Recently my 6 year old got a hold of the car keys and went into the garage to get a toy out of our 2011 Pilot. Next thing we know, she’s running into the house yelling “Run for your life!!” and we can hear the car’s engine cranking in the garage. She said she was trying to manually unlock the driver’s door with the key when the engine starting cranking.

Of course I didn’t believe her, but after everyone was in bed I was messing around with the key in the driver’s door and discovered that if I turn the key counter clockwise and then back to the upright position 3 or 4 times rapidly, the lights all come on and the engine starts cranking. The engine doesn’t actually start, but will crank for 2 or 3 seconds and then stop, and then crank again and stop, over and over. The only way I can make it stop is to then get into the car and put the key in the ignition.

I looked through the owner’s manual and couldn’t find anything about this. Is the car supposed to do this? Is it supposed to actually start the engine if you do this? It’s odd to me that there would be a “feature” that would just crank a cold engine repeatedly.

I called a local Honda dealer who said that this was impossible and that I was probably just hearing the window motor running so I don't have a lot of faith there.

I also made a video of myself doing this, which is here:


What do you all think?

 

Hi,
I found this post after searching this issue. I recently purchased an used 2011 Honda Pilot and a day ago I was walking away from the car and hear the engine attempting to start. I was freaked out because the car does not have remote start. I wasn't even attempting to open the door and actually around 8 feet away from the car holding the keys. Could you please tell me if you ever found out why this is happening? I haven't called the dealer yet, I'm afraid they may think I am crazy. Thanks for your response.

 

Hi there,
Basically, no, it's never been resolved in my mind. Some time after this post, I took the car into a different Honda dealer for one of the airbag recalls and demonstrated this for the service rep when I dropped the car off. He acted totally unconcerned and said that the car must have an aftermarket remote start system installed but I was missing the correct key fob to make the car start. He said being an aftermarket thing, I should take to somewhere like CarToys and have them look at it.

Did I believe him? No, not particularly. However, I also don't want to spend the time/money to take it somewhere else.

I also spent more time playing around with what was going on. I figured out that I could actually make the engine start by putting the key in the drivers door lock and turning counter-clockwise 3 or 4 times, which makes the engine start turning over repeatedly. Then, I can take the key out of the door (and the engine will keep cranking), open the drivers door and simply put the key into the ignition (but not turn key or anything). At this, engine will start, and i can then remove key from ignition and it will keep running. However, as soon as I put my foot on the brake pedal, the engine will cut out.

I'm pretty certain in my mind that something is out whack with the computer or electronics somewhere.

 

Hi, thanks a lot for taking the time to reply to me.

Omg, I am now afraid to think that this is the reason why this car was sold. I was actually thinking in having a remote start installed. I'll let you know what I find. Thanks again for providing some insight regarding this matter. Also, there more thing I discovered this past Sunday 02/18/2019. I drove the car for about 25 minutes, once at my destination I parked and went on doing my business. I don't recall if I locked the car but regardless the windows should not be down unless the key is inserted. Correct? To my surprise when I returned to the car all windows were halfway down. Has this happened to your Honda Pilot? Thanks again.

 

I've never had any issues with the windows rolling on their own. However, if I'm not mistaken, I believe if you put the key in the driver's door and turn the key clockwise, it will roll the windows down automatically. Makes me wonder if there's something going on with the electronics in the door?

Either way, let me know what you find out. Be prepared for everything treating you like your a crazy guy when you tell them that your car starts and does things on its own...

 

Yeah, I'll keep you posted.