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.
The fuel pump suppliers say the propellers can crack and deform, partly because they absorb too much fuel and also because of the solvent drying process used during manufacturing. Once deformed, the impellers can disable the pumps and cause a sudden shut down of the engine. The recall is expected to begin at the end of July 2020.
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.
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.
When a storm cloud starts dropping rain, you can only dodge the drops for so long. Such is the case for another 2.2 million Honda and Acura vehicles that are now involved in one of the largest and most dangerous recalls in automotive history.
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
Acura RDX News and Notes
Bite-sized content about all the recalls, lawsuits, and investigations surrounding the Acura RDX.