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Permanently disable Auto Stop Start!

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343K views 138 replies 75 participants last post by  Rocky  
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
Quick note on why I did this:

Since the purchase of my wife’s 2016 Elite Pilot we have struggled to like the auto stop/start feature. With her and the kids always running around she sometimes forgets to manually disable it but when it shuts the car down she hits the button and moves on. I thought it was kinda cool at first, and so did my wife...until a few weeks ago. My wife the other day called me after she picked up the kids from summer camp and was in a panic. She was very upset after the engine auto stop feature turned the car off while she was in traffic. That’s not the issue, the problem was that the “START” function of the Auto Stop didn’t work!! It tried but then all power to the vehicle turned off. She then had to quickly shift into park, place foot on brake, push the start button, and shift back in drive while everyone behind her was honking and peeling out around her.

I started thinking, what if a car was about to T-bone her and the kids and that damn setting prevented her from attempting to get out of the way! That’s when I was determined to find a way and have this possibly deadly feature permanently disabled.

This is an easy, reversible (won’t void warranty) , way to have the feature disabled every time the car starts!

Disclaimer: This was my 2016 Pilot Elite with 9-speed trans...I have absolutely not idea if this will work for your pilot.

Let’s get into it!!!

Step 1 - Remove 2 screws under the rubber pad in front of the shift buttons
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Step 2 - Open the center console storage compartment and pull up just in front of where the console latches, it should be pretty easy its held with just those little pressure clips
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Step 3 - Once removed look under the cover and find the attached wire harness
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Step 4 - On my pilot the wire is YELLOW it was next to the red wire, this wire is grounded unless you press the button then you will see 12v. You can test with a multimeter if you have one.

Step 5 - Use something small and flat to wedge in the white wiring harness to unclip the YELLOW wire. Basically this connector just has a flap that flips down to hold the pin in place. If you are familiar with Swiss Army knives I used the tweezers and it was perfect.

Step 6 - Constant 12v is the GREEN wire, Honda made the pins large enough to conveniently fit 2 in these ports... so lets take advantage of that! Take the YELLOW wire and slip it inside the green pins hole, kinda the way we disconnected the yellow wire. This will make the yellow wire have 12v anytime the car is on... which tells the pilot to turn off the auto start stop!!!!
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Wrote this on my iPad and didn’t have a great way to format it, may come back to update it next week.

Special thanks to Hondaguy92 for providing some input on this in another post I read
 

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#2 ·
Quick note on why I did this:
Since the purchase of my wife’s 2016 Elite Pilot we have struggled to like the auto stop/start feature. With her and the kids always running around she sometimes forgets to manually disable it but when it shuts the car down she hits the button and moves on. I thought it was kinda cool at first, and so did my wife...until a few weeks ago. My wife the other day called me after she picked up the kids from summer camp and was in a panic. She was very upset after the engine auto stop feature turned the car off while she was in traffic. That’s not the issue, the problem was that the “START” function of the Auto Stop didn’t work!! It tried but then all power to the vehicle turned off. She then had to quickly shift into park, place foot on brake, push the start button, and shift back in drive while everyone behind her was honking and peeling out around her.

I started thinking, what if a car was about to T-bone her and the kids and that damn setting prevented her from attempting to get out of the way! That’s when I was determined to find a way and have this possibly deadly feature permanently disabled.

This is an easy, reversible (won’t void warranty) , way to have the feature disabled every time the car starts!

Disclaimer: This was my 2016 Pilot Elite with 9-speed trans...I have absolutely not idea if this will work for your pilot.

Let’s get into it!!!

Step 1 - Remove 2 screws under the rubber pad in front of the shift buttons

Step 2 - Open the center console storage compartment and pull up just in front of where the console latches, it should be pretty easy its held with just those little pressure clips

Step 3 - Once removed look under the cover and find the attached wire harness

Step 4 - On my pilot the wire is YELLOW it was next to the red wire, this wire is grounded unless you press the button then you will see 12v. You can test with a multimeter if you have one.

Step 5 - Use something small and flat to wedge in the white wiring harness to unclip the YELLOW wire. Basically this connector just has a flap that flips down to hold the pin in place. If you are familiar with Swiss Army knives I used the tweezers and it was perfect.

Step 6 - Constant 12v is the GREEN wire, honda made the pins large enough to conveniently fit 2 in these ports...so lets take advantage of that! Take the YELLOW wire and slip it inside the green pins hole, kinda the way we disconnected the yellow wire. This will make the yellow wire have 12v anytime the car is on...which tells the pilot to turn off the auto start stop!!!!

Wrote this on my iPad and didn’t have a great way to format it, may come back to update it next week.

Special thanks to Hondaguy92 for providing some input on this in another post I read
Sweet!

If anyone wants to know how to de-pin that yellow wire look it up on YouTube. It’s very easy with a tiny flat head screw driver or even a safety pin
 
#3 · (Edited by Moderator)
She was very upset after the engine auto stop feature turned the car off while she was in traffic. That’s not the issue, the problem was that the “START” function of the Auto Stop didn’t work!! It tried but then all power to the vehicle turned off. She then had to quickly shift into park, place foot on brake, push the start button, and shift back in drive while everyone behind her was honking and peeling out around her.
My 2016 is the first car I have with auto stop and it works differently than yours. The auto stop activates only when brake is pressed deep enough plus car is stopped completely. Engine starts again when brake is released and car is ready to go. Never need to push start button. Did you check with the Honda dealer why your car won't start when brake is released?
 
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#4 ·
My 2016 is the first car I have with auto stop and it works differently than yours. The auto stop activates only when brake is pressed deep enough plus car is stopped completely. Engine starts again when brake is released and car is ready to go. Never need to push start button.
Did you check with the Honda dealer why your car won't start when brake is released?
That is how ours functions too. The issue we have had is that the delay between releasing the brake and moving forward has in some cases created “hairy” situations. In this case it actually did not re-start as you would expect which is enough to make me say never try that again. Even if you don’t think a scary situation may occur think about the possible wear and tear of starting a hot engine with zero oil circulation, wouldn’t you think it might cause more friction which will wear on the motor over time. I really do not see the benefit of this function other than the need to create better MPG on the cars sticker.

I’m sure you will notice these deficiencies over time too.
 
#5 ·
WORKS! PERMANENTLY Disable Auto Stop Start!

Quote "She was very upset after the engine auto stop feature turned the car off while she was in traffic. That’s not the issue, the problem was that the “START” function of the Auto Stop didn’t work!! It tried but then all power to the vehicle turned off. She then had to quickly shift into park, place foot on brake, push the start button, and shift back in drive while everyone behind her was honking and peeling out around her. "

For a second I thought you were telling my story. The POS auto idle stop drives me crazy, but I haven't got the courage to do what you did. Mine 4/10 times that it wouldn't restart after auto stop. And of course the dealer found nothing wrong.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#9 · (Edited by Moderator)
I had auto-stop turned off and was able to stomp the gas pedal and leap forward like a drag racer as soon as the light turned green, only to be t-boned by someone in cross traffic running a red light. From now on, I will leave auto-stop enabled.

OK, that never happened. But the scenario is just as silly as the one where the delay of waiting for auto-stop to restart increases the chance of being t-boned.

If you want to drive like Don Prudhomme or Tom McEwen, I'm fine with that. Why did you not choose a fast and furious vehicle that supports that sort of driving?

Having said that, I have to admit that this latest issue with auto-stop turning into actual-stop in 2016 models is concerning. I suspect a weak battery, but so far nobody has come forth with any evidence to either support or refute that. If anyone finds a good fix (besides rewiring your console/voiding warranties), be sure and report it here.
 
#10 · (Edited)
If anyone finds a good fix (besides rewiring your console/voiding warranties), be sure and report it here.
What kind of fix do you expect someone to find that doesn't require a warranty voiding modification - press button 5 times within 2 seconds while sitting in the 3rd row seat?

C'mon.

The solution in this thread is more than likely, the best you are going to get. No adding components, cutting, splicing, etc. Oh, and it's reversible.
 
#13 ·
I'm not saying an accident is silly. I'm saying coming up with imaginary accident scenarios to justify sensible actions is silly. If you don't like auto-stop, turn it off. No need to explain. No need to invent spouse/offspring death scenarios.



As for the "fix" I would like to see for this problem: It would probably be something like a firmware change that adds an additional sensor reading to the list of things that keep auto-stop from turning on. For example, a sensor detects the battery has less than full cranking power. Or whatever is causing this problem. It should be a permanent fix, applied by your Honda dealer, not customer rewiring tricks.
 
#14 ·
Good info. Does the light now always stay on in the dash to confirm it is off?

I'm on the GM truck forum and guys do mods like this by jumping pins in the body control module harness plugs, either using a wire or a resistor. So I took our Pilot trim off last night. I didn't try removing the yellow wire pin, but I tried to just use a jumper wire and stuck each end in the yellow and green wire slots. It sort of worked, but I had to jiggle the wire to make good contact and it turned it off. But even when I felt I had good contact, I shut the Pilot off and turned it back on, and it was no longer turned off until I jiggled the wire again. So I guess I'll try it again and remove the yellow pin and stick it in the green slot like you instructed.
 
#19 ·
To answer your question, yes the light on the dash should light up each time the pilot is started if this is performed correctly. I believe you may have seen that result because the yellow wire is grounded when not pressed therefore the 12v high trigger may not have been seen by simply using a jumper. I suppose you could put a switch on the yellow wire but that would require cutting it, and I was looking to cause as little damage as possible and wanted a solution that was reversible.
 
#18 ·
So there are two proposed methods to permanatly disable the auto stop/start feature in Touring/Elite?

One by Hondaguy92 where you disconnect the yellow wire.

and one by RGVPilot where you disconnect the yellow wire and reconnect it to the green wire.

Can someone tell me the difference as far as what is actually going on with the Pilot to produce this outcome?

Do they both continue to be effective after every retart? Does the Auto Start Off indicator light appear on the dash with either of these methods?

Just curious, thanks!
 
#20 ·
I attempted Hondaguy92's by just disconnecting the wire, but that did not work on my pilot. In my tests with a multi-meter I found that the button, which is normally LOW (0 Volts), when pressed went HIGH (12 v). Then I found that the green wire was 12v when the ignition was on so connecting the yellow and green makes it think the button was pressed.

Everything is still running fine with this fix. I agree with past posts that it may be a jump to think about it causing an accident but eliminating a possible weakness that we see may help to avoid one.

Also it was brought up that the battery may have caused the failure to start, that was my first thought as well. So I ran over and had it tested...the battery tested perfectly, I was really hoping that was the issue but it turned out not to be the case.
 
#25 ·
Auto Idle Stop Malfunction

My Honda Pilot Elite with 20,000 miles started having a problem with the auto idle stop system approximately one year ago. It started with the radio cutting out when the vehicle went from idle stop to the engine kicking on. As time went on, the problem became more frequent and the vehicle started to struggle with the engine start up. Approximately four months ago, the vehicle started "stalling" when I pressed the gas peddle and a message appeared to "put vehicle in park and press the start button". I took the vehicle into Honda and showed them several videos of the dash warning lights and messages when the engine would stall. They said it was a "software adjustment" and said they fixed the problem. The vehicle worked for a couple of days and then the radio started cutting out and the vehicle struggled to start after pressing the gas peddle. After another month, the vehicle started "stalling" when the gas was pressed. Very dangerous when in a turning lane and your vehicle stalls. Many honks from drivers behind me when this happens. I have made several additional videos of the dash as this happens and will take the Pilot in for the second time and see what they say.
 
#28 ·
My Honda Pilot Elite with 20,000 miles started having a problem with the auto idle stop system approximately one year ago. It started with the radio cutting out when the vehicle went from idle stop to the engine kicking on. As time went on, the problem became more frequent and the vehicle started to struggle with the engine start up. Approximately four months ago, the vehicle started "stalling" when I pressed the gas peddle and a message appeared to "put vehicle in park and press the start button". I took the vehicle into Honda and showed them several videos of the dash warning lights and messages when the engine would stall. They said it was a "software adjustment" and said they fixed the problem. The vehicle worked for a couple of days and then the radio started cutting out and the vehicle struggled to start after pressing the gas peddle. After another month, the vehicle started "stalling" when the gas was pressed. Very dangerous when in a turning lane and your vehicle stalls. Many honks from drivers behind me when this happens. I have made several additional videos of the dash as this happens and will take the Pilot in for the second time and see what they say.
Let us know what the dealer says this time. We've corresponded about this issue in the other thread. I just posted in that thread because they replaced the battery in our car today after it needed to be jump started twice this weekend and registered as failing when they tested it this morning. The next step is to send the car to the body shop to repair some front end damage. Dealer speculated that maybe the damage was affecting the hood because an open hood is one of the conditions where engine restart is disabled after auto idle stop. So will see if still have the idle stop problem after they've replaced the battery and fixed the front end damage.
 
#107 ·
Does anyone know how to prevent the dash light from coming on? That thing is as annoying as the auto stop function.


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Does the light stay on on the dash after this mod has been done? Can't wait to get this done. Major props to RGVPilot!
 
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#31 ·
Thanks for posting, now I know which years to avoid buying in the future!
Increased wear on the starter in a used vehicle is not welcome here fore sure.
This and 2018 model being butt ugly on the outside and cheapo on the inside means no 2016+ Pilots for me.
 
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#32 · (Edited by Moderator)
Any fix for this problem.

Quick note on why I did this:
She was very upset after the engine auto stop feature turned the car off while she was in traffic. That’s not the issue, the problem was that the “START” function of the Auto Stop didn’t work!! It tried but then all power to the vehicle turned off. She then had to quickly shift into park, place foot on brake, push the start button, and shift back in drive while everyone behind her was honking and peeling out around her.

I too have have this same problem with my 2016 pilot Elite not restarting after auto-idling. At first, it just started making an electric popping noise when restarting. Then, I started noticing that the air conditioning/radio would briefly flilcker off when it was restarting. Then on several occasions, the car has completely refused to restart - taking 20 seconds or so until finally the Start Engine button would work again.

After the first time that happened, I got the habit of automatically turning the feature off when I got in the car as it was a scary experience on a busy road.

However, I have sometimes forgotten to turn off the feature, and its happened again.
I brought it to the dealership, and they really didn't give me an adequate answer about what happened.

They said it was a "voltage issue" and that even though my battery was reading fine, they charged it and then the problem stopped. But this solution only worked for about 24 hours and now it is worse than before.

Has anyone who experienced this same problem found a resolution to fix the problem of it not restarting?

The dealership, like several who commented here, seemed to imply this was more of an inconvenience than a safety issue. I'd argue its a major safety issue if your car literally refuses to restart after idling at a stop sign or stop light or, as in the case of this morning, when trying to turn out of parking lot onto a busy road.
 
#33 ·
I too have have this same problem with my 2016 pilot Elite not restarting after auto-idling. At first, it just started making an electric popping noise when restarting. Then, I started noticing that the air conditioning/radio would briefly flilcker off when it was restarting. Then on several occasions, the car has completely refused to restart - taking 20 seconds or so until finally the Start Engine button would work again.
After the first time that happened, I got the habit of automatically turning the feature off when I got in the car as it was a scary experience on a busy road.
However, I have sometimes forgotten to turn off the feature, and its happened again.
I brought it to the dealership, and they really didn't give me an adequate answer about what happened.
They said it was a "voltage issue" and that even though my battery was reading fine, they charged it and then the problem stopped. But this solution only worked for about 24 hours and now it is worse than before.
Has anyone who experienced this same problem found a resolution to fix the problem of it not restarting?

The dealership, like several who commented here, seemed to imply this was more of an inconvenience than a safety issue. I'd argue its a major safety issue if your car literally refuses to restart after idling at a stop sign or stop light or, as in the case of this morning, when trying to turn out of parking lot onto a busy road.
This has happened to my 2016 Pilot Touring. I've posted about it another thread "Elite shuts off at stop light." Dealer has not been able to replicate it or find anything wrong on car that they could fix. I also had emission system problem warning light and they replaced fuel injector, but dealer doesn't think that has anything to do with idle stop not restarting.

This past weekend, the car had to be jump started twice because it wouldn't start. This was different than the idle stop restart problem. It failed to start when I first got into the car and attempted to start it. The dealer replaced the battery and said maybe that might fix the idle stop problem. The other thing they suggested was to fix some minor front end damage to the car because one of the reasons the engine will not restart after auto idle stop is if the hood is open. Dealer suggested maybe front end damage was affecting the hood and that's why car wouldn't restart sometimes. The car is at the body shop right now to fix that. But won't know if problem is fixed until get car back and start driving around.

I agree it is a major safety issue. American Honda has been unresponsive so far. They told me next time it happens, do not attempt to restart car but call roadside assistance and have the car towed to the dealer so the dealer can examine the car in that exact state. Last message I got from American Honda they said they spoke to dealer and I needed to get the front end damage fixed before they could assist me with the idle stop problem.

You can submit a complaint to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration NHTSA at https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/VehicleComplaint/
 
#34 ·
You've got a lemon, folks. Treat them as such and follow all the proper process for reporting a lemon which you can google. Record all conversations, do all the paperwork, as otherwise Honda will continue screwing up more and more of us with these unwanted and harmful "features" shoved down our throats. Honda's conduct has become outright criminal as of lately.
 
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#36 ·
Lemon laws may depend on the state in which the car is registered. Maryland's lemon law applies only to cars registered in MD, driven less than 18,000 miles and owned less than 24 months. I did not have the idle stop engine restart problem until after that point. In Virginia, it's 18 months after the date of the original delivery to the consumer of a new motor vehicle.
 
#38 ·
Disable Auto Stop function

Just bought a new 2017 Touring (leftover). Did a lot of research on the auto stop and found the following; if you want to disable the auto stop without having to push the button on the console each time you start the car, do the following: With the engine OFF, open the hood. Start the car. With the engine running, close the hood. The auto stop function will not activate. You will need to do this with each remote fob. To turn auto start on so it can be controlled by the button on the console do the following: With the car running, OPEN the hood. Turn off the engine. Close the hood. Auto stop now works as it should. Sounds strange but I've tried it and it works.
 
#39 · (Edited by Moderator)
Just bought a new 2017 Touring (leftover). Did a lot of research on the auto stop and found the following; if you want to disable the auto stop without having to push the button on the console each time you start the car, do the following: With the engine OFF, open the hood. Start the car. With the engine running, close the hood. The auto stop function will not activate. You will need to do this with each remote fob. To turn auto start on so it can be controlled by the button on the console do the following: With the car running, OPEN the hood. Turn off the engine. Close the hood. Auto stop now works as it should. Sounds strange but I've tried it and it works.
At first I thought this was some kind of scam/joke so I was waiting for others to try it. Figured they'd get fired up and have a "jokes on me" kind of day. Anyway, the process seemed relatively benign so I thought I'd give it a shot. Whelp... it worked! But only temporarily. As soon as I shut the car off and start it back up (next day), the auto-stop feature is re-enabled (have to hit the dumb button and have that orange light show up on the dash). I'll note that I only did it on the one key fob I use for the car. And I'm not sure why I would have to do the same thing for the other key fob if I never use it. I've got a 2018 AWD Touring so maybe the 2017s have some older firmware that allows this to hold on a permanent basis. But I do find this perplexing because I'd expect this might happen every time you change your oil or do anything under the hood (that being the auto-stop is permanently disabled because you started the car with the hood open and then shut the hood). I'd imagine there would be a million service calls on someone's auto-stop feature not working after they take it to Jiffy Lube or wherever they might go where you just drive it out of the bay.

This all being said, I think you still might be on to something here. For whatever reason, the auto-stop feature is disabled by opening the hood, starting the engine and then closing the hood. When this occurs, the orange light doesn't show on the dash either. This means that there must be some electrical trigger related to the hood latch that triggers the auto-stop feature to be disabled. So, if you can get your "Hood Open" warning to temporarily trip each time you start the Pilot, you might be able to permanently disable the auto-stop feature and not have that annoying light show up on the dash (if not for this dumb light, I'd have no problem pushing the button every time).
 
#42 ·
We are also having an issue with our pilot stalling after the "auto-shutoff" engages. Sometimes it restarts quickly with a push of the "Start" button but it has recently required several minutes to restart. It has been very dangerous since it has occurred in busy intersections. I took it to the dealer last week and they didn't find anything. I will be returning to the dealer this week to see if they can replicate the behavior.
 
#43 · (Edited by Moderator)
Class Action Lawsuit?

This is a post of mine from another thread about the same problem. Why should we have to mess around with our new cars? We did not buy a used junker where you would figure you might have to monkey around with it, this is a new, ok almost new, reasonably expensive car!

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 everyone's 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.

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!
 
#45 ·
My Auto Stop has generally never worked consistently. It worked when I bought the car, but a month or two later it stopped turning off automatically at a stop. While I got used to it stopping/starting, I didn’t mind the engine running so I never brought the issue up. Every time I brought the car in for service though, it seems to reset itself and starts operating again. So there may be something to this hood reset. Next oil change I’ll have to see if I can manually disable it instead of living with it operational for a month or so. Makes me wonder if the hood sensor may have issues.


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#47 ·
What is the probability that someone would repeat these steps or the steps to turn it back on without knowing what they are doing? These are almost exactly the steps I perform when checking something under the hood. The world seems to have completely gone off the rollers.
 
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