Complaint volume
403 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
2021 Honda Pilot Complaints
403 consumer-submitted complaints on record for the 2021 Honda Pilot, grouped by component category.
403 Total complaints
12 Crash reports
1 Fire reports
7 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 unknown or other, electrical system, engine. Use those categories as a test-drive checklist instead of judging the vehicle from the total count alone.
Severity flags
Enriched records include 12 crash reports, 1 fire report, 7 injury reports, and 0 fatality reports. These fields come from complaint records and should be read in context.
Mileage clue
Mileage is available on 42 complaints, with an average reported failure mileage of 36,320 miles. Compare that with the mileage on the listing.
Questions to ask the seller
- Have you had any problems related to unknown or other, electrical system, engine?
- 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 2021 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.
2021 Honda Pilot
Build buyer checklist Compare with other years Sends year, make, and model to pre-fill your checklist.
How severe are the 2021 Honda Pilot complaints?
12 Crash
1 Fire
7 Injury
0 Fatality
12 Towed
4 Medical attention
What are the most common 2021 Honda Pilot complaint categories?
UNKNOWN OR OTHER 40
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 37
ENGINE 33
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 29
AIR BAGS 22
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE 20
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE,LANE DEPARTURE 16
VISIBILITY/WIPER 16
TIRES 13
SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 11
403 total complaints on record
Latest complaints
| Date | Component | Summary | Severity | Mileage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 2024 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE,LANE DEPARTURE | ACC, LKAS, collision mitigation system problem, road departure mitigation system, and auto high beam problem warnings all appear on instrument panel. None of these systems work. Have replaced battery and problem not fixed. Warnings continue to appear each time car is turned on. Vehicle has 47783 miles on it. Codes indicate there’s a problem with the camera in the front of the car. The car is only 3 years old. Shouldn’t be having these issues. Have researched online and found many other complaints from others from various Honda models. Major safety problem that warrants a recall. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2024 | AIR BAGS,VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,SERVICE BRAKES | The accelerator on my vehicle malfunctioned and got stuck. While making turn with no acceleration, the acceleration of the vehicle got stuck and the brakes did not respond causing the vehicle to hit a sidewalk and breaking the passenger side suspension and control arm and axel of the vehicle. Airbags deployed. Controlled the vehicle until it stopped completely. When vehicle was completely stopped the passenger side still sounded like that gas pedal was fully pressed when the other tires were not moving. | Crash: Yes Fire: No Towed | Unknown |
| Jul 2024 | SERVICE BRAKES,ENGINE | when auto-idle engaged and car is stopped, it will not restart the car's engine. My safety was at risk because the event took place while I was in traffic with my family. The problem has not been reproduced. It is a problem known by Honda for many years. The vehicle has not been inspected. Unknown. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2024 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | The battery has gone bad twice (second replacement only took nine months) since an update was applied to the auto engine restart function. The car will work for some amount of time after the battery is replaced and then begin to not restart (shut off) at a light after the auto engine shutoff is engaged from the brake. It progressively gets worse until we replace the battery. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2024 | POWER TRAIN,ENGINE,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM | When driving the car and stopped, the car goes into idle engine automatically. There are have been 5 incidents where the engine wouldn’t turn back on. The car starts beeping and flashing to put in park, shut off and restart. This is extremely dangerous when in the middle of traffic, cars honking and my children in the car getting nervous. Luckily I have not had an accident yet and figured out how to not use the “idle stop” feature to prevent this from happening but it’s not a long term solution as I have to stop idle feature every time the car is turned on. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2024 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE,LANE DEPARTURE | Front camera has failed. Dealership reports it needs to be replaced. I have crack in my windshield - now the glass company will not replace the windshield even with insurance because the camera is not working and they can’t calibrate. Having a camera on the windshield which doesn’t not work jeopardizes my family’s safety. There needs to be a plan in place to be able to replace windshield if the camera is not working and Honda should be investigated for front cameras failing. My car is just barely 3 years old. Why would a camera, which controls so many safety issues fail when a car is only 3? This should be investigated as a serious safety issue and as the rear cameras were recalled, the front should be invested too. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2024 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,AIR BAGS,UNKNOWN OR OTHER | Problem Dealer said recall for airbags risk/ seat sensor cannot be fixed due to unable to get parts. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2024 | TIRES | Traveling at 35mph in village. my passenger and I attest there was no road hazard. The tire popped and I managed to drive about 70 yards to a parking lot to change my tire. it had a clean tear on the inside sidewall. The tear had no marks made against it. I'm complaining since I see there have been 2 other similar complaints about this tire on this website. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2024 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | I was stopped at red light on a slight grade. When light turned green I took foot of over brake and car started to drift backwards. I pressed the brake and looked down. Car shifted in neutral on its own. I pushed drive button and it was ok. The auto-start was off. If I had been on a steep hill, I would probably have drifted into car behind me. I took car to Honda dealer and there were no codes logged. They told me they checked with Honda. This happened in April, 2024 and only time this has happened. This is the third issue I have had with this car with no errors logged. The other two were not safety related. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2024 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | VSA modulator failed at approximately 69,000 miles. Safety features were inoperable putting my family at risk. Dash said to contact a dealership and to not drive the vehicle. The dealer informed us that the car was safe to drive as long as it wasn't making any funny noises. I paid the dealer to replace the VSA modulator per their diagnosis but then upon the car being returned to my possession, I was informed all the alarms are present on the car again. The dealer is instructing that I now need to replace the forward camera / radar sensor. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2024 | FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM | The automatic start/stop feature has caused several stalls at intersections. It has taken repeated efforts to restart the vehicle, once resulting in a near miss situation. What is especially worrying is that my [XXX] driver was behind the wheel during one instance. In the past 48 hours, it has happened three times. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6) | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2024 | ENGINE | My Honda Pilot has, on multiple occasions, just died after the auto engine idle stop engaged. I have had to put my vehicle back in park, restart it, immediately disable the auto idle stop and put it back in drive. On several other occasions it has also said "engine idle stop system unavailable". Even with that useless feature disabled my car will hesitate and kinda sputter when I stop at red lights. It's dangerous. I just bought this car from the Toyota Dealership in my area so I shouldn't be having these issues. There's less than 28,000 miles on it, I shouldn't be having any issues whatsoever. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2024 | SERVICE BRAKES | My 2021 Honda Pilot experienced premature degradation of front and rear rotors and brake pads after 21,869 miles due to extreme rust pitting and scoring. Vehicle started displaying brake warning message while driving. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2024 | STRUCTURE,UNKNOWN OR OTHER | I have 4 car washed for this car so far Ive only had it for a few weeks. Every time I wash it the dome light/rear mirror leaks water and wets the entire cup holder and center console. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Apr 2024 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | This has now happened twice, resulting in my infant getting locked in the car. I unlocked the car open the driver side second door where my car seat is. I buckle in my infant put in my bag and then go to get in the driver side door and the car has locked itself with my key in my bag that I put inside the car with my baby. Either the car should not lock with the key inside of it or there should not be a timed lock system once the car has been opened. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Apr 2024 | VISIBILITY/WIPER | Side view mirrors started shaking few months after buying car, had them replaced under warranty. After replacement drivers side was so distorted I took it back. They replaced again, still distorted but better. Too, to dealer for service and they replaced again due to recall, mirror is so distorted again i can barely see out it. I see many complaints on forums regarding this. Honda needs to correct this with the proper glass before an accident happens | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Apr 2024 | SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | I see there is an investigation involving the automatic emergency braking on some Hondas. I previously owned a 2018 Honda Accord, but currently own a 2021 Honda Pilot. Both had/have the automatic emergency braking. Both cars have the same issue with hard braking for no reason. To me the Pilot is worse due to almost having 2 people rear end me due to the random hard breaking. In my opinion the investigation needs to possibly expand into other models. It has never been reproduced as I just assumed it happens. It definitely puts people at risk. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Apr 2024 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Frequently, my 2021 Honda will apply the brakes without warning or very abruptly. While using the adaptive cruise control, the car will brake suddenly when there is not a car anywhere near me. Also, when driving on two lane roads, the car slams on the brakes when there is not a car in front of me. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Apr 2024 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE,LANE DEPARTURE | The warning lights beep and blink. All problems can’t be used | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Apr 2024 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | The infotainment screen went black. No back up camera available. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2024 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER,LANE DEPARTURE,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | On 3/18/24 I started my car on a routine after school pickup trip but my notification system started blinking with different sensor problems. I took pictures of the display and tried to drive my car and saw at the time it did not affect drivability. I made an appointment with my dealer and brought it in 3/25/24. I started researching if there might be a pattern with other Honda Pilots and did find some discussion boards about 2020/2021 Honda Pilot that had a similar event—sensor problems displaying for no evident triggering event. I brought my car in for the appointment and the advisor said they would run a diagnostic as well as address 2 active recalls on my Pilot and take care of the maintenance. The diagnostic test showed that I have a faulty front multi purpose camera that must be replaced. Ny car has about $70K miles so it is outside the warranty period so I am having to pay for this repair myself. Note: the active recall that was repaired at this same visit was an issue with wiring in the rear camera. I asked the advisor if it was possible that the camera issues were related even though they were different cameras and he said at the moment there were no recalls for the multipurpose camera so he could not say. I am submitting this claim to document a possible safety concern that should be covered under a recall. Other incidents noted: when advisor asked if I had experienced any issues starting car, I did mention that last summer appx. Aug 2023 at a stop light my car went in idle mode (auto start/stop function) but when I took my foot off brake to go on green light the car did not restart. I had to get my key and push it into the ignition button to restart it. This has happened 2 since I’ve had the car. With all the recalls and these auto stop/start issues, I have experienced lower confidence & satisfaction in my Honda Pilot, but I am worried that safety may be an issue as well. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2024 | POWER TRAIN | Connecting rod bearing failure resulting in the short block having to be replaced. Currently at Honda Dealership having short block replaced. 56000 km currently on vehicle and all oil changes made at correct intervals. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2024 | SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | I see that the NTSHA is already launching an investigation into certain Handa Passports and Insights. The 2021 (and likely other) Pilot Ibown has the same phantom emergency braking issue. This happens at least on a monthly basis if not more often. I will say there have been a half dozen times where the car did activate the emergency braking properly but all other times have been phantom braking where there was no immenent threat of a collision. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2024 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | The contact owns a 2021 Honda Pilot. The contact stated that while the idle stop system was deactivated, while idling at a stop light the vehicle suddenly turned off after releasing the brake pedal and shifted into neutral. The vehicle was eventually restarted and operated normally. The contact stated that the failure had occurred on multiple occasions. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer. The cause of the failure was not yet determined. The manufacturer was not yet notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 33,000. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2024 | ENGINE | The automatic idle stop does not restart engine upon release of the brake pedal. It has been happening with increasing frequency. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |