Ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure on the 2003 Honda Pilot
3 crashes 3 of the 51 reports for this failure mention a crash, a fire, an injury or a death. Those are the owner's words on the complaint form, not a verified finding, and one report can mention more than one.
When ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure gets reported
Owners of the 2003 Honda Pilot report ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure at a median of 130,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 97,500 miles and a quarter after 170,000 miles, from 41 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 85,000 miles. It is the 4th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 90,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 180,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 90,000 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
When the reports scatter this far, the mileage is telling you about how these cars were driven more than about the part itself.
0% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 90,000 miles | 97,230 miles | 130,000 miles | 170,000 miles | 180,000 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
Of these reports, 3 a crash is mentioned. Owners write their own complaints and the agency does not verify them, so read this as what the reports say happened rather than as a confirmed count.
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 9 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2005, at a median of 15,000 miles, and latest on the 2011 at 170,000 miles.
By volume the 2003 is the worst of them, which makes this a problem of this specific year rather than of the model as a whole.
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.
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 2003 honda pilot. The contact was able to remove the ignition key when the shift lever was not in park. He didn't realize that the vehicle was not in park when he turned the ignition off. The vehicle rolled backwards and crashed into another vehicle. There were minor damages to the vehicle. No one was injured. The vehicle was taken to the dealer who stated that they would replace the ignition switch for $564 at his expense. There were no recalls for his year, make and model vehicle for the ignition switch. The manufacturer stated that there were no recalls for the ignition switch. He was also told by the manufacturer that if it does become a recall to keep his receipt and he would be reimbursed. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 72,000.
2003 honda pilot ignition interlock failed. The car was stopped, turned off while in drive gear, the key was removed and the driver left the vehicle. The vehicle then rolled down the street and stopped when it hit a brick mail box 2 blocks away. Honda dealer told us that the drive must have forced the key out to be able to remove it while in drive gear and damage the ignition. Drive disputes this. Said the key came right out. We had roughly $2500 damage to the vehicle to repair at the time. Chose not to pay to replace the ignition switch at our cost. Honda did not replace or repair the ignition. It is still broken. *tr
Tl* the contact owns a 2003 honda pilot. The contact stated that the ignition would lock abnormally and when the failure occurred, the contact was unable to insert the key into the ignition. When the contact was able to insert the key, he was unable to turn the ignition over and the wheels would remain locked. Additionally, the contact would sporadically have problems with inserting the key into the driver side door. The dealer advised that the ignition switch would need to be replaced. The dealer also advised that he would attempt to repair the vehicle so that the key would fit into the ignition. The contact stated that the key was the original key provided with the vehicle when purchased. The failure mileage was unknown and the current mileage was 140,000.
Also reported on the 2003 Honda Pilot
Other powertrain problem
Other body or interior problem
Other electrical problem
Other engine problem
Complete transmission failure
Airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 51 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 2003 Honda Pilot?
Across 41 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 130,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 97,500 miles and a quarter after 170,000 miles. 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 2003 Honda Pilot?
51 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.3 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