Owner-reported complaints naming the electrical system, filed with NHTSA
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Reports naming the electrical system — wiring, battery, charging, control modules, infotainment and electrical accessories. Every record below is an owner-reported complaint about the 2019 Acura MDX submitted to NHTSA — not a confirmed defect, not a recall and not a manufacturer bulletin. 39 reports on file name it.
Complaints are reports submitted by owners and drivers to NHTSA. They are not verified and do not establish that a defect exists.
The 25 most recent of 39, in the owner's own words
Car shifted on its own from drive to park right after warning lights stating Electrical Parking System then Emissions the Transmission came on while in stop and go traffic. Car had just come back from Acura mechanic 4 hours earlier as these warning lights had come when starting car. Immediately had car towed to dealership.
While driving, the vehicle experienced a sudden internal mechanical and electronic transmission failure. Without warning, the vehicle shifted itself directly into Park while navigating the busy intersection of [XXX] and [XXX]. This caused a complete loss of propulsion and left the vehicle entirely immobilized in the middle of a high-speed junction. The vehicle could not be moved, creating an immediate, severe highway safety hazard that required an emergency 911 police response to manage traffic and protect the vehicle from being rear-ended. The dealership scan tool later pulled diagnostic code P0730 (Incorrect Gear Ratio) along with multiple clutch performance failures (P07A4, P07A2, P07A8). INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
Under normal driving conditions warning lights for "electric parking brake" and "emissions system problem" came on the dashboard and the 'brake' light began flashing. No change in performance. Auto parts store diagnostic indicated EVAP valve as the possible problem code, along with two other unrelated codes - none connected to brakes or emissions. The 12-volt battery tested strong. Drove another 100 miles with lights still on, but the 'brake' light would turn off after about 5 mins of highway driving/no braking. The next day the warning lights continued. After normal city driving I shut the car off, waited 30 seconds, pushed the start button twice (accessory mode) and held the brake pedal down while pulling up on the brake release button for 10 seconds. Started the car without any error messages.
My car has stalled while driving on the highway multiple times now. The first time it happened, it lost power, stopped accelerating, and cycled through multiple warning lights, causing a significant safety risk. I pulled over and it restarted within minutes. I took it to a repair shop and they could not find a problem with it, even with the codes provided. Nothing pointed to a solution. It happened two other times while I was driving my child on a highway where it lost acceleration and then kicked back in. Again, this post, a significant safety risk as always in a fast lane on a highway with my child cars behind me had to hit their brakes to avoid me after this incident. Other times it doesn’t lose power, yet it cycles through warning lights randomly. I took it to the dealer instead of a local shop. They texted me about items that should be fixed per an inspection, including struts and a battery replacement. Complete with a large bill just for diagnostics. Yet, nothing was found having to do with the main problem at hand. Losing power while driving. . My battery is less than six months old. I had it tested and it is fine. My vin is not listed in the recall, but, all of the symptoms match the other recalls of the same year make and model.
Since the purchase of my Acura MDX 2019, the following problems have been reported to the dealership and to Honda Manufacturing Inc. without any resolution. The dealer shop has replaced recall parts, but the problems persist and have not gone away. The vehicle stalls and stops working while driving. The engine makes knocking/rattling noises upon becoming disabled while driving.The engine would randomly not start when turning it on. When car becomes disabled the dashboard lights up warning lights displaying messages intermittently of the following problems: Anti-Lock Brake System Problem (ABS), Vehicle Stability Assist (VSA), Hill Start Assist, Trailer Stability Assist, Collision Mitigation System, Road Departure Mitigation System, Adaptive Cruise Control, Lane Keeping Assist, Brake System, Brake Hold System, Electric Parking Brake, SH-AWD, Keyless Start System and Power Steering System (EPS) Problems, while displaying ACC and LWKS codes. Additionally, the vehicle runs improperly and shuts down completely making the window, doors, etc, inoperable while passengers are inside locking me in and my entire family for long periods of time. A few times has left me either myself or with my children and dog inside. The only place where I take my car for services is where I purchased it (Chevy Chase Acura). The issues noted are the same reported by the recalls I have received, and I have not taken it somewhere else because of that reason. Nobody can fix them as the problems are manufacturing issues that even Acura/Honda cannot repair. This safety defect can kill or seriously injure me, my passengers, and other drivers on the road. As noted in one of the many recalls the fuel pump defect can cause the vehicle to stop in the highway and could prevent an engine from starting or cause a vehicle to stall while being driven, it potentially increases the risk of a fire, crash, or injury. My car continues to have these issues and nobody is helping me. Please help!
Turned on my car last night and many lights appeared including emissions system problem, electronic brake problem and SH-AWD malfunctioning. All the lights came on at once. According to forums, this is happening with many Acura RDX, MDX models and manufacturer does not have a clear way to repair or resolve the issue. My car has had all the routine maintenance and is scheduled for the 2 recalls to be repaired next week.
Vehicle is getting errors for Emssions controls, parking brake, and sh-awd system faults all at the same time. Car will still function normally and codes will go off and come back intermittently. Also while reading the codes it will get a U3006-16 code for low voltage on the ecm. Confirmed battery is good under load test and alternator is charging at 14.2 volts.
My 2019 Acura MDX with 100K miles stalled on the road with several alerts on the dashboard and went into Parking mode with no further movement. Had several alerts stating Transmission failure, Blind Spot monitoring failure, Auto break system failure and vehicle stalled on the road. Had similar issues previously where the steering jammed and vehicle was stalled on the signal, took it to Acura dealer and they had to fix some circuit / reset the circuit board. Was ok for few months and last week the car stalled with Parking sign on. Towed the car to the Dealer service center, they diagnosed and identified there is a failure with transmission. They quoted around 10000 dollars for replace new and 7000 for used transmission. This is huge money, hence called Acura customer care for any review/support but they claimed this issue is not in their current recalls or claims, so cannot support. had to pay out of the pocket. Per google there seemed to be a lawsuit with Transmission failures with Acura 2019 mdx vehicle. Acura customer relations is asking to get into the law suit group and Acura as such cannot help the customers with these problems. Had Lexus for several years with no issues and very upset/annoyed with these type of repairs within 100K / 5year old.
Electric Parking Brake Problem and Emission System Problem lights came on spontaneously
I was driving down the highway today at 70 mph and all the lights illuminated on my MDX. It began to struggle to keep speed and eventually shut down once I was on the service road. I was extremely scared and nervous that I was going to be involved in an accident or the car was going to blow up as it started bouncing up and down while I was still on the highway.
After driving for an extended timeframe (approximately 3 hours, trip was traveling between Des Moines, Iowa and Kansas City, Missouri) at Highway/interstate speeds, upon slowing down from those speeds, the vehicle goes into limp mode and check engine light begins blinking. After pulling over and turning car off and on again, normal behavior resumes. This has happened both as I arrived in the Kansas City area, and upon my return home to the Des Moines area. Depending on circumstances for when vehicle enters limp mode, there’s a significant risk of causing an accident. Dealer was unable to pull any codes and therefore is unwilling/unable to address the issue.
Infotainment system randomly becomes unresponsive and the screens will go black. The dealership stated that my phone was causing the issue. This is not true as the issue has happened when my phone is not in the car, phone is in the car/connected via bluetooth, in the car/connected via apple carplay (wired connection). This could be dangerous during the summer as these screens control the temperature controls and some of the safety systems.
The contact owns a 2019 Acura MDX. The contact stated while attempting to make a left turn from a complete stop, the vehicle shut off inadvertently. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact was able to restart the vehicle and continue driving. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, where an unknown software update was performed under an unknown recall. Additionally, the contact stated that upon pressing the park(P) button to park the vehicle, the vehicle failed to respond. The contact stated that the vehicle responded after several attempts. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the vehicle was jerking upon depressing the accelerator pedal. The contact received notifications of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V751000 (Engine and Engine Cooling) and related the failure to the recall; however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The local dealer was contacted. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was unknown. VIN tool confirms parts not available.
I was yielding to make a left hand turn , in the middle of the intersection, and my car turned off and wouldn’t turn back on. In addition the car occasionally jerks as I’m driving almost like if it changes gear. Sometimes I can’t get the car in park position I have to press the button multiple times. The recall going on right now can cause a fire crash or injury and they cannot replace the parts until April 2024 and I don’t feel safe driving my car.
During normal driving transmission will shift to Neutral, locks the system, and engine does not start when automatic idle stop had been engaged at stoplight or stop sign. Instead of restarting the engine, the feature causes the transmission and electrical system to lockup taking quite a bit of time to convince the car to restart.
The back inner tail light on my car is not working, which is the following recall, however, according to acura, my vin does not apply and does not show a recall. I believe this is an error since I am having the exact issue and my vin should be included in this recall. NHTSA RECALL NUMBER:19V-256 MFR CAMPAIGN ID:M49 CAMPAIGN DESCRIPTION:2014-19 MDX Tailgate Inner Taillight Safety Recall RECALL DATE:03/28/2019 RECALL STATUS:17 Character VIN Required
UNKNOWN Over the course of a couple weeks, engine has intermittently stalled while driving, forcing me to turn off the car in the middle of the road. Progressively, other electronics have also intermittent failed including power steering and infotainment system. All dashboard warning lights are on and do not resolve by turning car on/off. Generally, car is driveable until the random intermittent stall, which is obviously dangerous. 2 weeks ago, car had gone through state inspection and 30k mile maintenance without issue. Service station checked battery and alternator and no issues.
Starting having an issue over the last few weeks where the car will shut off as it should with the idle start/stop enhanced but when I release the brake, the car goes into neutral and doesn’t start… have had this happen 4 times already and was finally rear ended today due to this fault.
The Car shut down in engine idle and would not restart. It was unresponsive and took 5 minutes for the start button to function. This occurred in the middle of a busy intersection. 2 weeks ago Acura performed an update to the software that was supposed to resolve the engine restart issue, but clearly it has not.
Vehicle was stopped at a traffic light (transmission in Drive) and the automatic idle shutoff engaged, turning off the engine. When the traffic light turned green, the brake was released and we found that the transmission had shifted to neutral and would not shift back into Drive. We had to restart the car. Being stalled at a green light is a serious safety hazard as approaching vehicles would not anticipate my vehicle being stalled.
The contact owns a 2019 Acura MDX. The contact stated that upon locking the doors with the key fob, the vehicle would remain unlocked. Due to the failure, the contact believed that someone entered the vehicle and changed certain setting from the original setting. The contact was informed by the dealer that the setting change should not have shown on the multi-information display (MID) screen. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired for the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 40,400.
While in traffic the auto start sometimes fails to engage and the car stalls. Battery lights come on and the car goes into neutral on its own. I have to sit there and wait about 5 minutes in traffic before it restarts. Battery checked out fine. It has happened 3 times now. This is dangerous, and can/will cause a collision.
When stopped at a light or in traffic the vehicle engages the auto idle feature. (turns off the engine to save gas). Upon releasing the brake, the car should re-start, instead the car does not start. The car jumps out of the drive gear into neutral on the transmission. The electrical system goes crazy and does not allow you to either turn off the car's electrical system or re-restart the car using the car's on/off button. This has happened to me at least 5-10 times over the last year. Each time the car becomes immobile in the middle of the road or highway for up to 2 minutes, until the electrical system resets and allows you to turn off all the power and re-start the car. It's a very scary and dangerous situation, when my vehicle is stranded in the middle of a highway or a road for up to 2 minutes, as traffic tries to avoid crashing into my vehicle. Searching online, I was able to see that this same condition has affected many MDX owners but Honda does not seem to have recall or fix for this issue.
The contact owns a 2019 Acura MDX. The contact stated that he recurringly experienced failures with the instrument panel brightness being dimmed and then not displaying properly as needed. The contact turned off and restarted the vehicle and the instrument panel operated as designed. No warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was taken twice to a local dealer; however, the failure was not duplicated, and the vehicle was not repaired. On another occasion while driving and using the GPS, the displayed failed operate as needed. After turning off and restarting the vehicle, the instrument panel operated as needed. The vehicle was then taken back to the local dealer however, the mechanic was unable to duplicate the failure. The contact stated that the vehicle was however, repaired under NHTSA Campaign Number: 21V215000 (Fuel System, Gasoline). After the repair, the contact stated that the vehicle fuel tank was at half full however, the fuel gauge indicated that the tank was empty. The contact stated that the instrument panel then became inoperable. The failure persisted and the contact would turn off and restart the vehicle for the instrument panel to operate as needed; however, the speedometer would remain inoperable. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact sought legal advice and his attorney advised him to file a complaint with the NHTSA Hotline. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 20,000.
The contact owns a 2019 Acura MDX. The contact stated that while stationary at a traffic light, the vehicle stalled. The contact stated that the battery warning light was illuminated temporarily. The contact was able to restart the vehicle and continued driving to her destination. The contact stated the had occurred four times. The contact took the vehicle to a local dealer who was unable to duplicate the failure. The manufacturer had not been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 59,000.
Higher-selling and older vehicles accumulate more reports. Counts are not failure rates and are not directly comparable between vehicles that sold in very different numbers.
Categories with enough reports to have a page of their own
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