2008 Acura TSX - Ratings, Complaints and Recalls

The 2008 Acura TSX has received high safety ratings in various crash scenarios, with a 5-star rating for the front crash on both the driver and passenger sides, as well as a 5-star rating for the driver's side in a side crash. However, the passenger side in a side crash received a 4-star rating. The car comes equipped with standard electronic stability control, which enhances its safety features. Unfortunately, it does not have forward collision warning or lane departure warning systems.

In terms of complaints and recalls, the 2008 Acura TSX has accumulated 34 complaints and has been subject to 3 recalls. Despite these issues, the car's strong crash ratings and inclusion of stability control contribute to an overall safe driving experience. It is always advisable for owners to stay proactive and address any recalls promptly to ensure the continued safety of their vehicle.

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Top stats at a glance

Complaint Count

34

Recall Count

3

Investigation Count

0

Safety Rating

Not Rated

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Safety Features

2008 Acura TSX 4-DR. w/SAB Safety Features

Here are the safety features that come as standard on the 2008 Acura TSX 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

2008 Acura TSX 4-DR. w/SAB Safety Ratings

Here we have the crash and rollover ratings for the 2008 Acura TSX 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 2008 Score 2014 Score
Overall Front Crash Rating Not Rated Not Rated Not Rated
Front Crash Driver Side Rating 5 5 Not Rated
Front Crash Passenger Side Rating 5 5 Not Rated

Side Crash Ratings

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

Test 2005 Score 2008 Score 2014 Score
Overall Side Crash Rating Not Rated Not Rated Not Rated
Side Crash Drivers Side Rating 5 5 Not Rated
Side Crash Passenger Side Rating 4 4 Not Rated
Combined Side Barrier Pole Rating - Front Not Rated Not Rated Not Rated
Combined Side Barrier Pole Rating - Rear Not Rated Not Rated Not Rated
Overall Side Barrier Rating Not Rated Not Rated Not Rated

Rollover Ratings

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

Test 2005 Score 2008 Score 2014 Score
Rollover Rating Not Rated Not Rated 5
Rollover Possibility % 0% 0% 0%
Dynamic Tip Result No Tip
Side Pole Crash Rating Not Rated Not Rated Not Rated

Complaints for the 2008 Acura TSX

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:
"1. the rack and pinion steering rack is leaking power steering hydraulic fluid. the power assist is not working and the vehicle is undrivable. putting in new fluid does not help as it just drains out from he pinion within half a day. 2. luckily, the seals on the rack and pinion failed in the community as low speeds and power steering was lost. drove back home. no one was hurt. afraid to think of what would have happened if this had occurred at highway speeds. 3. not yet confirmed by dealer as car needs towing, which costs money as closest dealer is quiet far away. but many reports of similar incidents across online communities for this vehicle, where folks had to shell out thousands to replace the entire rack and pinion system. the seals are sealed inside and cannot be serviced. 4. component has not been removed from the car yet or inspected by anyone. yet to be removed for replacement 5. there were no warning lights, sounds or indications of any kind. no warning of loss of hydraulic pressure or air in system. just a weird whining noise began when negotiating a slow speed turn and within a minute, all fluid drained and all power assist was lost."
Components Involved: STEERING
Date of incident: 2025-05-08
Complaint:
"the contact owns a 2008 acura tsx. the contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed and attempting to complete a turn, an abnormal amount of effort was needed to turn the steering wheel. after a visual inspection of the engine compartment, the contact observed that the power steering fluid was abnormally low. upon refilling the power steering fluid reservoir, the contact observed a leak in the power steering hose. no warning lights were illuminated. the vehicle was not taken to the dealer or an independent mechanic. the vehicle was not repaired. the manufacturer was not notified of the failure. the failure mileage was 198,231."
Components Involved: STEERING
Date of incident: 2023-04-09
Complaint:
"while driving i noticed my car completely lost all of its power steering in one shot without warning. this leads to very stiff driving experience and when i brought it too the mechanic he said it would be a substantial amount of money to fix, because of this i googled and noticed many other acura tsx's have this issue. i applied power steering fluid in hope of that helping out but it just leaked out."
Components Involved: STEERING
Date of incident: 2019-08-09
Complaint:
"while driving the car on the highway, it became increasingly hard to steer. by the time i got home the steering wheel couldn't be turned. had it taken to the dealer where it was noted that the power steering was completely inoperable, the rack and pinion was leaking and the power steering pump was leaking. dealer said that my vin hadn't been affected by the previous power steering hose recall. it cost $1500 for the repair and it seems a little fishy to me that so many tsx drivers are reporting the same issue."
Components Involved: STEERING
Date of incident: 2016-03-08
Complaint:
"day 1-2 of this issue: squeaky sound with steering, short drives of a few mins each- (with my child in the car). parked car in garage. day 3: could not get vehicle out of the garage as the steering was extremely hard, harder to left than right. no fluid found on garage floor. had vehicle towed to dealership to diagnose. i was told it was the power steering rack but was not told exactly how it was failing but he did mention he sees this 'a lot'. car was purchased and driven in maryland/dc/n. va (unsure if car was properly treated against the substance to melt ice). i'm glad this did not happen while driving with my child but if indeed a faulty mechanism, why isn't acura recalling?"
Components Involved: STEERING
Date of incident: 2019-02-04
Complaint:
"i noticed that the vehicle began making a grinding noise, at approximately 120 000 miles as read by the odometer, when making turns and slips. the driver side pinion boot is leaking and a grinding noise can be heard from the the rack and pinion when turning the wheel with the car on jack stands."
Components Involved: STEERING
Date of incident: 2021-06-01
Complaint:
"power steering started to fail all of a sudden. was not able to steer at all. the dealer told me it was caused by the rack and pinion going out which also affected the power steering pump to fail. this should not happen when the car itself was driven only 60k plus miles and the car was always well taken care of through the dealership. i paid 3,000 dollars to get this fixed! there are multiple cases regarding rack and pinion power steering issues from the acura tsx. there should be a recall from acura a long time ago. this issue must be resolved asap."
Components Involved: STEERING
Date of incident: 2016-08-04
Complaint:
"had the power steering hose recall done in 2014 (recall number sb10-010). now in 2017 came out to drive car and found all power steering fluid leaked and car had no power steering when trying to drive it. car drove and power steering was perfectly fine the day before. also just had a multi point inspection 4 months prior at acura dealership which found no issues with power steering."
Components Involved: STEERING
Date of incident: 2019-07-05
Complaint:
"my tsx has 58,469 miles and has always been serviced at an acura dealership. about 6 months ago during a routine service the service advisor pointed out that the rack and pinion was leaking. the advisor said that the leak came from the seals and that this was a common issue on the tsx's. given that the veh has such low mileage and having been serviced at the dealer this issue should not occur. rack and pinions are designed to last much longer. doing a quick research online i came across multiple stories from tsx owners experiencing the same issue and some resulting in accidents occurring. i have all the service records and would be happy to share them or any additional details you may need."
Components Involved: STEERING
Date of incident: 2016-06-04
Complaint:
"was traveling on the highway at around 65 mph when the car steering felt a bit rough, upon arrival at my job's parking lot i lost complete power steering. upon a quick inspection later that day i noticed the rack and pinion was leaking, i tried to add more fluid just to make it home but the leak was so quick that i lost complete power steering when trying to exit my parking space after just having top'd off the fluid. the safety concern is due to the loss of power steering aid when the car is in motion at low speeds as this will make turning difficult due to the low speed, this may be sudden as experienced from the quick ps fluid loss. many other people have reported the same issue and acura's service bulletin 10-025 addresses a power steering rack squeak due a deformed seal in the steering rack. however the bigger concern is due to the lost of vehicle control from loss of fluid. furthermore, merely letting the car idle when there has suffered a noticeable power steering fluid loss may cause damage to the steering pump as the lack of such fluid starves the pump of lubing medium. the quote to repair such damage is estimated at around 2200+ 1000+ for steering rack and 1000+ for labor."
Components Involved: STEERING
Date of incident: 2016-04-03

Recalls for the 2008 Acura TSX

Component Recalls

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

Recall:
"dorman products, inc. (dorman) is recalling certain accelerator pedal assemblies part numbers 699-114 and 825-5029-1, sold as replacement parts for 2003-2006 acura mdx, 2004-2008 acura tl and tsx, 2003-2007 honda accord, 2005-2006 honda cr-v, 2007-2011 honda element, 2005-2008 honda pilot and 2006-2014 honda ridgeline vehicles. the rotating portion of the accelerator pedal assembly may bind. as such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of federal motor vehicle safety standard (fmvss) number 124, "accelerator control systems.""
Consequence:
If the accelerator pedal binds, the engine may not quickly return to idle after the pedal is no longer pressed, increasing the risk of a crash.
Remedy:

Dorman will notify owners, and qualified service facilities will replace the affected accelerator pedal assemblies, free of charge. The recall began December 9, 2019. Owners may contact Dorman customer service at 1-800-523-2492, using option 5. Dorman's number for this recall is AS1019XXXX.

Component(s) Involved: VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL > ACCELERATOR PEDAL
Date of incident: 2019-10-10

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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