2012 Honda Pilot
This year drew an ordinary 170 complaints for a Honda Pilot — the model's median is 211. What they were about is the unusual part: 8.2% of them mention took vehicle, against 3.1% across the other years of this generation.
Generation 2 of the Honda Pilot, which began in 2009 and ran to 2015. Everything below compares this year against the others in that generation, not against a different car wearing the same name.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 170 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 211 |
| Involving a crash | 17 |
| Involving a fire | 3 |
| Recalls | 9 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 4/5 |
| EPA combined | 20 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- took vehicle — 8.2% of this year's complaints, against 3.1% across the other years of this generation (2.7×). Owners wrote it as: took vehicle, fuel system, vehicle back, vehicle operating.
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
What owners wrote
WHILE REFUELING, FUEL SPEWED FROM THE FILLER NECK. THE [VIN] WAS CONTACTED AND INFORMED THE CONTACT THAT THE VEHICLE WAS NOT INCLUDED IN NHTSA CAMPAIGN NUMBER 12V063000 (FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE). THE VEHICLE WAS NOT DIAGNOSED OR REPAIRED. THE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS…
I AM CURRENTLY STATIONED IN GERMANY AND RETURNING TO US IN THE END OF AUGUST. I HAVE BEEN TRYING TO GET HONDA TO HELP ME CORRECT THE SAFETY RECALL ON THE RIVETS SINCE JUNE AND THEY HAVE NOT HELP ME. I CANNOT SHIP MY VEHICLE BACK TO THE US UNLESS ALL THE SAFETY…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 18V661000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 18V268000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 19V502000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 19V378000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 17V545000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 17V030000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 18V042000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 12V063000 FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE Fixed free of charge.
Showing 8 of 9. The rest are on NHTSA's site.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Honda Pilot was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2012 Honda Pilot? What happened to yours?
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