Car Stall Problems of Honda Pilot - part 1

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 few minutes I got the car running. Being stalled on the inserstate hwy is a life threating issue! I took the 2021 Honda Pilot to the Honda dealer on 8/20/2025 who states that they cannot duplicate the problem. Please note this the third (3rd) trip to Honda for the same issue. No resolution there have been many other times where this occured and I just turned the function off which only works till the next time you drive the car. Please help with this issue before someone gets hurt. . .

See all problems of the 2021 Honda Pilot 🔎.

Numerous restart issues when car in in idle mode stopped at a traffic light or stop sign. Approximately 6 times, my car has been stopped, in idle mode, and shifted into "neutral" & stalling. I'm required to place car into "park", turn on power, shift to drive in order to accelerate. Messages regarding "collision mitigation system" and almost stalling also occurs when car is stopped in idle mode. My battery (of less than 3yrs) has been replaced as nothing else has been "diagnosed" by Honda. Although these issues have since occurred since replacing my battery.

See all problems of the 2019 Honda Pilot 🔎.

--auto engine idle stop system. Yes, available for inspection upon request. --safety concern- engine stalls in the middle of traffic. . . Causing other traffic behind car to become angry and try and pass the stalled car. As they attempt to pass, they endanger other traffic. Usually happens during heavy traffic, breakdown then needs driver to restart car completely in mid traffic and missing or heavy delay of green light which could itself potentially cause an accident. --the stall happens constantly 1 once a month, but not able to reproduce every time car is stopped. . . Therefore can not be repeated upon inspection. Happens at the worst time, during traffic stops. --complaint was made during oil change, but dealer found no problem. No warning lights prior to stall. Problem has happened and reoccured for almost two years.

See all problems of the 2017 Honda Pilot 🔎.

I had started noticing the radio clicking on/off at stoplights. After a while, it progressively got worse and noticed the car was also slightly jerking too as the car re-started. I called the dealer and they said they were not familiar with the issue. Days before my warranty expired in 2020, I took the vehicle in and they said they were not able to re-create the issue and did not see any error codes. I received the mil warranty extension letter recently and wondered if that was the same issue, but it does not appear so. However upon researching that, I found many similar complaints online about the auto idle stop issues. I am grateful my car has never stalled (yet) but that is probably because I have very low mileage. However I am scared to drive the car now and always disable the auto idle stop, hope that I don't forget which I do sometimes and am fearful should my teenagers ever have to drive my car! thankfully their Honda civics don't have this feature. This is a serious safety hazard! there are too many similar complaints so please force Honda to recall and fix the problem. I bought this new car since it was supposed to be more advanced and safer than the 15 year old car it replaced. It does have some great advances but should not be compromised or come at the cost of safety.

Recurring problem with idle stop feature causing car engine to shut off completely (even when disabled), resulting in an error message and requiring the car to be turned off and on. This is a safety issue while driving, especially if in an intersection while turning. . Read more...

See all problems of the 2016 Honda Pilot 🔎.

The "auto idle-stop" is automatically engaged on this vehicle. Whenever it is "on" the car will stall and shut down when stopping in traffic or at lights. Have brought to Honda, they say it cannot be fixed and its very dangerous.

My car was "stall out" at a stop light or stop sign when I was in "auto idle-stop" and pressed on the gas. I first noticed that the auto idle-stop was hesitating when it would start up. I also noticed that the radio would "cut out". After that, the vehicle would just stall out and I would have to push park, put my foot on the brake and then push start. This is very inconvenient when you are at a stop light or getting ready to make a turn and the vehicle just "dies". Took it into the dealership and they said it was a software adjustment. The auto idle-stop worked for a couple of days, then started hesitating and now it intermittently stalls when the gas is pressed.

2017 Honda Pilot elite, all maintenance performed at dealership service department. Vehicle randomly does not automatically restart after auto idle stop engages when in stop-go traffic on freeway or when stopped at intersection, resulting in a stalled vehicle in the middle of freeway or intersection. Attempts to manually restart the vehicle generally successful after frantically (or slowly!) pushing the start-stop button several times. This is a dangerous situation as I could not restart the vehicle on a fast moving roadway. Not easily reproduced as it is a randomly occuring event. First appeared at approx 35-40k miles.

The car stalls out at times when stopped. The gear switches to neutral. When I change it to park then I get a message that I need to start engine but the engine is running. I am not able to stop it either by pressing break and the stop/start button. I tried it multiple times and finally it stopped and then I was able to restart it and drive again. This happened to my daughter while she was on an on ramp to a highway so this behavior us not only inconvenient but very dangerous. We brought the car to the dealership but they said that since no error code shows up they cannot do anything. They changed the transmission fluids and the day after I picked up the car the same thing happened.

While stopped the auto stop engages turns off the engine and if the ac is running at that time, instead of the the engine restarting when the gas pedal is engaged, the car stalls and shuts down. Dealer states cannot correct the issue (permanently turn off auto stop). I see multiple complaints so far related to this design error but no action in terms of recalls.

I have 30,000+ miles on my 2017 Pilot elite. About a year ago, I started experiencing issues with the auto idel stop feature. I first noticed that the auto idle-stop was hesitating when the engine would start up upon lifting my foot off of the gas. Later, in conjunction with the engine hesitation, I noticed that the radio would also "cut out" and the whole car would turn off and back before being able to drive. After that, the issue progressed to the vehicle completely stalling out and I would have to push park, put my foot on the brake and then push start in order to get the vehicle to move. These stall outs are happening just as I pull out into traffic, often leaving me and my family in harm's way. This is not safe. Upon taking the vehicle to the dealer I get the standard line of "we can't reproduce the issue" and I am sent on my way only to later continually experience the issue. Not happy with Honda. The NHTSA needs to make them address this issue.

When the auto stop start is on when stopped at a traffic light or any stop for that matter the car sometimes stalls out or it has a delayed restart where the radio and car sounds like it turns off and then back on and then you can go. Sometimes it completely stalls and you have to put the car in park and restart it. It started happening randomly now it is happening more often. It happens a lot when I am driving around town it has not happened when I was driving on the highway.

After automatic idle engine stop/start engages and shut off vehicle at stop light, vehicle occasionally will not restart automatically. Results in being stopped and stalled out in traffic for several minutes after which it will restart via manual process.

Vehicle stalls and shuts down when start/stop system is engaged. When stopped in the center of the road to make a left turn, the vehicle refused to start the engine again, stalled completely, having to turn it off and on. Turning it off is was not easy as the start button was not working. It left me in a very precarious situation with incoming traffic.

On July 29, 2020 I purchased a vehicle from crown Nissan of greenville. They stated that the vehicle had a safety inspection and that there was nothing wrong with the vehicle and all that needed was a new ac compressor that they would replace at their expense. They were not transparent about other problems that surfaced within the first quarter tank of gas of owning the vehicle. The brakes were not installed correctly and was causing errors which is a safety concern. Both low control arms and struts were completely worn and not safe for vehicle operation. The front windshield had a crack in it. There were also faulty engine misfiring. There inspection did not animate any of these issues and said the only thing wrong was the ac compressor, which was a lie. The left strut was also was not operational and has made the car unsafe to drive. The vehicle has been driven less than 100 miles and has caused nothing but problems and a safety concern for the driver. I used the dealers service department twice and they were not transparent about issues concerning the vehicle. They did not care and both times said everything was fine which was not true there was a lot wrong with the vehicle that they weren't disclosing. I asked the dealership exactly what was wrong because I needed to know and they assured me the safety inspection was done and there was nothing wrong. The Honda mechanic from fishers garage claims the car has signs of being in a rough accident with underneath repairs, however the dealer assured there was no accidents and the car fax was clear of any defects. Which also turns out to be a lie.

See all problems of the 2009 Honda Pilot 🔎.

Car stalled while at traffic light and did not restart. This is a safety issue, as car was stopped in two way traffic at a busy 4-way intersection. Car could not be put into neutral (or any gear) to be moved out of traffic. Dash indicated engine must be running to switch gears, so engine clearly cut out. Dash also indicated to depress brake pedal and push start button to restart but this would not work. Attempted many times. After about 5 minutes, was finally able to get car into accessory mode. Subsequently, depressed brake and pressed start button and engine finally restarted.

Stalling at idle stop. Took to dealer. Changed battery (200$). Problem continues. Took it back to dealer they couldn't replicate.

Car stalls at stops. Took to dealer they changed battery and it is still happening.

Stalling while at stop or going downhill at low speeds.

July of 2019: wife complains the vehicle starts back up under protest from the start stop system when driving in stop and go traffic (more so on hot days) on city streets. Eventually, vehicle intermittently stalls when she tries to resume travel from start stop mode. Vehicle eventually restarts after 120 seconds or more. Problem occurs on multiple occasions. Vehicle taken to dealer, dealer claims they cannot replicate the problem. However, testing shows a bad cell in the battery (just out of warranty). Battery replaced. Problem seems to be sorted temporarily (although my wife routinely disables the start stop function to avoid the potential problem). May of 2020: same problem as before, car stalls when trying to resume travel after start stop mode. Vehicle won't restart for a few minutes and cannot be pushed out of harms way. It stands to reason that the issue is probably not the battery, the battery is oem and less than a year old. The most worrisome aspect of the situation is this. When the vehicle stalls (I. E. , the engine is not running) the vehicle cannot be placed in neutral (without going under the hood and using a special tool) and pushed to safety. Hence, the vehicle is absolutely stranded until it restarts. This is a dangerous situation when stalled in rush hour traffic.

This is in regards to the idle stop "feature" of the Honda Pilot. When the vehicle comes to a full stop, the engine cuts off in order to save fuel like it's supposed to. However, when it is time to move again, the vehicle randomly stalls causing the car to completely turn off. This can be potentially fatal as the brakes then do not engage fully (car is off) and a message appears in console saying "to start engine: press brake and push (engine on)" . This is most definitely a safety issue especially if this happens in the middle of traffic. Honda says it is not covered under any warranty. This behavior is random and unpredictable.

The contact owns a 2019 Honda Pilot. The contact stated while driving 10 mph, the brake pedal was depressed and the vehicle stalled without warning. The contact stated that the vehicle was undrivable. The vehicle was not taken to be diagnosed nor repaired. Neither the manufacturer nor dealer were not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was unknown.

The idle start/stop feature causes the car to stall when stopped. When the at a full stop and the idle/stop kicks in the car does not come back on and shuts off with all of the lights in the console lighting up and must be completely shut-off and restarted, "stall out" at a stop light or stop sign when I was in "auto idle-stop" and pressed on the gas. I first noticed that the auto idle-stop was hesitating when it would start up. I also noticed that the radio would "cut out". After that, the vehicle would just stall out and I would have to push park, put my foot on the brake and then push start. Took to the dealer during my last service on January 20, 2020 and they could not duplicate. The issue has progressively gotten worse and is happening more frequently. The car has stalled at lights and poses a danger to my wife and 3 young children. The dealership will not look into it any further because they cannot duplicate the problem. I've researched forums online and other Honda Pilot owners have expressed they are experiencing the same issue.

Car starts to stall when accelerating and when I let go of the acceleration pedal ## #vpic# 1 - check digit (9th position) does not calculate properly #vpic#.

See all problems of the 2018 Honda Pilot 🔎.

Car stalls and does not restart. Car has auto idle stop feature. When I come to a complete stop, the car completely dies and cannot be restarted. No emergency light, no lights on dashboard, cannot lock car, cannot put into neutral, must be towed. Car first started stopping at stop lights in city streets in 2017. Would take a few attempts to restart. Brought to dealer to state my concern that it would happen in the freeway and they checked and said everything was fine. On 3/19/20, driving in the freeway, I had to stop for traffic. Car died completely. I couldn't even turn on the emergency light. I had to open my door a little bit, stick my arm out and wave for oncoming traffic behind me. Semi trucks were quickly changing lanes to avoid rear-ending me. It was the most frightening incident that has ever happened to me. Car was towed to dealer and they said it was a transmission sensor error and claimed to have fixed it. 4/2/20 as my daughter and I were exiting the freeway, the problem occurred again. We stopped at the light at the end of the exit when the car just stalled. Again totally dead. It's just a parked car that cannot be restarted. Car was towed to dealer. I don't know what's wrong with it. The dealer's attempts to fix it did not work. The dealer was closed when we dropped it off tonight. This is a very dangerous situation. The car just dies and will not restart. There is not even a way to turn on the emergency blinking lights to alert other motorists of a stalled car. Had this incident happened in the dark, my daughter and I could have been seriously injured or killed.

The auto idle feature in my car my car off completely and then won't allow it restart immediately. It causes a stall at lights. It often takes trying to start the car for several minutes before it will turn back on. This has happened several times. It can never be fixed by the dealer. They don't know how to replicate the issue in the shop.

Auto engine idle stop: stalling when active.

There are two major problems, but the dangerous one is the auto-idle doesn't always allow the car to restart. When I go into idle at a stop sign or red light and I start to accelerat, all of the lights inside shut off and the car stalls after a foot or two. So far it has always managed to restart itself, but I've started turning it off whenever I get into the car because this is dangerous. This has been going on for months and it has only gotten worse (it probably started a year ago). At the same time this has happened, I got a "keyless ignition problem" warning light. The walk away lock feature doesn't work anymore. I've read numerous reports that say fixing the keyless switch doesn't help with the auto idle and there's no specific error code for issues with the auto idle system.

The 2017 Pilot stalls while in operation due to a defect in the auto-off while idle feature. When you depress the brake pedal, the engine will shut off completely and will often not restart as intended when you release the brake. The engine will also shut off if you press the auto-engine-off while idle button to deactivate the idle-off feature if pressed while completely stopped. For all of these situations it is difficult to restart the vehicle and it remains stalled on the road for more than a minute. It's terrifying. This began before 25k miles on the car - which cost around $42,000. This is happening multiple times a week. It's unacceptable for a vehicle this young to be putting families in danger.

My 2016 Honda elite Pilot randomly shut off while driving on the freeway. I had the engine idle stop feature turned off while driving and the vehicle stalled, the dashboard warning lights turned on and the vehicle turned off completely. The dash said to put the car in park and hit the ignition button which I had to do several times before the vehicle turned on all while in rush hour traffic, I have approximately 39,000 miles on the vehicle.

Previous complaint NHTSA id 11111894 submitted 7/17/18. For car stalling after entering into auto idle stop. Replaced battery in August 2018 and didn't have any problems until now. Has happened at least 3 times now in sept. And oct 2019. . At first, radio or dvd player would cut out but has progressed to full on stalling after entering auto idle stop. Same problem as before and all other complaints. After car goes into idle stop, it does not restart after take foot off brake. Have to put car in park, press brake, and push start button to get it to restart. Can take several tries and several minutes.

About 6 months ago, when my car had less than 30k miles. My car would stall while the car was in "auto idle-stop mode". Initially, I first noticed that the auto idle-stop was hesitating when it would start up. Then things got worse and I noticed that the radio would turn off and I'd hear all of the chimes like when I start the car. I brought my car to Honda to have this fixed. They said it was the computer and claimed they fixed it. The problem still continues. I also had a conversation with the service manager and he promised he would inform Honda corporate. I never received any follow up. I googled this problem and have found out I'm not the only one. This is dangerous because sometimes I need to make a turn and my car has stalled and adds a few seconds. . Read more...

The Honda Pilot has a feature called auto engine idle stop. To meet emission standards, this feature puts the engine into a stop/off mode when you brake for more than 3 seconds. However, this feature sometimes causes the car battery to fail and the car to stall. This could happen when stopped at a traffic light or on a highway stopped in traffic. If the battery hasn't had enough time to recharge, the car might stall and need to be completely shutdown, wait a while and maybe will restart. We bought our car in late 2015. The issue presented itself by 2016/2017, mostly as brief blips and the car would restart. In summer 2018, after repeated visits to Honda and numerous times of the car completely stalling at traffic lights, we chose to replace the battery. Our Honda service centers kept telling us that the battery tests showed it was fine and that the feature isn't suppose to engage if the battery doesn't have "enough juice" to restart. But clearly, that doesn't work, because my car would indeed completely stall and need to try to restart. I once had to wait five minutes stuck at a light in the middle of a 3 lane road, and my car finally restarted. But once we paid to replace the battery (that supposedly was fine), the car didn't blip or stall. But one year later, it started happening again. Sometimes the car will just blip, where all the lights, radio and air conditioning will briefly cut out and then come back on as the feature re-engages the engine. But sometimes, it just won't restart. There is a button you can hit to disable the auto engine idle stop feature. But you must remember to hit every time you start the car. If you forget, all it takes is stopping at one traffic light and the car could stall. There are numerous online reports of similar issues with this feature.

Tl the contact owns a 2017 Honda Pilot. While the vehicle was stopped with the auto idle engaged and air conditioner activated, the brake pedal was released and the vehicle stalled. Also, the gear shifter went into park. The contact had to press the engine start button several times for the vehicle to restart. All the warning indicators on the instrument cluster were illuminated. The contact called Honda of covington (100 holiday square blvd, covington, la 70433, (985) 892-0001), but the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was 53,500.

I just purchased my Honda certified '17 Pilot elite one month ago. I would notice that the car would lag when using the auto idle stop function, it would sputter, and eventually and now multiple times, it would stall out at a stop light or stop sign when I was in auto idle-stop and took my foot off of the brake to go. My Honda Pilot stalled in the middle of an intersection, waiting to turn left, of a busy main highway, with my husband and young children inside. When it was safe to turn, took foot off of the brake and the car stalled. It took many frantic attempts to get the car to turn back on to be able to move safely out of the intersection. This car has placed myself and my family in danger now on multiple occasions. Took to dealership where they inform that they have never heard of this happening, and that they do not know what is wrong. Car has been to the dealership twice for same issue now, in one month.