2017 Acura MDX - Ratings, Complaints and Recalls

"in october i noticed my engine knocking. it has always made a ticking sound so how long it might have knocked before we noticed i don’t know however in october it was clearly noticeable. the first thing i did was check my oil level and it was full. over the several days it became more noticeable and one morning while driving my check engine light came on and the vehicle lost most(maybe 80%) of it’s power although it did continue running and i managed to make it home and immediately scheduled an appointment with pecheles honda to have it looked at. when i started the car the next morning the engine light was off and i drove it to the honda dealership where i was told i would need a new engine. we regularly had the oil changed using synthetic oil and it never burned one drop of oil so i didn’t have any idea how or why it could have happened because it is very common for issues like this to occur due to low engine oil. last week i learned of a recall on multiple honda and acura vehicles the same year and model as mine due to faulty rod bearings with symptoms exactly like i experienced only to find out that mine is not included in the recall. right now it is sitting in my yard because i don’t have $10,000 to get the motor replaced. the honda service manager and their best mechanic were at a loss at how the motor could have went so pre maturely. something faulty had to have been put in that motor because i took great care of that car and never drove it hard. before this car we had a 2003 honda pilot we owned for nearly 15 years with 300,000 miles on it that never had one issue the whole time we had it and this issue should not happen to 6 year old acura’s. i wanted to document this issue and hope anyone else going through the same misfortune with these vehicles does the same."

"in october the car had 46,000 miles and suddenly the car stopped because there was a transmission problem and we went to the dealer, they said it was an update the software problem, this is considered is not safe for me and my family because the car suddenly stopped in the middle of the road. what if i was going 60 mph on the highway and they car suddenly stopped and caused an accident, and someone was hurt. i don't think it is an update problem. this morning i went to the dealer to talk about it, and they refused to do anything, and we are just reporting and if in the future it happens again then what are we supposed to do if we're on the middle of the highway."

"when pulling into traffic the car wants to hesitate almost like stalling when going from 1st to 2nd gear 1st thing in the morning. almost causing a crash it does it every morning after the car is driving the car for a while it no longer does it. there are no check engine lights on"

"the contact owns a 2017 acura mdx. the contact stated while at a stop light, the vehicle would not shift out of park. the contact attempted shifting into another gear however, the vehicle would not shift out of park. the vehicle was towed to the dealer however, because the vehicle would not shift out of park, the vehicle was not diagnosed. the vehicle was not repaired. the manufacturer was contacted but no assistance was provided. the failure mileage was 60,000. the vin was not available."

"while in a residential area we were accelerating from a slow speed as we were leaving one corner and preparing to enter a second corner. the car then suddenly lurched forward followed by the drivetrain immediately entered into neutral - losing all forward power. we were able to coast across the end of a residential driveway. (the owner wasn’t thrilled about that at first but understood after an explanation.) we then turned the car off, ans waited about 15 minutes before restarting the car. at that point everything worked normally with no indication of a continuation of the problem. the car was in the comfort dynamic mode at the time. although the transmission went into neutral during the incident the shift clearly remained in the drive position. we were very careful about checking to see if we had somehow been at fault - bit this was definitely not driver’s error. we were fortunate on two fronts. firstly, had an adult or child been in the crosswalk we were approaching at the time it could have ended badly. secondly, we were at slow speed in modest traffic and had enough momentum to safely coast out of traffic. however, the incident was unsettling and we remain highly cautious about driving the car now. later that evening we drove the car for about 30 minutes attempting to recreate the incident or see if we noticed anything odd at all about the transmission, shift, or electronics. we did this on a secluded road, using each of the car’s dynamic modes, at varying speeds, and changing acceleration. however, we were not able to recreate the incident. we did not notice anything odd about the car and no warning lights came on. there were also no warning lights leading up to or during the incident. the vehicle is available for inspection if requested. to be fair, we have not yet contacted the dealership. however given the seriousness of this issue and potential danger we felt it was important to report it right away."

"while in a residential area we were accelerating from a slow speed as we were leaving one corner and preparing to enter a second corner. we were in comfort dynamic mode at the time. the car then suddenly lurched forward followed by the drive-train immediately entering into neutral - losing all forward power. we were able to coast across the end of a residential driveway. we then turned the car off, and waited about 15 minutes before restarting the car. at that point everything worked normally with no indication of a continuation of the problem. although the transmission went into neutral during the incident the shift clearly remained in the drive position. we were very careful about checking to see if we had somehow been at fault - bit this was definitely not driver’s error. we were fortunate on two fronts. firstly, had an adult or child been in the crosswalk we were approaching at the time it could have ended badly. secondly, we were at slow speed in modest traffic and had enough momentum to safely coast out of traffic. however, the incident was unsettling and we remain highly cautious about driving the car now. later that evening we drove the car for about 30 minutes attempting to recreate the incident or see if we noticed anything odd at all about the transmission, shift, or electronics. we did this on a secluded road, using each of the car’s dynamic modes, at varying speeds, and changing acceleration. however, we were not able to recreate the incident. we did not notice anything odd about the car and no warning lights came on. there were also no warning lights leading up to or during the incident. the vehicle is available for inspection if requested. to be fair, we have not yet contacted the dealership. however given the seriousness of this issue and potential danger we felt it was important to report it right away."

"on a 2,000 mile family road trip the car shifted to neutral two times at highway speeds. fortunately, i didn't lose my power steering or power brakes. the car remained on but i had no power. then the car jerked, the rpm's dropped to 1,000 and then jumped around a little and the car took off again."

"traveling on i-49 north at approximately 80 mph without any sign of a problem when suddenly the car began breaking, shifted into neutral, hazards flashing, and every light on my dash lit up (emission system failure, braking failure, and transmission failure). at first i thought it had something to do with the cruise control, so i tried turning that off, which did not help, so i pulled over to the shoulder safely. this really could have been dangerous had there been more traffic because the car could not accelerate. once on the shoulder i engaged the parking break as the car would not shift into park or any other gear. i turned off the car while i called state police and roadside assistance. after a while i was able to turn the car on and move it to reverse because i was about 30 yards past an entrance ramp that i could go to off the interstate. all lights were still lit up on the dash. it sounded rough. this was a very dangerous situation and acrua needs to address this. it is currently awaiting evaluation at acura of lafayette."

"complete transmission failure at 77,000 miles. vehicle lost power at highway speeds causing a dangerous situation and stranded our family 650 miles from home. had vehicle towed to the nearest acura dealership where i was told the transmission was terminal and needed to be replaced. three weeks later the dealership has failed to find a transmission and nothing has happened. acura extended a good faith discount on the repairs 4k down from 9k because it failed just out of warranty."

"on march 20, 2022, i was on the freeway going 65 miles per hour in the fast lane and my transmission warning light came on and the car went in to neutral and lost all power on the gas pedal and the car would not move. i could not put it in park or it would roll backwards so i put on my hazard lights and kept my foot on the brake. i was almost rear ended several times as it was 9:30pm and no lights on the freeway in the area i was at and no place to get out and find a safe spot as my car would have rolled backwards as it would not come out of neutral and at that spot in the freeway there is only cement walls. i was able to get the calif. highway patrol to get me a tow company that could tow my car after i called 911. aaa which i have said it would be 90 minutes. i would have been killed before that. the tow truck driver had to tow my car to the hopkins acura dealership in fairfield, ca where i had just had it serviced the thursday and friday before on march 17 and 18 for the car's 100,000 maintenance work. the hopkins acura said they test drove it after the maintenance work which cost me $3500.00 but my speedometer showed they only put 1.5 miles on my car so they did not test drive it far. the dealership said they do not touch the transmission during the big maintenance but this car was driving fine and for this transmission to just stop and freeze is so dangerous. the dealership says they will fix the transmission as they spoke to two different companies they work with but they want me to pay $600.00 of the repair which i do not think is fair."