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Owner-Reported Problems · NHTSA

2021 Honda Pilot — Problems & Complaints

NHTSA has 444 owner complaints on file for this vehicle. Every report below was filed by a real owner with the US government's road-safety agency.

444
Complaints
filed with NHTSA
14
Involved a Crash
owner-reported
2
Involved Fire
owner-reported
10
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.

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 133 reports
Engine 108 reports
Forward Collision Avoidance 98 reports
Unknown Or Other 83 reports
Lane Departure 44 reports
Air Bags 32 reports
Service Brakes 28 reports
Power Train 25 reports
In Their Own Words

Recent Owner Reports

Electrical System ODI 11708058 12/31/2025

We were driving our 2019 Honda Pilot and at a traffic light the car failed to restart after the auto stop-start system shut off the engine. This happened when I started to step on the gas so we could have been rear-ended by the car behind us. The brakes also appeared stuck when I tried to depress them so I could restart the car. There was no warning until the car refused to st…

Electrical System ODI 11633287 12/31/2024

Audio and backup camera panel popping noise and disconnects whole panel causing it to go black , which includes the backup camera. Extreme safety issue with no backup camera .

Unknown Or Other ODI 11562184 12/27/2023

The glass on the window driver side fell out of position and I couldn’t close the glass window. I would have to drive in the cold and rain exposed to the elements and hopefully my window shield in front don’t fog and cause me to have accidents.

Air Bags ODI 11632504 12/26/2024

The contact owned a 2021 Honda Pilot. The contact stated while driving at 30 MPH and while attempting to stop depressing the brake pedal, the vehicle accelerated independently. The contact confirmed that the accelerator pedal was not depressed accidentally. No air bags deployed. The contact crashed into unknown private property in a parking lot. No injuries were sustained. No …

Unknown Or Other ODI 11707030 12/25/2025

After I drove for 30 minutes and made a stop in a red light, the car automatically went to neutral position and I wasn't able to turn it back to driving or parking ( the brake locks) and I had to turn the car off for 10 seconds in the middle of the road and put my emergency lights on. After I turn it back on It worked normally.

Same Vehicle

Recalls & Crash Tests

Complaints are one half of the picture — see the official recalls and NHTSA crash-test stars for the 2021 Honda Pilot, or check your exact car by VIN with the free VIN lookup.

Check Another Car

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 2021 Honda Pilot reliable?
Owners have filed 444 safety complaints with NHTSA for the 2021 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.