Honda preliminary evaluation PE25017
Inaccurate Rear Passenger Seat Belt Warning Status. NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation opened this preliminary evaluation about the seat belts on 2 model years (2023–2024). Opened Oct 28, 2025, closed Oct 23, 2026 after 12 months without a recall. closed
What NHTSA says
Source: Office of Defects Investigation, as filedOn October 28, 2025, the Office of Defects Investigations (ODI) opened PE25-017 to investigate allegations of inaccurate rear seat belt warning status indicators. These allegations concern both false positive and false negative status indications in model year (MY) 2023-2024 Honda Pilot vehicles manufactured by American Honda Motor Co. (Honda). A false negative occurs when the occupant’s seat belt is latched and the warning light illuminates, indicating the occupant is not belted. A false positive occurs when the occupant’s seat belt is not latched yet no warning is provided to the driver of this unlatched condition. ODI’s data analysis revealed that nearly all complaints involved false negative alerts. Regardless of the type of failure, there is no effect on the performance of the rear seat belts or on occupant protection during collisions. ODI is closing this Preliminary Evaluation. The closing of this investigation does not constitute a finding by NHTSA that a safety-related defect does not exist. The Agency reserves the right to take additional action if warranted by future circumstances. To review the ODI reports cited in the Closing Resume ODI Report Identification Number document, go to NHTSA.gov.
A Preliminary Evaluation is the first formal stage: NHTSA has decided the complaints and other information it screened are worth a closer look, and asks the manufacturer for its own data on the condition. The summary is the agency’s own text from its investigation file, unedited; the resumes carrying the full reasoning are linked below.
The paperwork NHTSA filed
Source: every document on this action, at nhtsa.gov- Opening resume — ODI’s own summary of why it opened this — the subject, what prompted it, and the vehicles in scope.
- Closing resume — ODI’s own summary of why it closed this, and what it concluded.
| Document | Code | Filed | At NHTSA |
|---|---|---|---|
| Opening resume | INOA | 2025 | |
| Closing resume | INCLA | 2025 | |
| Information request to the manufacturer | INIM | 2025 | |
| Manufacturer's response — data | INRD | 2025 | 31 files 12345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031 |
| Manufacturer's response — full submission | INRL | 2025 | 4 files 1234 |
| Memo granting a response extension | INRE | 2025 | 2 files 12 |
40 of 46 documents shown; the rest are under this number at nhtsa.gov.
These are NHTSA’s own files, served from the agency’s site — the resumes are what ODI wrote when it opened and closed the action, and the rest is the correspondence behind them, including what the manufacturer sent when the agency asked. They are linked, not copied: where a document names the people who wrote in, that redaction is the agency’s to make and its copy is the one you should read.
What owners had already reported
Source: complaints on file the day it openedWhen NHTSA opened this on Oct 28, 2025, owners had filed 244 complaints with the agency about the model years above, of which 8 named the seat belts NHTSA went on to investigate. Owner complaints are the agency’s main early signal: ODI screens them, and a Preliminary Evaluation is usually where a pattern in them ends up.
This is what the complaint file held on that date, not a claim about which reports prompted the investigation — NHTSA’s complaint records carry no investigation number, so nobody can make that link from the data alone. The opening resume linked above names the reports ODI itself cited. Complaint records on this site begin with 2016.
What this means for an owner
Source: and what happens nextAn investigation is not a finding that a defect exists, and it puts no duty on anyone. NHTSA opens a Preliminary Evaluation when complaints and other reports suggest a condition worth asking the manufacturer about; it upgrades to an Engineering Analysis when the answers warrant testing; it closes either when it recommends a recall, when the manufacturer recalls on its own, or when no defect trend is found. The agency’s own goals are about four months for a petition, eight for a Preliminary Evaluation or a Recall Query and eighteen for an Engineering Analysis; many run longer.
This one closed without a recall. That means NHTSA found no defect trend it chose to act on at the time, or the manufacturer addressed the condition another way (a service campaign or a bulletin, which have their own pages). A closed file can be reopened if new reports arrive.
Model years it names
Source: as NHTSA filed themA vehicle page’s investigation list carries the same action; a name here is the scope NHTSA opened, not a list of affected VINs.
Common questions
Source: NHTSA Office of Defects InvestigationIs PE25017 a recall?
No. A preliminary evaluation is NHTSA asking questions, not a recall. A safety recall carries an NHTSA campaign number and a duty to repair for free; this one closed without one. Whether one particular vehicle has an open recall is a VIN question at nhtsa.gov/recalls.
Is PE25017 still open?
No. It closed on Oct 23, 2026 without a recall.
Which vehicles does PE25017 cover?
NHTSA opened it on 2 model years: 2024 Honda Pilot, 2023 Honda Pilot. That is the scope of the inquiry, not a list of affected vehicles; a recall, if one follows, defines its own population by VIN.