all vehicles · every Pilot year · method

Honda Pilot 2021

Safety complaints filed by owners in the first three years, per 1,000 sold.

1.03 per 1,000

1.5 times this nameplate’s own median · from 137 complaints filed in the first three years, of 439 ever. 95% lower bound 0.85.

Against its own model years

The model year carries far more information than the badge, so this is the comparison that matters.

Model year	Per 1,000	Complaints
2008	0.20	21
2009	0.15	22
2010	0.10	14
2011	0.70	77
2012	0.57	66
2013	0.91	110
2014	0.33	39
2015	0.23	28
2016	1.45	186
2017	0.84	104
2018	0.35	50
2019	1.00	148
2020	1.59	206
2021	1.03	137
2022	0.49	59
2023	0.81	85

What owners describe

Phrases over-represented in these complaints compared with the same component on every other vehicle. Counts are complaints containing the phrase.

Electrical System 133 complaints

idle stop	17	13%
auto idle	16	12%
crackling	10	8%
stop system	10	8%
mitigation	10	8%

Engine 108 complaints

auto	45	42%
auto idle	23	22%
feature	23	22%
idle stop	18	17%

Forward Collision Avoidance 98 complaints

mitigation	59	37%
departure mitigation	34	22%
mitigation system	34	22%
road departure	31	20%
system road	16	10%
system auto	13	8%

When it breaks

46% of reported failures happened before 30,000 miles (median 33,000 miles, from 46 complaints that recorded one).

No clear early or late pattern.

What NHTSA did

1 investigation covering this model year, 0 of which list a recall campaign.

No Restart After Auto Start/Stop Engages

What owners and forums say

Not built yet. This panel is meant to carry community sentiment beside the filed-complaint data, so the two can be compared. Showing something weaker here would defeat its purpose.

Check this yourself

Example records behind this page:

11374713 · 11390642 · 11395115 · 11402995 · 11404563 · 11407317

Limits of this figure. It counts safety complaints filed with the federal government, which is a floor on failures and not a census: problems that only cost money are under-reported. Complaint rates also reflect how likely a brand’s owners are to file, which cannot be separated from how often the car fails. Sales are calendar-year and the denominator for this nameplate is automated checks only, not verified against an external source.