8.6

pretty bad
Crashes / Fires:
0 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
3,165 miles

About These NHTSA Complaints:

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problem #14

Jan 072023

RDX

  • miles
While accelerating on the highway the vehicle lost power. Pressing the gas did nothing. Engine light blinked

- Bremerton, WA, USA

problem #13

Jul 132022

RDX

  • miles
While driving on I-95 north, the check engine light began flashing on and off. We had been driving in a thunderstorm for approximately 100 miles, when it began flashing. Then suddenly the car began slowing down. There was no response to repeatedly stepping on the gas pedal. As the car slowed down I was able to get over to the shoulder, and put the car in park. Again trying to get a response by stepping on the gas pedal, but there was no response. I shut the engine off, then restarted the car. The car ran fine, after I restarted it. I continued my drive from Florence SC to NY, and then returned from NY to Florida without any further incident.

- Delray Beach, FL, USA

problem #12

May 232022

RDX

  • miles
Upon rapid acceleration, pushing the gas pedal down, the engine light started blinking and the car went into limp mode losing all power. This was a serious concern because we had just got off the interstate and if we had been full speed attempting to pass a vehicle, we could have been in a serious accident due to failure of power.

- Hernando, FL, USA

problem #11

May 142022

RDX

  • miles
It was raining and I was accelerating hard to pass a slow vehicle when the engine malfunction light started blinking and I lost power and could no longer accelerate. I had to pull over into an empty driveway. Had I not been able to pull over into a driveway, I would have been stuck on a 2 lane road with a 55 mph speed limit and no way to get the car completely off the road, endangering myself, any passengers, and others traveling the road. The car has only 28,000 miles on it and is at the dealership right now being inspected. The only warning light turned on when the problem started, blinked a few times, and then turned itself off, but I still had no acceleration and could not get the car above 10 mph.

- Burke, VA, USA

problem #10

Nov 062021

RDX

  • miles
11/6/21: Mid way home from a trip from Washington to Connecticut on the New Jersey turnpike in the left-hand lane the car lost all ability to accelerate. Concurrently the engine like came on and multiple warning signals came on regarding traction control, breaking, and steering. One can imagine how unsettling that could be but at that moment. Being in the left lane it was apparent I needed to get off the road. With cars traveling at 65+ mph and my car decelerating continuously changing lanes was nearly catastrophic and the last lane I needed to move over to nearly resulted in a multi car accident 11/8/2021 I was contacted by the service manager at the towed to acura dealer. They informed me that the evaluation determined a need for an -€œintercooler" This breakdown of my car with less than 20,000 miles on it was under warranty. More importantly, my understanding of this problem is that the car is engineered to power down under these circumstances to protect the engine and or transmission. I would have imagined that when a warning like comes on it would not result in an instantaneous power down action. Put quite simply it appears the car was more interested in protecting itself than the occupants. This is egregious. Acura has failed to address my concern or help now about 1 month out

- Woodbridge, CT, USA

problem #9

May 262021

RDX

  • miles
While traveling to my dealer on interstate 69 in Indiana, in the rain, I had to accelerate to avoid a conflict with a truck. When I pushed the accelerator to the floor, the Check Engine Light came on and the car went into limp mode. I had to pull to the shoulder and restart the car to continue. The dealer provided me a loaner 2021 Acura RDX, VIN #5J8TC2H5XML023677 with 740 miles on the odometer, which experienced the same phenomena, Check Engine Light coming on in the rain under acceleration, when I was attempting to merge onto Interstate 69 at Illinois road in Indiana. Pulling over to restart the engine allowed me to continue.

- Upland, IN, USA

problem #8

Apr 262021

RDX

  • 13,000 miles
It was mildly raining and I went to accellerate onto the highway and all a sudden without warning the car started to violently shake and stutter and the car lost all power and I was almost hit by another car because I lacked power. The vehicle then refused to accelerate and I had to dangerously glide off the highway without power and the vehicle had to be towed. Every check engine light came on. I then had the vehicle fixed and they said it was a problem with an engine coil. Three weeks later in the same situation in the mild rain the exact same problem happened again. I went to get on the highway in a mild rain the car broke down the exact same way. I am waiting for it get diagnosed again.

- Seaford, NY, USA

problem #7

Mar 262021

RDX

  • 3,900 miles
Brand new with 4000 miles. It went limp, stalled and went to neutral while driving, had to stop by the side of the road and restart to reset. And it went limp on highway at 70 mph, continue to decelerate rapidly and did not respond to gas and went limp, engine did not rev up with any amount of gas. It only responded when I set the cruise and hand accelerate that way. Dangerous and scared to drive

- Plano, TX, USA

problem #6

Nov 252020

RDX

  • 12,000 miles
I was driving on a freeway at 4:30am when I suddenly lost all power from the engine and it went into limp mode. The check engine light was flashing and fortunately there was no traffic so I was able to pull off the road. I shut off the car and sat for a few minutes and when I restarted the car everything was working fine. I had a 12 hour drive ahead of me and I never stopped thinking of how that could have ended up so badly. Later that day as I was driving through atlanta I shuddered to think what could have happened if this lack of propulsion had occurred. My guess, quite bluntly, is that I probably would have been killed. I have read online of this problem happening to a significant number of other people. Acura needs to be held accountable before someone is killed!

- Plainwell, MI, USA

problem #5

Oct 142020

RDX

  • 2,800 miles
At approximately 10A Oct 14th 2020 traveling South bound route 15 in lycoming county pa weather conditions light rain 65deg F driving 2020 Acura Rdx with 2800 miles on odometer. Upon approach of truck traffic in right lane moved into line of faster moving traffic in left lane to pass trucks when the Acura Rdx immediately lost power and speed, almost caused a chain of rear end collisions and the vehicle flashed the engine light on the display and would not maintain more than 25 mph in a 70 mph zone. Left the roadway shut the vehicle off and restarted in approximately three mins and vehicle function was normal for the remaining 40 miles of the trip. Oct 16 2020 contacted Honda Motors usa customer service and was told to contact dealer (150 miles away) for diagnosing. Upon some quick research discovered this is a common complaint for many 2019/2020 Acura Rdx owners. This is an obvious safety issue that Acura is aware of and is not addressing. Currently there is no recall and not one owner has had any resolution to date. I request the NHTSA intervene immediately to engage Acura in resolving this critical vehicle design flaw. This is a deadly issue. Thank you.

- Westfield, PA, USA

problem #4

Oct 112020

RDX

  • 6,000 miles
Car lost all acceleration and went into limp mode attempting to overtake someone on the freeway, accelerating from 60 to 70 mph (in a 70). I had to navigate from left lane to right shoulder across 3 lanes of traffic. Terrifying. Car was remedied after turning off for a few minutes. Of note, this was a long (3+ hour) trip in the rain. A quick search revealed a ton of other Acura owners with a similar issue' noting specifically that it doesn't generate an error code thats stored that Honda/Acura can use to troubleshoot. My car was cpo, under a week since purchase, 6,000 miles on the odometer. Crazy there isn't a recall. Very dangerous

- Towson, MD, USA

problem #3

Sep 122020

RDX

  • 811 miles
When accelerating on the expressway, the car suddenly lost propulsion without warning. The car would not maintain a speed or accelerate. After the car started to slow down, I had to coast to the shoulder of the expressway and power cycle the car. After restarting the engine and two attempts, the car would still not accelerate.

- Homestead, FL, USA

problem #2

Jul 222020

RDX

  • 3,000 miles
On 7/22/2020, I was entering the mass pike from I-495 outside of boston. I accelerated to get around a box truck and suddenly the engine light started flashing and the car started to lose power. No matter how much I stepped on the gas, the car kept losing speed. Thankfully, I was near a rest stop and was able to pull to the shoulder (from the middle lane) and had enough momentum to get the car in the parking lot. Thank goodness it was nighttime and with covid, there aren't as many cars on the road. This could have ended very badly for my children and me if traffic levels were what they usually are in that area. As soon as I put the car in park, the engine light went off. I called Acura roadside assistance and turned the car off. Roadside assistance transfered me to an Acura service department on the West coast that was still open. The service tech I spoke to said she never heard of the problem and "maybe" if I turned it off and turned it back on, it might be okay. I also googled and saw that this exact situation has happened to other owners and that after turning the car off and back on again, their cars were fine. I did the same, and the car went back into its normal mode and I was able to drive the rest of the way home without further incident.

- South Windsor, CT, USA

problem #1

Jul 042020

RDX

  • 2,800 miles
- 2020 Acura Rdx aspec purchased apr2020 new - ~2,800 miles when incident occurred on sat, 4jul2020 - was traveling on I-10 West at ~70 to 75 mph - attempted to pass a vehicle (on the left) when car lost all ability to accelerate and orange engine light began to blink in lower left corner of dashboard - I was pushing accelerator to the floor but no acceleration, no engine revving - vehicle slowed down to ~20 mph by the time I was able was able to get over to shoulder safely - turned car off waited ~30 seconds turned car back on and car appeared to function properly - I reported issue to Acura dealership - service rep advised that this is a known issue, but service manager said he knew nothing about this issue - I researched issue and discovered that my vehicle appears to have experienced "limp mode" - as have many other 2019 and 2020 Acura Rdx models - at time of incident was using adaptive cruise control with one bar spacing between vehicles, start/stop was on, comfort mode, always use premium (93) fuel, gas tank was ~1/2 full, weather was clear ~90 degrees - after restarting car realized that had changed to sport+ mode - at this point, I no longer trust the safety of this vehicle - this could have caused a catastrophic accident had there been a fast moving vehicle (e.g. 18 wheeler) behind me - up to and including death - vehicle is currently at dealership for analysis

- Houston, TX, USA