Shuts off completely? Or shuts off like Idle Stop, where taking your foot off the brake or tweaking the steering wheel starts it up again? Idle stop takes a fraction of a second to start back up, the same as any other time you start the engine.

 

I have experienced this same problem with my 2016 Honda Pilot Elite. I have 20,000 miles on the vehicle, and about 6 months ago, it would "stall out" at a stop light or stop sign when I was in "auto idle-stop" and pressed on the gas. I first noticed that the auto idle-stop was hesitating when it would start up. I also noticed that the radio would "cut out". After that, the vehicle would just stall out and I would have to push park, put my foot on the brake and then push start. This is very inconvenient when you are at a stop light or getting ready to make a turn and the vehicle just "dies". Took it into the dealership and they said it was a software adjustment. The auto idle-stop worked for a couple of days, then started hesitating and now it intermittently stalls when the gas is pressed. I will take it in again and report the same problem.

 

I've commented on this thread a few times because I have the same issue with my 2017 Touring model. They updated the software a while back and it didn't help. I just took it in again a few weeks ago because the problem had gotten worse. They updated the software again and it is finally fixed, however, the auto idle doesn't work at all, which is fine with me! I have asked them multiple times to completely disable the feature and they always said they couldn't so I don't think this was on purpose, but I am happy with the result.

 

This also happened to my 2016 Honda Pilot Touring. It happened a few times last year where the car stalled out at a red light while using the auto stop-start just like the initial poster and kpsmith999. It would happen occasionally when I took my foot off the brake and nothing would happen when I put my foot on the gas. Instead of the engine starting up again, the car would stall completely and I would have to put the car in park, press the brake pedal and push the start button to get it on again. I took the car into the dealer and they gave me the same thing about a software issue. They had to reboot the software. Didn't happen again for a while until just last week happened again at a red light with the car stalling and had to do the same thing to get it to restart. Took it into the car dealership in MD last week and they couldn't find anything wrong with the car or the software so they sent me on my way.

 

Our 2016 Elite with 39,000 miles has been doing the same thing. Have to put it in park and start the car. I will be taking it to Anderson Honda in Hunt Valley to take a look. They have always been good.

 

Any update from Anderson Honda in Hunt Valley? I will be taking my 2016 Pilot into the dealer again this week for this issue.

 

One thought on the 2016. The battery is likely getting close to or over three years old which is the known safe life span for factory batteries.

 

I had same issue with my 2017 Touring. Sometimes with auto stop I would hear the whole system cut out and would come back on. One time I had to completely restart engine. Too car to Ourisman is Bethesda yesterday. They found an issue with the battery and gave me a new one. They also reset the software. Hopefully that will take care of this. In the meantime I wonder if there is a way to disable auto stop automatically for all drives. It seems dangerous to risk using it!

 

Please give an update after you take it to Anderson Honda in Hunt Valley. I've gone to Hersons Honda in Rockville when this happened to my car. As for the battery, they tested battery as part of their review and the report they gave me said battery was fine. They haven't mentioned anything about the battery being a cause of this problem, but will definitely mention it to them if it happens again.

 

This is the most annoying feature ever. It drives me crazy. At least 30% of the time that my 2016 Touring won't restart after an idle stop. And of course the dealership didn't find anything wrong with it.


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I have a 2016 Elite and it does the same thing.. I turn off the Idle Stop when I can remember to.. I mostly freeway drive.

It's annoying and it has done this off and on over 2 years.. I don't think it's a battery issue.. I do think it's a software issue. The car thinks it's started up when it hasn't, so it disengages the starter, etc....

I suspect they will have a software fix as more people have this problem.

 

I looked back at my invoice from Honda when I took the car in October 2017 and here is what it said:

Cause - PCM Software Update
Correction - Retrieve and Clear DTC P2638 (Torque Management Feedback Signal A Range/Performance) and Update both the PCM and the TCM Software. S/B 16-008

It has happened twice again since I took the car in recently.

 

Sorry, when I took it in for my last service I needed the car back sooner so I didn't have them check it

 

Any update from Anderson Honda in Hunt Valley? I will be taking my 2016 Pilot into the dealer again this week for this issue.

No problem. Thanks. If anyone else has taken their car in for this issue, please post an update with the response from the dealer. If they did any software updates, please post the specific software codes or other corrections they made to resolve the issue and whether it worked.

 

Took the 2016 Pilot into Hersons Honda in Rockville today. In addition to idle stop start problem, the "Emissions System Problem" light came on Sunday. It went away Tuesday night before I brought the car in this morning. Hersons said they checked the car and there were no software updates so they called Honda support since the car has all the latest updates and still having issues. Honda said to replace the fuel injectors. Hersons is not sure if that is related to the idle stop start problem, but think it might fix the emissions system problem issue and by relation the idle stop start problem. The fuel injector replacement is a full day job that they will do tomorrow.

 

I had the fuel injection system replaced on ours as well after an emission light came on about a year ago. Since our stalling issue occurred a few months ago, replacing the fuel injectors did not prevent it from happening.

 

It’s been happening more frequently lately and we have left the pilot again at the dealership to see if they can reproduce it and we have a loaner car in the meantime.
Those of you who have experienced this have you manually disabled the auto start stop to see if that prevents this from happening?


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Are you saying you have manually turned off the auto start stop and the car has still stalled at a red light? I have turned it off sometimes when I remember to, but you have to do it each time you get into the car. I don't think you can permanently disable it. The car has never stalled when I have manually disabled the auto start stop. Not that this is what you were advocating for, but I just don't think having to manually disable it every time is an acceptable solution or one that we should have to live with. If they made a car with this feature, it should work without stalling or they should fix it. Otherwise we are not getting the full benefit of what we paid for when we purchased the car.

 

So Honda customer service is a complete waste of time so far. The case manager said because the dealer is unable to replicate the issue, they advised that the next time the car stalls we should not attempt to restart the car but should instead call Honda roadside assistance and have the car towed to the dealer so the dealer can examine the car in that exact state where it has stalled. The case manager said we should pull over to the side of the road but we tried to explain that we can't pull over because the car has stalled. So she just said we should call roadside assistance.

 

Ridiculous advice. This always happens right at a busy intersection with signal light and cars behind us get angry and start honking occasionally


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The dealer still has our car and not sure if they were able to replicate the problem yet. We will call Honda customer service. If you have the phone number go ahead and post it on here so all of us can make that investment of time and call. Seems like Honda quality just isn’t what it used to be


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Honda customer services is 1-800-999-1009.

 

Yeah, no kidding. The case manager was completely unhelpful and didn't care at all. She actually thought that was good advice. I submitted a complaint online to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) at https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/VehicleComplaint/

I recommend each of you do the same and maybe they will force Honda to do something.

 

Just picked my car up from dealer after they replaced the fuel injectors. The manager had a theory which he is really not sure about but suggested that perhaps maybe the idle stop stalling issue might be related to some minor front end damage resulting in the hood being recognized that it is open (even though it is not) and that would disable the engine restart. He said one of the things that would prevent the engine restart is if the car thinks the hood is open then the engine will not restart. He said there is some minor damage to the front end of the car and along the driver side that looks like it is affecting the hood and might be causing the car to falsely think the hood is open sometimes. Again just a theory since not really sure when this damage to the car occurred since it is minor and not from a major accident or anything. So he suggested fixing that to see if still get the problem again. Would have to go through insurance.

Has anyone else with the idle stop stalling issue had any front end damage to the car? Or have any dealers suggested anything similar? Trying to determine if any link or any validity to this theory.

 

Very interesting theory. I’ll pass the info on to our service department. We did have some minor front end damage but I’m not sure this problem coincided with that or not


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How to fix this once and for all

Just posted details on disabling this possibly deadly feature...true story, easy fix

And apparently I cant link to it because I have to have at least 5 posts before I can...

 

Just posted details on disabling this possibly deadly feature...true story, easy fix



And apparently I cant link to it because I have to have at least 5 posts before I can...

But mods are happy to help! Congrats the best ideas are simple!

https://www.piloteers.org/forums/11...16-third-generation-pilot/157665-works-permanently-disable-auto-stop-start.html

 

This past weekend the Pilot needed to be jump started twice because the car failed to start. Different than the idle stop engine restart failures we've had since this happened when trying to start the car from the off position, not when using the idle stop. Once on Friday afternoon and again on Sunday afternoon. Car is at the dealer today. Battery came up as failing (not a surprise) so they are replacing the battery. Not sure if the battery is related to the idle stop problem. The battery never registered as a problem when the car was in previously for the idle stop problem.

 

I have a 2016 Touring and about 4 months ago I had my first stahl when the engine was trying to restart. Since then I have had about 50. I took it in and they said they could see that it stalled a few times, but could not reproduce the problem while test driving it. They did a reset on the computer. That did nothing and the problem continues. I now have a problem starting the car also. When I push the start button, most of the times the car starts, but many times now the dash lights come on, but no engine start. I have to push it 3-4 times to get it to start. What kind of system did they install in our cars that is already going south? I am taking it in on Monday and leaving it for the week. I will let you know the results, but from the look of this thread they cannot figure it out, or do not want to tell us what the real problem is. This sucks and is dangerous!

 

Class Action Lawsuit

I have had my 2016 Touring in the shop since last Monday! This is my second visit for this problem! When I got it there I told him again, not only does my Pilot stall when I stop and the automatic idle shut down kicks in, it now takes 3-4 pushes of the start button for the engine to start. "Luckily", he got in and tried to start it and it would not start.

I have not had a call from them the entire week saying they have found what the problem was and that they fixed it. From everyones post on this thread and other threads about this problem here, not one person had had their Pilot fixed that had this problem!

I have contacted a Lemon Law lawyer since I live in California. What would you all think of a class action lawsuit? This problem is a dangerous one. Imagine you are stopped and you see a car/truck coming at you and you want to step on the gas and get out of there! The car stalls! A bit far fetched, but imagine there is a traffic jam and you end up on railroad tracks and can't start the car without going through the whole routine of putting it in park, putting your foot on the brake and pressing start again, which in my case may take longer since it does not always start with that push. Not Ok and I think there might be many more scenarios that could happen where you would need to get out of a situation fast, with this problem remains we can't count on the Pilot not stalling.

Any thoughts on a Class Action Lawsuit? My car is 2 ½ years old and I love it, but this is dangerous! And, I for one, do not want to rearrange the wiring in my Pilot. I paid for this feature.

 

So our 2016 Touring just starting stalling at the beginning of the summer. We just took it to the dealer last week and received the "we can't replicate the stalling, please bring it back when it happens again." They checked the battery and found it healthy. It seems like it is something other than a battery issue since the lights still work and the screens still light up when suppressing the brake peddle. A couple times, the car has refused to restart until several minutes after the stall and sometimes it has taken several presses of the "Start" button before it finally engages the starter.

I just submitted a safety report to the NHTSA since it is a major safety issue to stall in the middle of a busy intersection which is what happened to us twice.

 

I submitted a safety report to the NHTSA on July 17 for the stalling problem on our 2016 Touring (NHTSA ID Number 11111894). I got the standard "thanks for letting us know about your vehicle" confirmation email, but nothing else. I have urged everyone else who has had this issue to submit a report as well in the hopes that they investigate this issue and force Honda to do something. Go to https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/VehicleComplaint/ to submit a complaint.

Our car has been in the body shop since July 30 to replace the battery after the car wouldn't start and to fix some minor front end damage. The dealer had a theory that the front end damage maybe affected the hood and that was perhaps causing the problem since the engine won't restart after engaging idle stop if the hood is open. Should hopefully get the car back this week. Plan is to drive the car and see if idle stop problem happens again after replacing the battery and fixing the front end damage. I had called American Honda customer service and they told me to follow dealer's instructions to get the front end damage fixed and let them know when I get the car back and call back if still have the problem.

 

As a side note: I noticed that the engine seemed to be very hot when I opened the hood yesterday following the stall in a busy intersection. Others have reported some overheating due to the transmission issues in the Touring and Elite. We had our transmission replaced last year due to the recall but I wonder if there is any link between engine temperature and stalling. I am just trying to grab at some other ideas since it seems that the stalling is not directly related to the battery.

 

Disabling Auto stop

For those of you who have been having these issues and don't want the Auto stop feature anyway, you might try this. It works and pretty well shows that the front end damage may very well have something to do with the engine not wanting to restart after the auto stop engages... https://www.piloteers.org/forums/1574937-post38.html

 

So, just to be clear, not one of us has had our problem solved after taking it in for repair?

This Monday my car will have been in the shop 2 weeks! I have contacted a lawyer and intend to pursue the California Lemon Law...

 

Yup, that's correct. I don't even think anyone of us has had a dealer who has been able to replicate the problem (i.e., drive the car around and not be able to restart the car after using auto idle stop). But if anyone has, I'd love to hear about it. I think someone here said they took some video on their phone when it happened to show the dealer?

I got my car back on Friday. So far the idle stop has turned on a couple times and restarted no problem. But that doesn't mean problem solved. I could drive the car for weeks/months before it happens again maybe.

 

August 2018 update to my auto-idle-stop problem. After 6 months of dealing with the problem of stopping at a stop light or at a stop sign, the engine turning off due to the auto-idle-stop feature, then taking my foot off the gas peddle, and the vehicle completely "stalling out", I finally got resolution. The first two times I took the vehicle into the dealership for this problem, I was told it was a "software patch" that was needed to fix the problem. Each time, the problem immediately occurred after the "service fix". On my most recent (3rd) visit to the dealership, I asked to speak to the Service Manager and went into his office and reviewed some internal Honda videos used to diagnose service problems. After watching several, the Service Manager stated that there were no "software patches" that he could see that applied to this problem and that the service technician probably made up the fix because he had no idea what the real problem was (my words). He mentioned that Honda had had problems with malfunctioning batteries early on and he suspected that may be the problem with my situation. The dealership replaced the battery (under warranty) and guess what, no problems for the past month! The part of this I don't understand is on my first two visits for this problem, the service report said they had checked the battery and the battery was functioning correctly???

 

Still no problems?