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2019-2020 Pilot Infotainment Issues

24K views 33 replies 16 participants last post by  Miramirala 
#1 ·
just throwing this out there but has anyone actually had the problem fixed? I have had mine to the dealer three times now, nothing has been fixed. I have read a decent amount of posts about this problem but I dont think i have come across any that say they actually had the problem fixed. I am giving this dealership one more try to repair my 2020 pilot then I was going to try a different dealer and if that didnt work then i will probably start the lemon law proceedings.
 
#2 · (Edited)
There have been a few members who have reported successful repairs. Usually after multiple dealer visits and having Honda direct the dealer’s tech for the repair. I would call Honda’s customer care number and explain your situation. What has the dealer tried so far? Also what trim level is your Pilot?
 
#3 ·
it is a 2020 touring model, the first trip to the dealer they stated some bound up and stressed wiring in the harness for the infotainment system and rerouted the harness. that fix lasted about a week. the next trip they replaced the harness for the infotainment and that fix lasted about 1000 miles. The third trip was the same as the first, bound up wiring and that fix lasted about 200 miles. The thing that kills me is they drive the car after the supposed repair only a few miles. Last time it was 30 miles which my commute to work is 42 miles one way. I am waiting for their master tech to call me today to discuss a plan because i explained to them i am not going to drop this vehicle off and have someone jiggle some wires, drive the car and say its good again.
 
#10 ·
Somebody has to pay the technician to drive the vehicle. For warranty repairs, Honda pays the dealer only for diagnosis, parts, and repair. They do not pay the dealer for someone to drive around in the vehicle after the repair is completed. The dealer's primary financial interest is customer-pay maintenance and repairs followed by warranty-pay repairs. For customer-pay repairs, they can charge whatever they want. For warranty-pay repairs, they're limited to a fixed amount so they tend to spend the absolute minimum amount of time it takes before moving on to the next job.
 
#4 ·
The NHTSA posts TSBs and Honda’s communications with their dealers at this link:
I would suggest reading the mfg communications on this problem to familiarize yourself with Honda’s perspective on this problem. While on the NHTSA site you can log a complaint. If the backup camera is inoperative when the failure occurs, specifically mention that in your complaint In the first sentence. Backup cameras are required on all new vehicles. The 10th gen Accord had a recall generated for a SW issue with backup camera.
 
#6 ·
I just got mine back after the fifth time at the dealer. They had a Honda engineer come in who found the amplifier was defective and the MOST bus connector for the amplifier was bad. Both were replaced. Previously, the DVD player, infotainment unit, and the dash cluster were replaced. Before that, they worked on (but did not replace) the harness.

It's only been two days, but so far so good. This of course means nothing because I had the problem disappear for a month in between dealer repair visits.
 
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#8 ·
I have heard of people filing lemon law claims but I don't know if anyone has had any success. I think most people who got their vehicles bought back it was through the dealership they purchased the vehicle from. Mine is fixed. They replaced all the wiring, infotainment system, amplifier everything. They pretty much had to completely strip my car down the bare metal and rewire the entire thing. It's been about 1000 miles and so far no problems.
 
#9 ·
I had the same problem with the infotainment system on my 2020 pilot touring. I harased the dealership for 3 weeks.Called corporate 5 times ,took it to another dealership and wrote terrible reviews on the dealerships website and threaten them with lemon law..They finally fixed it when a corporate FTS came out..took 4 hrs.Only been a few days but so far so good.Sqeaky wheel gets the grease
 
#11 ·
I just got mine back last week after the third visit. I already had the wires rerouted in the blue ray player and the rear control unit twice. This time, they said they used a brand new procedure from Honda Canada that they are testing. It's not on Tech line yet. They tape the MOST cable To the rear control unit to get rid of slack there. I have had no issues since. My symptoms were cracking Bluetooth calls, lost connection messages followed by black nav screen. Was failing 3-4 times a day before last visit.
 
#12 ·
It went out again... But this time it was because if different connections. Could tell by the error codes. They now taped all of the MOST wires at the connectors. Here is what I have gathered. Shorted at RES or AMP, NAV screen shuts down. Short at Blue Ray, crackling sound during calls at first. Then shut down of NAV and Dashboard along with other random crackling sounds. I'm still convinced that it is this because it kept resetting any time I took a sharp turn or hit a bump. It reset 20 times in a 2 h drive. No problems since the last tape job.
 
#16 ·
Theres already a tsb for it, so it shouldn't be a problem once they are serviced. Just check with the dealer to make sure any tsb's have been taken care of. It might not apply to the 21's because it's probably a normal install.
People complain on here because they dont search and see theres been a fix.
 
#18 ·
just in case anyone happens upon this thread looking for advice please ignore this person's post. I took my car to the dealer 75% more time than I had it myself and had Honda techs work with local Honda dealership. All temporary fixes. People are complaining here because there is no known remedy. Everything is temporary. This is how long after this post? This is happening to me right now and Honda has no idea how to fix it.
 
#20 ·
Screen resetting and the crackle and pops and weird static on calls. Also random loss of back speakers but I think that's something they messed up on with last fix. I've had updates, most cords replaced, bus cord replaced, most extenders replaced, and two other times that they just relieved tension supposedly. Every fix works for a little and then problem comes back, just a bit different. Dealer is going to buy back. I'm going to be out some $ I don't have and be worse off then where I started.
 
#21 ·
That’s very frustrating. What is the model year, trim level, purchase date and miles on the vehicle? Is this a new car purchase? Have you researched the Lemon Laws in your state? Have you tried another dealer?
Don’t know how much $ this going to cost you but my state allows the manufacturer to charge a max of 15% for use of the vehicle when a buy back occurs. Most Pilots don’t have this issue and most that do have been successfully fixed with the TSB. This problem can be resolved if properly diagnosed and repaired. Know your rights under the consumer protection laws of your state before you agree to a buy back that is going to cost you money.
 
#23 ·
I liked my 2020 Touring but have now (last week) just traded it in. The KIA dealerships all offered me a price for trade in that was just $3500 less than I paid for the Pilot last year, and after putting 18,500 miles on it since I purchased it, I considered it an acceptable trade off, in either depreciation or otherwise. So this will be my last post, and I hope it helps.

Since I purchased the pilot in May 2020, I had once fill month without any of the crackling, popping, or other issues experienced by some Piloteers. In July, that all changed and I had taken the vehicle in 8 times since July 2020 till April 2021. Two out of the 8 times, I never even made it out past 5 miles from the dealership before the screen either went dark, or a popping sound returned.

In the first visit, they RE-secured the wiring harness and performed the software updates. second through 4th visits they replaced the instrument cluster wiring, and RE-secured the wiring harnesses. Then on the 5th time, the replaced the amplifier under Honda America’s tech support recommendation. Honda America was directly involved from that point on. When that failed to resolve the issue (screen still was going dark) and MOST network was still being lost, HA authorized the dealership to replace the turner on the 7th visit. Not sure what they did in the 6th visit but they had the vehicle torn apart from front to back. I took the car back again on the 8th visit and got it back after they did some more work and drove it 75 miles with no problems. 3 days later, I experienced one screen blank, popping of the speakers, and disconnecting of Apple Car Play after a few minutes of connectivity. New symptoms to add to Most Network connectivity loss and speaker pops.

I was done as there appeared to be end in sight. Especially when I called Honda America for direct support and they opened up a case number for me to discuss buy backs and upgrade to a 2021 which appears to have the problem fixed. After waiting 2 weeks with no additional response from Honda, I called KIA and they were more than happy to talk to me. I now no longer have a Pilot.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#28 ·
I liked my 2020 Touring but have now (last week) just traded it in. The KIA dealerships all offered me a price for trade in that was just $3500 less than I paid for the Pilot last year, and after putting 18,500 miles on it since I purchased it, I considered it an acceptable trade off, in either depreciation or otherwise. So this will be my last post, and I hope it helps.

Since I purchased the pilot in May 2020, I had once fill month without any of the crackling, popping, or other issues experienced by some Piloteers. In July, that all changed and I had taken the vehicle in 8 times since July 2020 till April 2021. Two out of the 8 times, I never even made it out past 5 miles from the dealership before the screen either went dark, or a popping sound returned.

In the first visit, they RE-secured the wiring harness and performed the software updates. second through 4th visits they replaced the instrument cluster wiring, and RE-secured the wiring harnesses. Then on the 5th time, the replaced the amplifier under Honda America’s tech support recommendation. Honda America was directly involved from that point on. When that failed to resolve the issue (screen still was going dark) and MOST network was still being lost, HA authorized the dealership to replace the turner on the 7th visit. Not sure what they did in the 6th visit but they had the vehicle torn apart from front to back. I took the car back again on the 8th visit and got it back after they did some more work and drove it 75 miles with no problems. 3 days later, I experienced one screen blank, popping of the speakers, and disconnecting of Apple Car Play after a few minutes of connectivity. New symptoms to add to Most Network connectivity loss and speaker pops.

I was done as there appeared to be end in sight. Especially when I called Honda America for direct support and they opened up a case number for me to discuss buy backs and upgrade to a 2021 which appears to have the problem fixed. After waiting 2 weeks with no additional response from Honda, I called KIA and they were more than happy to talk to me. I now no longer have a Pilot.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I'm also looking at a Kia at this point. Honda said 4 more weeks for them to START communicating. What did you get and why did you not go with Hyundai? Prices are skyrocketing here and I was so gung ho to get a Pilot. I'm lost
 
#25 ·
We have a 2020 Pilot Elite with about 10k miles on it. No problems until 2 weeks ago, when the radio started showing a "check tuner" message intermittently. It seems to sometimes be related to driving over bumps, but not always. It has also evolved to the whole infotainment screen going dark. No backup camera sucks!!! Also started seeing the MOST network message this weekend. No real pops to speak of, yet. We just moved from Delaware to Florida, so it went to the local dealer today, they say they need to order parts, which should be in on Wednesday. Hoping for the best, but not holding my breath!
 
#32 ·
6/18/2021
I have had my 9K 2020 Elite Pilot in 3 times already to Re-Do or attempt to repair wiring
harnesses, pin connectors and adapters. It appears the real root cause is likely a faulty
wiring harness that has too many ohms of resistance that causes domino effect of system
failures. Driving down the road ALL electronics go black.....radio turns off, NAVI stops working
and also dropped my calls when linked to car phone feature.

Now it is the 4th time that all my systems have failed....HONDA Dealer advise me they now have
4 different connectors that they are working with to resolve the issue....with no guarantees.

Honda is in the midst of a Class Action Law Suit on this one, here in Arizona it qualifies for Lemon
Law Protection according to my conversation with Attorney General yesterday.

Honda Customer Service advised me it may take 2 to 6 months to process my request for BUY BACK.
I have been a Honda customer for 41 years. I worked at Honda Dealer for 11 years...first time I ask
Honda to help me they basically are blowing me off. Getting ready to divorce Honda and switch to Hyundai.
 
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