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Owner-Reported Problems · NHTSA

2020 Honda Pilot — Problems & Complaints

NHTSA has 492 owner complaints on file for this vehicle. Every report below was filed by a real owner with the US government's road-safety agency.

492
Complaints
filed with NHTSA
10
Involved a Crash
owner-reported
5
Involved Fire
owner-reported
13
Injuries
across all reports
Years to Avoid

Honda Pilot — Complaints by Model Year

Years flagged AVOID have at least twice this model's average complaint count — the strongest public-data signal of a bad year.

271 complaints

116 complaints

109 complaints

1,712 complaints

933 complaints

440 complaints

913 complaints

492 complaints

444 complaints

164 complaints

146 complaints

116 complaints

210 complaints

0 complaints

Problem Areas

What Owners Complain About Most

Electrical System 214 reports
Engine 101 reports
Unknown Or Other 95 reports
Forward Collision Avoidance 89 reports
Lane Departure 44 reports
Power Train 35 reports
Fuel/propulsion System 31 reports
Service Brakes 26 reports
In Their Own Words

Recent Owner Reports

Engine ODI 11708041 12/31/2025

There was a snap like sound under my hood while driving. Shortly after, the check engine light engaged and the vehicle lost all ability to accelerate. This happened while merging onto a fairly busy road, with rolling hills. If there were vehicles around there would have been potential for an accident. If this happened on the freeway in a middle lane, the vehicle would not have…

Engine ODI 11632721 12/27/2024

Honda Pilot AWD EX-L 2020 Engine Failure Incident Report October 5, 2024 Check Engine light went on 294 IL Tollway while traveling in left lane. Began to feel a slowing of the vehicle and just a wrong feeling, proceeded to move towards right lane in busy traffic and ~0.5 to 0.75 miles later check engine light started flashing as we proceeded to exit. Planned to make it to res…

Electrical System ODI 11291392 12/26/2019

PLEASE NOTE: ALL OF THE PROBLEMS OCCURRED ON OUR 2019 PILOT WHICH WE TURNED IN AS A "LEMON". NOW WE HAVE SAME PROBLEMS WITH OUR 2020 PILOT. SCREEN BLACKS OUT SHOWING SPEEDOMETER SO WE HAVE NO IDEA HOW FAST WE ARE DRIVING. GAS GAUGE GOES BLACK SO WE DON'T KNOW HOW MUCH GAS WE HAVE. SCREEN GOES BLACK & VOICE CONTROLS STOP DURING NAVIGATION USE SO WE GET LOST. BACK-UP/PARKI…

Electrical System ODI 11384709 12/23/2020

RANDOM POPPING NOISE, LIKE SOUND OF SMALL ROCKS HITTING WINDSCREEN. OCCASIONALLY THE DISPLAY WHERE SPEEDOMETER IS GOES OUT. AUDIO PROBLEMS WITH RANDOM VOLUME ISSUES. POPPING NOISE OCCURS WHETHER AUDIO SYSTEM IS ON OR OFF. NOTICE IT MORE WHILE IN MOTION AND GOING OVER BUMPY ROAD. BEEN TO DEALER 5 TIMES AND REPLACED WIRING, AMP, HEAD UNIT, AND STILL HAVE ISSUE.

Forward Collision Avoidance ODI 11498532 12/22/2022

The radio and other components of the "mostbus network" fail constantly (radio, rear entertainment and Blu-ray drive, in dash meter, amplifier). The rear view camera frequently fails to activate when switched to reverse gear. The car will also frequently give a forward collision warning and occasionally slam on the brakes even where there are no other cars in sight. Honda has…

Same Vehicle

Recalls & Crash Tests

Complaints are one half of the picture — see the official recalls and NHTSA crash-test stars for the 2020 Honda Pilot, or check your exact car by VIN with the free VIN lookup.

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Problems Checker

Any year, make and model: open the Car Problems Checker. Data: NHTSA (US DOT, public domain), cached up to 7 days.

Questions

FAQ

Is the 2020 Honda Pilot reliable?
Owners have filed 492 safety complaints with NHTSA for the 2020 Honda Pilot, most often about electrical system. Compare the complaint counts across model years above — a year with far more complaints than the model's average is the strongest 'avoid' signal in public data.
Which Honda Pilot years should I avoid?
The rule of thumb used by analysts: a model year whose complaint count is well above the model's own average (we flag 2× or more) usually had a real manufacturing or design problem — not just noisy reporting. Use the year-by-year strip on this page.
Where do these complaints come from?
Directly from NHTSA, the US government road-safety agency. Any owner can file a Vehicle Owner Questionnaire; NHTSA publishes them as public domain data. We cache each lookup for up to 7 days.
Do complaints mean a recall is coming?
Sometimes. NHTSA opens defect investigations when complaint patterns emerge, and investigations can end in recalls. Check the recalls page for this vehicle to see what has already been recalled.