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 2017 Acura RDX submitted to NHTSA — not a confirmed defect, not a recall and not a manufacturer bulletin. 18 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.
Shown in the owner’s own words, exactly as filed
I have been experiencing issues with the alarm system when I lock the car the alarm randomly goes off. I have had my battery replaced and it still happens. There is nothing touching the handles during these times, it happens randomly, something internal going on. The only way to be sure it won’t disturb my neighbors is to leave my door unlocked which is unsafe.
I was at a stop light, car was stopped, the electronics on the vehicle looked like it went through a reboot, a/c blower fluctuated (turned off then back on), all displays went out and restarted like it does when you start the car. When the traffic light turned green, and I stepped on the gas, the car shuddered and hesitated, like the transmission, abs and traction control were all going haywire. Then the car drove fine. As long as I do not slow down too much or stop. Once I got home and had to back up into the garage, it went through that haywire cycle again. This was the 3rd time this has happened on this car. But after I shut off the engine, wait a little while and start it again, symptom seems to go away, until it decides to happen again. I have had this car since July of 2024, and since that time, I have had this happen to me 3 times and 2 times to my wife. I have read on the net and one of the possibilities talked about if the abs control unit, where soldered wires seems to be melting off of the circuit boards and causing intermittent connection, therefore exhibiting erratic behavior. There are even services on ebay where you can send in your whole abs unit and they will open them up, clean and re-solder the wires. This seems to be scary and concerning from a safety perspective. Please investigate the issue for us who are affected. Occurrences are getting more frequent (almost every other day) and it just happened again today 3/3/26.
Acura RDX alarm keeps going off; smart power control unit (keyless access/tpms) is faulty.
My car alarm starting going off at random throughout the night, last night and day today. The car also started flickering all the dashboard lights while the car was turned off completely. This seems like it’s the keyless access unit. I don’t know how the battery is not dead yet but seems like it will be tomorrow. The car has not been diagnosed by a dealership or independent service center but I’m seeing many people say they’ve had this same issue happen to them with the same year, make and model. There was no warning lights or symptoms instead I was woke up in the middle of the night to my car alarm going off. After turning the alarm off it happened again after about 5 minutes. My neighbor was outside and told me that it had actually been going off all night. I am now the villain of the neighborhood. This will definitely kill my battery as I’m watching and hearing electrical components turning on when I haven’t touched the key fob or door.
I have a 2017 Acura rdx all wash lights on ( Check emissions, abs, brake, brake system, power steering, tpms, and hill start assist, air bags, no seatbelt). Been to 3 different dealerships nobody can figure out what's wrong because the car does not communicate with itself anymore. Unsafe to drive because some is majorly wrong. Losses acceleration and beeps at you that the whole vehicle is not working.
Keyless access unit and security system. Random ignition flickering and alarm going on and off numerous times with or without key nearby. Said to be commonly known issue for similar years for various Acura models including RDX.
Dashboard warning lights all light up at once. Flickering on and off. Lights turn on and off inside car, it unlocks and locks car on it’s own. Says key is not close to car when trying to turn on car. Alarm goes off randomly once parked and locked.
The alarm and lights keep going off for No reason. The doors can be locked and Armed. Goes off even when not locked.
Keyless Access Control Unit (a.k.a. Smart Power Control Unit) is defective. This is an electronic part and should not have failed. It causes random security alarm triggers, random flashing of exterior lights, clicking noises, and flashing of dash lights. There are plenty of discussion boards about this online with many complaints. A recall should definitely be issued.
Vehicle began jerking while in motion, and all error messages the vehicle has ability to display rotated across the screen, including PO848. Transmission was replaced by a dealer. Vehicle would not start two weeks later. Vehicle towed to dealer. Dealer stated battery and starter were bad. Both of those components replaced by Acura dealer. Within one week, alarm was sounding randomly and clicking noise coming from dash. Dealer is now replacing a control module. This is a safety issue because as it was jerking, I lost control of the vehicle. The car alarm going off for a prolonged time at high decibels puts the hearing of bystanders at risk. Seems the car poses a fire risk as well.
Part - Control Unit, Smart Power - Acura 38320-TX4-A31 has been diagnosed as defective causing major electrical issues. Dealer says it affects the safety features of the car yet they can't get a replacment part. Afraid to allow my wife to drive not knowing if the safety features we paid for actually work. Air bags? Electrical breakdown during operation? A simple search finds it is a common problem with Acura and Hondas of this time period.
Since we have had the car we have had multiple issues with the car jerking and shifting hard after driving in S mode then going to standard mode. Dealership told us the transmission is "sensitive" in our model year and if we go 1 mile overdue for a transmission fluid flush we will have shudder/jerking/ hard shifting. (we have changed the transmission fluid 1-2x since have had the car, which is within range of recommended). Last episode- battery was dead, jumpstarted and car jerking at low speeds to the point I did not drive it and had it told. We were also told their was a short in the circuit board that controlled acuralink and what charged the battery. Jerking transmission related per dealership. lastly the sound for the blind spot monitoring is intermittently not working.
Keyless entry system failed at under 50k miles. When this Keyless Access Unit fails, you cannot start the car and the powertrain. The only way to resolve is to have the car towed to the dealership and have the part orders and installed at over $800. In a worst case scenario, the driver could be stranded in unsafe conditions -- weather extremes (heat or cold) or parking at the side of the freeway unable to restart the car. I believe this is a huge safety issue and too common for this model Acura. This is clearly a critical system component that has failed far before it should. There is no way to turn the vehicle on as this is a keyless entry vehicle.
On Friday May 10, 2022, as I was merging from a local road to the highway, I tried to accelerate to complete a safe merge however, the car stated loosing power and jerking, I had to floor the accelerator to get the power needed to avoid a collision with the vehicle behind me. About 1 mile later, the care started loosing power again and cut out. I restarted and continued driving, a few yards later, the car jerked and all the warning lights came on. Given the serious safety issue and the fact that I happened to be near the an Acura dealership, I slowly drove to that dealership. Since it was close to the end of the business day on a Friday, I knew that I'd have to wait until the next day or week to get a report on the problem. I previously filed two complaints on June 19, 2019 and July 28, 2019, on this same issue. I spoke with a representative of Honda several times and they assured my that the problem was fixed after the dealer kept this car for several weeks to work on it. At this juncture, given that this is an issue that could cause serious harm, I am ready to sell this car. Honda needs to fix this.
FOLLOW-UP TO COMPLAINT #11240187: ACURA WAS MADE AWARE TO THIS SITUATION THIS SITUATION WITH THE CAR LOOSING POWER AND CUTTING OUT IN THE MIDDLE OF TRAFFIC IS VERY DANGEROUS. I HAVE CALLED THE MANFACUTRER SEVERAL TIMES TO NO AVAIL. IN ADDITION I LOSE TIME FROM WORK EACH TIME I HAVE TO TAKE MY CAR IN. DATES OF INCIDENTS: JULY 28, 2019, JUNE 20, 2019, JULY 20, 2018, MARCH 4, 2018. PLEASE HELP I NO LONGER HAVE CONFIEDNCE IN THIS CAR. DANGEROUS!!
THIS VECHICLE STARTS TO LOOSE POWER, JERKY ACCELERATION THEN CUTS OUT COMPLETELY. ALL THE LIGHTS COME ON INCLUDING CHECK ENGINE AND REMAINS ON UNTIL I TAK IT TO THE DEALER. PURCHASED IN MARCH 2018, THIS IS A CONTINUAL PROBLEM AND GETTING WORSE. THREE TIMES IN THE PAST MONTH. THE DEALER KEPT THE VEHICLE FOR THREE WEEKS FROM JUNE 20, 2019, AFTER THREE (3) WEEKS HE TOLD ME THERE WAS NOTHING WRONG. PROBLEM OCCURED AGAIN TODAY, JULY 28, 2019.
9,249 MILES ON A 2017 ACURA RDX. CHECK ENGINE LIGHT CAME ON WHILE IN MOTION ON A HIGHWAY AT APPROXIMATELY 65 MPH WITH NOTABLE LOSS OF POWER (ONCE STOPPED IT TOOK A FULL 30 SECONDS TO GET TO 15 MPH). LET CAR SIT FOR 2 HOURS AS MANUAL STATED. ONCE RESTARTED AND DRIVEN FOR APPROXIMATELY 20 FEET ALL LIGHTS ON DASHBOARD WHERE FLASHING AND AGAIN VIRTUALLY NO POWER. VEHICLE WAS TOWED TO THE DEALERSHIP. TECH PERFORMED HDS SCAN AND RETRIEVED ERROR CODES: P0304, P0 05, AND P0306...4/5/6. DEALERSHIP CLAIMS WAS ALL DUE TO NEEDING A SOFTWARE UPDATE. OF WHICH I NEVER WOULD HAVE BEEN AWARE OF UNLESS I EXPERIENCED THIS SCARY LOSS OF POWER ON THE HIGHWAY. THEY HAD NO SORT OF ALERT OUT THAT THE NEW MODELS ARE IN NEED OF A SOFTWARE UPDATE. DANGEROUS AND DO NOT FEEL SAFE DRIVING THIS CAR ANY LONGER.
TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 2017 ACURA RDX. WHILE DRIVING APPROXIMATELY 65 MPH, THE VEHICLE EXPERIENCED A LOSS OF POWER AND THE COLLISION AVOIDANCE WARNING INDICATOR ILLUMINATED. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO THE DEALER, BUT THE FAILURE COULD NOT BE REPLICATED. THE VEHICLE WAS NOT REPAIRED. THE MANUFACTURER WAS NOTIFIED OF THE FAILURE. THE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS APPROXIMATELY 2,000.
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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