Acura's parent company, Honda, wants to settle up a decade-old lawsuit about downshifting transmissions with an offer so low it's borderline insulting. A 2009 lawsuit says 5-speed automatic transmissions in some 2002-2004 Honda and Acura vehicles have a defect in the 3rd clutch. That defect can cause the transmission to suddenly downshift from 5th to 2nd gear. That's one way to reach your heart rate goal on your FitBit.
A lawsuit says Acura is ignoring a significant and immediate safety threat with the 3rd generation MDX and RDX transmissions. The 9-speed ZF transmission has numerous acceleration defects and can even throw itself into neutral if the throttle malfunctions while interpreting messages from various input modules.
Any hope of a proposed class-action lawsuit for faulty window regulators in certain Acure vehicles has fizzled after the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals shot down the proposal in a 2-to-1 ruling. The plaintiff argued that Honda, parent company of Acura, installed window regulators that are insufficiently strong and insufficiently durable to withstand the forces required to perform [their] intended function. Functions like making sure the dang window doesn't fall into the door, for example.
Acura's parent company, Honda, has reluctantly agreed to settle an oil consumption lawsuit for vehicles with 3.7-liter J37 engines. I emphasize reluctant because the automaker says they're closing the book on this case to "avoid the time and expense of ongoing litigation" and says only a small number of customers have filed complaints.
A lawsuit filed in California says newer MDX and RDX SUVs have issues with rapid deceleration, stalled engines, hesitation while accelerating, and transmissions that shift themselves into neutral randomly. The alleged problems are caused by miscommunications among the computers and software which control the engines, throttles and transmissions.
A lawsuit alleges that the 2016-2020 MDX and RDX continue to randomly lose engine power, nearly a year after a possibly related fuel pump recall. And proving it to a mechanic is nearly impossible as the power almost always comes back on and the vehicle acts like nothing ever happened.
Water is leaking past a faulty seal and straight into the tail lights of roughly 360,000 Acura SUVs. From there it meets up with some electrical components and that never tends to go well. In this case, it’s shorting out internal and exterior lights in the 2014-2019 MDX and 2017-2019 MDX Sport Hybrid. Dealerships will replace the light assembly gaskets when the recall begins on April 29, 2019.
When Honda and Acura recalled 1.1 million Takata airbag inflators for exploding into pieces, they replaced the defective part with a slightly different version from the same company. Now those are exploding too. The replacement PSDI-5D desiccated inflators were exposed to excess moisture during assembly. This rapidly degrades the propellant and allows pressure to build up over time, turning the inflator into a mini-grenade that explodes during airbag deployment.
Acura is part of a recall for over 437,000 vehicles to prevent the engine from suddenly shutting down due to a clogged fuel pump. Sodium particulates, often found in cheap gas, can cling to the inside of the pump and increase resistance as they heat up.
The 2014–15 Acura MDX and RLX have a 'collision mitigation braking system' that watches the road and hits the brakes if you’re about to crash. And that’s great when you’re about to slam into somebody’s bumper, less so when the system gets confused by a shiny guardrail that’s 100 feet away
I'll admit it, the first time I see frost on my windshield I get a bit cranky. But it's nothing compared to the tantrum some Acura seat belts are throwing. They simply refuse to move when the temperature gets frosty. They are freezing in place and prompting a safety recall.
Acura MDX News and Notes
Bite-sized content about all the recalls, lawsuits, and investigations surrounding the Acura MDX.