2021 Honda Passport: What to check before buying

The transmission drops into neutral on its own, sometimes at highway speed and sometimes while backing up, with a "Transmission Problem" warning. Other reports describe sudden downshifts during merges, hesitation in turns where the engine revs but the car does not accelerate, and hard clunking shifts between 4th and 5th on the ZF9 nine-speed. Dealers often find no stored codes and make no repair. One problem began under 12K miles. Separate reports cite rod bearing failure that needed a new engine, and a shift-by-wire car that could not be moved without a special Honda tool.

The automatic emergency braking system slams on the brakes for no real threat. It often happens when the car approaches a curve with oncoming traffic, and sometimes at highway speeds. Drivers describe near rear-end collisions, and one reports neck and shoulder injuries. Dealers offer no fix, and many owners switch the system off. Other reports describe the camera or radar failing, which shuts down every driver-assist feature, with replacement parts sold out. One crash involved adaptive cruise control that warned too late to stop the car.

The engine fails to restart after Auto Idle Stop shuts it off at lights or in traffic. Sometimes the car slips into neutral and stays stuck for a minute or longer. New batteries, starters, and software updates often fail to cure it. Other complaints include infotainment screens stuck in restart loops, crackling speakers, muffled call audio traced to cabling, and the instrument panel going blank at speed. Two crashes are linked to sudden total power loss or a frozen system followed by brake failure. Some owners also report waiting on recall parts.

Most reports here describe phantom automatic braking. A BRAKE alert flashes, the steering wheel shakes, and the car slows hard with nothing ahead, in one case from 70 to about 50 mph. A smaller group reports a brake pedal that sinks to the floor, needs pumping, or locks the wheels, including one garage crash after a sudden surge. Warped rotors cause steering shake under braking by 10k to 15k miles, and Honda treats this as wear. One independent inspection found loose master cylinder and booster bolts.

Knocking at low rpm on a warm engine turns out to be crankshaft bearing wear. Two reports place it around 22k miles and link it to Honda's V6 crankshaft recalls, and in one case the noise came back after a bearing was replaced. Other owners report Auto Idle Stop failures that leave the engine dead for up to 5 minutes, sudden power loss with emissions and transmission warnings that required a tow, and an antitheft fault that shut the engine off. One crash involved the engine racing to full throttle while parking.

The power-folding side mirrors stop working, and the fault returns soon after the dealer replaces the wiring. Other complaints concern recall campaign 23V174000, where owners are told the repair part is not yet available and the wait is called unreasonable. In one case the owner's mirror fault turned out not to be covered by that recall. One complaint includes no details beyond an attached document.

Side mirrors replaced under recall 23V-174 come back distorted, like a fun-house mirror, and the replacement for the replacement is just as bad. Another report describes the driver's mirror vibrating so hard at 70 mph that lane changes become difficult, and the dealer declines to replace it. Separately, a windshield cracks on its own on a cold morning at low speed, and Honda refuses to cover the repair.

These reports are mostly about recall delays, not failures. Owners received notice of recall campaign 24V064000, but dealers say the repair part is not yet available, and several call the wait unreasonable. One separate complaint describes a passenger seat weight sensor that still does not work after replacement following a collision repair. That owner was sent back and forth between the dealer and the body shop with no answer on whether wiring or the airbag system is at fault.

A sudden lockup after turning a corner leaves the car impossible to steer in one report, which ends in a crash. In another, five safety-system warnings come on at once, and the dealer traces them to a failed control chip that also governs power steering and brakes. A third complaint describes false forward collision warnings set off by oncoming cars over 2+ years, with no software fix offered. Reports are few, but the lockup and control failures carry a real loss-of-control risk.