I purchased a 2016 Honda Pilot EXL AWD on 12/31/2016. It was running great for about a year, then my husband once asked me, "why does your car jerk when accelerating?" I thought he was joking because I never felt it and I am the one who drives the car most of the time while he only drives maybe once or twice a week. He couldn't recreate the problem so we blamed on the gas that he put last time from arco (I usually use Shell or Mobil). Some time went by and my car was doing fine until one morning the jerking occurred on my way to drop off my kids. The jerking was significantly felt. There were several times. I told my husband about it and it happened that the car was running on arco gas again at the time. So, we decided not to use arco gas on this car anymore. Unfortunately, it was not because of arco's gas (my apologies to arco). My Pilot started jerking on all kinds of gas, Costco, Shell, etc. The most recent event was yesterday 8/26/2018. Our family was driving on a local road and when the car accelerated to about 30-40MPH, it jerked and everyone felt it. Then the jerking repeated all the way to our destination. I got really worried because the car was running on Shell gas! I immediately researched 2016 Honda Pilot problems using my phone and guess what? I am not alone!!! I cannot believe a Honda would have a transmission problem. I have scheduled an appointment with a local Honda dealer tomorrow. I will update once I have it checked by the dealer.

Update from Aug 28, 2018: So I brought the car to a dealership knowing that the technician won't be able to recreate the problem. Obviously, at the end of the day, they told me there is nothing wrong with the car! They said they've checked transmission oil and it was all fine. They've run the computer check and nothing showed up. So they wouldn't even do the SERVICE BULLETIN 17-014 like other owner mentioned! My choices are, leave the car at the dealership until they can recreate the problem, which nobody knows when? Or start looking for a new car. BTW, honda does not provide loaner unless it is a recall. So how can they expect their customers do without their vehicle? The advisor told me my car still has a lot of time before the warranty runs out, just bring it back when the problem gets worse.

Update from Sep 2, 2018: 9/2 The car stared jerking again this morning, but unfortunately it’s a Sunday again so I couldn’t drive it to the dealership directly. Hope next time it happens it won’t be on a Sunday!!

It's comforting to know I'm not the only one! My Pilot first started lurching into 2nd gear on 10/31/17, then not again until 11/16, and again 11/18. I'm calling the dealer tomorrow and fully expect the "we can't recreate it" response, so I'll be printing out everyone else's experience from this website. The short-term fix is to pull over, shut the car off, and turn it on again, but like everyone else, I paid plenty of money for this car and plan to drive it for 10 years. This can't continue.

Update from Dec 4, 2017: Visited dealership service on 12/4/17 and technician felt the judder. They performed service bulletin 17-014 to update the software and flush the transmission. The technician told me the transmission fluid was running hot and causing the judder and the generally rough performance I was also noticing. (It felt like I was on graded pavement nearly all of the time, even though the jerking only happened intermittently.) . Car is now running smoothly. SERVICE BULLETIN 17-014 is the key. Thanks to all who commented!

Update from May 16, 2018: Sigh. It's starting again. The transmission felt sluggish for about a week, and today the car lurched again. I guess this will require a service visit every 6 months.

Update from May 21, 2018: They flushed the transmission 3 times and drove it in between. Now I wait.

Update from Oct 12, 2018: The car started lurching again on 6/4/18. I immediately called the dealer who contacted Honda. I took the car in and left it there for a week. (They provided a rental car to me.) . They ran a bunch of diagnostics and drove it 70 miles but did not experience any lurching, and nothing came up on the diagnostics. It's now 10/12/18 and I haven't had any lurching, but I still expect to. It's sporadic and seems unrelated to gas, weather, conditions, etc.

My car starting jerking when I accelerated between 25 and 30 mph; the jerking stopped once my speed exceeded 30 mph. I took it to dealership that said they "fixed it" by updating some software. When I drove it off the dealership's lot, it happened again so I turned around and they look at my car again and said it was all OK now. A few days later, the jerking motion started again and I brought it back to dealership. They couldn't recreate the problem and it hasn't happened in the last month or so. Not sure if it's really fixed at this point, time will tell.

My 2016 Honda Pilot is jerking intermittently. It has happened twice now when I am accelerating, it significantly jerks/bucks when switching gears and makes a loud noise (like I hit something). It continues to happen until I shut the car off. When I restart, it runs fine for days, then the problem occurs again. I will take the car into the dealership this week. I really don't want to hear that they can't recreate the problem thus can't fix it. If anyone has had this problem and had it resolved, can you please send me a comment?

The transmission on this vehicle has been horrendous from day 1. The 9-speed transmission chews through multiple gears just getting off the stop line and sounds like you're starting a F1 race. Then there's the lovely effect of being thrown down a hill. When you start down the hill the transmission will hold you back, similar to most other vehicles on the road, but at a random point it will switch to a fast acceleration and rocket you down the hill if you aren't prepared to jam the brakes.

This concern has been brought up to the dealer multiple times and each time we are told the effects we are experiencing are by design. When asked if anything can be modified to eliminate these supposed helpful occurrences we are told no.

Do NOT purchase a Honda with the 9-speed transmission. You'll regret it every day you drive your vehicle!

New Honda Pilot 8/2016. At about 4K miles, several fault codes threw. Check Engine, Oil Change Warning, Flashing dash lights. Motor and trans went into "Limp Mode" Super hard shifting. Took to Michael Hohl Honda in Carson. Dealer reset fault codes and sent me on my way. 12/1/2016 Re-Occurrence, but this time the trans is hard shifting at 25-35MPH to the point of damage to the drive train, and transmission. Car is at dealer till they can reproduce the issue. Horrible Virus in the electrical brain that controls the shifting and safe operation of car. Cannot recommend the Honda Pilot.. This is not good.

Update from Dec 15, 2016: Still at dealer try to duplicate the issue.

Update from Dec 16, 2016: 12/16/2016. After having the car 5 days, the hard shift and limp mode issue occurred for the dealer. Now they do not think I'm another crazy owner..!! They have already installed the software updates 2 visits ago, so now what? Stay tuned..

Update from Feb 8, 2017: just as an FYI, dealer had issues duplicating the hard shift problems. we ended up selling the pilot at 8K miles. just did not trust the car any longer w/ random shifting problems.