[WinstonSmith]

At 40K miles I would definitely refresh the ATF. That's probably the Honda 6-speed AT. It may not yet show up on the Maintenance Minder but the feeling around here is that 30K mile intervals are to your advantage. Honda DW-1 is the official recommendation for ATF. Some of the members here prefer the Valvoline Max Full Synthetic ATF. The Honda ATF is maybe $10-12/qt, the Valvoline a couple of bucks less. A gallon jug of Valvoline will probably run you under $25 at a big box department store.

The other recommendation for your Pilot is to disable the VCM program. This may or may not be a contributor to the hesitation problem but has a list of other benefits for driving smoothness and longevity.

VCM MEGATHREAD