Complaint volume
388 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
388 consumer-submitted complaints on record for the 2021 Honda Pilot, grouped by component category.
388 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 41 complaints, with an average reported failure mileage of 34,816 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 38
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 35
ENGINE 30
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 27
AIR BAGS 22
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE 19
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE,LANE DEPARTURE 16
VISIBILITY/WIPER 16
TIRES 13
SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 11
388 total complaints on record
Latest complaints
| Date | Component | Summary | Severity | Mileage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 2024 | SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Car in front of me stopped. My vehicle did not causing a rear end collision. I do not recall the brake warning flashing to alert me to brake. The automatic braking system did not seem to engage. Even though I pressed the brake pedal the vehicle did not seem to want to stop. It reminded me of a vehicle without power brakes. Nor did the wheels lock up or leave any skid marks from hard braking. | Crash: Yes Fire: No Towed | Unknown |
| Sep 2024 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER,ENGINE,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM | Twice in the last 6 months this has happened while car was stopped at red light. The auto engine restart system failed, causing the car to shut down. Car had to be placed in park and restarted. Local dealer was unable to detect cause : no codes captured and there were no problems with battery or starter detected. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Sep 2024 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM | Vehicle spontaneously caught fire. There were no known/indicated issues with the vehicle. Vehicle was eventually extinguished by the fire dept. It took them 45 mins to render it extinguished. Vehicle was parked in my driveway at the time of the incident. | Crash: No Fire: Yes | Unknown |
| Sep 2024 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | I have a 2021 Elite and have been experiencing issues with the Auto Engine Idle Shut Off for the past year. The engine with shuts off normally when I come to a stop when I have the system engaged. The problems begin when I take my foot off the brake expecting the engine to start up again. What happens inconsistently (though more and more often) is that when I take my foot off the brake, the engine shuts off, shifts itself into Park, and I have trouble getting the engine to start up again. A number of warning messages show up on the center console as well. Things like, Collision Mitigation Braking System, Road Departure Mitigation, Brake System warnings start displaying. Sometimes, I can get the engine to start up again within 10-15 seconds. Sometimes, it's been more than a minute. It almost sounds like the battery is dead but I have zero issues ever starting the vehicle initially in both hot and cold weather. When I disengage the system, which I do practically every time I drive the car now, everything works fine. The dealer ran a diagnostic and found nothing and then charged my battery even though it read full charge. It did the exact same thing a day later at a stop light. Because it’s a safety hazard and rather embarrassing to have it keep occurring at red lights with people behind you, when it shuts the engine off I manually disengage the shut off via the button on the console and the vehicle starts up fine every time. The stalls only occur when I don’t disengage with the button and take my foot off the brake. I have spoken to several other pilot owners that this has happened to so I know it is not an isolated incident. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Aug 2024 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM | Like others have reported, similar to the odyssey we own that did have a recall to fix the issue, the vehicle fails to restart after it idles at a light. Causing very stressful situation in traffic because it take 10-20 seconds to get vehicle going. Happened 5 times in 6 months. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2024 | AIR BAGS | The contact owns a 2021 Honda Pilot. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 24V064000 (Air Bags) however, the part to do the recall repair was unavailable. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The dealer was contacted. The manufacturer was not made aware of the issue. The contact had not experienced a failure. Parts distribution disconnect. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2024 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | I'm having issues with the auto stop start. I see there is a known problem for the 2016-2020 Honda pilots. I have a 2021. It's the same issue. I stop at an intersection and the car auto stops the engine. I then tried to go and the car stalled. I had to put in park and restart the car. Since then I have had 2 more incidents where the car almost stalls, the dash errors lights come on but then the car starts and goes without stalling. This has happened 3 times in the last 2 weeks. I have it in the service center today. I wanted to report this issue is still ongoing and seems to affect more than the previously listed vehicles. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2024 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE,LANE DEPARTURE | Upon turning on my vehicle all of the emergency warnings came on. I did a diagnostic and was shown that nothing was wrong with the vehicle but the warnings will not reset. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2024 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | The contact owns a 2021 Honda Pilot. The contact stated while driving approximately 55 MPH, the contact stated that several unknown warning lights started flashing. The contact stated that the Cruise Control and the Lane Departure and Lane Assist were inoperable. Additionally, the front view camera had failed to operate as designed. The contact had taken the vehicle to an independent mechanic where the vehicle was diagnosed, and it was determined that the electrical system had failed and that the front view camera needed to be replaced and recalibrated for all of the other systems to work as designed. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 50,000. | Crash: No Fire: No | 50,000 |
| Jul 2024 | LANE DEPARTURE,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | I was traveling with my daughters [XXX] , and [XXX] , in the back seat. It started raining heavy just as I passed a vehicle and returned to the right lane. I reduced my speed, then felt the vehicle hydroplane slightly and felt the traction control system engaged. As soon as the traction control icon displayed, I began to feel the traction slipping and noticed a slight unresponsiveness in the steering. My speed suddenly dropped 15-20 mph, without braking, or any change in pressure on the accelerator. I then tried to accelerate, but was unable to possibly because of loss of traction I noticed the traction light was flashing. The vehicle I had just passed moments before was quickly approaching at roughly 65 mph (speed limit was 70 mph) and had no warning of the issue with my vehicle decelerating, luckily they were paying attention and able to pass safely. When they passed, I pulled off the road and had these warnings on the screen: - Collision Mitigation Braking System. CMBS problem. - Lane Keeping Assist Problem. - Road Departure Mitigation System Problem. I placed the vehicle in park, shut it off, then restarted it. The error messages went away, then came back on as soon as I started driving. The traction control light remained off and the rain subsided, but the warnings remained. Dealership is supposed to inspect Wednesday 07/31/24. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6) | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| 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 |