The pion induced pion production (π, 2π) reaction on deuterium has been studied at an incident pion energy of 280 MeV. The outgoing pions were detected in coincidence and the measured four-fold cross sections were compared with a πN → ππ N microscopic model, and, upon integration, with the available experimental total cross sections from the same reaction on H and 2H. Finally, the results were directly compared with recent data from the 16O(π+, π+ π−) reaction at the same incident energy.