DETROIT (AP) — The U.S. government’s road safety agency is investigating complaints that the fuel-saving stop-start system on some Honda Pilot SUVs can fail to restart.
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Owners complained that the engine won’t restart on its own from a complete stop at a traffic light or intersection with the stop-start feature in use. Some complained that a jump start was needed to get the motor going again.
The probe covers nearly 195,000 Pilots from the 2016 through 2020 model years, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said.
According to a document posted Tuesday on the NHTSA website, there have been 221 complaints about the problem, but no reports of crashes or injuries.
The Pilots under investigation have 3.5-liter V6 engines and nine-speed automatic transmissions. Agency documents say Honda has indicated other models with the same engines and transmissions could have similar problems. Other models include the Honda Odyssey minivan, the Acura TLX sedan and the Acura MDX SUV.
A message was left Tuesday seeking comment from Honda.
NHTSA says it’s opening the investigation to assess the safety issues and determine how many models are affected.
The whole start stop makes no sense – I’m surprised there havent been issues till now
Not Joe Biden’s fault.
I have the stop-start in my ‘19 Chevrolet and my ‘17 Ford. The Ford has a switch to shut it off but the Chevrolet doesn’t. It’s really annoying in stop and go traffic and it can’t be good for the battery.
The technology was gleaned from golf carts. I play a lot of golf and never had one that failed. It is not hard on the battery or the starter since those components are designed for this function. However, it certainly should NOT be on stop/start mode in stop and go traffic. The whole idea is to save gas during idling, in stop and go traffic it probably uses more gas.
The NTSA needs to ensure that all these investigations don’t disrupt supply chains. We can no longer tolerate large scale recalls and shut downs. Figure out something better. And that role lays within Biden’s hands. If he doesn;t change the way we think its his fault and we need to show this by the polls. We need to stop being reactive and get proactive. No its not transitonary.