2018 Acura MDX - Ratings, Complaints and Recalls

"fire under the hood of my 2018 mdx - caused by weak battery and overloaded starter. my car was parked in the garage right under my daughter’s bedroom. i pressed the "start" button on the car and the dashboard started to flash on and off quickly and i heard clicking sounds and other swooshing noises. the car did not start but it seemed to keep trying over and over again. i pressed the start/off button repeatedly but the car did not shut off. my wife came out and asked what i was doing and she smelled and saw smoke coming from under my hood. she ran into the house and called 911. i popped the hood and got out of the car. at this point, there was more smoke and a very strong burning electrical odor. the car continued to try to start and the only thing i could think of was to disconnect the battery. just as i disconnected the battery, the fire department showed up and the smoke started to slowly subside since the car was no longer trying to start. i called aaa and had the car towed to the local acura dealership that i just had it serviced at. upon their evaluation, it was determined that the battery was not completely dead, but not strong enough to engage the starter. therefore, the car continued to try to start and overloaded the starter, burning it out. i strongly feel that this is a catastrophic failure for acura and completely unacceptable for a vehicle with all kinds of safeguards. it should not have caught on fire from a weak battery in the garage/under my daughter’s bedroom – the whole car and house could have burned down. after several weeks of discussions with the dealership and acura customer care, it was determined they would split the cost of ~ $2000 for repairs. i felt i had no choice but to pay it and get my car back with a new starter and battery. i asked the dealership to give me the starter - i do have it - i also noticed the replacement starter is a new model - thank you [xxx] information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6)"

"the car attempts to start on its own, light come on and at times the alarm goes off. the car does not open at times and requires manual override to oepn."

"keyless access/tpms control unit is failing. vehicle randomly behaves where all dash lights blink on and off, head lights turn on, car alarm intermittently alarms, and motorized steering wheel moves. it is unknown if there is any malfunction to adas or other systems due to this random behavior. vehicle cannot be parked with the battery connected as all of these events intermittently happen and drains the battery. the behavior is so startling and a concern to drive that it is unknown if it will completely fail and shutdown while driving. for example, the keyless control unit could potentially fail to recognize the key while driving and then the vehicle would shutdown as if being stolen. vehicle has been inspected by the dealer, confirmed malfunction and noted occurence with other customers vehicles of same make and model. diagnostic report by dealer states the failing component."

"the car was bought in november, 2018, and is still under warranty. in the morning of october 3, 2022, the car would not start. the voltage of the battery was measured to be about 11.5 v. a new battery was bought and put in by myself on october 4, 2022, since i did not realize that the battery was still under warranty. everything looked normal on october 5, 2022. but in the morning of october 6, 2022, the headlights were found to be on even though nobody was around the car parked in the garage. sometimes the alarm would go off. this happens randomly but frequently ever since. an appointment was made with the dealer, and the car was checked out on october 10, 2022. the dealer determined that the keyless module unit was faulty, but the part was on back order. the service advisor assured me that it should be safe to drive the car. ever since, the car has been trying to start itself frequently and randomly. it would turn on the headlights, move the driver seat, go through the engine turnover cycle, etc. sometimes it also moved the window shield wipers, or sounded the alarm even though the car was not locked. being afraid of driving the car, i started to ask for a loaner or rental car from the the dealer on october 12, 2022, and have been talking to both acura warranty department and the dealership since. today (october 24, 2022) the car would not start, and had been towed to the dealership. now it has been more than a week, i still cannot get a rental car from acura, even though the service director from the dealership also had a concern about the safety of driving the car or leaving the car unattended."

"nine different electrical failures in twenty seven weeks on a new 2018 acura mdx technology package. that's one failure every three weeks. six problems have occurred one time, three problems are still intermittent, the most concerning is the heated seat feature. the circuit closes without activation. occasionally when the vehicle is started, the led indicator lights are on. several times it has affected the drivers seat, once the passenger seat, and once both seats. once the vehicle was put in reverse, the rear camera activated and continued to work as i drove forward to my destination. once i walked passed the vehicle with the wireless remote in my pocket and the vehicle unlocked itself without touching the door. another time both side mirrors tilted down regardless of where the mirror switch was on the driver door. several times the radio would not activate when the on/off button was pressed. several problems with the hands free link system. i pressed the talk button it says no device found. press talk button, give phone command it says no device paired. . press talk button, give phone command, display shows call history . press talk button and give phone command, then call b%##% ,voice continually says pardon. turn back wiper on and back off, wiper continued to work for about two minutes. i parked the vehicle with the electric parking brake on, when i started vehicle later, message in display read,trouble with electric parking brake take to dealership. service department says no code found."

"takata recall: review camera remains on when i shift from reverse to drive. consequently, i am driving looking at the road behind me on the screen."