The owner's manual lists a ton of reasons why idle stop might not activate. The list is extensive so probably one of them has been applying to you?
Auto Idle Stop does not activate when:

• The Auto Idle Stop OFF button is pressed.
  
• The driver’s seat belt is not fastened.
  
• The engine coolant temperature is low or high.
  
• The transmission fluid temperature is low or high.
  
• The vehicle comes to a stop again before the vehicle speed reaches 3 mph (5km/
  h) after the engine starts.
  
• Stopped on a steep incline.
  
• The transmission is in a position other than [COLOR=rgb(100.000000%, 100.000000%, 100.000000%)]([/COLOR]D.
  
• The engine is started with the hood open.
  [COLOR=rgb(39.800000%, 39.800000%, 39.800000%)]u [/COLOR]Turn off the engine. Close the hood before you restart the engine to activateAuto Idle Stop.
  
• The battery charge is low.
  
• The internal temperature of the battery is 14°F (−10°C) or less.
  
• The climate control system is in use, and the outside temperature is below −4°F
  
  (−20°C) or over 104°F (40°C).
  
• The climate control system is in use, and the temperature is set to Hi or Lo.
  
• is on (indicator on).
  
• When the rear fan is set to maximum speed.
  [COLOR=rgb(39.800000%, 39.800000%, 39.800000%)]u [/COLOR]Auto Idle Stop may not activate under other conditions when the rear climatecontrol system is in use.
  
• When the Intelligent Traction Management is set to Snow.
  
  
  

Auto Idle Stop may not activate when:

• The vehicle is stopped by braking suddenly.
  
• The steering wheel is operated.
  
• The fan speed is high.
  
• Altitude is high.
  
• The vehicle is repeatedly accelerated and decelerated at a low speed.
  
• Theclimatecontrolsystemisinuse,andthereisasignificantdifferencebetween
  the set temperature and the actual interior temperature.
  
• Humidity in the interior is high.
  
• The rear fan is set to maximum speed.
  [COLOR=rgb(39.800000%, 39.800000%, 39.800000%)]u [/COLOR]Auto Idle Stop may not activate under other conditions when the rear climatecontrol system is in use.
  

 

The owner's manual lists a ton of reasons why idle stop might not activate. The list is extensive so probably one of them has been applying to you?
Auto Idle Stop does not activate when:

• The Auto Idle Stop OFF button is pressed.
• The driver’s seat belt is not fastened.
• The engine coolant temperature is low or high.
• The transmission fluid temperature is low or high.
• The vehicle comes to a stop again before the vehicle speed reaches 3 mph (5km/
  h) after the engine starts.
• Stopped on a steep incline.
• The transmission is in a position other than [COLOR=rgb(100.000000%, 100.000000%, 100.000000%)]([/COLOR]D.
• The engine is started with the hood open.
  [COLOR=rgb(39.800000%, 39.800000%, 39.800000%)]u [/COLOR]Turn off the engine. Close the hood before you restart the engine to activateAuto Idle Stop.
• The battery charge is low.
• The internal temperature of the battery is 14°F (−10°C) or less.
• The climate control system is in use, and the outside temperature is below −4°F
  
  (−20°C) or over 104°F (40°C).
• The climate control system is in use, and the temperature is set to Hi or Lo.
• is on (indicator on).
• When the rear fan is set to maximum speed.
  [COLOR=rgb(39.800000%, 39.800000%, 39.800000%)]u [/COLOR]Auto Idle Stop may not activate under other conditions when the rear climatecontrol system is in use.
• When the Intelligent Traction Management is set to Snow.

Auto Idle Stop may not activate when:

• The vehicle is stopped by braking suddenly.
• The steering wheel is operated.
• The fan speed is high.
• Altitude is high.
• The vehicle is repeatedly accelerated and decelerated at a low speed.
• Theclimatecontrolsystemisinuse,andthereisasignificantdifferencebetween
  the set temperature and the actual interior temperature.
• Humidity in the interior is high.
• The rear fan is set to maximum speed.
  [COLOR=rgb(39.800000%, 39.800000%, 39.800000%)]u [/COLOR]Auto Idle Stop may not activate under other conditions when the rear climatecontrol system is in use.

Wow thanks. I'm slowly working through the manual as this is my first Honda and I want to make sure there isn't some cool settings or features that I'm not aware of. I had not made it to this section yet.
I'm guessing it is b/c we usually have the climate control set to Low

 

That post didn't look great. Page 553.

http://techinfo.honda.com/rjanisis/pubs/OM/AH/ATHR1818OM/enu/ATHR1818OM.PDF

 

Anyone know how to permanently turn it off and only come on when i turn it back on?

 

just hit the button that has the A with a circular arrow

 

Thanks...I was hoping I don't have to either push the button all the time I restart, or have to get used to the idea of braking light.
Oh wells, I guess i'll have to live with it.

 

Is this feature limited to Touring & above trims? Thats dumb, that Honda does that. Pacifica is having it on 2017s.

 

I am having exact same issue on 2018 touring Elite. the idle stop feature worked for first few days then it stopped working. i did not change any settings and non of the conditions are there that would disable auto idle stop

 

I got my 2018 Touring elite in October and the auto idle stop feature worked for about two weeks. I took it in the end of November and they fixed it, but it stopped working two weeks later. I like the feature and am aware of the list of things that may prevent it from working, but these don't apply. I'm about to bring it in again and I hope they've had enough complaints to come up with a permanent fix.

 

Me too! I can't figure it out.

 

I took it to the dealer, exact similar issues as others above. he did a "BATTERY HARD RESET", that seemed to have fixed it, its been only one day since this was done

 

It makes sense that it has something to do with the battery. Elite/Touring uses a different battery from the lower trims because of Idle Stop. I wonder if anyone else who has encountered this issue has ever seen the "battery low" warning when trying to turn on accessory power without starting the engine. I have seen the message once. Idle Stop stopped working during the heat wave in our area last week so I didn't pay attention to it; it has cooled down since then but Idle Stop has not returned, even when I drove my car at 3AM the other day when outside temperature was in the mid to high 60s.

 

Now that summer has arrived, auto-idle stop might not kick in so that the a/c can keep the cabin cool even when you're stopped. On other cars that I've driven with idle stop, the a/c fan keeps going when the engine turns off but the compressor turns off with the engine so it starts blowing warmer and warmer. If the auto temp control thinks its to hot to turn of the compressor, it'll over ride the idle stop.

 

We had some hot weather right after I got mine on October 2. On a hot day at a light, the engine would shut down and if the light was a long one it would start back up when the temp got warmer inside the car. But it always shut down as it was supposed to. Mine worked for two weeks, then I took it in in November and it worked about two more weeks. It's a major pain to drive down there and wait a couple of hours. It hasn't worked now since the middle of December.

 

Yes, I've seen the low battery warning when turning my Ody Elite on. And my idle stop doesn't seem to be working. It's been hot and humid here, and I've gotten the "idle stop not available" thing some, but it hasn't done the idle stop thing in a while. Do you think this warrants a trip to Honda?

 

By the way, the fact that Touring/Elite trims use a different battery because of Idle Stop feature is documented on Page 683 in Owner's Manual. Maybe the factory put in the wrong battery? I don't know.

In a battery reset the battery cables are disconnected from the battery, then shorted for a period of time. This allows all control units to reset. Something is not right if a car only a few weeks old needs to go through this maneuver. Most of us probably don't care about the loss of Idle Stop feature, but we do wonder if there are other problems that we do care about. Actually the first Elite I test drove (serial number in the VIN was the 700 range) did not have Idle Stop working, when I asked the sales consultant he said somehow "it came from the factory disabled". In retrospect I bet it stopped working on that vehicle for the same reason it has stopped working for many of us.

 

I'm not too worried about the Idle Stop. I AM concerned because of the other person posting that their car had power failure. I'm wondering if this is ALL a battery issue. I agree that the reset seems really extreme for a brand new vehicle -- there must be something else going on.

 

We just purchased our 2018 Touring edition last night and thought we had the same issues. It turns out that since we live in FL and it's 98, we had the air conditioning running too high. Once we moved all zones above 60 and didn't have the fans running very high, it worked perfectly. You don't have to slam on the breaks, once it's been two seconds of you being stopped the engine will shut off.

 

Just a quick observation from my Elite. I too had noticed, that for about 1 week, the auto stop feature was not working. I turned off the AC and did everything possible to get it to engage with no success. This evening it finally worked again. I feel it is very dependent on the outside temperature. In all cases where I was trying to make it work, it was around 85, however this evening it was in the low 70's. I definitely think the feature is sketchy, but I didn't really buy the car because of it, so i am fine with it.

 

I agree that it's a sketchy feature and one that I don't really like (wish it had a permanent off button or remembered its settings between sessions), but I paid @50k for a car and expect all the features to work. This morning it was 65 when I was out and about and I could not get it to kick on - kept giving me the "unavailable" message. Had AC turned off, flat surface, etc... but still wouldn't kick on. My concern is that there is another underlying issue causing this one not to work.

 

I could not get it to kick on - kept giving me the "unavailable" message. .

I have never seen an "unavailable" feature. On my Elite, it either works or does not. I will get a message if i don't depress the break enough. How many miles do you have? We have around 700. Another strange thing was even when i woudl see teh lob battery warning when i put the car in accessory mode, it would still use Idle Stop.

We are going to the Outer Bank next week. If there is going to be a problem, it will happen then. It's going to be around 2k miles round trip.The small trip we took to the Jersey shore (200 miles) was a dry run to tease out any issues. So far so good (Other then the hiss).

 

I am having the same issue. Bought the Elite about a week ago. I noticed a few days ago the "low battery" signal come on prior to turning on the engine but the Auto Idle stop did work after that, but the Auto Idle Stop is now not working.

 

stopped working after one week

a few days after i purchased my touring elite, idle stop feature stopped working, took it to the dealer he did a battery reset, it started working after that. now after a week it has stopped working again. this feature is very flaky it has a mind of its own and does not work very well.

 

I have had auto stop kick in only once on me. Probably because we have the ac on all the time, etc. How do you know it's not working? Just turn everything off and push down firm on the brake pedal at the next stop to see if it turns off?

 

What is a battery reset?

 

Mine isn't turning off anymore either. I noticed about two weeks ago. I haven't wanted to take it in yet. This is the first issue with my van. I keep thinking it is the hot weather but even on cool nights it isn't doing it. After long drives in the freeway that should get the battery charged it doesn't do it either.

 

My four day EX-L with nav briefly showed low battery this morning, so the problem isn't just Touring Elite models.

Not too concerned about it, I am guessing that it is a software issue. Planning to check the voltage tomorrow morning before starting to see if the voltage actually is low.

 

@MaiTaiMatt. I have about 1800 miles on mine. We just got it back from a week in service at the dealer for a myriad of repairs. The dealer said nothing was wrong with the system according to their computer. So, I intend to argue further with Honda Corp about the issue.

As far as the message I received you can turn on that feature in the settings. I think it's Vehicle Settings, Meter Settings, Auto Engine Idle Stop and turn that on. It will then display a message about it being unavailable.... Though it's not really helpful as it doesn't say why.

 

I was reading up on the auto-stop because it finally started working on my Ody, turns out the grandkids had disabled it for me on their first test ride and until I re-enabled it it did nothing, which I liked. What the little monsters had done was to set the rear AC fan to high, apparently that blocks it from activating. When I turned the rear fan down due to spousal complaints about noise it started working again.

Apparently it is also disabled if the Ody is started with the hood up. I wonder if anything else is impacted by the "hood open" switch? Fiddling that might give a permanent disable to the auto-stop. No way I want that silly thing turning off my AC when it is 116 outside!

 

It's just a simple button press to turn it off, although I doubt it would activate if the outside temp was anywhere near that high.

 

the start stop function worker perfect day 1 and 2 after buying the car but i can not under any circumstance get it to work anymore. i have tried all levels of HVAC (including off), no hills, perfect weather, etc. whats going on?

 

Just as a followup to this thread - after talking with my Honda Corp rep over the past two days they have decided to send my case up to their Engineering department to escalate the issue. The dealership did tell the Honda Rep that while their computers said it should be working that they could not actually get it to activate... And the Honda rep also agrees with me that something just doesn't seem right. So, got my fingers crossed that the Engineering department can help resolve all our issues.

I have checked all my A/C settings (even the ones in the back) and all are set to Auto/Sync for the back unit. Nothing is set too high or an unusually cold temp.