2020 Acura MDX - Ratings, Complaints and Recalls

The 2020 Acura MDX SUV FWD has achieved the highest safety ratings across various categories, with an overall safety rating of 5 stars. This vehicle excels in both front and side crash tests, as well as in rollover and side pole crash scenarios. It is equipped with standard electronic stability control, forward collision warning, and lane departure warning systems, adding an extra layer of safety for the driver and passengers.

In terms of complaints and recalls, the 2020 Acura MDX has a total of 53 complaints reported and 4 recalls issued. Despite these numbers, the overall safety features and top ratings in crash tests make this vehicle a reliable and secure choice for consumers looking for a safe SUV option.

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Top stats at a glance

Complaint Count

53

Recall Count

4

Investigation Count

0

Safety Rating

5/5

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Safety Features

2020 Acura MDX SUV FWD Safety Features

Here are the safety features that come as standard on the 2020 Acura MDX SUV FWD

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.

Standard
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.

Standard

2020 Acura MDX SUV FWD Safety Ratings

Here we have the crash and rollover ratings for the 2020 Acura MDX SUV FWD 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 2020 Score 2024 Score
Overall Front Crash Rating Not Rated 5 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 2020 Score 2024 Score
Overall Side Crash Rating Not Rated 5 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 5 5
Combined Side Barrier Pole Rating - Rear Not Rated 5 5
Overall Side Barrier Rating Not Rated 5 5

Rollover Ratings

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

Test 2005 Score 2020 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 5 5

Complaints for the 2020 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:
"the contact owns a 2020 acura mdx. the contact stated that upon coming to a complete stop, the vehicle suddenly stalled. after which, the contact became aware that the vehicle briefly failed to detect that the key was present, preventing the vehicle from restarting. after a while, the vehicle was able to detect that the key was present, and the vehicle started. the vehicle returned to normal functionality, but the failure became a regular occurrence. no warning lights were illuminated. the vehicle was taken to the dealer, who was unable to duplicate the failure. the manufacturer was not notified of the failure. the failure mileage was 10,000."
Components Involved: ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
Date of incident: 2022-03-10
Complaint:
"i was on a bridge heading into a tunnel stopped due to traffic and the car shut off completely. the screen said to put the car in park and restart it. i tried several times and after a few attempts it started back up. this is the third time this happened. i had a recall when i purchased it and had the recall addressed for the same issue. now i am back at acura again. and being told i may have to pay for diagnostics. the car is still under warranty."
Components Involved: ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
Date of incident: 2023-04-12
Complaint:
"while coming to a stop the engine start stop engaged causing the engine to turn off completely and would not restart when the throttle was pressed . the transmission shifted into neutral and the push button start would not fire the engine. car would not go back to park. after locking and unlocking the door 30 seconds later it reset and the engine refired. this occurred with traffic flowing behind me and caused the car to be placed in neutral and the driver having no control over the vehicle. if this had occurred in an intersection while turning, the driver and occupants of the vehicle could be in significant danger of an accident. i took the car to the acura dealer the next day and was told they had several complaints of this kind but would need to duplicate the issue on my car to assist me. if they could not duplicate the issue then the could not help me. at this time, it has not been inspected by the manufacturer. there were several warning lamps that came on when the car turned off."
Components Involved: ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
Date of incident: 2025-04-11
Complaint:
"the contact owns a 2020 acura mdx. the contact stated while stopped at a stop light, the vehicle failed to restart, and the contact became aware the auto start/stop function was not operating properly. after manually restarting the vehicle, the vehicle returned to normal functionality, but the failure became a regular failure. no warning lights were illuminated. the vehicle was taken to the dealer, who was unable to duplicate the failure. the vehicle was not repaired. after investigating the failure, the contact related the failure to technical service bulletin: 23-008. the manufacturer was not notified of the failure. the failure mileage was 31,500."
Components Involved: ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
Date of incident: 2023-06-11
Complaint:
"our 2020 mdx we lease has lost electrical 3x since sep 1. once while sitting at a stoplight. twice while turning at intersection. each time, there was a complete power loss. when the car was moving, it quickly slowed to a stop in the road. in each case, it took a few minutes to get the car restarted due to being startled at what happened. i checked the battery cables, and they are tight. the radio settings were not lost, so i do not think it was a battery connection failure. we are not sure what to do with this as, while there are a lot of similar reports for acuras, there is no consistent diagnosis."
Components Involved: ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
Date of incident: 2024-06-10
Complaint:
"purchased used vehicle from dealership last week who completed the outstanding recalls prior to picking it up. vehicle only has ~7800 miles. stopped in traffic for red light, engine idle turned on after applying brake fully and car completely died...would not turn back on and nothing worked, not even hazards which made it a very dangerous safety issue sitting in the middle of a busy street. police would not wait for call to aaa for free tow due to current safety issue and had it towed to local towing company."
Components Involved: ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
Date of incident: 2023-11-09
Complaint:
"car will not restart from the auto idle stop when at a stop light. the dash goes blank then flashes everything and it takes a minute or so to restart. it has happened 3-4 times in the last 6 months. once on a 55 mph highway. very dangerous safety issue. i have take it to the acura dealership service department and they say diagnostics does not show why. however, they said it has happened to their txl model and a software update was the solution and they are hopeful they will get on update soon. service associate did say others have been calling in about the same issue. but do not know if acura is working on a fix. i did report the incidents to the national acura customer service department and have a case number."
Components Involved: ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
Date of incident: 2023-06-08

Recalls for the 2020 Acura MDX

Component Recalls

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

Recall:
"honda (american honda motor co.) is recalling certain 2019-2020 acura mdx, mdx sport hybrid, rdx, tlx, honda accord, civic hatchback, insight, 2019 acura ilx, honda accord hybrid, civic coupe, civic coupe si, civic sedan, civic sedan si, civic type r, fit, hr-v, odyssey, passport, pilot and ridgeline, and 2018-2019 cr-v vehicles. the low-pressure fuel pump inside the fuel tank may fail."
Consequence:
Fuel pump failure can cause an engine stall while driving, increasing the risk of a crash.
Remedy:

Honda will notify owners, and dealers will replace the fuel pump assembly, free of charge. Owner letters were mailed May 18, 2021. Owners may contact Honda customer service at 1-888-234-2138. Note: This recall is an expansion of recall 20V-314.

Component(s) Involved: FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE > DELIVERY > FUEL PUMP
Date of incident: 2021-03-25
Recall:
"honda (american honda motor co.) is recalling certain 2018-2020 honda accord, civic coupe, civic sedan, civic hatchback, civic type r, cr-v, hr-v, ridgeline, odyssey, acura ilx, mdx, mdx hybrid, rdx, rlx, tlx, 2019-2020 honda insight, passport, 2020 honda cr-v hybrid, 2018-2019 honda clarity phev, fit, and 2017-2020 honda accord hybrid, pilot, acura nsx vehicles. the fuel pump inside the fuel tank may fail."
Consequence:
Fuel pump failure can cause an engine stall while driving, increasing the risk of a crash.
Remedy:

Dealers will replace the fuel pump module, free of charge. Owner notification letters are expected to be mailed February 5, 2024. Owners may contact Honda customer service at 1-888-234-2138. Honda's numbers for this recall are KGC and KGD. This recall is an expansion of NHTSA recall numbers 21V-215 and 20V-314.

Component(s) Involved: FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE > DELIVERY > FUEL PUMP
Date of incident: 2023-12-18

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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