AtWhatMileage
Electrical · 5 owner reports

Ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure on the 2005 Honda Odyssey

Only 5 reports for this mode came with an odometer reading, which is too few for percentiles to mean anything. The page is here because someone linked to it; treat the figures as anecdotes, and see the full report for this year instead.

Reports of this failure 5
With an odometer reading 5
Reports per 1,000 built 0.0 per 1,000
Filed below 36,000 miles 0%
Mention a crash, fire or injury 0
Typical repair $250–$1,500
What it means when it happens High
Rank among this year's problems 37th

When ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure gets reported

There are 5 reports of ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure on the 2005 Honda Odyssey, 5 with a mileage attached. That is too few to place the failure on the odometer with any confidence.

A part like this is normally expected to survive 85,000 miles. It is the 37th most-reported problem on this model year.

The whole distribution

Percentiles of the 5 odometer readings owners gave.
10th25thMedian 75th90th
— — 95,000 miles — —

Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.

What a percentile can and cannot tell you here

These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.

What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.

Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.

What happens, and what it costs

Putting it right typically runs $250–$1,500 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.

The same failure on other years

The same failure is reported on 19 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2018, at a median of 5,000 miles, and latest on the 2002 at 205,000 miles.

By volume the 1999 carries the most reports, with 68; the 2005 has 5. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.

If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.

Median
  1. 1996 Honda Odyssey ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure 166k
  2. 1997 Honda Odyssey ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure 150k
  3. 1998 Honda Odyssey ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure 180k
  4. 1999 Honda Odyssey ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure 140k
  5. 2000 Honda Odyssey ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure 97k
  6. 2001 Honda Odyssey ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure 100k
  7. 2002 Honda Odyssey ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure 205k
  8. 2003 Honda Odyssey ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure 113k
  9. 2004 Honda Odyssey ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure 136k
  10. 2005 (this one) 95k
  11. 2006 Honda Odyssey ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure 111k
  12. 2007 Honda Odyssey ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure
    no odometer readings given
    —
  13. 2008 Honda Odyssey ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure 74k
  14. 2009 Honda Odyssey ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure 46k
  15. 2010 Honda Odyssey ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure 54k
  16. 2011 Honda Odyssey ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure 41k
  17. 2012 Honda Odyssey ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure 60k
  18. 2013 Honda Odyssey ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure 199k
  19. 2014 Honda Odyssey ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure 135k
  20. 2016 Honda Odyssey ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure 101k
  21. 2018 Honda Odyssey ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure 6k
  22. 2019 Honda Odyssey ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure 29k
  23. 2020 Honda Odyssey ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure 108k
  24. 2021 Honda Odyssey ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure
    no odometer readings given
    —
  25. 2022 Honda Odyssey ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure
    no odometer readings given
    —
  26. 2024 Honda Odyssey ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure
    no odometer readings given
    —
  27. 2025 Honda Odyssey ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure 10k

Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens

What owners wrote

Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.

Tl* the contact owns a 2005 honda odyssey. The contact stated that the rear hatch was opened using the automatic key fob. The rear hatch then came in contact with a pole located outside of the vehicle and the hatch began to close but it could not be closed because the hatch was knocked out of alignment by the pole. As a result, the rear hatched continued to automatically open and close until the contact slammed it closed. The contact expressed concern because the rear hatch continued to unintentionally open and close independently. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer and the contact was informed that the vehicle was operating to specifications. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and offered no assistance. The failure mileage was 60,000.

60,000 miles NHTSA complaint 920872 filed 2012-05-31

This problem started several months ago. It became worse till the ignition key jammed and became hard to turn to start the engine then, last week, the key would not turn at all. I called my dealership and was asked to bring it in to them but was hesitant to. I went on to my computer, did a search, and saw several complaints on the 2005 odyssey experiencing this problems and the cost that they were quoted was astronomical. I then looked up a reliable locksmith, that worked on ignition switch repairs, located in my city and they were able to repair it. The tumblers, actual one (1), had becomes worn and that caused the switch to freeze. I do remember a recall on earlier models of honda for having this similar type of situation. I did find out during this visit with this locksmith that a local dealer, not mine, would bring their hondas to them, that had been brought in to their honda service department, and had this locksmith company do the actual repairs. *tr

68,000 miles NHTSA complaint 999842 filed 2013-08-06

I went out to unlock my van and it wouldn't unlock. Thought the battery in key fob was dead. Found out that the delay wiper setting, rear wiper, high beam lights, turning signals. Door locks, washer fluid, outside temp display, warning lights, like the seat belt and the one that tells you that you left your keys in the ignition, are not working. Have checked all fuses. Need help please. *tr

95,000 miles NHTSA complaint 1065119 filed 2014-05-15

Also reported on the 2005 Honda Odyssey

Other body or interior problem

115 reports median 90k

Other engine problem

96 reports median 91k

Other powertrain problem

58 reports median 81k

Air conditioning failure

53 reports median 51k

Other brake problem

50 reports median 24k

Other steering problem

49 reports median 53k

How far this goes

This page is kept out of search results because 5 reports is not enough to publish percentiles from. It stays reachable because somebody looking at this exact car would rather see the reports than be told there are none.

Complaints are voluntary, so 5 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.

Questions this page answers

At what mileage does ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure happen on the 2005 Honda Odyssey?

Across 5 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 95,000 miles. A quarter were filed before — and a quarter after —. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.

How common is ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure on the 2005 Honda Odyssey?

5 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.0 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.

What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars

Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed