Consumer Safety Complaints
Search 2,245,377 safety complaints filed by vehicle owners with NHTSA, including 140,173 crashes, 56,794 fires, and 8,580 deaths.
What is a NHTSA consumer complaint?
A consumer complaint is a free-form report filed by a vehicle owner directly to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) describing a safety concern about their vehicle. NHTSA collects these reports through its Vehicle Owner Defect Report (VOQ) system and publishes them publicly. Each complaint includes the affected component, the date and circumstances of the incident, whether the failure caused a crash or fire, and any reported injuries or deaths. The owner's full narrative description is included verbatim, NHTSA does not edit or moderate the descriptions.
The database below contains over 2,245,377 individual complaints. NHTSA's investigators monitor it for clusters of similar reports, when enough owners describe the same failure mode on the same vehicle, NHTSA may open a Preliminary Evaluation that can lead to a recall. Many of the largest recalls in U.S. history, including the Takata airbag recall and the Hyundai/Kia engine fire recalls, started as patterns visible in this complaint database years before they became formal recalls.
How to interpret what you read
A few principles for reading consumer complaints usefully:
- One complaint is anecdote; a hundred similar complaints is data. NHTSA does not investigate the truthfulness of any individual report, that's the job of the Office of Defects Investigation, which looks at the full pattern. When evaluating a vehicle, look for whether multiple owners describe the same chain of events.
- Crash, fire, injury, and death flags are owner-set. They are not verified by NHTSA. They are still useful as a filter, because owners who tick those boxes are typically reporting more serious incidents than those who don't.
- Component categories are NHTSA-assigned, not owner-assigned. NHTSA standardizes the component field so that complaints can be aggregated. The owner narrative often goes into more detail than the component category captures.
- Complaint volume scales with sales volume. A best-selling model will accumulate more raw complaints than a niche model even at the same defect rate. To compare across vehicles, look at complaints per 100,000 units sold, not raw counts.
If you've experienced a defect
File a complaint. NHTSA's investigators rely on this database to detect emerging defects, and useful complaints, specific, concrete, with dates and mileage and clear descriptions of what happened, feed directly into the agency's pattern detection. The form takes about 10 minutes and is at nhtsa.gov/recalls under "Report a Safety Problem." Your complaint becomes part of the same public record that this page is built from. Owners filing detailed VOQs are how recalls get triggered.
Read more from our blog
Showing 17,413 complaints for ACURA
Incident date: Oct 9, 2021
The airbag warning indicator keeps appearing. When message is pressed it says that airbag may not deploy when needed. States to turn car off and restart to see if indicator disappears- if reappear take to dealership to inspect
Incident date: Jun 1, 2020
Low beam headlights have gotten so weak it is dangerous to drive after dark. Lights are working, but ouput from the lamp is greatly diminished. This is NOT involving the clear exterior cover to the headlights. Dealership service department confirmed lights working and recommends replacement of both side headlight assemblies, at cost of $2,000 plus.
Incident date: Feb 4, 2022
I was driving down the freeway, in a new 2021 Acura TLX with 2000 miles on it. It was raining when I went to switch lanes and floor it to pass another car and the check engine light came on and the power dies and speed dramatically slows down and I’m unable to accelerate. The check engine light is flashing and the car will not reach 40mph. Again I’m on the freeway. This was a very dangerous ... Read more
Incident date: Feb 4, 2022
I was driving down the freeway, in a new 2021 Acura TLX with 2000 miles on it. It was raining when I went to switch lanes and floor it to pass another car and the check engine light came on and the power dies and speed dramatically slows down and I’m unable to accelerate. The check engine light is flashing and the car will not reach 40mph. Again I’m on the freeway. This was a very dangerous ... Read more
Incident date: Feb 6, 2022
Vehicle is 2014 with 130K miles. We noticed that the headlights are getting dimmer to the point where it is unsafe to drive at night. The internal low beam reflector lens is fogged up preventing the headlight to light the road adequately. Called Acura dealer in Greenville SC and spoke to the service manager on 2/4/2022. He told me the heat from the headlamp is intense and the coating is starting t... Read more
Incident date: Feb 4, 2022
The headlight low beams are very dim and the service manager at Acura said this is a known problem with 2015 RDX. The metal lining that projects the bulb light deteriorates and the lights go dim. The replacement cost is about $2500. Acura has agreed to pay all but $750. I think this is a safety defect worthy of a recall. Please assist me as soon as possible. It’s a major safety issue that Acura ... Read more
Incident date: Feb 1, 2022
Engine light would come on if I drove 65 MPH check engine emission system problem I would try drive press on gas peddle & car would slow down I almost got rear ended by 18 wheeler semi truck
Crash
Incident date: Feb 1, 2022
Engine light would come on if I drove 65 MPH check engine emission system problem I would try drive press on gas peddle & car would slow down I almost got rear ended by 18 wheeler semi truck
Crash
Incident date: Feb 1, 2022
Engine light would come on if I drove 65 MPH check engine emission system problem I would try drive press on gas peddle & car would slow down I almost got rear ended by 18 wheeler semi truck
Crash
Incident date: Feb 2, 2022
I would like to filed a safety issue dues shatter rear window on my 2019 Acura RDX. Around 1:47 pm on 2/2/2022 I got in my car and start it up and I hear a pop I look back to see what was going on then noticed my rear window was shatter I then got out off the car to inspect what was going on I didn’t not see any Visual impact and item that could damage or shatter my rear window. The temperature ... Read more
Incident date: Apr 15, 2016
Subframe rusted through on the passenger side where the cause is a manufacturer defect of condensation from the air conditioning dripping directly above onto the subframe on the passenger side, which created a perforation of the passenger side subframe. Subframe holds the suspension and steering components together and if the passenger side frame from the manufacter defect were to break traveling ... Read more
Incident date: Apr 15, 2016
Subframe rusted through on the passenger side where the cause is a manufacturer defect of condensation from the air conditioning dripping directly above onto the subframe on the passenger side, which created a perforation of the passenger side subframe. Subframe holds the suspension and steering components together and if the passenger side frame from the manufacter defect were to break traveling ... Read more
Incident date: Apr 15, 2016
Subframe rusted through on the passenger side where the cause is a manufacturer defect of condensation from the air conditioning dripping directly above onto the subframe on the passenger side, which created a perforation of the passenger side subframe. Subframe holds the suspension and steering components together and if the passenger side frame from the manufacter defect were to break traveling ... Read more
Incident date: Feb 1, 2022
On the date of the incident, I remotely started my car from the office before leaving for the day. I got into my vehicle shut the door, started the vehicle (push start), and heard a loud sound that sounded like a gunshot and something shattering. I looked around my surroundings and noticed my rearview window was shattered. The rear window had a large hole slightly just above the rear wiper. I imme... Read more
Incident date: Feb 3, 2022
The rear window shattered car was just sitting there.
Incident date: Feb 1, 2022
Opened my Acura RDX car door, sat down, closed the door - and then my rear windshield shattered and collapsed into my trunk. I knew of no damage to it - the car is a 2020, relatively new - This incident caught me my complete surprise. Searched on internet, and see similar complaints from other Acura owners about exploding rear windshields after closing driver side door.
Incident date: Feb 1, 2022
Brake light is not working properly, I was pulled over with a warning
Incident date: Feb 1, 2022
Brake light is not working properly, I was pulled over with a warning
Incident date: Jan 1, 2018
The contact owns a 2014 Acura RDX. The contact stated while driving at night the low beam headlights were extremely dim causing a visibility hazard to the driver; nearly causing the vehicle to hit a pedestrian. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer who diagnosed that the headlight assemblies needed to be replaced. The contact indicated that previously the light bulbs were replaced, and the len... Read more
Incident date: Jan 30, 2022
The rear windshield shattered unexpectedly while the car was parked. Seem that others might be having the same issues.
Incident date: Oct 1, 2021
The dash on the car is cracking, large cracks. The cracks are on the same area of the passenger airbag. In an accident, I am afraid that the airbag section of the dash will not separate correctly and that pieces of the dash will injure the passenger in the car.
Incident date: Jan 30, 2022
The rear hatch window unexpectedly blows out and shattered glass, without warning. No impact involved.
Incident date: Jan 28, 2022
The contact owns a 2015 Acura RDX. The contact stated that while driving at night at an undisclosed speed, the low-beam headlights failed to illuminate as needed. The contact had to use the high-beam headlight for safe driving. The dealer and Acura of Peabody (233 Andover St, Peabody, MA 01960) were made aware of the failure, and informed the contact that the headlight assemblies needed to be repl... Read more
Incident date: Dec 16, 2021
My Telemetrics Control Unit failed on Acura update. This is part of the system that calls for Emergency help when involved with a crash. I t was identified at an Acura dealership and the part was ordered. It is on back order now for over a month with no known delivery date
Incident date: Nov 26, 2021
The headlight assemblies are poorly designed and accumulate moisture. The water condenses on the inside of the headlight housing reducing lighting output. In sub zero temperatures the condensation freezes, further reducing light output. The reduced light output reduces the amount of usable light illuminating the roadway. The water/ice can also produce reflections/glare which may impair oncoming dr... Read more
Incident date: May 20, 2005
In both 2012 and 2014 I complained to Acura CS and was told that they wouldnt do anything for me when their hands free unit refered to in TSB 08-057 This was causing a parasitic power leak draining the battery overnight. After researching the cause online and the solution which was to remove the defective HFL unit which was done. Yesterday I came across that TSB and contacted Acura with my co... Read more
Incident date: Jan 17, 2022
Back Glass just randomly shattered after car was started. Car was stationary and not moving. Others have shown similar things happening.
Incident date: Jul 1, 2021
Headlight delaminated causing passenger side low beam to be so dim it doesn’t look like it’s illuminating. Pulled bulb to replace to identify it illuminates just as bright as driver side. Opened a case with Acura to which they referred me to go to the dealership and if they agreed they would consider it covered. 10 min into the diagnosis the tech agreed with me. Acura then denied my case indic... Read more
Incident date: May 22, 2021
Purchased new 2021 Acura TLX in April 2021 from Leith Acura Raleigh. On 5/22, 7/6, 7/23, & 11/2/21, the fuel capless unit was adjusted once replaced 3 times. American Honda is aware of the problems with the part & sent service bulletins to every Acura service dept. American Honda stated this & the 2 dealerships did also. On 8/4, there was an issue. Steering column began dripping grease. Grease dr... Read more
Incident date: Mar 1, 2020
Steering abruptly turns rear wheels when car is going straight, usually after a turn. This has happened multiple times when driving at moderate speeds over the last year or so. I thought it was the tires, so I got new tires and it is still happening. It is very scary and now I'm afraid to drive my car on the interstate at high speeds. I believe that this is a serious safety issue and consumers are... Read more
Incident date: Jan 17, 2022
The contact owns a 2003 Acura TL. The contact stated while driving 65 MPH, the SRS warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer and the contact was informed that the front driver's side air bag PODS control unit and sensor needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact stated that he contacted the manufacturer who confirmed that there was a manufacturer recall f... Read more
Incident date: Jan 23, 2022
There are cracks forming on the dashboard of my 2005 Acura TL that I have researched and found are chronic issues in the 2004-2008 TL, and might compromise the ability of the airbag to deploy properly (either prematurely or not at all when expected to imnan accident). I've watched my dashboard go from having 1 crack 5-10 years ago to forming 2 more recently (for a total of 3) and have concerns af... Read more
Incident date: Jan 1, 2022
I purchased new 2012, for the first time after 10 years, the car is unsafe, brake pedal becomes hard after start up cold - noticed if outside weather between 30-25 degrees brake pedal becomes hard for the first 2-3 times and car will not stop, if the weather below 16 degrees it will take 9-10 times - if you push and pump the brake pedal the brake pedal power comes back to normal but not the first... Read more
Incident date: Dec 1, 2015
The headlights are extremely dim. Have been since I purchased the car in 2015 and has worsened since. I’ve seen that this is a recurring issue with ACURA. It is unsafe for my family and Acura is charging upwards of $2700 to have this issue resolved.
Incident date: Jan 17, 2022
The contact's wife owns a 2016 Acura MDX. The contact stated that while his wife was reversing out of the driveway with his grandchildren in the rear seats, she stopped the vehicle to check for incoming traffic but the vehicle switched gears to drive on its own and accelerated forward. The contact's wife depressed the brake pedal but it failed to respond and the vehicle crashed into his unoccupied... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Jan 19, 2022
I was driving down HWY 101 in Oregon State in the rain. I was accelerating because I had just turned onto the highway, I got up to about 60 mph whe the car started dinging as it does when you open the door with the keys still in the ignition. The VSA light, as well as the engine, oil, abs and battery lights all started flashing on the dash and the car turned off. The steering wheel locked up and I... Read more
Incident date: Jan 19, 2022
I was driving down HWY 101 in Oregon State in the rain. I was accelerating because I had just turned onto the highway, I got up to about 60 mph whe the car started dinging as it does when you open the door with the keys still in the ignition. The VSA light, as well as the engine, oil, abs and battery lights all started flashing on the dash and the car turned off. The steering wheel locked up and I... Read more
Incident date: Jan 19, 2022
I was driving down HWY 101 in Oregon State in the rain. I was accelerating because I had just turned onto the highway, I got up to about 60 mph whe the car started dinging as it does when you open the door with the keys still in the ignition. The VSA light, as well as the engine, oil, abs and battery lights all started flashing on the dash and the car turned off. The steering wheel locked up and I... Read more
Incident date: Jan 17, 2022
I purchased this vehicle used last April, 2020. Six months ago, I noticed while driving at the night that it seemed as if my headlights were not on. I even pulled over at one point to see if they WERE! I purchased a commercial lens cleaning kit to see if it helped the illumination. It did not. I purchased new bulbs with a higher lumen rating than the OEM bulbs. No change. I have spoken with a mast... Read more
Incident date: Jan 18, 2022
RDX 2015 57, 500 miles. This is my 5th Acura . Since OCt 2021 difficult driving at night due to low beams not deflecting enough light-now cannot drive vehicle when it gets dark-UNSAFE took the car to acura dealership and service advisor stated the panel where bulb deflects and receives lights from is shattered. "This is a common defect". He stated I would need to replace the whole headlight as... Read more
Incident date: Jan 13, 2022
Back windshields have been spontaneously shattering. Sitting in my car parked for 20 minutes waiting for my son and the back window shattered…all the edges with a strange crack and the glass appeared shattered…ran my hand across it and cut my finger. People that came over to the car had me lift the hatch and the center of the window fell in. I joined an RDX owner Facebook page and it seems ... Read more
Incident date: Jan 4, 2022
Rear window spontaneously exploded while opening my door to enter. There are no replacement glass available from Acura, I am forced to drive with plastic and duct tape covering my rear window. Acura denies there is a problem/ that hey are at fault. The are currently daily posts on the 3rd Gen Acura RDX Facebook group of owners rear window spontaneously exploding. This has been a know issue with ow... Read more
Incident date: Jan 13, 2022
Back windshield spontaneously shattered
Incident date: Nov 21, 2021
Car was parked in the garage ..woke up in the morning found my car back window glass shattered
Incident date: Jan 13, 2022
As normal I remote started my vehicle. Walked over to my vehicle opened my driver door and closed it normal.. all of a sudden my rear window shattered!
Incident date: Dec 26, 2021
Common problem with this generation RDX. My back glass shattered once I turned on the rear defroster. Now I have glass in my rear tailgate as well. This problem is being fixed under warranty in Canada but not in the US. Acura/ Honda are aware of this defect and still not doing anything to fix it.
Incident date: Dec 1, 2021
The headlights are extremely dim, dangerously so. I have tried troubleshooting and the voltage at the headlamp connector is 3 volts. The fusebox and headlamp relay are 14 volts. Searching for an answer online, I find there are a myriad of other owners with the same dim headlamp problem. Dealerships seem unable to fix to the issue.
Incident date: Jan 13, 2022
The dashboard on 3rd generation Acura TL has a design defect to where they will crack all over. In the event of a crash which results in a passenger-side dashboard airbag deployment, the dashboard can rip uncontrollably and send shards of rubber flying at everyone's face in the car and prevent the airbag from deploying properly. This is a very well known problem with this generation of Acura TL ... Read more
Incident date: Jan 13, 2022
The dashboard on 3rd generation Acura TL has a design defect to where they will crack all over. In the event of a crash which results in a passenger-side dashboard airbag deployment, the dashboard can rip uncontrollably and send shards of rubber flying at everyone's face in the car and prevent the airbag from deploying properly. This is a very well known problem with this generation of Acura TL ... Read more
Incident date: Oct 26, 2021
The contact owns a 2021 Acura ILX. The contact stated while attempting to park the vehicle, the airbag deployed without impact which resulted in the contact crashing into a pole. The contact sustained a hurt knee and headaches that required medical treatment. The vehicle was towed to a local dealer where it was awaiting repairs. The contact stated no warning lights were illuminated. The manufactur... Read more
Crash
1 injured