2013 Honda Pilot
This year drew an ordinary 270 complaints for a Honda Pilot — the model's median is 178. What they were about is the unusual part: 7.8% of them mention vcm, against 2.1% 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 | 270 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 178 |
| Involving a crash | 12 |
| Involving a fire | 4 |
| Recalls | 6 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 4/5 |
| EPA combined | 20 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- vcm — 7.8% of this year's complaints, against 2.1% across the other years of this generation (3.6×). Owners wrote it as: vcm, shudders.
- piston — 7.8% of this year's complaints, against 3% across the other years of this generation (2.6×). Owners wrote it as: piston, rings, ring, piston ring.
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
The car stalled on highway while I was driving it . The check engine light went on randomly and it just stopped . Had it towed to our local gas / service station and they replaced #2 cylinder spark plug . They told us it should be seen by a mechanic bc they th…
The contact owned a 2013 Honda Pilot. The contact stated that while driving at 45- 50 MPH, the engine warning light was illuminated. The contact stated that the failure was related to NHTSA Action Number: RQ24013 (Engine). The vehicle was taken to the local de…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 18V661000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 19V502000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 19V378000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 18V042000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 13V016000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 13V382000 ENGINE Fixed free of charge.
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 2013 Honda Pilot? What happened to yours?
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