2016 Pilot electrical issue, possible keyless control unit, panel / relays flicker, alarm goes off unexpectedly

Hondamon said:

Yes, there is a recall on the start/stop switch for the 2016 model year and if the switch is faulty, it will show a keyless start error on the display and also you will get a B12C5 code when the car is scanned. I had to replace mine a few months back but did not have issues with the alarm, just the walk away locking not working and the Keyless start error. You may want to invest in a cheap bluetooth scanner as it will save you money in the long term. I use Bluedriver but there are other cheaper ones out there.

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Yours sounds most like my issue. 2016 pilot The whole display came on with all of the errors along with keyless start
so I replaced the battery this last september but noticed that the walkaway locking wasn't working but everything was fine until December when the Keyless start error started coming on occasionally and now stays on.
I'm in Maine so this is a lousy time of year to be messing with this. I will try my scanner and see if its the button.
OR maybe just take it to the dealer if its under warranty. I've been keeping a battery jumper box in my car.
Seems like something is draining the battery? How is this not a recall? I've had at least 15 Hondas
and always had great luck.

KPaine said:

I’m having the same issues with my 2016 Honda Pilot - random alarm going off (even when unlocked), lights turning on, flickering dash with clicking sounds. I’ve had it to the dealer 3x and they never found errors but they replaced the car battery & key fob batteries, and the start/stop button from the keyless remote issue.
still having issues…..
Is the keyless control unit the fix? Has anyone had issues since that was replaced?

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We just had ours replaced on Monday 12/27/2021. It was an $800 fix (no warranty.) I'm not completely buying this line that it's not part of the warranty extension for the starter control module. Way too many similarities with errors and lights.

dobrien said:

We just had ours replaced on Monday 12/27/2021. It was an $800 fix (no warranty.) I'm not completely buying this line that it's not part of the warranty extension for the starter control module. Way too many similarities with errors and lights.

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Just for clarity, you had your alarm replaced or the keyless control unit?
I hope that you found the fix.
I've been reading through the posts on here and it seems that the dealers
haven't got a clue what this is. they just replace things!
Honda will fix the button for free but they should also replace the module as well.

I had the keyless control unit replaced. My alarm never went off. Our errors/issues revolved around dash lights flickering all the time (even when we were nowhere near it), keyless dash errors and tire pressure dash weirdness. We did NOT have the button replaced because "Our VIN was not part of the recall." Yeah, right....

This is an update to my post from 7 months ago. I see that there are some people asking if the keyless control module is really the fix to this issue. I had a Honda dealer replace the keyless control module, and I have not had any problems.
I hope this helps the people looking for answers because Honda is NO help.

Rhythm1 said:

This is an update to my post from 7 months ago. I see that there are some people asking if the keyless control module is really the fix to this issue. I had a Honda dealer replace the keyless control module, and I have not had any problems.
I hope this helps the people looking for answers because Honda is NO help.

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We had our "Keyless control module" replaced about a month ago as well. No issues since that time. (part of this thread)
Pretty pricey repair, too. Recall over $800. If enough people have the same issue, maybe we can get Honda to refund us? Quality is not what it used to be. I owned a Civic Hybrid over 12 years ago. Absolute garbage.

Put in complaint to dept of transportation. It’s ridiculous. And note they have currently a nationwide back order on “keyless control module” according to our Honda auto shop dealership. So that seems interesting why that is… too many repairs? Here’s link below for NHTSA, maybe we can flood them to force Honda to address this issue and get some money back that we somehow have to pay for their faulty issue with their vehicle.

Lisa Collins said:

Our 2016 Pilot has an annoying issue. When it is turned off, the panel lights flicker. You can hear the relays clicking behind the panel. The headlights come on. Often the car alarm randomly goes off. The dealership has had it 3 times. This 3rd time around they want to charge us $800 to replace the Keyless control unit. The dealer has had it 2 other times (Cost us $80 first time and $250 the 2nd time) and nothing was resolved with this issue. It seems they are just throwing darts at possible solutions. They won't guarantee this will fixe the issue. They will not refund us the $800 if this part isn't even a problem ;-( To our knowledge, we don't think we have had the issue occur when the car is unlocked. It doesn't happen every time the car is locked. It is definitely sporadic. Anyone else have similar issues?

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Yep. Been there... done that. Keep the receipts. When this is a true "recall", Honda should pay you back.

Lisa Collins said:

Our 2016 Pilot has an annoying issue. When it is turned off, the panel lights flicker. You can hear the relays clicking behind the panel. The headlights come on. Often the car alarm randomly goes off. The dealership has had it 3 times. This 3rd time around they want to charge us $800 to replace the Keyless control unit. The dealer has had it 2 other times (Cost us $80 first time and $250 the 2nd time) and nothing was resolved with this issue. It seems they are just throwing darts at possible solutions. They won't guarantee this will fixe the issue. They will not refund us the $800 if this part isn't even a problem ;-( To our knowledge, we don't think we have had the issue occur when the car is unlocked. It doesn't happen every time the car is locked. It is definitely sporadic. Anyone else have similar issues?

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Hi I have a 1016 pilot also and this is insanely making me crazy. Same issue took to honda 3 tines allready telling me now that it's control module unit tpms or similar and costs 800 and is backordered might take months to order to fix

Unpredictably when my auto idle is engaged my vehicle will stall, resulting in me being unable to move my vehicle without forcing a prompted restart.This occurs at very random times to include when I am stopped at a stop light, waiting in a drive-thru line, in traffic, or any additional times when the auto idle engages. This is very dangerous because it results in my vehicle being an unexpected stalled obstacle for all participants on the road. The vehicle has been inspected and the engine start/stop button has been replaced twice. Unknown if there were any warning laps messages or other symptoms. dickssportinggoods feedback www.lowes.com survey

I am having the same problem with my 2018 Pilot. Does the 2018 share the same control module as the 2016? (38320-tg7-a420-m1) I was also told by the dealership that the module is on back-order and it could take months to receive.

Lisa Collins said:

We had the dealer replace the keyless control unit and this has seemed to resolve the issue. The keyless control unit is a module that's behind the glove compartment about an inch and a half thick. 4 × 6 inches in diameter.

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This is what dealer says is our problem too. Alarm now going off multiple time per day and is unbearable. Unfortunately, part is not available. Any thoughts?

tpez said:

I am having the same problem with my 2018 Pilot. Does the 2018 share the same control module as the 2016? (38320-tg7-a420-m1) I was also told by the dealership that the module is on back-order and it could take months to receive.

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Same here

Lisa Collins said:

We had the dealer replace the keyless control unit and this has seemed to resolve the issue. The keyless control unit is a module that's behind the glove compartment about an inch and a half thick. 4 × 6 inches in diameter.

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This resolved the issue with the alarm randomly going off?

We have a 2017 Pilot and have had similar issues with lights flickering, alarm going off, I believe the engine even started by itself one time. Took it to the dealer and they said they fixed the ground to the alternator. I believe that was November of 21. It is now May of 22 and it is doing it again. They charged me a small amount to perform the work, I think around $150. I may try doing this again myself and see if it fixes the issue again.
I agree with the comments that the grass is not always greener on the other side of the fence. We had several minivans before we purchased our previous 2007 Odyssey and they all had way more issues than the Odyssey although it had enough of it's own, but it was 14+ years old when we got rid of it. I purchased another Honda hoping for similar results, but this electrical issue is getting old fast. Sad to see so many people having the same issue and Honda not at least issuing a service bulletin or better yet a recall.

I have the same exact issue with the alarm going off randomly...took it to the dealer and it showed a KCU error (keyless control unit). i believe that's to be the reason, i ordered the unit and waiting for delivery so i can replace it.

Andoors2011 said:

I have the same exact issue with the alarm going off randomly...took it to the dealer and it showed a KCU error (keyless control unit). i believe that's to be the reason, i ordered the unit and waiting for delivery so i can replace it.

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I have the same issue too but I unplugged the hood latch sensors which disable my alarm from going off in the middle of the night but now I won't hear my alarm going off if someone were to steal my car. But let me know if that will fix the problem because I hear changing the control unit will fix it also do you have to program the keys too????

Now the horn is blowing fuses. Not sure if that is related. I have that the remote start doesn't work from time to time. One of the first things I noticed is that the remote start wouldn't work. Then after some months the dash lights and alarm thing happened. After we got it back from the shop when they cleaned the ground, the remote start worked again. However, it is not working now. This really seems like a ground issue somewhere.
Like Drift510 said, let us know if replacing the KCU works. Looks like others have had success with that.

I had the same issue with my 2017 Pilot. All the lights would flash until the battery was dead. I discovered the solution to the problem in this forum. I took a video of it to my dealer and they confirmed that it was the control until that was bad. They also told me the part wasn't available until I asked them to call other dealers in our state and turns out there were 2. So, they were able to replace it. Thanks to whose of you who posted here with the problem and the solution.
I had just gotten my car back from a body shop repair that took 4 months bc of the lack of parts.
AND then, I was told my horn wasn't working. So they replaced the fuse. Just tried to use the horn today--IT IS NOT WORKING. So, I will keep looking on the forum to see if anyone has any insight in to this problem.

Just to inform all you Piloteers, if you go to the Honda Odyssey version of this board…Odyclub, you will find numerous threads about this same issue (random alarm, dash lights going crazy) happening with the 2016 model of the Odyssey as well. Most point to the keyless remote module too as being the problem, although it doesn’t seem definitive as some dealerships have brought up the PCM module. But clearly seems to be an issue Honda doesn’t want to acknowledge with this particular year with their cars. It seems to happen so much you would think the dealerships would know about it when you describe the problem.