle and are stuck in a dangerous place (can't put the vehicle in neutral, no power). This has happened to us on numerous occasions; at stop lights where cars behind you get frustrated and honk their horns (takes several minutes to start back up if you are lucky) and most concerning is if you are in the middle of the intersection and about to make a right turn, while waiting to make the turn, the vehicle shuts off � now we are stuck in the intersection with two kids in the vehicle. Now oncoming traffic is either fast approaching or honking because we are blocking the lane. We have been almost struck on several occasions. The only work around is to turn the auto start/stop feature off (pushing the button) when you first get in the vehicle, but if you forget � we might get killed. I took it to the Honda dealer and they claim they have never heard of this issue. My battery tested fine. I located numerous Honda Pilot posts online that indicate this is a common problem, dating back to the 2016, but no one is helping the consumer. I don't understand why there is a delay in repairing this issue; it is not just a general inconvenience, it is a safety risk. We are frustrated and scared. If we trade the vehicle for another car, what happens to the next family that purchases this vehicle � do they suffer the fatal outcome.

Car shuts down and stalls when idle stop engages very frequently over the past year in the middle of the intersection or highway. Have taken in to Honda dealers multiple times but they cannot recreate the problem and say the battery tests ok yet recommend changing the battery?!.

Car was engaged in "idle-stop" at a traffic light. Following driver's lifting of foot off of the brake pedal, car shut off completely. All dashboard lights lit up, and car was not able to be turned back on for 1-2 minutes. Car was in the middle of a busy street, and a large vehicle nearly rear-ended the dead car. Driver was thereafter able to follow on-screen instructions for restarting vehicle, but was unsuccessful in several initial attempts. (in other words, car was not starting despite driver's complying with instructions. Prior to this incident, car had in some instances very momentarily "cut out" following an "idle-start. " driver noticed a "popping" at this time. But the problem, which the manufacturer and dealer claim to know nothing about and are "unable to replicate" during service, is clearly becoming worse and more dangerous over time. The best the Honda dealership service department appears to be able to do in diagnosing the problem is to suggest battery recharge or replacement, which has not been an issue for our car and is apparently a common suggestion from dealerships. This is an apparently bigger issue than Honda has been willing to admit.

When engine auto idle is engaged, instead of re-engaging when foot removed from brake, the car stalls in one of three ways. Grade 1, the fan and radio shut off but the engine engages once gas is applied. Grade 2, the fan, radio and engine shut off but restart once gas is applied. Various warning lights then appear on the dash. Grade 3, everything shuts off and the car will not restart until you shift into park and press the start button several times. This is very dangerous as it happens at intersections when cars expect you to be moving and you're stalled out. I have video of these incidents and have provided them to the Honda dealer.

Auto stop malfunction first year of owning the Pilot elite, the auto stop function worked and would restart after coming to a stop. By the second year, after coming to a stop in city traffic and engine is supposed to come back on, it stalls and shuts off and needs to be shifted to neutral and then restart engine. Have taken the car for services since having this issue and reporting the issue to the dealership and they are unable to fix the issue or replicate the problem. Now into year 3 of ownership the auto stop function has gotten worse because now when it shuts off after auto stopping, it takes a couple of minutes before you are able to restart the car. This is very unsafe at an intersection when the light turns green. Only way around this issue is to disable the auto stop function at the beginning of the drive which defeats the purpose of having such a function and we aren't able to permanently disable the function. I have reported this problem each and every time I have taken it in to the dealership for service and they have run diagnostics and said they weren't able to replicate the issue.

About 4 months ago I was at a stoplight, my engine shut down, as it was supposed to with the �auto idle stop� function. It is supposed to start back up when you take your foot off the brake, but this time the car stalled. It stalled many times after this and it was always unexpected and scary. I took it into my dealer on June 6, 2018 and they said they could see that they could see in the computer that it stalled a few times, but could not reproduce the problem while test driving it. They did a reset on the electronics. That did nothing. I stalled a while after I left the shop. I stalled many more times after that. It does have an override to this �auto idle stop� system, but you have to always remember to push the button and if I forgot and the car was in �auto idle stop� mode and I pushed the button, many times the car would stall. I now also have a problem starting the car. When I push the start button, many times the engine won't start. I have to push it 3-4 times to get it to start. This makes my stalling even more dangerous, as if it was not dangerous enough, because it will take me much longer to start the car from a stall. I can imagine being in situations where I would have to be able to get out a situation quickly and if I stall I would not be able to. If I am on a freeway and stall in heavy traffic, or stalling on train tracks if I am in heavy traffic and I happen to be the car left on the tracks and can't start. Or if a car or object is heading towards me and will crash into me and I can avoid it be speeding away. If I stall I can't. Here is a thread from a Honda Pilot forum with many owners with the same problem. . Read more...

While driving the car, if I go over certain types of rough road, I. E. Railroad tracks, the engine will stop and the car shut off. It is a momentary, less than 1 sec, shut down. It has happened at least 3 times in the last 6 months. I am driving 5 mph or slower as I am going over a rough bump.

I was driving around town running errands. As I pulled out of a parking lot, my display panel showed emissions system problem and the engine light came on. Called dealer and they said it's not a big concern unless engine light was flashing and to bring it in after the weekend (was a Friday afternoon). Drove it 30 minutes home at 55-65 mph and noticed no problems. Drove it that distance and speed to take it to the dealer as well with no problems. Picked it up a few days later. Service notes indicate: code p0328, knock sensor failure, replaced knock sensor and retested, ok at this time. After picking it up, was about 10 min away and trying to go from 60 to 68 and set cruise. Speed began to jump around, not staying at a speed for more than a second 70-60-65-68-63, etc. Engine light now flashing took off cruise and it continued. Turned around to head back to dealer. Car working fine for a bit, but then continued to jerk at different speeds (60, 40, 25). Was stopped at light and engine was still revving at 4 rpm. Stepped off brake and car accelerated on own to 25. Dealer notes: code p2638, idle relearn, torque management feedback, performed relearn. Today, 6 days after picking it up, I was stopped at a stoplight. Eco button is on, engine idle is running, seat warmer and heater on. While I was still applying brake, the engine idle sounded like it was trying to kick off and the whole car shut off on me. All indicator lights came on, but the engine was off and nothing was running. Turned car off and back on, drove the 2 miles to the dealer, and left it with them.

On November 10, 2015, at approximately 5:30pm, my wife and I were traveling on north I-75 in southwest ohio. Besides ourselves, we had our two young grandchildren in the car. The car¿s computer started displaying a changing series of warnings generally indicating various system failures. The car basically started to shut down. Since we were in the far right lane, my wife was able to coast over to the shoulder. If we had been traveling in the middle or left lane of traffic, there would have been little if any chance of moving over to the curb. The car, with two young children in the back seat, would have shut down leaving us in the path of very fast moving cars and trucks. The only outcome was a potentially deadly high-speed rear end collision. We had to have the car towed to our Honda dealer approximately 40 miles away. On November 27, the day after thanksgiving, the same failure occurred at approximately 2:30pm. This time we were 400 miles from home traveling east on highway 11-e, between greeneville and johnson city, tennessee. I caught the failure early enough before the engine shut down and was able to coast the car to a parking lot of an out-of-business store. This time instead of two young children, we had two elderly great grandparents. The dealer that handled the first incident diagnosed the problem as a software issue. However, the second dealer diagnosed it as a fuel pump relay not properly connected. This relay requires a special tool to install it. See attached letter with attachments for all details including service invoices.

The contact owns a 2016 Honda Pilot. While driving at 55 mph, the engine shut off and the entire instrument panel illuminated. The contact noticed smoke emitting from the front driver side. After lifting the hood, flames emitted from the passenger side near the engine. The contact was able to extinguish the fire. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 1,600.