Misfire or rough idle on the 2006 Honda Pilot
1 fire 1 of the 10 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 misfire or rough idle gets reported
Owners of the 2006 Honda Pilot report misfire or rough idle at a median of 105,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 100,000 miles and a quarter after 115,000 miles, from 9 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 92,000 miles. It is the 7th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 85,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 160,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 75,814 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.
11% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 85,786 miles | 100,311 miles | 105,000 miles | 115,616 miles | 161,600 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 fire 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–$1,600 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 15 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2012, at a median of 100 miles, and latest on the 2009 at 160,000 miles.
By volume the 2016 carries the most reports, with 39; the 2006 has 10. 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.
The check engine light kept coming on in my 2006 honda pilot. I took the car into the dealership three times for the same problem. The first time I took the vehicle in I was told that all six cylinders were misfiring and that there was a service bulletin on the rear rocker arms and all related parts, which were replaced. The second time I was told that the all cylinders were misfiring and a reset code was completed crank pattern reset and learn were performed. The third time I was told that all cylinders were misfiring and that I needed to switch to using chevron gasoline only. The fourth time the light came on I contacted american honda in california. My vehicle has been in the repair at willette honda south since august 19, 2008. I keep getting a different explanation from honda what is wrong with the vehicle. I was told that the head gaskets, cooling gaskets and injectors had to be replaced. Today (9/4/08), I was told that the pistons had to be adjusted. *tr
Tl* the contact owns a 2006 honda pilot. The contact stated that while traveling approximately 70 MPH, the vehicle began to lose acceleration power. The vehicle was able to be driven with extreme caution to the contact's residence and was later taken to a private mechanic, where it was determined that cylinders 1-6 were misfiring. The contact was also advised that there was a computer failure. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was not contacted about the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 105,000.
Engine light started coming on even though vehicle was running ok. Stopped and had a diagnostic check done. It said that all 6 cylinders were misfiring. The light stayed on for 2-3 days then went off. The auto drove fine the whole time. This has been happening off and on ever since. I keep having it checked and same thing... All 6 cylinders misfiring. *tr
Also reported on the 2006 Honda Pilot
Other body or interior problem
Airbag inflator rupture
Other brake problem
Other driver assistance problem
Control arm, ball joint or bushing failure
Other speed control problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 10 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 misfire or rough idle happen on the 2006 Honda Pilot?
Across 9 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 105,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 100,000 miles and a quarter after 115,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is misfire or rough idle on the 2006 Honda Pilot?
10 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