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Comments
Still, knowing this, you can eliminate the problem by not allowing the seat belts to simply snap backk into place I would guess.
if it was just once after starting your vehicle, that is totally normal. Happens everytime I back down the driveway upon startup. Several folks have posted that their tech informed them its the brakes doing a self-test when you first touch them after the car is moving. It bothered me for a while, but now I realize that it does do it every time I start it up and never after that while driving.
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '98 Alfa 156 2.0TS; '08 Maser QP; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '11 Mini Cooper S
As for as I can tell no one here or at the hondapilot.org site has managed to get a real answer as to whether it is really possible to put the 2004 adjustable second row in a 2003. Seems no dealer wants the legal headaches and no owners wants to pony up the money to try. All the structure and seatbelt attachments would have to be identical before Honda would bless such a modification.
Anyone else find this a problem as well? Has anyone come up with a way to make them adjustable? I can't believe Honda would overlook this in their highest priced vehicle. Am I missing something here?
by the way, the S2000 is Honda's highest priced vehicle (not the Pilot), and that doesn't even have a power seat.
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '98 Alfa 156 2.0TS; '08 Maser QP; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '11 Mini Cooper S
I heard that sliding noise in the back of my car yesterday. I'm usually driving by myself and have the radio on and have not heard it before. Had some other people in the car yesterday and had the radio turned off. Sounds like something is loose in the back. Right?
Have the dealer look into the shake. It may just be balancing. Does it go away when the front tires are rotated to the back? My steering shook when I applied the brakes. I thought the rotors were warped. It ended up being the lug nuts not evenly torqued.
1) Stretching leather seats - I have heard many complaints and wonder why Honda has not fixed this problem...other high quality auto maker's leather seats do not have this problem? Has Honda replaced anyone's seats or fixed them?
2) Since I bought my Honda, 45 days ago, I have had trouble starting it 6 times...it finally start but is concerning and annoying...should I be concerned about the starter.
3) I have heard twice a loud popping noise from the back of the Pilot...once while parked and the other slowing moving...wondered if it was the VTM-4.
4) Does anyone know where we can buy a head rest that can articulate back and forth...making it much more comfortable.
Looking forward to hearing from you...
I am picking up my Brand New Pilot on the 2nd of January and thinking of taking it out for a trip the next day. The trip is about 400 miles.
The manufacture suggests a break in of 1000 miles before making long distance trip or speeding on highway. I am not sure what kind of problem it will cause in the future if I take it out just like that.
Anybody has any experience at all?
Thanks!
After my 15k service i also noted the engine noise within the car to have gone higher. Is that something i should be concerned about, or is it part of normal aging.
I would like to mention that my pilot was in an accident and my front bumper had to be replaced, i believe the body shop used a part which is not honda made. this was at about 10k miles. wonder if that is contributing to the noise.
ppatterson - it is the same as far as I know, but have you heard of anyone having a problem on recent ones? Opinions vary, but I've heard this problem has been addressed prior to the start of Pilot production and should not show up on our Pilots.
meiflower - its really fine to take it on a long trip. You just don't want to lock in the cruise control and hold a steady speed for a long period of time. Vary your speeds and that should suffice. Plenty of folks buy their Pilots from far away from home and drive them back immediately and never have problems.
tilak - a new front bumper could certainly cause that if not installed properly or if it is not the exact shape of the previous one. it would deflect the wind differently and result in different noise.
susan - i commented on the wind noise before. i do, in fact, attribute it mostly to being an SUV. I've had this in every vehicle I've owned that had a big open area in the rear where the wind you are letting in cannot escape from. It has to go somewhere, so it bounces back up to you, trying to escape through the front windows. As far as that squeaky seat, tape is not an acceptable solution. i would tell them that if they cannot fix it properly than they need to replace it. good luck.
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '98 Alfa 156 2.0TS; '08 Maser QP; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '11 Mini Cooper S
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '98 Alfa 156 2.0TS; '08 Maser QP; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '11 Mini Cooper S
I find it hard to believe there could be a rat in my engine, especially when I read a posting dated 4/10/03 from njeverest regarding a similar faulty indicator light problem they had. Has anyone else had this problem? I don't think I should pay for the repair if it's a Honda defect. Also, both times I had this problem was the day after a heavy rain and I had driven through some pretty hefty puddles. Don't know if that has anything to do with it???
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '98 Alfa 156 2.0TS; '08 Maser QP; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '11 Mini Cooper S
We get chewed up wiring fairly often. We have had to extract the remains of dead vermin that crawl into the heater air boxes.
Not a fun job for a tech to have to deal with.
Seems like it happens early on.When I brought the vehicle in for it's 1st oil change,the tech indicated the calipers had a space in them that caused the noise...the self check theory seems more logical.
Any ideas on the clunking noise when putting into reverse?
Noise in dash:
We've owned our Pilot almost 1 year and for the first several months we heard a strange noise coming from the dash area. I only noticed this while I was pulling into our garage at a very slow speed. The best way I can describe the sound is this: remember in the Wizard of Oz when Dorothy first comes upon the Tin-Man? And he says in that closed mouth way "oil can". Well, it sounds just like that "oil can" part. I was cracking up the first few times I heard it. It was never an issue for me so I can't say what it is/was.
Let me know what happens.
Clunking when changing gears isn't abnormal, but I expect it from a Chevy truck with 60K miles, not a brand new vehicle.
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '98 Alfa 156 2.0TS; '08 Maser QP; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '11 Mini Cooper S
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '98 Alfa 156 2.0TS; '08 Maser QP; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '11 Mini Cooper S
Thanks
stringmaster - any automatic will roll back if the hill is steep enough or unless the engine idle is set too high. But it will take less of an incline the heavier the car is. Just simple physics.
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '98 Alfa 156 2.0TS; '08 Maser QP; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '11 Mini Cooper S
DD
What I did experience is that we have a car seat in the back and the seat platform has left permanent marks in the cloth. This 'cloth' seems to be a flocked/brushed material and is susiptible to marking. Unlike real cloth.
However, we also discovered that a cheaper and more-readily-available option is a rubber no-slip mat you'd normally use in the tub. We simply placed it on the seat, under the safety seat, with the suction-cups-side up. Works just as well as the special pad mentioned above.
Now, as for the marks on the seats that you already have: you might try a trick that works for furniture marks in carpet. Just put an ice cube on the depressed spot and let it melt. If it doesn't fluff back up, then try it one more time. Works like a charm on carpet and just might solve your depressed-seat-fabric problem as well. If not, then at least you'll have the coolest seats around! ;-)
Try this: Bring the Pilot to a stop, shut the radio and heater down so that you can hear clearly and abruptly step on the gas than brake, than gas, etc. and you will hear these clucking sounds. When your tank is nearly empty these sounds go away.
I only have 500 miles on my Pilot and it is already beginning to look like heck. I only weigh 160 lbs and the imprint of my but is in the driver's seat. It seems that there is twice as much leather there now than when I bought it. Heck, I have a friend with a Kia SUV (leather) that does not have this problem.
A $34,000 SUV should not have these problems. I've owned many cars with leather seats and this is the first one with this type of a problem.
I have called customer service of American Honda (phone in your owners manual) and told them about the problem. They told me to take the car to the dealer and have them take a look at it. However, they have created a record of my complaint in their data base.
I would urge everyone that has this problem (which should be everyone that has leather seats) to call American Honda and complain. I think this is the only way they will realize they have a bad design on their hands. And don't let them tell you that this is normal for leather because it is not. Wrinkle lines in the leather are normal, but not this.
Has anyone taken their Pilot to the dealer for this problem and were they able to do anything about it? My appointment is January 31.
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '98 Alfa 156 2.0TS; '08 Maser QP; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '11 Mini Cooper S
The only extras I personally find nice on the base MDX are stability control and moonroof. The base MDX was $6K more than our Pilot EXL (now I think its about $5600 difference). We added a moonroof to the Pilot for $1K (and it is much larger than the MDX roof, by the way). So it came down to $5K more (or $4600 now) for stability control and LESS interior space. To us, that was just not worth it.
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '98 Alfa 156 2.0TS; '08 Maser QP; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '11 Mini Cooper S
I just called Honda to address about 1) leather seat sagging and 2) dings on pillar issues so that they can document it on my vehicle.
1) I'm only a 110bls woman. My Pilot has +2300 miles on it. Like most of you, the driver seat on the Pilot sagged so badly. Jake from Honda suggested me to bring the the vehicle to the dealer to have it inspected so that they can identify if it is a problem. Has any of you done this and what the dealer say?
2) I'm really upset about Jake's suggestion on this issue. He told me to change the way I take off the seatbelt because they will not be able to adjust the seatbelt. I told him that I had 2 other Toyota vehicles. The Corolla costed only 1/2 price of the Pilot, I take off the seatbelt the same way and it does not have this problem. I also told Jake that I expect the quality of the pillar of my $34,000 Pilot to be at least as good as the Corolla. Jake also said that each vehicle is different, it drives different, it breaks different so we have to adjust ourselves to the vehicle. I told him that his suggestion is not a smart one because all I wanted from Honda about the dings on pillar is to make it with a better quality, not the performance of the vehicle.
I've heard several people complain of the door pillar ding problem. This one I am still baffled by. We have had no such issue on ours.
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '98 Alfa 156 2.0TS; '08 Maser QP; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '11 Mini Cooper S
1. Seat Leather - The dealer told me that the bun-prints and sagging of the leather is common on all Pilots. Honda will offer to restretch the leather to correct this, but the problem will appear again and restretching can only be performed once on a seat.
2. Poor Wipers - The dealer told me that many other customers have complained of poor wipers. This is due to soft spring rates on some 04 wipers and they will install new wiper arms.
3. Morning Clunking/Thumping Noises Backing out of Driveway - The dealer told me that these noises come from the brakes (calipers adjusting) and/or from the gasoline in the tank (not enough baffles in tank), and that this is normal and there is nothing that can or should be done.
4. Inoperative Door Locks in Cold Temperatures - Again, the dealer told me that they see a lot of this on the Pilots. Owners have been coming in saying a rear door will not lock/unlock with the remote and the alarm will not arm. They do not have a solution. Pilots have cables in the doors to actuate the door plunger, and Honda is just now learning that the cables are prone to freezing. Honda Engineering in CA is apparently working on a solution and all the dealer can do is use a heat gun to temporarily resolve the problem.
Hope this is helpful.
I'm afraid I have to agree with Jake on the seat belt issue though. I played with one, and yes, if you just allow the belt to snap back into place, it can hit the pillar. Just take a bit of care, hold it with your hand and allow it to ease back into position and you won't have a problem.
Perhaps, Honda could make the pillar material a bit tougher, but I really think the vast majority of owners won't have this problem.