2003 Honda Pilot at 120,000 miles
You did not give a mileage, so this uses 120,000 — the median reported failure mileage for this model year, which is a rough stand-in for “a typical example of this car”. Put your real reading in the box below for an answer about your car.
At 120,000 miles on this car
At 120,000 miles on a 2003 Honda Pilot, 32 of the failure modes other owners have reported already have their median report at or below your reading, and 9 more fall inside the window where they are usually reported. The heaviest of the ones already due is other powertrain problem.
Already past the median 32
Half of all reports of these failures came in at or below where your car is now.
- Other powertrain problem 120k
- Other body or interior problem 107k
- Other engine problem 94k
- Airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault 89k
- No-start or intermittent start failure 90k
- Other lighting problem 109k
- Other steering problem 96k
- Headlight failure or clouding 101k
- Fuel tank, filler or EVAP failure 5k
- Other visibility problem 85k
- Control module (ECM/PCM/BCM) failure 36k
- Other wheel or tire problem 55k
20 more.
You are in the window 9
Your reading falls inside the middle half of reports for these.
- Complete transmission failure 123k
- Timing chain, belt or tensioner failure 123k
- Torque converter failure 125k
- Ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure 130k
- Other electrical problem 134k
- Seat belt or retractor failure 134k
- Other speed control problem 142k
- Other brake problem 142k
- Other suspension problem 151k
Typically later 13
Reported further down the road than where you are.
- Electrical fire or melted wiring 125k
- Loss of braking 127k
- Steering column or shaft failure 136k
- Transmission will not engage a gear 140k
- Transmission slipping 140k
- Steering rack, gear or tie rod failure 157k
- Water pump failure 180k
- Other driver assistance problem 181k
- Overheating 184k
- Airbag inflator rupture 195k
- Control arm, ball joint or bushing failure 209k
- Engine bay fire 220k
1 more.
Timing unknown 6
Reported, but too few owners gave an odometer reading to place them.
- Fuel pump failure 4×
- Airbag failed to deploy in a crash 2×
- Blower motor or climate control failure 2×
- Wheel bearing or hub failure 1×
- Infotainment screen failure 1×
- Child seat anchor or tether failure 1×
Why the list is generic until you type a number
Every figure below is a comparison against your odometer, so with no reading given the page has to pick one: 120,000 miles, roughly what a 2003 car covers at 12,000 miles a year. A reading 30,000 miles either side of that moves failures between the columns, which is the difference between a useful list and a generic one.
Already inside the reported range
32 failure modes on the 2003 Honda Pilot have a median reported mileage at or below 120,000: other powertrain problem (median 120,000 miles, 132 reports), other body or interior problem (median 107,500 miles, 70 reports), other engine problem (median 95,000 miles, 45 reports), airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault (median 90,000 miles, 33 reports), no-start or intermittent start failure (median 90,000 miles, 21 reports) and other lighting problem (median 110,000 miles, 17 reports).
Half the owners who reported each of these had done so by that mileage, which means half had not. A failure being "due" here is a statement about other people's cars, and the useful response is an inspection rather than a pre-emptive repair.
The window you are in now
9 further modes are reported in a band that includes 120,000 miles: complete transmission failure (91k to 137,500 miles), timing chain, belt or tensioner failure (33k to 140,000 miles), torque converter failure (96k to 130,000 miles), ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure (97k to 170,000 miles), other electrical problem (89k to 160,000 miles) and seat belt or retractor failure (74k to 160,000 miles). These are the ones to watch on this car over the next few thousand miles.
A window here is the 25th to 75th percentile of reported mileages, so it holds the middle half of the reports and excludes the tails on both sides.
Still ahead of you
13 further modes sit above your reading, the nearest being electrical fire or melted wiring at a median of 125,000 miles. On a car you intend to keep, these are the ones that decide whether it is worth keeping.
What this list is not
It is a reading of what owners of other 2003 Honda Pilots reported, and at what odometer reading they reported it. It is not a maintenance schedule, not a diagnosis, and not a prediction about this car: two identical cars with different service histories are not the same car.
Complaints are filed voluntarily, mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers, and a failure mode with few reports has a wide window even when the median looks precise. Modes with fewer than 8 dated reports are shown without percentiles for that reason.
Where 120,000 miles falls on the curve
The three columns above sort the failure modes one by one. This is the same evidence in aggregate: every dated report on this model year, stacked up in the order the odometer readings arrived. The dashed line marked you is where your car sits. How much of the line is to the left of that mark is how much of this model year's reported trouble is, on the evidence, already behind you.
About 49% of the dated reports on this model year had already been filed by 120,000 miles. That is the share of the problems that show up in this record, not of the problems this car will have. A further 47 reports came in above the top of the scale, which is why the line stops short of the top.
- Line share of reports filed by that mileage
- Dashed the mileages called out above
A steep early climb means a car whose reports cluster young, which is the pattern of a defect rather than of wear. A line that only gets going past six figures is the opposite. Neither shape says anything about the specific car in your driveway, and a curve built from a few dozen readings can be moved by one owner with a talkative afternoon.
Full report for the 2003 Honda Pilot Compare with another car
Questions this page answers
What should I expect at 120,000 miles on a 2003 Honda Pilot?
32 of the failure modes owners have reported on the 2003 Honda Pilot have a median report at or below 120,000 miles, and 9 more fall inside the mileage window where they are usually reported. That is a watch list drawn from other owners, not a prediction about this car.
How to use the three columns. The left column is the list to hand a mechanic before you buy, and to check the service history for if you already own the car. The middle column is what to budget for this year. The right column is not a reprieve — it is a reminder that a used car has a bill schedule, and this is roughly where it falls. All of it is drawn from 877 owner complaints about this exact model year, not from a maintenance manual. How the percentiles are computed.
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