Honda Pilot Towing Capacity: What To Know
Honda Pilot by Kevauto - CC-BY-SA-4.0
Towing capacity isn’t something every person thinks of when deciding whether or not to buy a vehicle, but it is if you want to haul a lot of objects frequently. Many people buy large vehicles, for this reason, making the car’s towing capacity one of the primary factors in deciding whether or not they’ll make the purchase.
The Honda Pilot is an excellent choice for a lot of people, and many drivers are looking at towing capacity more than anything else. Here, we’ll tell you all you need to know about the Honda Pilot towing capacity and how it shapes up to the competition.
What is Towing Capacity?
Towing capacity is important to be aware of in your vehicle. It measures how much weight your vehicle can safely pull with a trailer, avoiding damage to what it’s towing or the vehicle itself. It’s dangerous to exceed the maximum towing capacity as stated in your owner’s manual, so do everything you can to avoid this. There are a few ways you can figure out the towing capacity of your car: by reading the owner’s manual, finding the sticker on the driver’s side door jamb with the information, or calculating it by yourself (which actually isn’t too difficult).
In order to do this, you just take the gross combined weight of your vehicle, including everything it’s loaded with and the trailer it’ll be towing, and subtract the curb weight, which is the weight of your vehicle when it’s completely empty. Of course, the easiest way to find your vehicle’s towing capacity is still by getting it directly from the manufacturer, and you can be sure that it’s accurate.
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How Much Can the Honda Pilot Tow?
Yes, even though the Honda Pilot is an SUV, it still has the capability to tow a decent amount of weight! To get into the Honda Pilot towing capacity, let’s start with a recent model: the 2021 Pilot. This has a towing capacity of 3,500 to 5,000 pounds, which isn’t amazing when compared to trucks specifically designed for towing, but for an SUV, it’s a nice feature. If you get the LX trim level with Front Wheel Drive, you’ll be able to tow closer to 3,500 pounds. To boost the towing capacity up to that 5,000-pound number, you’ll need to get the LX, or Elite All Wheel Drive trims.
Now, let’s talk about the Honda Pilot towing capacity of models before 2021. For models released from 2016 through 2020, the range seems to be about 2,250 to 5,000 pounds. If your model has an ATF cooler, the towing capacity will be slightly higher than if it didn’t. From 2013 to 2015, Honda Pilots could tow between 2,000 and 4,500 pounds. The models in the lower end of this range have 2 Wheel Drive and no ATF cooler, while those closer to the 4,500-pound mark have 4 Wheel Drive and an ATF cooler.
Honda Pilots from 2009 through 2012 have a towing capacity of 2,000 to 3,500 pounds with 2 Wheel Drive and 2,000 to 4,500 pounds if they have 4 Wheel Drive. While the towing capacity in Honda Pilots isn’t the highest we’ve ever seen, it’s still solid for an SUV. If it’s important to you, make sure you get a model with an ATF cooler, 4 Wheel Drive, and the best trim level available to maximize the weight you can pull.
How Does This Compare to Competitors?
In comparison to competitors, the Honda Pilot towing capacity is about on par with similar SUVs. With a capacity of 3,500 to 5,000 pounds for the 2021 Honda Pilot, it sits at about the same level as other SUVs such as the 2021 Kia Telluride, which can tow 5,000 pounds, the 2021 Mazda CX-9, which can tow 3,500 pounds, and the 2021 Honda Passport, which can tow 3,500 to 5,000 pounds.
The 2021 Toyota 4Runner has a towing capacity of 5,000 pounds, and the 2020 Volkswagen Atlas does as well, putting them in the same category for towing capacity as the aforementioned SUVs. The primary SUV that actually beats out the Honda Pilot towing capacity is the 2021 Jeep Grand Cherokee, with the ability to tow a maximum weight of 3,500 to 7,200 pounds.
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Other Towing Features of the Honda Pilot
You can purchase trailer brakes for your Honda Pilot, and we highly recommend doing so. This allows your trailer itself to also brake when your whole vehicle is braking so that it can come to a stop much more quickly than it would if you didn’t have trailer brakes. Another tool we suggest getting is a trailer light for enhanced visibility to other drivers. Of course, you have to make sure that it complies with state and federal regulations first.
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Everything Else You Need to Know
Something that it can be easy to overlook is how the number of passengers you have in your Honda Pilot will affect how much you can tow. This is hugely important, and if you have as many as 8 total passengers, Honda actually advises that you don’t tow anything at all. It becomes too heavy and is deemed unsafe, so please keep this in mind if you’re looking to haul some equipment while driving several people.
We can’t emphasize enough how important it is that you always tow things as safely as possible. This means that you must make sure that the trailer you want to tow with your vehicle is compatible with it and is attached properly prior to leaving for the journey ahead. Ensure the weight on the trailer is balanced and secured, with everything you’ll be towing strapped in well enough that it won’t slide or fly out. And as always, we must reiterate that you must not exceed the Honda Pilot towing capacity. You could put yourself, your passengers, and your trailer, and whatever else you’re hauling in danger!
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