[AeroSC]

My wife and I recently purchased a 2019 Pilot which is only the second new car we've ever had and our first Honda. It was a replacement for her totaled out 2006 Ford Freestyle that was our primary family car. We are pleased with our purchase having shopped other three-row SUV's and found them inferior to the Pilot (looking at you Atlas and Traverse). However, after spending some time with the vehicle, there are a few features and operational issues we'd like to see incorporated in the future. Many are software-related and should be relatively easy to implement. I'm sure some of these have been discussed in other posts, but it could be useful to consolidate the thoughts. If one of my suggestions is already a feature and I haven't discovered it in the 740+ pages of manuals, I apologize in advance and would love to know the page number to set me right.

I'd like this thread to be a place where other good ideas are posted so that, maybe, Honda would take notice of the best and work to develop them. So here's my list:

1. Mute function for the infotainment system on the steering wheel. There are many ways to do this without adding a dedicated button. The 'hang-up' button could be re-purposed to do this function when not in a call. You could 'long-press' the 'volume down' button or some other wheel control.
2. When using SiriusXM and bringing up the channel list, center it on the channel I'm currently on instead of going to CH 1. If I'm listening to a particular station, it's likely the new station I want is close by, not all the way back at CH 1.
3. Since Honda has a key fob-driven profile system for lights, seating, locks, etc., add the radio station presets to it. BMW has been doing this for nearly a decade. It's great. I get my stations when I drive, she gets her's when she drives.
4. The exterior keypad on our old Ford has really spoiled me. If you've ever had a car with one, you'll want it on your next one. ALL car manufacturers should drop their pride about not inventing it first and just license it from Ford or whatever.
5. For those of us with second-row captain's chairs, that center console really needs a storage bin in it big enough for the RES headphones and remote.

That's my suggestions. I'm looking forward to everyone else's.

 

[85Accord]

The station presets activated by a specific key are available on my 2012 TL. Honda knows how to do it. In fact, that Acura recognizes even your temperature settings based on the driver's key. I was surprised when I found out that on the '16 Pilot, about all the key fob does is adjust the seats and the mirrors.

I think it's the usual Honda problem of leaving some of these features to Acura, but believe me, the technology is no secret to them.

 

[middnite]

RE#4: I may not understand how a touch button pad works, but it seems that anyone who guesses the correct code can drive off with your car, or do you need the key FOB for starting. I like the Honda system of auto-lock/unlock. No messing with a keypad. Just walk up to your car, touch the door handle and away you go.... much easier than remembering and typing in a code.


Main issue for Honda Pilot to improve is the noisy suspension. Test drive a Toyota Highlander if you want to have a model to copy. It is nice and quiet over bumps/potholes. I like all the other features in the Honda Pilot.

 

[slpa1]

#5! Outstanding suggestion!

 

[Tahoefever]

How about making the Pilot NOT LOOK LIKE A DARN MINI VAN... I won't mention any models

 

[YF6H9GKNW]

One thing I'd like to see is a setting that enables Sirius info to scroll. Sometimes I look over to see what is playing and it only shows the first half of the title or artist because that is all that will fit. I wish it would just scroll all the info like it does on most other stereos.

If there is already a setting for this and I just can't find it, PLEASE! someone tell me how to enable this feature, thanks.

 

[enisad]

6) Get rid of the RES and have a proper panoramic roof like the CRV
7) Move the gear button selector as it takes the same space as a gear shift.

 

[m1903a3]

The key fob used to unlock and start the vehicle should also make that persons phone the active default.

 

[tee.el]

Totally agree! I am still disappointed that I didn’t test the panoramic roof on my test drive and merely assumed that it opened (like it seems to on every other vehicle with a panoramic roof). That was what I wanted, not the RES!!!

 

[thadius65]

Remove the silly/narrow armrest on the 2019 Elite front seats and replace with MDX type center console/arm rest. The lack of this makes long trips agonizing.

I saw the post for aftermarket wide armrests, but nobody seems to answer if they work for 2019 Elite?

 

[Boardmember]

I’d like to see the “cruise control,” when engaged, display the speed it’s set on. This also would serve to indicate it has been set. But that’s pretty minor.

The arm rests don’t bother me for some reason.

I’d like to see stock tires with a little more meat. The wheels are beautiful but there ain’t much in the wheel wells.

 

[ptran13]

Totally agree! I am still disappointed that I didn’t test the panoramic roof on my test drive and merely assumed that it opened (like it seems to on every other vehicle with a panoramic roof). That was what I wanted, not the RES!!!

We had a full panoramic sunroof in our Hyundai Santa Fe, it’s not that great. It lets in quite a bit of heat in the summer and we had major hail in the area a couple of years ago and it shattered sunroofs. Fortunately the Santa Fe was in a garage, cars left out had their roofs shattered and let several inches of water into the interior.

 

[Rocky]

One turn off for the third gen Pilot here, at least when it came out was the total lack of any power outlet or usb power socket for second and third row passengers.
Unless you go with Res-my kids totally outgrew Res years ago.
Has Honda improved this on say EX and EXL models?

 

[Tahoefever]

One turn off for the third gen Pilot here, at least when it came out was the total lack of any power outlet or usb power socket for second and third row passengers.
Unless you go with Res-my kids totally outgrew Res years ago.
Has Honda improved this on say EX and EXL models?

That's odd i have that on my 15 ..sounds like they are cutting back on the things we use and pumping the price for the Pilot... Go Honda

 

[Honda7]

8) 360 deg camera and front end (to watch the front bumper) camera

 

[gbenzon]

My 2019 shows the set speed for cruise control. I really like that.

 

[saabatical]

Having the headlight selector light up at night. Driven many cars with headlight selection on a dial on the dash that have all been backlit. Makes it easy to do things like turn on fog lights without fear of accidently turning off headlights.

 

[middnite]

My cruise control (2018 Pilot EX) DOES show the set speed if you have the automatic braking feature set. I forget the actual name. It seems to show one mile/per/hour above the actual speed of the vehicle.

 

[AeroSC]

On our old Ford, the keypad only gave you access to the interior. You could not start the car.

As far as utility of the feature, we used it whenever we went to a park so we wouldn't have to carry the keys (especially on a run or hike). If you were outside at home and needed something out of the car, you didn't have to go get the keys. The kids know the codes so they can retrieve whatever book/school item/coat/toy they left in there on their own. You could set multiple codes for each driver which activated their user profile for seats/mirrors/etc. A service tech could lock the keys in it if I needed to pick the car up after hours. The utility easily exceeds the cost of implementation. Heck, Chevy offers it on the new Traverse as an option for $150 so it probably costs $50 to make it work.

 

[Batterycap]

Agreed. I just bought my first Pilot - a 2013. I love the box look. It's kid of like an older Isuzu Trooper (which was a great vehicle). It seems today everyone is using the suppository for design inspiration.