2018 Honda Pilot problems, complaints & recalls
Most-reported problem areas: Engine (94) · Power Train (60) · Fuel System, Gasoline (56)
🧭 Reliability snapshot
Compared against other Honda Pilot model years — complaint volume vs the model's median year, recalls and severity. How we score →
🛣️ Complaints by mileage
104 NHTSA complaints that reported an odometer reading.
Safety recalls (7)
Suspension:rear 2026-06-04 · campaign 26V365000 · 965,561 vehicles
Defect: American Honda Motor Company (Honda) is recalling certain 2016-2022 Honda Pilot, 2017-2023 Ridgeline, 2019-2023 Passport, and 2014-2020 Acura MDX vehicles that were sold in Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, or Wisconsin. The rear subframe may corrode at the suspension mounting points,
Risk: Failure of rear suspension components, such as the rear control arm, can cause a loss of vehicle handling and control, increasing the risk of a crash or injury.
Fix: Dealers will inspect the rear subframe and install a rear subframe reinforcement kit and, as necessary, repair or replace the rear subframe components, free of charge. Interim letters notifying owners of the safety risk were mailed July 27, 2026. Additional letters will be sent once the final remedy is available, anticipated in the fall of 2026. Owners may contact Honda's customer service at 1-888-234-2138. Honda's numbers for this recall are AOU and AOT. Vehicle Identification Numbers (VINs) in
Air Bags:sensor:occupant Classification:front Passenger 2026-05-21 · campaign 26V332000 · 98,892 vehicles
Defect: Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) is recalling certain 2018-2021, 2023 Acura TLX, 2019-2024 RDX, 2017-2020, 2022-2026 MDX, 2017-2021, 2023, 2025 Honda Ridgeline, 2017-2022 Pilot, 2019-2021 Passport, 2018-2026 Odyssey, 2019-2022 Insight, 2019-2021 HR-V, 2018-2020 Fit, 2020-2022 CR-V Hybrid, 2017-2022 CR-V, 2017-2018, 2021 Civic Type R, 2017-2021 Civic hatchback, 2016-2020 Civic coupe, 2016-2022 Civic, 2017-2022 Accord Hybrid, and 2016-2022 Accord vehicles. The front passenger seat weight sensor ma
Risk: Air bags that deploy unintentionally during a crash increase the risk of injury.
Fix: Dealers will replace the seat weight sensors, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed July 7, 2026. Owners may contact Honda's customer service at 1-888-234-2138. Honda's numbers for this recall are BOL, WO9, OOA, WOM, XOH, NOC, POD, BOE, UOF, POB, EOG, AOI, QO8, TOJ, DO7, and SOK. This recall expands previous NHTSA recall number 24V064. Vehicle Identification Numbers (VINs) involved in this recall will be searchable on NHTSA.gov beginning May 29, 2026.
Fuel System, Gasoline:delivery:fuel Pump 2023-12-18 · campaign 23V858000 · 2,490,460 vehicles
Defect: Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) is recalling certain 2013-2023 Honda Accord, Civic Coupe, Civic Sedan, Civic Hatchback, Civic Type R, CR-V, HR-V, Ridgeline, Odyssey, Acura ILX, MDX, MDX Hybrid, RDX, RLX, TLX, 2019-2022 Honda Insight, Passport, 2020 Honda CR-V Hybrid, 2018-2019 Honda Clarity PHEV, Fit, and 2015-2020 Honda Accord Hybrid, Pilot, Acura NSX vehicles. The fuel pump inside the fuel tank may fail.
Risk: Fuel pump failure can cause an engine stall while driving, increasing the risk of a crash.
Fix: Dealers will replace the fuel pump module, free of charge. Owner letters were mailed September 6, 2024. Owners may contact Honda customer service at 1-888-234-2138. Honda's numbers for this recall are KGC and KGD. This recall is an expansion of NHTSA recall numbers 21V-215 and 20V-314.
Engine And Engine Cooling:engine:hard Parts Internal/Mechanical 2023-11-13 · campaign 23V751000 · 248,999 vehicles
Defect: Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) is recalling certain 2015-2020 Acura TLX, 2016-2020 Acura MDX, 2016 and 2018-2019 Pilot, 2017 and 2019 Ridgeline, and 2018-2019 Odyssey vehicles. Due to a manufacturing error, the connecting rod bearing in the engine may wear and seize, damaging the engine.
Risk: A damaged engine may run improperly or stall while driving, increasing the risk of a fire, crash, or injury.
Fix: Dealers will inspect and repair, or replace the engine as necessary, free of charge. Owner letters were mailed March 28, 2024. 2016-2017 Acura MDX owner letters were mailed November 1, 2024. 2016-2020 Acura MDX owner letters are expected to be mailed in mid-December 2024. Honda began mailing owner notification letters as of March 18, 2024. 2015-2016 Acura owner letters are expected to be mailed mid-December 2024, 2018 Acura TLX owner letters are expected to be mailed the end of March/early Apr
Latches/Locks/Linkages:hood:latch 2021-11-29 · campaign 21V932000 · 724,826 vehicles
Defect: Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) is recalling certain 2019 Passport, 2016-2019 Pilot, and 2017-2020 Ridgeline vehicles. The hood latch striker may become damaged and separate from the hood, which can result in the hood opening while driving.
Risk: A hood that opens while driving can obstruct the driver's view and increase the risk of a crash.
Fix: Dealers will either repair the hood latch striker, or replace the hood if necessary, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed January 18, 2022. Owners may contact Honda customer service at 1-888-234-2138. Honda's number for this recall is PBV.
Engine And Engine Cooling:engine:gasoline:belts And Associated Pulleys 2019-04-12 · campaign 19V298000 · 93,946 vehicles
Defect: Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) is recalling certain 2018-2019 Acura MDX and Honda Pilot vehicles and 2019 Acura RLX, RLX Sport Hybrid, TLX and Honda Odyssey and Ridgeline vehicles. The timing belt teeth may separate from the belt.
Risk: Teeth separation from the timing belt may result in an engine stall, increasing the risk of crash.
Fix: Honda will notify owners, and dealers will inspect the vehicle and replace any affected timing belt free of charge. Vehicles receiving a replacement timing belt will also have the engine inspected and any damaged components will be replaced for free. The recall began June 7, 2019. Honda owners may contact customer service at 1-888-234-2138. Honda's number for this recall is L4M. Acura owners may contact customer service at 1-888-234-2138. Acura's number for this recall is Z4L.
Seats 2018-04-05 · campaign 18V221000 · 5,810 vehicles
Defect: Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) is recalling certain 2018 Honda Pilot and Ridgeline vehicles and 2018 Acura MDX vehicles. The front driver and passenger powered seats in the Honda vehicles and the driver powered seats in the Acura vehicles may have been assembled with improperly manufactured rivets. In the event of a crash, the rivets can break causing the seats not to be secured to the floor. As such, these vehicles may fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety St
Risk: In the event of a crash, if the seat does not remain secured to the floor, the seat occupant has an increased risk of injury.
Fix: Honda will notify owners, and dealers will replace the driver seat frame assembly in Acura MDX vehicles, and replace the driver and front passenger seat slide rail frames in Honda Pilot and Ridgeline vehicles, free of charge. The recall began May 30, 2018. Owners may contact Honda customer service at 1-888-234-2138. Honda's numbers for this recall is D0S, and T0T.
Service bulletins (140)
Technical service bulletins are repair instructions manufacturers send dealers for known issues. Unlike recalls, the fix is not automatically free — but naming the bulletin at the service desk can save diagnosis time and support goodwill repairs.
Engine 2025-07-07 · A23-009 · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions
service bulletin - under certain circumstances, after coming to a stop and engaging idle stop, the vehicle may not restart automatically due to excessive cylinder pressure and/or low cranking torque. typically, the customer can immediately restart the vehicle by selecting park and pressing the engin
Engine 2025-05-21 · A23-078 · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions
service bulletin - torque converters may not have been manufactured to proper specifications. as a result, the torque converter lock-up clutch cannot provide adequate holding force due to pressure bleeding down through a crack in the lock-up piston. the reduced lock-up clutch capacity results in the
Engine 2025-05-21 · A23-078 · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions
service bulletin - torque converters may not have been manufactured to proper specifications. as a result, the torque converter lock-up clutch cannot provide adequate holding force due to pressure bleeding down through a crack in the lock-up piston. the reduced lock-up clutch capacity results in the
Engine 2025-04-18 · A23-078 · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions
service bulletin - torque converters may not have been manufactured to proper specifications. as a result, the lock-up clutch cannot provide adequate holding force due to pressure bleeding down through a crack in the lock-up piston. the reduced lock-up clutch capacity results in the transmission ind
Engine 2025-04-18 · AEBM04182025901 · Other
dealer message - torque converters may not have been manufactured to proper specifications. as a result, the torque converter lock-up clutch cannot provide adequate holding force due to pressure bleeding down through a crack in the lock-up piston. the reduced lock-up clutch capacity results in the m
Structure:body 2024-11-22 · A24-048 · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions
service bulletin - the awd warning light is on potentially due to water intrusion into the rear differential pump motor connector area that corrodes the terminals.
Showing the 6 most recent of 140 bulletins. Search all of them free at nhtsa.gov.
What owners report
2026-10-29 · Engine“during acceleration between 1000-2000 rpm when i back out of the driveway or slowly start to accelerate on the street i hear a knocking sound only at that specific rpm. when cruising and i release the gas i feel a heavy sluggish and quick decrease of speed instead of it smoothly decelerating and slowly cruising. i took it to carmax where i bought i…”
2026-10-27 · Unknown Or Other“i noticed a transmission error on my dash flashing d. the honda dealership states that i have a code dtc p0741 for an sb 23-078 torque converter repair but my vin is not covered under the service bulletin even though my car seems to meet all other specifications 2018 honda pilot, less than 150,000 miles with the issue arrising within 10 years of th…”
2026-09-21 · Engine“the contact owned a 2018 honda pilot. the contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the engine was knocking very loudly, and the vehicle lost driving power. the contact attempted to contact the manufacturer. the vehicle was not repaired.…”
2026-09-12 · Unknown Or Other“auto restart issues. i have reported this before. when coming to a stop and the engine shuts off it does not automatically restart. it has left me sitting at a light having to sit and wait before i am able to turn my car back on. this can be a huge safety issue when in traffic or when a line of cars is behind me or at any time. i have had services …”
2026-09-11 · Forward Collision Avoidance: Warnings“all safety features turned off. i had a professional mechanic shop inspect. since this happens randomly, they cannot provide exact diagnosis. this is a major safety risk! after i picked it up from the mechanic, i drove approximately 200 miles before the next occurance, while on a major interstate. all safety features turned off again. this is such …”
2026-08-29 · Unknown Or Other“high pressure fuel pump fails after implementing recall listed below. see recall information: december 18, 2023 nhtsa campaign number: 23v858000 fuel pump may fail fuel pump failure can cause an engine stall while driving, increasing the risk of a crash. nhtsa id number: 23v858000 manufacturer honda (american honda motor co.) components fuel sys…”
2026-08-20 · Engine“the vehicle started to make some strange noises coming from the engine area. i brought the vehicle to our mechanic, who stated that the engine needs to be replaced. he described the problem as an issue with the piston that is appearing to be common with the shut off system, causing it in this vehicle. he classified as.’engine has internal knock fro…”
2026-08-13 · Lane Departure: Warning“failed component: lane departure system camera - honda (p/n 36160-tg8-a51). this camera has completely failed which completely shuts down the following safety systems in this honda pilot: adaptive cruise control forward collision warning lane departure warning lane keeping assistance it also fully disables the cruise control system. i have a…”
2026-08-11 · Engine“when i press down on the gas, the car is delayed in responding. this has gotten increasingly worse, at times resulting in near collisions with on-coming traffic. i've reported this to my local dealership (priority honda in chesapeake, virginia) but they continue to tell me there are no diagnostic codes that allude to there being an issue and will n…”
2026-08-03 · Engine“if the auto engine shut off is activated the engine shuts off randomly and it does not restart the engine. the battery needs to be unplugged to reset the electrical system. this happens daily.…”
Excerpts of consumer complaints filed with NHTSA, lightly truncated. They are owner statements, not verified findings.