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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 2022 | ENGINE | The issue is with a restart after the car engaged the auto idle stop feature. Outside temperature was about 43F, Car had been driven earlier in day, and was parked for about 1 hour. The car started okay after sitting for an hour, then driven at highway speeds for about 10 mins. Car then came to a stop once coming off the highway at a red light. The car's auto idle engaged and the car's engine shut off. As the light turned green, my foot was taken off the brake to start the engine again and the car did not start. I received a message on the dash stating to place car in Park and start the engine, this was done but did not restart the engine. I shut the car off completely and had to use a lithium ion jumper battery pack to restart the engine. At that point the engine did start back immediately. Once home I tested the battery's voltage with a voltage meter, which read about 12.1V. I started the car with the voltage meter attached and voltage did not get below 10V and the car started without assistance. Thus proving that the battery is in good condition. The car was purchased in November of 2020, thus the battery about 2 years old and the car has just under 30K miles. I have not contacted the dealer yet. This is the first time this issue has occurred though there have been other times when starting from the idle stop the car has had difficulty in starting, starting this summer (July 2020). Difficulty has been noticed in the hotter or colder weather. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2022 | VISIBILITY | Sunroof exploded on 2021 Honda Pilot. On Wednesday November 9, 2022 approximately 3PM, my wife was driving her 2021 Honda Pilot down the freeway when she heard a loud explosion above her head followed by the sound of rushing air. The sunroof glass had spontaneously exploded. Fortunately the sunroof internal cover was pulled shut or else broken glass would have fallen on my wife's head. Driving conditions were good and my wife did not see any object strike the vehicle. We have owned the car since April 2021 and it has ~ 8000 miles. It is in pristine condition, no damage or accidents. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Nov 2022 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,UNKNOWN OR OTHER,ENGINE | My 2021 Honda Pilot's Idle-Stop System has been failing at random and dangerous times. The engine shuts off when Idle-Stop is engaged and as expected. However and until recently; when I release my foot from the break, nothing happens. The engine does not start. Restarting the engine has taken me to shift to park, turn the car off, wait a few minutes, and then it starts without any hesitation. Today this happened during a busy stop where I did not feel safe for myself or my passengers. The problem does not reproduce at my will or by performing any specific set of steps. After today, I'm nervous to drive with this system enabled. The problem never happens if I remember to manually disable the Idle-Stop System every time I start my car. Nevertheless, it's not a normal practice for me to have to disengage a feature that should work. This problem has not been reproduced or confirmed by a dealer or independent service center. The component has not been inspected by the manufacturer, police, insurance representatives, or any others. There were no warning lamps, sounds, messages, or other symptoms prior that would indicate an imminent failure. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Oct 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | The contact owns a 2021 Honda Pilot. The contact stated while driving approximately 35 MPH, the Forward Collision Mitigation system inadvertently activated. The contact stated that the brakes were independently activated. The brake and several other unknown warning lights were illuminated with an audible chime. The contact stated that the software independently reset and returned to normal driving. The contact stated that the failure became constant. The contact had taken the vehicle to a local dealer on three occasions, but no repairs were performed. On the third service appointment the contact was advised that the manufacturer was aware of the failure and was developing a remedy. The manufacturer had been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was 10,486. | Crash: No Fire: No | 10,486 |
| Oct 2022 | STRUCTURE | The contact owns a 2021 Honda Pilot. The contact stated while driving over a speed bump at an undisclosed speed, he heard a knocking sound coming from the rear of the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, and the contact was informed that the subframe was damaged. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was contacted, and a case was filed. The failure mileage was 7,000. | Crash: No Fire: No | 7,000 |
| Sep 2022 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE | My car, a 2021 Honda Pilot, has a feature called "Idle-Stop" where the engine stops when the break is depressed, when the break is released, the engine is supposed to start back up. Twice in the past week, while at an intersection, the Idle-Stop has engaged, stopping the engine, but failed to start the engine back up. After this occurs, I could NOT start the car back up, the engine would not turn over. The first occurrence was at the turn lane of a very busy intersection and there were numerous cars blocked by mine. Thankfully after about 30 minutes, the car managed to start up. I took it immediately to the Honda dealership where they said the car needed a software update. The dealership said the battery was fine and that there were no other issues. One week later, the same thing happened, I was a stop light and the Idle-Stop feature stopped the engine and it failed to start back. My 2 children were in the car this time, I felt very much that our safety was in danger. This time, I needed a jump start to get the engine started. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Sep 2022 | SUSPENSION,SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC | The contact owns a 2021 Honda Pilot. The stated that the vehicle was pulling to the left or right while driving. The contact stated while depressing the brake pedal the vehicle started pulling to the right. Additionally, while driving over rough road surfaces the vehicle was making a loud rumbling sound as if the traction control was failing. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact had taken the vehicle to the dealer who was unable to duplicate the failure. The contact stated that the failure persisted. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 9,800. | Crash: No Fire: No | 9,800 |
| Sep 2022 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM | Auto restart stalls the car when reengaging the engine after coming to a full stop | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Sep 2022 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | With the auto idle feature engaged (disengaging requires manually turning off the system with each vehicle start) while at a stop light the auto idle feature shut the engine off. Typically, when you release the brake the car start back up and you can begin to accelerate. Over the past few months the issue has stalled the engine, but restarted and give the warning "Collision Mitigation Braking System Malfunction." On the past 2 occurrences the engine has shut off completely and I have had to restart the car. This occurs when at an intersection or similar after going into a complete stop, so vehicles around you are ready to move. Once it took me opening the car door and closing it to get the electronics to allow the car to restart. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Aug 2022 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | When the automatic engine shut-off is engaged during traffic stops, sometimes the power to the vehicle shuts off. It can happen at stop signs with out warning. The vehicle usually powers back up in Park. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Aug 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | The car braked automatically without any obstruction or car in front. I lost control of the brakes causing a severe Jerk and car to slip on freeway. I had a 2 month and 5 yr old in the car. We nearly escaped a serious accident as the truck was behind us in full speed. The whole warning/stopping event occurred in a few seconds. There were no obstacles in the road," the driver wrote. "There was a truck following me about 2 car lengths behind who had to stop very quickly in order not to rear-end me." I am scared and dont want to drive the car anymore | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Aug 2022 | VISIBILITY/WIPER | Sideview mirror on driver's side shakes/vibrates, thus causing blurry view. Noticed more during higher speeds. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Aug 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | The controls froze while driving and I was unable to safely maneuver the vehicle and it crashed in nearby bushes. I don’t see any recall for the VIN, Also we asked the motor repair team run scan though nothing was found. But would like to report this as we still feel it is some mechanical failure | Crash: Yes Fire: No Towed | Unknown |
| Aug 2022 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | When stopped and idling at an intersection (just south of North Avenue on Milwaukee Avenue in the city of Chicago) the vehicle engine turned off and would not restart, as it normally does when the car is idling. A message appeared saying, to “push the brake and push the start button” to restart the car. The battery light came on. I tried twice to start it, with no result. I turned on the hazard lights so traffic could attempt to move around me. I tried twice more. Nothing. I couldn’t get the Pilot to either start or completely turn off. Finally, while I was thinking about what to do next, the Pilot completely shut down on its own. I was able to restart the car normally. Prior to this there were no warning lights, and no signs of failure. The idle-stop usually works fine. No one has inspected the vehicle yet. This incident put me and my family at risk as I was in the middle lane of Milwaukee Avenue in heavy traffic, with no way to start the car or turn it off. I turned off the idle-stop feature to drive the 100+ miles home. I’ll call the dealer Monday morning. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Aug 2022 | VISIBILITY | The contact owns a 2021 Honda Pilot. The contact stated both exterior mirrors turned inward independently. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. The contact stated she positioned both mirrors but continued to experience a failure. The contact took the vehicle to the local dealer and made them aware of the failure. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer had not been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 29,300. | Crash: No Fire: No | 29,300 |
| Aug 2022 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Auto braking applies randomly cause brakes to lock up happens when driving in any conditions. This problem has already caused a minor accident with my vehicle due to brakes locking up and no throttle | Crash: Yes Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2022 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,UNKNOWN OR OTHER | New car battery and car died while waiting at a light. The vehicle idle/stop system kicked in but car was not able to restart. While lights were still available on dashboard, the emergency hazards would not show nor could I put the car in neutral. The dealer looked at this problem twice, first time stating this can just happen and this time they said the new battery was perhaps faulty and replaced the battery. Very dangerous situation as the car just died at the light and cars had no way of knowing the car was disabled as the hazards would not work. Had an emergency jumper pack and was able to move the car to get out of road before it died again- no option to push car as I could not put car in neutral. This is the 3rd time this issue with the battery dying has happened and dealer cannot supply an answer except to swap out the battery. Less than 1.5 years old and <26K miles. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2022 | POWER TRAIN,EQUIPMENT | Unresponsive dash control screen. Hands free Bluetooth disconnects. Popping sound through speakers. CarPlay option disappears. Am/Fm radio muffles while error message states no audio available. Restarting car fixes these issues for short while. Turning off radio while engine is on does not work. Gear hunting in transmission 2,3,4 fourth gear. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2022 | ENGINE | Vehicle failed to restart after stopping at a stop light while auto stop feature was on (defaults on). Vehicle was only 18 months old since purchase. Battery completely dead, only started after tow truck applied jumper for a long time. Had to be in busy six lane intersection for almost an hour. Car could not be shifted out of park into neutral to tow because push button transmission controls rely on battery power. Car is AWD. Vehicle is used mainly for 4 mile commute, often in stop and go traffic, to work and errands within that radius. I suspect the auto start feature drained the battery. The feature stops the engine anytime you come to a stop. It doesn’t seem to take into account how often it stops or how long the engine has been able to run and charge the battery. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Forward Collision Warning system has many times flashed the large ‘BRAKE’ and loud beeping warning when collision was not imminent. It never actually applied the brakes but worries us that it could slam on the brakes unnecessarily and cause an accident by getting rear ended or causeing the car to lose control and skid cross lanes. Most of the time this happens on an undivided road, sometimes on a curve, when the car may think the oncoming traffic may be coming at us. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2022 | POWER TRAIN,ENGINE | I will be filing a issue with our 21 Honda Ridgeline too as the same problem has occurred in both vehicles with the same engine and transmission. This has happened a total of 3 different times. When I drive the Pilot for a long time (over 4 hours)on the expressway and then pull off on a ramp and turn left the vehicle will go into safe mode. The engine light will start flashing and you can not drive over 30 mph. The engine runs rough and idles hard. I have contacted Honda and the dealership I purchased it from. Honda has acknowledged this is a problem and has occurred multiples with many different vehicles. The dealership I work with has acknowledged the same thing as they have several vehicles that have been brought in with this problem. I have waited several months for Honda to come up with a solution, so far they have not. This is a safety concern because what would happen if this same situation came up when I'm pulling my trailer or on the expressway at higher speeds. This could cause an accident. This first started on my Pilot in December of 2021. It has happened several times since then. Every time there is no code the computer keeps, even though each time the engine light is flashing. What I have been told is the computer thinks the engine has backfired and goes into safe mode, but Honda doesn't know why it does this. If you turn the vehicle off and restart it, the problem goes away. When the dealership has run a diagnosis off the computer, there are no codes the computer throws. Even though the check engine light is flashing when this occurs. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2022 | VISIBILITY/WIPER | On June 4, 2022, our 2021 Pilot was parked on the driveway with no one around it. It has been parked there for 2 days and the last time it was driven was on June 2. I was walking on the driveway towards our mailbox when all of a sudden the rear window exploded outward. Almost all of the glass were on the driveway and there were hardly any glass inside the vehicle. I called Honda Customer Service and I was told that I had to bring it to a dealer to see if it was a manufacturer's defect. However, the dealer would not be able to look at the car in a timely manner. I called my insurance and they covered the replacement glass yesterday. I researched the internet there were several similar incidents involving the rear window of Honda Pilots bursting/exploding. I am reporting this since this could be a potential driving hazard and a safety issue. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2022 | ENGINE | Engine shuts off when you are at a red light and you press the foot brake pedal hard. When you release the brake the engine starts. In my case the engine shut off and when I released the brake the engine did not start had to put transmission in park and then did a restart. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Apr 2022 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,UNKNOWN OR OTHER,ENGINE | The car's automatic engine shut-off feature when stopped at a red light failed to reengaged after removing foot from break the car shut down and the transmission button shifted into neutral and displayed a message that you must put your foot on the brake and shift the car to Park. The battery indicator light was flashing and everything turned off in the car. After doing this the car told me I must put my foot on the break and restart the car. It then allowed me to shift back into drive. The dealer was not able to recreate the issue, and no other things showed the issue other than the battery indicator lamp flashing on and off until the car was back in drive. The light I lost all power at was on a road with a 55 MPH speed limit. When the light turned green and the car lost all power there was another vehicle approaching, but I was not able to get the car moving fast enough to get out of the way. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Apr 2022 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER,SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | The cars automatic emergency breaking system malfunctions and randomly activates and applies the brakes while driving. This specific incident has occurred three times when entering the highway on ramp the "BRAKE" message is displayed in the car and the brakes have been applied as I've attempted to get up to speed entering the highway. There were no cars in front of the vehicle at the time the emergency breaking system applied the breaks. In addition, the braking system has applied when changing lanes on the highway with no vehicles or objects in front of the car and several times on curvy roads. I've taken it back to the Honda dealer and they have stated that no codes were stored and were not able to recreate the problem. However, the service advisor also informed me that they could not reset or make any changes as "there is pending litigation and investigations with the NTSB" I was charged $109 for a 'diagnosic fee' for a car that is still under the manufacturers waranty and told to watch for a recall at some point because their is nothing they are able to do to fix the problem because of the pending litigation/investigation. The incident happened two more times on my drive home from the dealership. There is no warning lamps that have come on or other symptoms that can be isolated, other than the "BRAKE" message appearing and the automatic breaking being applied. This is incredibly dangerous when the car drastically is slowed down for no reason on roads that have 45 + MPH speed limits. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |