2009 Honda Pilot
This year drew an ordinary 134 complaints for a Honda Pilot — the model's median is 211. What they were about is the unusual part: 11.2% of them mention belt, against 3.6% across the other years of this generation.
First year of a new generation. The Honda Pilot was redesigned for 2009. A first year carries problems nobody has found yet, and they are found by the people who buy it — which is worth knowing before you become one of them.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 134 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 211 |
| Involving a crash | 9 |
| Involving a fire | 4 |
| Recalls | 9 |
| EPA combined | 18.5 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- belt — 11.2% of this year's complaints, against 3.6% across the other years of this generation (3.2×). Owners wrote it as: belt, seat belt, mine, driver seat.
- honda aware — 9% of this year's complaints, against 2.9% across the other years of this generation (3.1×). Owners wrote it as: honda aware, bushing, rotor.
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 DRIVING APPROXIMATELY 10 MPH, THE DRIVER'S SIDE SEAT BELT INDEPENDENTLY UNLATCHED. THE CONTACT STATED THAT THE FAILURE PERSISTED FOR THE PAST SIX MONTHS. THE VEHICLE WAS NOT TAKEN TO THE DEALER FOR DIAGNOSTIC TESTING. THE [VIN] WAS NOT NOTIFIED OF THE FA…
THE DRIVER'S POWER SEAT HORIZONTAL POSITION TRACK JAMMED SO THAT THE SEAT COULD ONLY BE MOVED ABOUT 2 INCHES FORWARD/BACKWARD. THIS LOCKED THE DRIVER INTO A POSITION VERY CLOSE TO THE STEERING WHEEL AND UNABLE TO REACH AUTO CONTROLS, SEAT BELT WITHOUT SIGNIFIC…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 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.
- 18V042000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 17V030000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 16V346000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 11V468000 SEAT BELTS 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 2009 Honda Pilot? What happened to yours?
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