Complaint volume
421 consumer-submitted complaints are matched to this model year. Treat the count as a research signal, then read the actual summaries for repeated symptoms.
Complaint records
2018 Honda Pilot Complaints
421 consumer-submitted complaints on record for the 2018 Honda Pilot, grouped by component category.
421 Total complaints
9 Crash reports
2 Fire reports
8 Injury reports
Complaint data reflects consumer-submitted reports. A complaint is not proof
of a defect, recall, or manufacturer fault. Enriched severity fields come
from official bulk records when the complaint can be matched by ODI number.
Buyer interpretation
How to use these complaints before buying
Complaint records are most useful when they turn into inspection points, seller questions, and comparison checks against nearby model years.
Pattern to inspect
The most common categories are engine, fuel system, gasoline, unknown or other. Use those categories as a test-drive checklist instead of judging the vehicle from the total count alone.
Severity flags
Enriched records include 9 crash reports, 2 fire reports, 8 injury reports, and 0 fatality reports. These fields come from complaint records and should be read in context.
Mileage clue
Mileage is available on 104 complaints, with an average reported failure mileage of 57,848 miles. Compare that with the mileage on the listing.
Questions to ask the seller
- Have you had any problems related to engine, fuel system, gasoline, unknown or other?
- Can I see recent maintenance and repair records?
- Has the vehicle ever been towed, involved in a crash, or repaired for the same issue twice?
- Can we also check the recall record for this 2018 Honda Pilot?
Used-car checklist
Use these complaints before the test drive.
Build a buyer checklist to turn these issues into questions and inspection points.
2018 Honda Pilot
Build buyer checklist Compare with other years Sends year, make, and model to pre-fill your checklist.
How severe are the 2018 Honda Pilot complaints?
9 Crash
2 Fire
8 Injury
0 Fatality
18 Towed
3 Medical attention
What are the most common 2018 Honda Pilot complaint categories?
ENGINE 62
FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE 53
UNKNOWN OR OTHER 35
POWER TRAIN 31
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE 23
FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 22
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 19
SEAT BELTS 11
POWER TRAIN,ENGINE 10
ENGINE,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 9
421 total complaints on record
Latest complaints
| Date | Component | Summary | Severity | Mileage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 2022 | STRUCTURE | I took my pilot to Gerald Jones Honda in Augusta to have recall of hood latch fixed. It has gotten worse and loose and almost blows up when I pass large trucks. I took it back to Gerald Jones and they said they couldn't do anything, In the mean time i have contacted Honda, sent them a video of the moving hood and I have been waiting on an answer of what to do. I am am scared when I drive it that the hood it going to fly up. My next step it to turn this over to my attorney. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2022 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM | After the car was stoped at a red light with the auto-idle feature on, the car stalled out when I pressed the gas petal to drive. The radio and A/C shut off and a PARK warning displayed. It took several attempts to turn the car back on. After the car started it took several minutes for the radio to start working again. None of the touch buttons for radio, phone or navigation would respond. This happened when I was at a light after getting off the highway. It almost caused a car accident with the drivers around me who were coming off the highway. Since this happened, every time I turn on the car, the radio stations can not be found. I have to turn the radio off/on once or twice for the car to find the stations. Frequently, when I go from stop to drive at lights or stop signs, the radio and AC will turn off for a second. This seems to only happen when the auto idle feature is on. The car transmission is also having lurching when going from 1st to 2nd gear. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2022 | SEATS | Per dealer service center the front passenger defect seat frame need to be replaced. This is a manufacturer defect although this vehicle was not on the recall list of Honda Service Bulletin 18-042, it should have been. This vehicle has not been any accident to cause a seat frame problem. Could cause harm if in accident. The dealer service and Honda American is offering to pay half on the $1,853.60. This a manufacturer defect and I should not have to pay. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2022 | ENGINE | While stopped at a red light and stopped at a 4-way intersection my 2018 Honda Pilot turned completely off. It was not in engine idle mode. A message flashed up on my dash saying to put my car in park. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2022 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE | Auto idle system failed and the car stalled at a streetlight. The auto-idle kicks in when car comes to a stop like it’s supposed to but when I release my foot off the break and the car is supposed to start back up it stalls. It can take anywhere from 45 seconds to 1 minute to get it into park and get the car to restart. During which time I’ve been honked at by other cars but thankfully haven’t been hit yet. I worry about it happening and I get hit because I’ve been in the way of traffic and unable to move. Very scary situation to be in. This has happened on 4 separate occasions over the last couple months, the most recent one was June 19th. I now try to remember to turn the system off every time I get into the car to drive. Dealership tested battery and it came back fine. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2022 | POWER TRAIN,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,UNKNOWN OR OTHER | When vehicle comes to a stop, vehicle start/stop feature engages, then vehicle stalls. Vehicle then indicates that it should be shifter into park before it can be re-started. This has happened numerous times. Vehicle was brought into dealer, they are aware an investigation is underway with Honda but had no known solution besides updating the main computer program. They also recommended replacing the batter which tested ok. The fact that the vehicle stalls when you come to a stop is a very big safety concern. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2022 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,SERVICE BRAKES,ENGINE | I was stopped at a stop light and the car was in auto engine idle. After releasing the brake when the light turned green, the engine shut off and the dash told me to put the car in park and restart by pushing the brake and hitting the engine start button. This process took about 30 seconds for the car to finally restart and I was sitting in the middle of traffic with cars behind me that had anticipated me moving forward when the light changed. Several warning symbols popped up including the collision mitigation system. This is an easy way to get rear-ended. In other instances, I have had issues where the radio and engine shuts off after releasing the brake when in auto engine idle at a stop light or driving in slower traffic but it kicks back on in just a second with no need to stop and restart. Both of these issues are very concerning. Battery life is fine, so that is not the issue. Issue stops when auto engine idle is disabled. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2022 | POWER TRAIN,ENGINE | The contact owns a 2018 Honda Pilot. The contact stated while driving in stop-and-go traffic, the vehicle would engage the engine STOP/START fuel-saving feature while stopped. The contact stated that whenever she depressed the accelerator pedal the message "Place Vehicle in Park" displayed. The contact stated that the vehicle failed to restart, with several unknown warning lights illuminated. The contact attempted to start the vehicle using the Push to Start button. The vehicle was restarted but failed to respond after shifting into drive. The vehicle was restarted several times before resuming normal operation. The contact had not taken the vehicle to a local dealer or independent mechanic. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired. The contact stated that the failure recurred. The manufacturer had not been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 50,000. | Crash: No Fire: No | 50,000 |
| Jul 2022 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE | Car when in the idle stop has not restarted for several minutes. Some times it starts back up within 5 seconds. Other times it shuts the engine down and tells me to hit the start button to turn vehicle on, but then nothing happens. I am not even able to put car in neutral. Most recently this happened while exiting off a highway on the ramp. A bus driver pulled over in attempts to help me get the car off the ramp. However, a minute into trying to get it into neutral, the car popped back into drive and the engine on so I could get home. Car has been brought in multiple times and the dealership says they cannot find anything wrong with the car. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2022 | ENGINE | Engine auto start/stop has failed. 68000 miles, recently when system is engaged my car completely dies. Have to wait 60 seconds to turn off car and restart Understand numerous complaints already submitted and want to add mine to the list | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2022 | ENGINE | I was at the red light stop, when I got green light, I moved my feet off of brake, engine did not wake up or restart. I pushed gas pedal but the car would not move, then it showed all kinds of lights on dashboard. Afterwards, the car showed a sign asking to shift into parking, which I did. The engine start button could not restart or turn the car comepletely for a minute. After 2 minutes the card started it again and there was no light on dashboard. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2022 | POWER TRAIN | Transmission kind of jerks when accelerate especially when you do it nice and easy(more like fluctuating up and down) I did some research on line a lot of people having same issues on this year model vehicles | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2022 | ENGINE | The following has occurred 3 separate times. The first time occurred in July 2021. When stopped at traffic lights, the engine shuts off to conserve energy but then has difficulty restarting. When the light turns green, we take our foot off the brake and the engine does not restart. Instead, the ignition button light flashes and the car is unable to shift into gear and appears to be in neutral. The only way to solve it is to shut the car off and restart it. This process takes anywhere from 20-60 seconds. This has caused us to stall at lights and cars behind us have to go around, which creates a safety concern. After the first instance, we brought it to our Honda dealership and informed them. They inspected the vehicle and were unable to find anything wrong. They also were not able to reproduce it. There were no warning lamps or messages prior to or after the incidents. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2022 | POWER TRAIN,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | The contact owns a 2018 Honda Pilot. The contact stated that while stopped at a traffic light, however, the brake pedal was not fully depressed; the contact then depressed the accelerator pedal and the vehicle stalled without warning. The contact restarted the vehicle soon after the failure and resumed normal driving. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where a diagnostic test was performed; however, the mechanic was unable to duplicate the failure or determine the cause of the failure. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and informed the contact that the VIN was not under recall. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 52,500. | Crash: No Fire: No | 52,500 |
| Jun 2022 | POWER TRAIN,ENGINE | The contact owns a 2018 Honda Pilot. The contact stated that occasionally the vehicle would hesitate while driving. Additionally, the vehicle occasionally lost motive power and stalled without warning. The contact stated that while idle at a stop light and attempting to accelerate, the vehicle independently shifted to neutral and stalled. The contact shifted into park(P) and restarted the vehicle after several attempts. The vehicle had not been diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 80,000. | Crash: No Fire: No Towed | 80,000 |
| Jun 2022 | ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING | 2018 HONDA PILOT. CONSUMER WRITES IN REGARDS TO MPG ISSUE. THE CONSUMER STATED THERE WAS A DISCREPANCY BETWEEN THE MPG DISPLAYED ON THE VEHICLE VERSUS THE ACTUAL MPG. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2022 | ENGINE | Several times I have been driving with the auto stop on. When I get to a stop light or traffic light to make the stop, the engine shuts off as it should. When I let off of the brake and go to accelerate, the engine appears to start, then shuts all of the way off. This creates a problem where the lights on the dash flash and errors start flashing at me because I did not shut off the vehicle while in "Park". I have to push the P button and pump the brakes to get the engine to turn back on. It is a process which feels like it takes forever when other motorists are honking and yelling at me in my disabled vehicle. It probably takes 45-90 seconds, but feels like an eternity. This has unfortunately happened at one of the busiest lights in our city. I almost got rear ended with my 3 kids in the car as I sat trying to get the vehicle to turn back on. This has happened about 4 or 5 times. Now I shut off the Auto Stop every time I get in the vehicle. My kids don't want to ride in the vehicle anymore since they think it is unsafe. I took it to the Honda dealership and they replaced the battery despite telling me it was okay. I have not gone back to turning the Auto Stop on because I feel this is a huge safety issue. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2022 | ENGINE | The automatic stop start on the engine fails to restart at lights and when stopping in heavy traffic. One time it happened luckily I was in a parking lot I had to get out of the car out of key fob range and it seemed to reset. Before I got out everything on the dash was frozen nothing would turn on or off. I’ve been pressing the button when I get in the car that overrides it but sometimes I forget. When it’s active and does restart at a red light it lurches ahead so much that you almost hit the car in front. It’s a horrible feature. This is ongoing problem. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2022 | POWER TRAIN | We bought the Honda Pilot to tow a NuCamp 2019 Tab 320 Bookdock Trailer, which has a gross dry weight of 1,848 pounds (well below the 3,500-pound Pilot published towing capacity). We tow the trailer dry, which is without water in the black, gray and fresh tanks. We do not load any items of significant weight in the trailer (two lightweight camp chairs, a 3-inch thick foam mattress topper and pillows). We have towed the trailer from Akron, Ohio, to Twentynine Palms, CA, in 2020 and to Glacier National Park, MT, in 2021. We have also towed it to several Ohio state parks. In the fall of 2021, the vehicle’s transmission began to exhibit unusual performance that manifested itself as gear shifting hesitation in the range of 1,500 – 2,000 RPMs. With that issue, we took it to Great Lakes Honda which changed the transmission fluid (Great Lakes did not flush the transmission) at 28,000 miles. On April 3, 2022, the transmission hesitation began again. I took it to Apple Tree Honda in Arden, NC, (we had moved to Waynesville, NC, in late 2021) on April 5, 2022, a technician found no error codes, but performed a transmission flush and fill.. My issue with this is that the transmission fluid should not degrade in 7,000 miles of normal driving, causing transmission malfunction. The vehicle does seem capable of towing a weight near the published owner's manual maximum of 3,500 pounds. With this interval, I am concerned that the Honda stated operational guidelines are false, and the vehicle’s transmission might continue to degrade as many other Honda Pilots’ transmissions have as reported by many owners. The Apple Tree Honda technician who worked on the Pilot, advised me to add an auxiliary automatic transmission cooler, which is necessary if towing more than 3500 lbs. Since the April service, I have not towed the trailer. I am fearful that the transmission will fail when I am towing the trailer. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2022 | POWER TRAIN,ENGINE | When stopped in traffic the car will switch to neutral by itself. It will turn off and will have to be restarted. This has happened about 12 times since last July. After the first time it happened I brought the car to the dealership. They were not able to replicate the issue and it has continued since then with greater frequency. (2x last week in 3 days) This has happened when in econ mode, regular mode, right after a tune up, no pattern detected. Sometimes before it happens there would be a spluttering sound of the engine, sometimes a clicking sound, sometimes a collision warning sign flashes right before it happens, sometimes no warning- the car just shuts off and needs to be restarted. When the car is idling there are frequent reminders about pressing the break to shut off the engine. Googling this issue shows other people have the same problem with their 2018 Honda Pilots and other models as well. I believe these incidents are related to ODI Investigation PE 22-005 just opened on 06/03/22. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2022 | ENGINE | Engine failed to restart after the auto stop/start feature shut the engine off while I was stopped making a left turn onto a busy road. This is the 3rd time this has happened. I am unable to disable this feature permanently. I have to shut this feature off manually each time I start the car. The prior two times I was stopped on a busy road for a car stopped in front of me and the car failed to restart exposing my family and i to a potential rear end collision. This feature is very dangerous and it is only a matter of time till someone is hurt. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2022 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | The engine had failed to restart multiple times on its own from a complete stop at a traffic light and in the middle of an intersection with the Auto Start/Stop function engaged. I am very concerned for the safety of myself and occupants because the inability of the vehicle to restart and move forward to clear through the intersection creates a very high risk for a potential collision that could be life threatening. The vehicle has not been inspected by the dealer, manufacturer or any appropriate organization. There have been no warning signs alerting me to a potential problem. I started to experience the problems commencing last month (May 2022). | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2022 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE | Car shuts off and does not turn back on properly when stopping while driving. It does not happen all of the time, but when stopping at light/stop sign the car will turn off like it is supposed to but fails to start back up. When it fails to start it will not start back up, because the car is not in park, so the push button will not work until you hit the park button. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2022 | ENGINE | The engine automatic idle stop malfunctions on a regular basis. At idle, the engine will stop and is supposed to re-start automatically and on average once per week the engine will not re-start. The car will need to be put into park and then manually restarted. This usually occurs while at a traffic signal and leaves us stuck blocking traffic. It has occurred countless times in the three years we have owned the vehicle. We have taken it back to Honda multiple times to complain but they have never been able to find a problem. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2022 | ENGINE | I just read about the auto stop / start difficulties applicable to my vehicle and reportedly corroborated by Honda. I may have twice experienced the same or similar failure. Fortunately, both of my experiences were in my driveway. Safety was a concern in that I could not start the car, and it was blocking my other vehicles. I am unsure of the date, but I think that both were last summer. My recollection is somewhat vague as these were a while ago, and I was able to rectify. In both cases, I pulled into the driveway. I am guessing that the auto stop turned off the engine when I came to a stop. I most likely only pressed the engine start/stop button and put on the emergency brake after coming to a stop. I usually do not press the park button as it unnecessarily restarts the engine. In both cases, tried to restart the car a few minutes later, but it would not start. I don’t know whether or not the car locked. I use the automatic lock feature but may have had a door or the tailgate opened. I don’t know whether or not I used my key fob at all in trying to restart, or whether or not I moved the key fob near the start button. I remember the car seeming like the battery was dead. In one of the cases, I definitely used jumper cables from another car. In the other, I may have used a charger. The article did say that a jump was required to restart in some cases. At some point, the car just came alive. In the case of the jumper cables from another car, I moved the car out of the way (rolled up several yards) and shut it off and then restarted. The car restarted strongly, and the car acted like nothing ever happened. It almost seemed like a security lockout had occurred. Until there is a fix, I would like to know is what sequence is needed to restart if I have this problem again? Can you please help me with this? | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |