The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said this month it has opened an investigation into 2,209,466 Honda and Acura vans, trucks, and SUVs, including popular models like the Honda Pilot, Acura MDX, and more. Its investigation centers around each vehicle’s automatic start-stop feature. For the unfamiliar, this feature is designed to save fuel at long lights or prolonged stops by automatically turning off the car’s engine and restarting it once the brake is released or the accelerator pedal depressed.
NHTSA Investigates Honda And Acura
Affected Honda models include the 2016-2025 Pilot, 2018-2025 Odyssey, 2019-2025 Passport, and the 2020-2025
truck. The Acura lineup is less severely affected. These models include the 2015-2025 TLX and the 2016-2025
SUV. The NHTSA’s filings indicate a number of customer complaints allege that the engine in the aforementioned vehicles can fail to restart on its own “from a complete stop at a traffic light or road intersection” when auto start-stop is activated. Some allege that their vehicles required a jump start after the engine shut down in order to continue on.
Honda has been battling this particular issue for a while now, with the earliest NHTSA reports dating back to 2022, when the administration’s Office of Defects Investigation began looking into the issue in 2016–2019 Pilots. In 2023, Honda released service bulletins to address the same problem in the same
models, in addition to expanding the remedy to 2015-2020 TLXs, 2016-2020 MDXs, 2019–22 Passports, and 2020–23 Ridgelines. Honda extended warranties, replaced starters, and updated vehicle software where applicable as a remedy.
Nevertheless, Honda’s issue persisted. The NHTSA’s filings indicate the issue persisted for some owners, even after the software update and starter motor replacement. In total, 1,384 incidents have been reported to the NHTSA’s ODI. Not all of them are simply reports, either. Four resulted in crashes or fires, and two resulted in customer injuries.
TopSpeed’s Take
Given the number of complaints persisting through Honda’s attempted remedies and the fires, crashes, and injuries reported, it’s not surprising to see a huge expansion of the NHTSA and Honda’s investigation into the start-stop issue. Another recall hasn’t been issued yet, but we’d expect one could come along to remedy whatever additional issues Honda and the NHTSA uncover.
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