general problems of the 2017 Honda Pilot - part 1

The issue appears to involve the vehicle’s electrical control system responsible for power management and system activation while the vehicle is off, possibly including the Smart power control module and related components. It may be arranged for the vehicle to be inspected. The vehicle behaved as though it had been remote started, initiating engine cranking without any user input while turned off. If this occurs while parked in a garage or enclosed space, it could lead to dangerous carbon monoxide buildup and pose a serious risk to occupants. Unintended engine activation also presents a risk to nearby people or property. The unintended engine cranking event occurred once and was directly witnessed while I was seated inside the vehicle observing other electrical oddities. The issue has not been reproducible on demand. However, related symptoms including the alarm activating on its own and unexplained electrical activity while the vehicle is off have occurred multiple times. The vehicle has not yet been inspected for this issue by a dealership, manufacturer, or third party. No police or insurance reports have been filed. I plan to take it to the dealership tomorrow (4/4/2026). There were no warning lights or messages before or during the event. Prior symptoms include intermittent alarm activation, display flashing, clicking fuses, and electrical activity while off, beginning before the engine cranking incident.

It is unfortunately the camshaft end play issue that we see with these engines from time to time. Honda identified that the surface roughness of the camshaft thrust cover on these engines was manufactured out of specification. This poor surface finish creates excessive friction and wear, allowing the camshaft to develop excess fore-and-aft movement (end play). As the camshaft shifts physically out of its correct alignment, it begins to scrape against the thrust cover or cause the reluctor wheel to physically strike and damage the camshaft position (cmp) sensor. So you have to replace the camshaft, the camshaft sensor, the thrust plate, and timing cover plate. In this picture you can see where the reluctor wheel has been scraping on the cam sensor. This was sent to me not only by one mechanic but multiple. Honda needs to replace this and a recall needs to be made!!!.

Car is dangerous. I have been the only owner of this car. Over the years and again today the car loses acceleration when attempting to pass someone on the highway at speeds of 65 mph +. The car just doesn't accelerate and leave you pushing gas and nothing happens. I have had issues where I have had to move over 2 lanes on busy highway to pull over due to lack of anything happening when I press the gas. Today, it actually didn't throw any codes, but acceleration returned after about 25 stressful seconds. It's bad enough this car has to have the idle engine depressed everytime you start it or the car will die and not restart at a traffic light. There are way too many safety issue with this car. I will keep reporting as time allows. I have done all the routine maintenance on this car as well. I try to keep my cars 10 years, but this one has been an issue since early on.

I was driving back from my daughter's tournament in [xxx] and while driving, I heard a loud crack. It sounded like it came from the top of the car. When we got home I hit the button for the moonroof slide and noticed that the moorroof had cracked. There was no one in front of us and no debris when the loud crack occurred. Luckily there was no glass shards that fell on the kids. I looked online and saw many other customers had this same scenario happen and glass fell on their children. Customers are also saying that this is due to cold/heat exposure. The problem cannot be reproduced as it involves glass. And there are no warning lights for this issue. I am reporting the incident today to my dealer and insurance. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

The auto engine idle stop system just quits and stalls out at intersections. I have to put the car in park and restart the vehicle. Some times it takes a few minutes to get it moving. I’ve brought it to the dealership and they updated the software but it didn’t make any difference. It doesn’t happen all the time but it’s very frequent. I’ve started disabling it because it’s frightening when your call stalls and people are coming up behind you quickly at a green light. Today it’s entirely malfunctioning with a warning so I will have to take it back to the dealership again for them to tell me nothing is wrong. Honda should do a recall on this. I’ve searched the internet and I’m apparently one of many people having the same issues with this feature. Thanks so much.

This car loses speed when passing while highway driving. Car decelerates and throws you into neutral throws dash errors of "blind spot" & "transmission problem". I was luck to be able to get over 2 lanes to break down lane without being hit from behind on several occasions. Car message to put in park and turn off. Car was in neutral and wound not go into park. I had to put emergency break on and power down car in neutral. Waited a few minutes then restarted and no errors on dash. Car back to normal. Car has major faults and you can't show the codes when you get to dealer because they are gone then they also want to charge you $175 diagnostic fee. Car also has issues with the stop light idle turning off feature and not turning back on for 5-10 minutes yet another way someone can hit you from behind. I am stuck with this unsafe car and Honda never has to recall anything. I am going tomorrow yet again to try and get the service bulletin 23-078 warranty extension for the torque converter covered to see if that will resolve issue.

Car goes idle/shuts off with the auto shut off feature but won't turn back on automatically.

In August 2022, with approx. 92,000 miles, my 2017 Honda Pilot received fuel injector replacement and a pcm update under Honda TSB 20-100, performed by schaumburg Honda. This technical service bulletin is known to have downstream impacts on emissions systems if the root cause is not fully corrected. On August 13, 2025, at 134,045 miles, the vehicle triggered a p0430 code (“bank 2 catalyst efficiency below threshold”). Schaumburg Honda again replaced the injectors. Less than a month later, on September 8, 2025, at 135,101 miles, the vehicle triggered a second emissions code, p0420 (“bank 1 catalyst efficiency below threshold”). Schaumburg Honda informed me that both catalytic converters had now failed and quoted over $5,800 in replacement costs. This sequence of events strongly suggests a long-term emissions defect potentially caused by unresolved impacts from TSB 20-100. American Honda denied goodwill assistance based on mileage, despite the clear connection to prior manufacturer-directed service. I have purchased several vehicles from this dealer over the years and have maintained all service through authorized Honda service centers. This raises safety and environmental concerns due to the catalytic converter failure, and may indicate a systemic issue tied to the TSB.

I feel the engine is failing.

Auto idle stop system continues to be a problem even after new battery as well as computer update from Honda. My safety continues to be put at risk due to car not restarting after idle at stop light in traffic. People have almost rear ended my car as well as the stress it puts on driver because car totally dies and can't restart for several minutes. This is a one car owner since new in 2017 and continue to replace battery, but nothing helps. Car has been serviced by Honda dealer since purchased in 2017. No warning and you have to remember every time you restart the car to turn this feature off.

Teenage daughter was driving in rush hour traffic and the car seemed at have stalled out. She pulled over on the shoulder and manually turned off the car. When she tried re-starting it, it would not start. Electrical came on, but no power to the engine. Something then seemed to have overheated because when fire department was called, they extinguished something that had melted the plastic covering underneath the car. Fire department called due to smoke. No flames seen. We believe the smoke was from the melted plastic under car from something (a fluid) that was leaking. Insurance was called, car was towed to a Honda repair shop and then towed to a local Honda dealership. They say engine seized and is locked up and will not re-start. Other noted repair needed they say is torque converter. No other problems with this vehicle in the past. One of the best cars we have owned. No warnings prior to this happening on the highway. Disappointed that Honda did not have a cause and origin expert determine what happened to the car.

Honda has put us in a very difficult and dangerous situation that we have tried to get fixed with two local Honda dealerships and have not been able to get this fixed this relates to "warranty extension: 2017–19 multi-model 6at torque converter - dtc p0741 stored. " we own a 2017 Honda Pilot that we are still making payments on. We believe in Honda vehicles because our 2007 Honda odyssey has over 300,000 miles and we can still drive it. For several months prior to December 2024, our Pilot has made a strange knocking noise when we turn it on. We did some research and found the torque converter recall notice. Sierra Honda in our town of monrovia, calif. Would not even look at our car even though we mentioned the recall. They wanted to charge us just to inspect the vehicle. In December 2024, pasadena Honda did examine our car but they said there was no code coming up on the computer indicating that anything was wrong with the car. We told them that if they drove the car, they could hear the issue but they said they couldn't drive it. The situation with our 2017 Honda Pilot has worsened and we are asking for Honda to deal with this situation immediately by fixing our car and providing us with a rental car while our car is being fixed. I have a video from March 2025 that demonstrates that the noise continued to be an issue. The noise has gotten worse. I have videos from today that demonstrates this as well. I could not upload these videos here but can share them with you. We are loyal Honda customers and ask that you please fix this situation immediately for the safety of our family. This is our family car -- we drive our daughters to school 30 minutes away every day -- and do not want to have an accident in our Honda Pilot. Please help us immediately as this car is on recall and it needs to be fixed. Honda refuses to fix torque converter issue.

Issue : engine idle restart malfunction incident description: I was driving my Honda [model, year] when I encountered a serious safety issue related to the engine idle auto start-stop system. While stopped in traffic at a red light, the auto start-stop feature engaged and turned off the engine as expected. However, when the light turned green and I released the brake, the engine failed to restart automatically. I was stuck in the middle of moving traffic, unable to accelerate or move the vehicle. This unexpected failure caused a dangerous traffic obstruction and put me at serious risk of being rear-ended. I had to manually restart the vehicle under pressure, with vehicles approaching behind me, creating a high-stress and potentially crash-prone situation. This issue is especially concerning because this vehicle was previously subject to a Honda recall for this exact problem, and I was informed that the fix had been applied. Clearly, the issue persists and the so-called fix is not effective. This malfunction not only compromises my safety but also that of other drivers. I request immediate attention to this recurring issue and urge Honda to take responsibility by issuing a proper and permanent fix.

When the idle stop feature is activated, the car idles at a redlight or prolonged stop as when stuck in traffic. The car engine stalls once the brake pedal is released and must be restart in order to move the vehicle. The condition is dangerous as it has happened in busy traffic. It happens approximately 1 out of every 10 times the idle stop is activated.

The start/stop mechanism is believed to be not working properly at all times. The car will turn off when we are at a stop or red light and we hit the gas to go, the car turns off. When the car turns off we are left at the light or stop while the rest of the cars go. We almost get rear ended because we are expected to go and don’t. We got honked at and at times in dangerous parts of the road with low visibility of our car at the bottom of a hill. We have toddlers in the car in car seats and it’s extra dangerous. The dealer has not been able to reproduce the problem and therefore they say there is no problem even after showing them videos of different occasions. The vehicle has not been inspected by the manufacturer, or others. We have contacted the manufacturer and they also shrugged and said we can’t reproduce the problem so there’s nothing to fix/do. There are no warning lights before it happens it just doesn’t turn on and then it displays a series of steps that are required in order to turn the car back on. I have videos of it. We have been dealing with this since may 2022 I have record of taking it to the dealer 8 times and all the repairs they recommended each time and what we have paid for.

My 2017 Honda Pilot has been experiencing significant rpm surging and juddering between 10-45 mph, accompanied by "transmission system problem" and "emission system problem" warning messages. Timeline of events: initial repair (may 13, 2024): the billion Honda dealership in iowa city diagnosed the issue as dtc p0776. I paid $426. 10 for the repair, but the surging, juddering, warning lights, and dtc p0776 code persisted. Recommended transmission replacement (June 17, 2024): the dealership recommended replacing the transmission at $9,000. 00. Upon contacting american Honda motor CO. , inc. (case #[xxx]), Honda offered to cover 30% ($2,723), leaving me with a $6,277. 88 bill. Highway breakdown (November 7, 2024): the vehicle severely juddered and displayed warning messages before breaking down completely on [xxx] in chicago, endangering my safety and others during heavy traffic. Concerns: premature failure: the vehicle had only 42,073 miles as of may 2024, far below the expected lifespan for a transmission, suggesting a manufacturing or design defect. Recurring issue: despite the repair, the dtc p0776 problem persisted, indicating a deeper quality defect. Financial burden: it is unreasonable for a loyal customer to pay $6,277. 88 for a transmission replacement likely caused by a manufacturing defect. Safety risks: the highway breakdown highlights the severity of this issue and the danger it poses. Common problem: similar transmission issues (dtc p0776) have been widely reported by other Honda owners, suggesting this is not an isolated case. Requested resolution: I request Honda cover 100% of the transmission replacement costs, including taxes and fees. Reimburse the $426. 10 I paid for the unsuccessful repair. Address the root cause of this defect to ensure no further safety risks. I invested significantly in this vehicle and expect Honda to uphold its reputation for quality and customer care. Please address this matter promptly. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b).

Transmission needs replaced after I did transmission flush 5/24/24.

Had an “emission system” problem in Jan. 2024. The Honda services replaced fuel injector and other parts relating to the problem. However, 1,000 miles after the same problem showed up again and was told on 6/10/24 by the Honda services that problem is the same again after running a test. I tried contacting american Honda to check any recall and found out that anything relating to fuel injector has extended warranty. Today, 6/11/24, after I demand for free car loaner Honda services called to tell us that this time it was the catalityc converter fails. I’m very concern whether telling me the truth or not.

I have a recall for fuel pump malfunction that was announced in December 2023. The first time I was notified was in February 2024 and today we are at the end of October 2024 (240 days) and there has been no update. My car failed to start twice and the battery was in good shape in may and July. The car constantly hesitates when trying to accelerate. Every time, I call a Honda dealer they tell me that the replacement for the item is not available. Upon checking for some affects that might be caused as a result of this recall, the fuel filter might get bad due to bad fuel pump, it might also affect the function of the fuel injectors, valves, and the whole fuel system. Honda wants to charge me just to take a look into this incident. I feel unsafe driving on highways or even in local areas as every time I try to accelerate, the car fails to go to full power and I am afraid that the car behind might hit me from the back if my car stops due to fuel pump failure. If the manufacturer or the dealer is unable to replace this part, I feel that they should change my car to a new car as I have been driving with this issue for over 8 months now with no visible progress.

The radio intermittently changes volume, brightness level, turns off/on all by itself. This has caused the volume to get so loud I have to take my eyes off the road. There has been several other complaints online about this. It's dangerous to be driving to have the radio all of a sudden startle everyone and the driver tries to fix it while driving.

What component or system failed or malfunctioned, and is it available for inspection upon request? the a/c compressor is bad, removed discharge hose and found metal contamination. Need to replace all major components of the a/c system. Need to replace the a/c compressor, condenser, expansion valve, evaporator, discharge hose and flush lines. The vehicle is available for inspection upon request. How was your safety or the safety of others put at risk? the safety of both the driver and passengers was compromised due to the malfunctioning air conditioning system in the 2017 Honda Pilot ex-l. Driving without a functional ac system can lead to discomfort, distraction, and potential health risks, especially during extreme weather conditions. Has the problem been reproduced or confirmed by a dealer or independent service center? yes, problem has been confirmed by Honda of bay county on 04 April 2024. Has the vehicle or component been inspected by the manufacturer, police, insurance representatives or others? no were there any warning lamps, messages or other symptoms of the problem prior to the failure, and when did they first appear? no.

My 2017 Honda Pilot has a jerking issue when accelerating slowly or fast. It lags to accelerate. You can see the rpm gauge bounce when this happens. The "bucking" or "jerking" can be felt by the driver and sometimes the passenger but its not super noticeable. My vehicle has less than 60,000 miles on it currently. I have not changed the transmission fluid but this issue has only just started recently. My transmission fluid currently does not look brown or smell burnt. It looks the normal red color. There is no warning lights have appeared on the dashboard.

I was driving my 2017 Honda Pilot exl back from work at 35-40 mph when I heard a loud thud noise. Initially I thought I had gotten a flat or something, but then I heard air escaping as if a window was open but it was coming from over my head. As I continued to drive I heard pieces of glass sliding across the roof of the car. When a got home a few minutes (< 10 minutes) later, I tried opening the sunroof tray and noticed I couldn’t and I could see that the glass looked to have shattered. I got out of the car and examined the roof of the car and the sunroof was indeed shattered.

Auto idle had been turning off and not re-starting quickly for past 6 months. I asked them to look at it last service. They didn't find anything wrong and said to turn off the auto idle. I did turn off the auto idle most of the time and never had a problem when it was off. Sometimes I forgot to turn off the autoidle. On Dec 5 2023, I was at a red light and had forgotten to turn off auto idle. The car would not turn back on and it was stuck in park. I had it towed and the mechanics said they needed to use a special tool to get it into neutral since the usual protocol had not worked. My car was stuck at a light and I directed traffic to go around me for about 30mins before the tow tuck came. There was no way to push the car out of the way because the wheels were locked due to it being stuck in park. My safety and the safety of other cars was at risk because the cars went into the incoming traffic lane to go around me. If this had happened on a busy road or in traffic on a highway, it would have been more dangerous. A previous time they replaced the battery and this time they are replacing the starter. I am concerned that the problem will persist since the mechanics say there is nothing wrong with the auto idle. I do see that there is a class action suit and over 200 complaints to NHTSA on the autoidle for Honda Pilots. This is a serious safety concern to have a car stop that will not re-start and then cannot be put into neutral to be towed or pushed to the side.

While driving at normal speed car suddenly is unresponsive (will not accelerate, looses power, and is jumpy). The computer triggers a limp mode and alerts every code possible on the dash screen, even though all mechanical parts are fine. This computer/electric failure is a risk that is so unpredictable may cause life threatening accident. The certified repair shop has reviewed, reproduced, and is scratching their heads why Honda hasn’t recalled this because several other Pilots are doing the same.

On three separate occasions, the idol stop/start feature has failed requiring me to manually restart the car. Most recently, it took several attempts to restart before ignition fired all while holding up traffic on a busy street. During failed attempts to restart, it made a sound like it was attempting to restart but didn't have enough power. Weirdly, all three occasions have been at the same intersection, a light on an exit after driving non-stop on the interstate for an hour.

I have a 2017 Honda Pilot manufactured at their alabama plant. It has white diamond pearl. The paint is DE-laminating from the car around the roof, and rear panels. This is ultimately structural problem that will allow rust formation. The paint pealing started in 2023 and has continued. It is apparent Honda is aware of the paint problem for white diamond pearl and other white paint from this plant that covers Pilots, civics, fits, and hrv models starting in at least 2015 through 2017 (not sure if beyond that manufacturing time frame). Honda is not responsive to this costly problem. This is finally a safety issue if the body panels rust and weaken the car in a collision. The NHTSA should address this issue with Honda. Please advise about warranty extensions or class actions against Honda.

The car had 49,400 miles on it when I decided to take a trip to see a friend in nc from NY about 3 hours into my trip a transmission temperature to high light came on. I pulled over turned the car off for a half hour and restarted it and the light disappeared after another hour a light came on that said transmission problems. I stopped in va and brought it to a valvoline where they flushed the fluid and said it was running low on transmission fluid. I continued on my journey and no light came on and 2 hours into driving the transmission temperature light came back on. When I arrived in nc I brought it to a Honda dealership where I was told I needed a new transmission on a car that only had 49,000 miles and was a $65,000 car. I also had to pull over on major highways because I was scared the car would catch fire. (pulled over on NJ turnpike and I-95).

For over eight weeks, the vehicles alarm randomly goes off until it is disabled with key fob. There is no indication of when it will alarm. It has happened during regular business hour and in the middle of the night, with no pattern in time of occurrence. This is a nuisance and disturbance to the public, as the alarm is very loud. Took the vehicle to the dealership for a diagnosis. Dealership diagnosed vehicle with a malfunctioning keyless access control unit. The part was on back order for eight weeks but it was delivered sooner than expected to the dealership. Diagnosis cost $195 and repair cost $659. 59 for a total of $854. 59.

This vehicle keeps having a "emissions system problem" then other times says "transmission temperature too hot" I bought and get this serviced at my local dealer. They don't know what the problem is and it goes away after I see them for a couple weeks but the problems come back. They say no problem. It's unnerving to drive a car with theses messages and I drive long distances.

My Honda continues to display a transmission service problem warning. There’s nothing specifically wrong with the transmission and this is a reported problem across the internet. I suspect there is an issue with the torque converter or other part that is causing this error in some cases, passengers have been stranded.

On March 18th, 2023 at 6:30 pm I parked my car and waited for the curbside pick up at a cafe with my 3 girls 6 (my niece) 7, (daughter), and 11 (daughter) years old. The car started blinking all the lights started accelerating by themselves and turned off immediately. While I tried to turn it on it never started instead it blinked and displayed many messages, including transmission system problem, emission system problem, etc. I thought the battery died and called my husband to jump-start the car and it took 30 minutes to get driving with all these scary movements. My kids were traumatized by the experience and I thought thank god they were safe and the problem is solved. After almost a week once again on March 27th at I'm driving the kids to karate and driving back at 5:45 pm all of sudden it started blinking, shanking, grinding noise, loud noise, and many messages, transmission system problems, emission system problems, etc. "d" drive started blinking. Smoke came and I was still on the road not sure what to do. I thought I will be hit by the other cars behind me. Luckily I was almost close to our street and it made a loud noise and I parked the car. It still blinked and smoked heavily and I turned off and got out of the car. It was a very scary movement of my life. I have 2 kids and I drive them every day for their day-2 day school/activities. I cannot believe I bought a new car in 2017 trusting the brand and it is already failed, my family. The car has to be towed to the dealership the dealer gave me a code p-2652. I want Honda to take care of their mechanical issues. I cannot get over the trauma I went through and I'm still shaking while I'm writing this. My 7 year old do not want to talk about the car which made me very sad. My girls loved the family car and now I'm in tears thinking about their safety. I want NHTSA to safeguard the consumers who go through these issues. Honda please wake up. My girls are ready to draft a letter to Honda and NHTSA.

I have a 2017 Honda Pilot ex-l with a mileage of 41010 miles. I have completed all the recommended services in a timely manner by an authorized Honda dealer. When I was driving the vehicle yesterday (3/25/2023) at a speed of around 65 mph, I got an error message saying "transmission system problem". There was no error code associated with it. There was no problem in the driving. But at the end of the drive, in the parking lot when I had to reverse, the backup camera will not turn on. After parking the vehicle and turning off the vehicle and restarting it, the error message went away. And then the backup camera also started to work fine. When I was driving back home, the error message came on again when the speed reached around 65 mph. I came home and searched about this error message and I came across a lot of complaints of the same nature for 2017 Honda Pilot owners. Please refer to the discussions on the following links as samples: https://is. Gd/rb78a1 , https://is. Gd/a84e9h . Since many owners are experiencing this, I am wondering if this is a manufacturing issue. Many owners are talking about the dealerships asking them to replace transmission which costs around $8000 or to replace transmission torque converter which will cost $5000. As of now my vehicle drives fine but I got exactly the same message twice at the speed of about 65 mph. I am scared to take this vehicle on to highways since my vehicle is following exactly the same pattern as that of other owners of 2017 Honda Pilot. I also saw Honda ridgeline owners in the same year also having similar experience online. All of this make me think that this is more of a design/manufacturing problem impacting many owners and hence may be NHTSA would want to look in to this.

Vehicle's start/stop system continuously failing. Vehicle will "stop" or shut off at intersection as intended, but then fails to restart, leaving my family stranded in the middle of traffic. This obviously creates a very dangerous situation for my family. This has happened several times. When you try to restart the vehicle it acts as if it doesn't have the power to do so. Inspections of the vehicle at the dealer continuously show the battery is in the "green" or great working condition. Although they've said this, their only response to the issue so far is to replace the seemingly fine battery.

Was stopped at a very busy intersection today (2/12) and the vehicle's auto start/stop turned the vehicle off. When the light turned green, I attempted to apply gas and the engine stalled out. Was unable to restart the car again after many retries. I was very concerned that another vehicle would hit me since we were at a very busy intersection. All the electronic warnings on the dash appeared to flicker on and off when trying to restart. Eventually had to have the vehicle towed to the Honda dealer since the vehicle could not be jump started or restart on it's own.