Other engine problem on the 2016 Honda Pilot
4 crashes 7 fires 11 of the 549 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 other engine problem gets reported
Owners of the 2016 Honda Pilot report other engine problem at a median of 68,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 40,000 miles and a quarter after 105,000 miles, from 161 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 95,000 miles. It is the 1st most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 28,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 134,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 106,183 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.
17% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27,817 miles | 40,000 miles | 67,851 miles | 105,000 miles | 134,000 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, 4 a crash and 7 a fire are 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 $300–$4,000 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 21 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2013, at a median of 2,500 miles, and latest on the 2008 at 120,000 miles.
By volume the 2016 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 2016 honda pilot. While driving at 55 MPH, the engine shut off and the entire instrument panel illuminated. The contact noticed smoke emitting from the front driver side. After lifting the hood, flames emitted from the passenger side near the engine. The contact was able to extinguish the fire. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 1,600.
Tl* the contact owns a 2016 honda pilot. The contact stated that an abnormal sound was heard, after the vehicle was started and the vehicle temperature warm. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where the technician confirmed that there was an abnormal noise coming from the engine. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 1,400.
2/4/16: backed out of garage, put car in park, lowered garage door. Was about to exit vehicle to adjust passenger side mirror, car surged forward, crashing through garage door. Brakes would not stop vehicle as it was crashing through the garage; immediately applied emergency brakes, car finally stopped against shelving in garage and wten became wedged in garage. Car experienced severe damage to front, hood, top, sides and could not be removed from garage until garage doors were removed by garage door company the next day. On 2/5/16 took car to honda dealer. Said they needed time to investigate, would need until monday, 2/15 when manufactuere's rep could be there; gave loaner vehicle to use in interim. Car still had dealer tag, one month old. On 2/17, received a call from service manager stating that honda rep's investigation found nothing wrong with vehicle and that I would need to look to my insurance company to repair vehicle. I was told to return loaner vehicle that day, which we did. There was over $2,000 damage to home; and $8,836 damage to vehicle. I find it amazing that honda could find nothing wrong with vehicle. I know…
Also reported on the 2016 Honda Pilot
Other electrical problem
Other powertrain problem
No-start or intermittent start failure
Other fuel system problem
Ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure
Other body or interior problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 549 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 other engine problem happen on the 2016 Honda Pilot?
Across 161 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 68,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 40,000 miles and a quarter after 105,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other engine problem on the 2016 Honda Pilot?
549 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 6.8 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