2006 Acura MDX - Ratings, Complaints and Recalls

The 2006 Acura MDX 4-DR. w/SAB has received top ratings in front crash tests for both the driver and passenger sides, as well as in side crash tests for both the driver and passenger sides, earning a score of 5 in each of these categories. The rollover rating for this vehicle is 4 out of a possible 5. In terms of safety features, the Acura MDX is equipped with standard electronic stability control, which enhances the vehicle's stability on the road. However, it does not come with forward collision warning or lane departure warning systems.

Although the overall safety rating is not explicitly provided in the data, the high scores in individual crash test categories suggest that the Acura MDX is a safe vehicle overall. In terms of complaints and recalls, there have been a total of 85 complaints reported for this model and 11 recalls. It is important for owners of this vehicle to address any reported issues promptly to ensure the continued safety and performance of their Acura MDX.

auto generated summary, may be inaccurate.

Top stats at a glance

Complaint Count

85

Recall Count

11

Investigation Count

5

Safety Rating

Not Rated

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Safety Features

2006 Acura MDX 4-DR. w/SAB Safety Features

Here are the safety features that come as standard on the 2006 Acura MDX 4-DR. w/SAB

Electronic Stability Control (ESC)

ESC is an advanced safety feature in vehicles designed to help drivers maintain control during challenging driving conditions. By continuously monitoring various factors such as steering angle, vehicle speed, and individual wheel speeds, ESC can detect and reduce the risk of skidding or loss of control. It achieves this by automatically applying brakes to specific wheels to stabilize the vehicle.

Standard
Forward Collision Warning (FCW)

Forward Collision Warning (FCW) is a safety feature in vehicles that helps prevent frontal collisions by alerting the driver of an imminent collision with a vehicle or obstacle ahead. Using sensors such as radar or cameras, FCW monitors the distance and speed of vehicles in front, and if it detects a potential collision, it provides visual and/or auditory warnings to prompt the driver to take evasive action.

No
Lane Departure Warning (LDW)

Lane Departure Warning (LDW) is a safety feature in vehicles that alerts drivers when their vehicle unintentionally drifts out of its lane without signaling. Utilizing cameras or sensors to monitor lane markings on the road, LDW detects when the vehicle crosses these lines and triggers visual, auditory, or haptic alerts to notify the driver of potential lane departure.

No

2006 Acura MDX 4-DR. w/SAB Safety Ratings

Here we have the crash and rollover ratings for the 2006 Acura MDX 4-DR. w/SAB Where possible we've included the ratings for the oldest and latest models of this car so you can compare how the safety ratings have changed over time.

Frontal Crash Ratings

Combines Driver and Passenger star ratings into a single frontal rating. The frontal barrier test simulates a head-on collision between two similar vehicles, each moving at 35 mph.

Test 2005 Score 2006 Score 2024 Score
Overall Front Crash Rating Not Rated Not Rated 4
Front Crash Driver Side Rating 5 5 4
Front Crash Passenger Side Rating 5 5 4

Side Crash Ratings

Combines Side Barrier and Side Pole Star Ratings into a single side rating.

Test 2005 Score 2006 Score 2024 Score
Overall Side Crash Rating Not Rated Not Rated 5
Side Crash Drivers Side Rating 5 5 5
Side Crash Passenger Side Rating 5 5 5
Combined Side Barrier Pole Rating - Front Not Rated Not Rated 5
Combined Side Barrier Pole Rating - Rear Not Rated Not Rated 5
Overall Side Barrier Rating Not Rated Not Rated 5

Rollover Ratings

The Rollover Resistance test measures the risk of rollover in a single-vehicle, loss-of-control scenario.

Test 2005 Score 2006 Score 2024 Score
Rollover Rating 4 4 4
Rollover Possibility % 0% 0% 0%
Dynamic Tip Result No Tip No Tip No Tip
Side Pole Crash Rating Not Rated Not Rated 5

Complaints for the 2006 Acura MDX

This chart show the number of complaints for each car component. A Higher number of complaints could indicate that this car might have a common fault. Something to look out for when purchasing one.

Component Complaints

Choose a component to see what complaints people have made about them.

Complaint:
"tl* the contact owns a 2006 acura mdx. the contact parked the vehicle, removed the key from the ignition, and exited the vehicle. moments later, it was noticed that the vehicle had rolled backwards approximately 50 feet. the contact stated that the vehicle came to a stop when it crashed into a barrier pole. no injuries were sustained and a police report was not filed. the vehicle was not taken to a dealer for diagnostic testing or repairs. the manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. the failure mileage was 200,000."
Components Involved: POWER TRAIN
Date of incident: 2018-07-05
Complaint:
"tl* the contact owns a 2006 acura mdx. while the vehicle was parked in a school parking lot with the key out of the ignition, the vehicle began to roll away independently without warning, a school coach jumped into the vehicle and was able to stop it from rolling. the failure recurred twice. the vehicle was taken to apple tree acura dealer in asheville nc where it was diagnosed, but the technician could not find the cause of the failure. the vehicle was not repaired. in addition, while the vehicle was parked in a shopping center parking lot, it rolled away independently without warning and crashed into a parked vehicle. the front passenger side fender of the contact's vehicle and the rear tailgate of the other vehicle were damaged. there were no injuries and a police report was not filed. the vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic (myers), but was not diagnosed or repaired. the body damage of the contact's vehicle was repaired. the contact stated that the vehicle was repaired per nhtsa campaign number: 12v573000 (electrical system). the contact notified the manufacturer and was informed that there was nothing they could do since a diagnostic test was done and the technician could not find the cause of the failure. the approximate failure mileage was 180,000."
Components Involved: POWER TRAIN
Date of incident: 2017-02-10
Complaint:
"the suv was just brought in for a judder from the front end to the local acura/ honda in town where we reside and they claim its the torque converter is failing well after some research we noticed there was recalls and a class action suit for this problem. i am just making this complaint because the dealer states we have to pay 5000 dollars to have it replaced. i feel we should be either given a discount or they should cover the cost due to it being an ongoing thing with probably thousands of these acura mdx . i have seen lots of forums where they pay 75% of cost for some and 100% for others but not after the dealers try to get out of paying for it. most of them like this one have already had the problem and had it fixed if not once several times. this is a safety issue because i know that a torque converter can lock up and in a awd vehicle that would most certainly cause an accident. i have young children and all the dealer says is to keep having the transmission fluid changed or pay 5000 to replace the transmission. i also have a honda accord that had recalls for exploding airbags and it took months for them to finally get it in for the recalls. the acura mdx also says by the vin on acura.com it has 4 recalls but they say at the dealer it doesnt. i have seen and spoke with many people who are victims of these billion dollar companies, acura that have all the same issues . every time we go to have an issue looked at or addressed they try to have us have other irrelevant issues fixed instead of the life threatening ones or safety recalls taking care of. please someone help."
Components Involved: POWER TRAIN
Date of incident: 2017-02-05
Complaint:
"vehicle transmission can not shift while driving on the road .no reverse and forward .the vehicle have 76000 miles on it."
Components Involved: POWER TRAIN
Date of incident: 2015-12-10
Complaint:
"two separate related incidents to transmission listed from most recent: 1) 3feb2014- total transmission failure on highway (approx. 65mph) at 116,804mi. dealership service noted that the transmission fluid was overfilled and the failure is internal. they recommended transmission replacement 2) 4apr2013- noted that vehicle did not engage in park after shifted to "p". after placing it in park, it rolled back down the driveway. this fault is intermittent and occasionally will exhibit a ratchet like sound. the fault is ongoing. dealership cannot recreate failure. *tr"
Components Involved: POWER TRAIN
Date of incident: 2014-03-02
Complaint:
"when driving between 20 and 45 mph transmission judder and loses power. the judder noise cause damage to the transmission gear and torque converter. *tr"
Components Involved: POWER TRAIN
Date of incident: 2012-05-04
Complaint:
"second complaint-i own a 2006 acura mdx i am the first owner bought suv new-on november 2010 i receive a recall notice from american honda motor co., inc. to bring suv in to acura dealer for technician to update software for transmission. the update will help transmission operate properly, assure longer life-before taking suv in i had no complaint suv was operating great. after recall fix i started to hear and feel shuddering ,judder, vibration at 20-45 mph-my mileage then was 45,610- i immediately took suv back to dealer and after diagnostic they confirm noise, replaced torque converter-the noise returned after 2 months between 20-45 mph-mileage then was 56,300- i returned to dealer for a second time-i informed dealer it was the same problem from the previous issue they repaired-they disagreed, told me it was the driveshaft and replaced it-the noise returned, same day i called service manager and made complaint, he said i should drive suv until noise become louder so technician will hear the noise clearly- by 62,536 mileage noise became louder, i brought the suv in a 3rd time, same problem-they kept suv 2 days ran test and confirmed everything i said-the transmission was bad and they replaced it and also replaced the torque converter a second time-suv performed great until 120,000 miles which is only 57,464 miles for the new transmission when the same noises and vibrations returned, however my warranty was up-there is clearly something wrong with transmission-i take great care of my suv-its paid off in full and currently i cant afford a car payment-i hoped this car took me over 200,000 miles like my1991 honda i previously owned-i buy acura because of quality- the name honda use to stand for-i contacted the dealer again and was told bring suv in, they will pay half the cost to fix it-time is hard they need to cover total bill or trade me up to a newer suv. *tr"
Components Involved: POWER TRAIN
Date of incident: 2011-09-09
Complaint:
"tl* the contact owns a 2006 acura mdx. the contact stated the transmission of the vehicle shuttered while driving 40 mph. the contact stated the shuttered stopped when he removed his foot off of the accelerator pedal, but it started to shutter again when the pedal was engaged. the vehicle shuttered between third and forth gear. the failure was not diagnosed by the dealer. the failure and current mileage was 66,000. *tr"
Components Involved: POWER TRAIN
Date of incident: 2013-09-07
Complaint:
"the car had begun shuddering at between 30-40 miles an hour and then at a very low rpm in 1st gear, the car started jerking heavily. the dealership first said they would charge me 125$ to diagnose the problem, unless it was the torque converter as i had mentioned. now they want 2800$ to fix the problem. - at what point in time - as i've now seen this as a recurring problem with mdx's do they give a recall? this is a young car. *kb"
Components Involved: POWER TRAIN
Date of incident: 2011-10-10
Complaint:
"tl* the contact owns a 2006 acura mdx. the contact stated after getting out of his vehicle, it began to roll backwards crashing into another vehicle. the police were not notified nor was anyone injured. the vehicle was taken to the dealer who advised him that the ignition key converter failed and needed to be replaced. the vehicle has not been repaired. the manufacturer was contacted and they offered no assistance. the failure mileage was approximately 100,200. updated 10/4/11 *cn the consumer stated the vehicle would roll in any gear position. the consumer was able to remove the key from the ignition with the hear still in drive. the dealer performed a pcm updated and reprogram. updated 01/19/12"
Components Involved: POWER TRAIN
Date of incident: 2011-10-08

Recalls for the 2006 Acura MDX

Component Recalls

Choose a component to see what recalls people have made about them.

Recall:
"honda (american honda motor co.) is recalling specific 2003 acura 3.2cl, 2013-2016 ilx, 2013-2014 ilx hybrid, 2003-2006 mdx, 2007-2016 rdx, 2002-2003 3.2tl, 2004-2006, and 2009-2014 tl, 2010-2013 zdx and 2001-2007 and 2009 honda accord, 2001-2005 civic, 2003-2005 civic hybrid, 2001-2005 civic gx ngv, 2002-2007 and 2010-2011 cr-v, 2003-2011 element, 2007 fit, 2002-2004 odyssey, 2003-2008 pilot, and 2006-2014 ridgeline vehicles. the affected vehicles received a replacement driver air bag inflator as part of a previous takata inflator recall remedy or a replacement driver air bag module containing the same inflator type as a service part. due to a manufacturing error, in the event of a crash necessitating deployment of the driver frontal air bag, these inflators may explode."
Consequence:
An explosion of an inflator within the driver frontal air bag module may result in sharp metal fragments striking the driver, front seat passenger or other occupants resulting in serious injury or death.
Remedy:

Honda will notify owners, and dealers will replace the driver's air bag inflator with an alternate inflator, free of charge. The recall began April 10, 2019. Honda owners may contact customer service at 1-888-234-2138. Honda's number for this recall is O41. Acura owners may contact customer service at 1-888-234-2138. Acura's number for this recall is U40.

Component(s) Involved: AIR BAGS > FRONTAL > DRIVER SIDE > INFLATOR MODULE
Date of incident: 2019-03-06
Recall:
"honda (american honda motor co.) is recalling certain 2003 acura 3.2cl, 2002-2003 3.2tl, 2003-2006 mdx, 2001-2007 honda accord, 2001-2005 civic, 2003-2005 civic hybrid, 2001-2005 civic gx ngv, 2002-2006 cr-v, 2003-2011 element, 2002-2004 odyssey, 2003-2008 pilot and 2006 ridgeline vehicles. these vehicles are equipped with driver frontal air bag inflators assembled as a recall remedy part or replacement service part, that may explode due to propellant degradation occurring after long-term exposure to high absolute humidity, temperature and temperature cycling."
Consequence:
An inflator explosion may result in sharp metal fragments striking the driver or other occupants resulting in serious injury or death.
Remedy:

Honda will notify owners, and dealers will replace the driver frontal air bag inflator, free of charge. The recall began August 12, 2019. Owners may contact Honda customer service at 1-888-234-2138. Honda's numbers for this recall are Q5A and Y58.

Component(s) Involved: AIR BAGS > FRONTAL > DRIVER SIDE > INFLATOR MODULE
Date of incident: 2019-06-27
Recall:
"honda (american honda motor co.) is recalling certain model year 2001-2007 accord, 2001-2005 civic, 2001-2004 honda civic gx, 2003-2005 honda civic hybrid, 2002-2006 cr-v, 2003-2011 element, 2002-2004 odyssey, 2003-2008 pilot, 2006 ridgeline, 2003 acura 3.2cl, 2003-2006 acura mdx, and 2002-2003 acura 3.2tl vehicles. the affected vehicles are equipped with a dual-stage driver frontal air bag that may be susceptible to moisture intrusion and other factors, including manufacturing variability that, over time, could cause the inflator to rupture."
Consequence:
In the event of a crash necessitating deployment of the driver's frontal air bag, the inflator could rupture with metal fragments striking the driver or other occupants resulting in serious injury or death.
Remedy:

Honda will notify owners, and dealers will replace the driver frontal air bag inflator, free of charge. The recall began on July 1, 2015. Owners may contact Honda customer service at 1-888-234-2138. Owners may contact Acura customer service at 1-800-382-2238, select option 4. Note: Vehicles that have had their driver frontal air bag replaced previously as part of a recall remedy prior to September 12, 2014 need to have their air bag replaced under this recall as well. Vehicles that, on or after September 12, 2014, received a remedy for a prior driver frontal air bag inflator recall already received an inflator of a different design, and therefore are not included in this recall and do not require additional servicing. Note: This recall fully supersedes recalls 08V-593, 09V-259, 10V-041, 11V-260, 14V-351 and 15V-153. Honda's numbers for this recall are JQ9, JR0, JR1, JR2, JR3, JR4, JR5, JR6, JR7, and JR8.

Component(s) Involved: AIR BAGS > FRONTAL > DRIVER SIDE > INFLATOR MODULE
Date of incident: 2015-05-28

ACURA Overall Complaint Ranking

This table shows the ranking of car manufacturers when it comes to most complaints and recalls. The manufacturer with the most complaints is at the top. However this doesn't necassarily mean they should be avoided. Some manufacturers might just have more popular or affordable cars which a lot of people have bought. Which means there's more scope for a complaint to be made. Use the ranking table below as a part your wider research into buying a car.

ACURA ranks 25 out of 44 in the complaints ranking table.

Manufacturer Complaint Count Recall Count Ranking
FORD 208,358 3,259 1
CHEVROLET 111,306 2,082 2
TOYOTA 81,019 1,852 3
HONDA 61,937 1,268 4
NISSAN 56,226 930 5
DODGE 45,756 827 6
HYUNDAI 44,150 649 7
GMC 34,441 1,410 8
KIA 29,832 501 9
CHRYSLER 27,698 254 10
TESLA 26,230 730 11
BMW 24,890 1,877 12
VOLKSWAGEN 23,125 829 13
MERCEDES-BENZ 19,066 2,925 14
SUBARU 18,513 703 15
MAZDA 10,599 364 16
PONTIAC 10,430 138 17
CADILLAC 9,434 444 18
AUDI 7,865 1,093 19
BUICK 7,851 279 20
SATURN 7,672 84 21
MERCURY 7,374 135 22
LEXUS 6,373 408 23
LINCOLN 5,897 423 24
ACURA 5,722 382 25
MINI 5,585 366 26
INFINITI 4,000 187 27
MITSUBISHI 3,912 397 28
VOLVO 3,875 727 29
PORSCHE 2,646 1,231 30
SUZUKI 2,272 123 31
FIAT 2,205 80 32
SAAB 1,536 76 33
JAGUAR 1,195 198 34
SMART 528 17 35
GENESIS 436 42 36
ISUZU 249 37 37
ALFA ROMEO 161 37 38
MASERATI 76 46 39
BENTLEY 46 159 40
POLESTAR 42 2 41
LUCID 14 6 42
CODA 4 2 43
MAYBACH 0 0 44

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