Honda Pilot

Which Honda Pilot years should you avoid?

Going by 9,418 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, the Honda Pilot years to avoid are 2016, 2017, 2019, 2003 and 2005.

• 20161,724 complaints, 6.4× a typical Pilot year, most often about the engine.
• 2017938 complaints, 3.5× a typical Pilot year, most often about the engine.
• 2019927 complaints, 3.4× a typical Pilot year, most often about the electrical system.
• 2003720 complaints, 2.7× a typical Pilot year, most often about the transmission.
• 2005679 complaints, 2.5× a typical Pilot year, most often about the transmission.

2 more years cleared the same bar; they are marked in the table below.

Better bets: among years old enough for a low count to mean something, the 2014 and 2022 drew the fewest complaints without an unusual share of serious ones.

Too new to judge: 2025 and 2026. Complaints take a few years to arrive, so a new model year looks better than it is.

How this is worked out: each year is compared with a typical year of the same model, which takes most of the difference in sales out of it, and its share of serious failures is compared with every other car of the same model year, because older cars were complained about differently. A year needs 25 complaints to be judged at all. Complaints are unverified owner reports. Full method →