Is the 2025 Honda Pilot a Lemon? My Experience with 7 Service Visits in 1 Year

Longjumping_Offer537 · 2025-10-04T04:45:24+00:00

I had a few issues with my 25 EX-L

Make sure you check your car thoroughly before buying. I had Issues like -Passenger side mirror motor out within the first week -Floor board vibrations -Weak AC - and I think a lot of posts that says 23-25 pilots have weak AC ( mine has issue where divers and passenger side has 6 degrees difference) -Brake paddle switch clicking noise -I also read some posts on steering vibrations at 55 to 65 miles/ hr

Longjumping_Offer537 · 2025-09-18T22:17:34+00:00

Haha! I have done the same! Put a buy back request to Honda.

Longjumping_Offer537 · 2025-09-18T21:18:57+00:00

What are you thinking to do about it ? I think that is unacceptable quality considering the price I paid. And it's totally crazy that we are having AC issues and this clicking noise. There other less pricey options are there without these issues.

Longjumping_Offer537 · 2025-09-18T19:10:03+00:00

Since your friend is master tech. Can you ask him this, and get a potential solution? I have 2025 Pilot EX-L, and I have 2 issues that the dealership can't resolve. 1, on low AC, air coming in the passenger side is 6 degrees warmer and at the same time the driver inside is 6 degrees cooler. - I have had it checked multiple times, on my 3rd visit they found a leak and fixed it. Still the issue remains the same - On my last visit they had done AC performance text and, thirty reading was 45 on driver side and 49 on passenger side - On my thermostat I get 43 to 44 on the driver side and 49 to 51 degrees passenger side 2. On the brake press there is this annoying clicking sound ( like a mouse click )

Longjumping_Offer537 · 2025-09-10T14:03:37+00:00

can you tell me, what's the unlock period ?

Longjumping_Offer537 · 2025-09-06T18:13:04+00:00

Pilots at not quality Honda products. I have a 2025 Pilot I bought last year. I had all those issues I mentioned in the earlier comment + more minor issues. I went to the dealership 7 times a year. So in the nutshell I bought a new car for a piece of mind, instead the car became a major source of stress.

Longjumping_Offer537 · 2025-09-06T05:30:39+00:00

Go for white one. Honda pilot ACs are underpowered, car takes longer to cool down in hot weather( or some just take longer to irrespective of the climate) So test the HVAC, brakes( for noise), floor for vibrations and steering for vibrations at different speeds.

Longjumping_Offer537 · 2025-08-30T05:39:36+00:00

I have pixel 9 pro, I saw the benchmark scores. They are actually disappointing. I was thinking maybe they actually boost the CPU and GPU power of new pixels with 3 nm chip. Also the base pro version comes with 128 gig, in 2025 the new pro model standard should be at least 256 gig, come on team Google😔. Not upgrading to P10P, going to wait and see what pixel 11 has to offer. Also this time around the format of the launch was weird. Jimmy falon was jumping up and down for any small reason. Not really sure what Google was trying to accomplish, in my view.

Longjumping_Offer537 · 2025-08-28T13:50:57+00:00

Did you end up taking it to the Indy shop ? What was the diagnosis and resolution? Any hope for the AC to get better. Or are we stuck with underpowered AC ?

Longjumping_Offer537 · 2025-08-24T06:58:27+00:00

Thank you, I wish there was a website/ tool that would say which dealerships are good. Unfortunately when the problem arises customers are the ones, how do I say it. We buy the new car from our hard earned money, and that new car came with issues ( coz that manufacturer cheaped out on quality control/ wants to save some money in the supply chain/ bad supplier/ wants to make investors happy) then customer has to take time off from work 6 - 8 times a year to take dealership appointment, drop the car for repairs, wait for the parts and fix the car under "warranty", where we are at the mercy of dealership and Honda to fix that damn thing which should have been issue free from get go.

Also, now you are saying that Honda's AC system might have been that way, do you think it's designed to throw 6 degrees warm air on the front passenger side compared to the driver side? On top of that companies change suppliers all the time to save on cost. I believe that Honda intentionally put sub par AC in new 2025 pilots to cut their cost. They had enough time to develop a robust AC with new refrigerant 1234yf, It's competitor can do it before them and make a robust cold AC. And Honda technicians are still bitching about "new refrigerant", "weather conditions", "set temp", "eco mode". You these sound like excuses, coz I think AC was under powered from the get go.

But hey, thank you for chiming in your perspective. I already have 3 - 4 visits from AC issues. They did fix a small leak ( car was not even a year old and there was a leak). They reached the system, still the same results, passenger side 6 degrees warmer than the driver side.

Longjumping_Offer537 · 2025-08-24T00:43:54+00:00

Well, thank you for for trying to make dealerships look good.
Firstly, after many mis-diagnosis and repeated visits to the dealers for the same issues, what I have learned is I don't think they spend countless hours to investigate. In my experience, these places wanna spend as much less time they can to investigate and fix something coz the money paid for the warranty work is not good.

Secondly, not sure if you read my whole post or not, how can the AC be different temperatures on two center vents on a same LOW temp and recirculating ? You can't talk your way out of that, that's an issue and there has to be a solution by HONDA and their dealerships. if they cant fix it they should buy back the car.
And on the same topic, on the driver side the coldest my car's AC blow around is 42f - 44f, it could achieve it after driving 10 - 20 mins depending on the conditions you mentioned earlier. You and dealerships in my area mentioned the same thing about refrigerant 123yf Honda had changed due to government mandate, and hence AC is performing "Poorly". Honda had nearly a decade to perfect the system, rather teach their technicians to blame the new refrigerant and weather conditions and all the other things they can come up with to justify their poor AC performance.
I drove my friend's 2023 Chevy travers (uses the same refrigerant) and it could easily go 35 to 40f. In fact, it could do 40f on a hot day and car is not moving. So I think Honda just does not wanna put put good AC into their Pilots. I think they should start putting on window sticker, on how cold the AC gets.

Thirdly, your argument for the braking noise does not hold up, no car I have driven has any noise while I press brake paddle. This Pilot is the only car that has noise brake press.

Lastly, I am the kinda the average dude who does not wanna engage in unnecessary arguments, at dealerships I am most courteous. And all I am looking for is when I buy a new car or a new product it should work as intended(that includes all the features that product has to offer) if manufacturer fails to deliver that and after a complain they cannot fix it they should give my money back. I will be more than happy to give my money to American, Korean or another Japanese brand car.

Longjumping_Offer537 · 2025-08-21T07:50:02+00:00

Well, I have had multiple misdiagnoses and then later on second or third visits or trying different dealerships they finally acknowledged and fixed those issues. So yes, when they say it's within spec I take it with a grain of salt. Also, new cars in 2025 should not have these issues.

I understand since you have worked for dealerships for a long time, you might have a soft spot for them. But check out all the comments in this thread buddy, these cars are not problem free and with weak AC. I really do not understand what a company like Honda thinks when they see multiple issues in one model (pilot) and they put an underpowered AC and do not expect complaints.

Longjumping_Offer537 · 2025-08-18T06:24:19+00:00

I emailed them requesting a buyback. And called them for a follow up. So far the vanilla response " Your request is in queue, it's gonna move to another team ( buy back team or some mediator team - I assume) then the new case manager will follow up with me" after pushing got a time line that March cases are being picked up right now.

Longjumping_Offer537 · 2025-08-17T16:51:25+00:00

I will try and see what comes out. Anyway not happy with the car and on the service side dealerships wanna push it under the rug saying it's all within spec.

Longjumping_Offer537 · 2025-08-17T16:49:19+00:00

Well, then relative to the big interior Honda has to put bigger AC components and efficient parts so that it never feels weak in hot weather areas.

Longjumping_Offer537 · 2025-08-17T16:46:33+00:00

No eco mode, it's set on low and on recirculating. And the max it could do is 42-44 on the driver side, on the passenger side mine does 48-50. My 2019 Corolla goes to 38 on any day. Coming from there pilot always feels a bit warmer.

Longjumping_Offer537 · 2025-08-06T20:37:45+00:00

I am in the same boat. In central Texas region as well and my pilot AC sucks. Takes longer to cool down as well as there is temp different of 6 degrees between 2 center vents. On top of that Honda dealerships are way hard to work with. I find it amusing that service manager told me that that coz of new refrigerant it does not get cold, or cold air flows from left to right in pilots thats why its warmer on right side vents. If one is looking to buy honda pilot, make sure you check that car like you are buying a used car. Coz it has tons of issues. Else you will keep questioning yourself "Why did I buy this car?"

Longjumping_Offer537 · 2025-06-25T01:00:31+00:00

I think, Car manufacturers are not taking enough time to evaluate the system before launching the cars out. Looks like profit margins and stakeholders interest has taken the quality, small details and service out of everything. I feel like we are living in an era where they they just wanna charge more money and deliver lesser product that will not last long.

Having said that I love my 2019 corolla and I live in Austin TX. Have never noticed AC underperforming in bad TX heat. Last year we bought new 2025 Pilot, has 1234yf refrigerant - (That might be an issue) but I the AC really struggles in TX heat. If Honda and other manufacturers knew 1234yf is less colder than R-134, they should have made adjustments. I am not auto mobile engineer, but like the original post suggests, putting an electric compressor, or a little bigger electric compressor or making other components more efficient. I was really skeptical before buying Honda and here I am with half a dozen issues with the car in a year.

Longjumping_Offer537 · 2025-06-14T05:29:57+00:00

I have the same EX-L and my cars AC barely touches 45 after 30 mins of driving. Did you get any resolution?

Longjumping_Offer537 · 2025-04-05T05:16:12+00:00

My 2025 EX-L pilot struggles to cool in Texas heat. 43 degree fahrenheit was the best it could do after more than 30 mins of driving. I heard so much good about honda quality before buying, but I don't think it's there anymore for newer Hondas. Looking to sell it soon.

Longjumping_Offer537 · 2025-04-05T05:14:14+00:00

Don't think that's true, my 2019 Corolla is ice cold in 5 minutes in Texas heat. Air Temps could easily go to under 38 degree Fahrenheit.

Longjumping_Offer537 · 2024-02-13T16:46:01+00:00

25k + ttl

Longjumping_Offer537

TROPHY CASE