Ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure on the 2004 Honda Pilot
1 crash 1 of the 9 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 2004 Honda Pilot report ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure at a median of 85,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 45,000 miles and a quarter after 120,000 miles, from 9 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 85,000 miles. It is the 15th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 25 miles at the tenth percentile to 150,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 150,923 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A spread this wide points at use rather than design. Towing, climate, service history and city mileage all move a failure like this, so the median is a weak guide to any individual car.
22% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25 miles | 45,000 miles | 85,200 miles | 119,500 miles | 150,948 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, 1 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 carries the most reports, with 51; the 2004 has 9. 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.
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 driver thought she put the a 2004 honda pilot in park, in a driveway which sits on a hill. The driver removed the key from the ignition. The contact later found that the vehicle had rolled down the hill and hit an object. The contact discovered that the vehicle was in neutral. The contact drove the vehicle to the dealer. The vehicle was diagnosed as having a bad ignition switch. The contact stated the key should not have been able to be removed from the ignition while the vehicle was in neutral. *ak updated 2/22/2007 - the manufacturer refused to fix the vehicle free of charge because the vehicle was out of warranty. *nm
3 of 4 electronic door locks unresponsive one by one, almost simultaneously (within a month or two), each door lock became unresponsive to the master/driver's seat controls. Also do not work using key fob. Doors must be manually locked and unlocked and key does not work in front passenger door to lock or unlock. The only door left where the lock works properly is the driver door. The "broken" locks sound like they are working, but they do not move. Dealer wants $200 per door to fix. *tr
Stopped vehicle, turned off vehicle and removed key. Later got into car and started it up found it. Attempted again not in park and it was able to replicate it. Took vehicle to dealer, they were able to replicate it, wanted almost $850.00 to repair and was told it was not considered a safety issue so there was no recall. They recommend the mechanical portion of the ignition switch be repaired. Unable to afford the repair so still occurring. Current mileage is 118,000+ miles. *tr
Also reported on the 2004 Honda Pilot
Other body or interior problem
Other powertrain problem
Other electrical problem
Other engine problem
Torque converter failure
Seat belt or retractor failure
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 9 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 2004 Honda Pilot?
Across 9 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 85,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 45,000 miles and a quarter after 120,000 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 2004 Honda Pilot?
9 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.1 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