Owners have filed 288 complaints on the Acura Legend, covering 1986–1995. The system named most often is Equipment (74 reports). Worst years by volume: 1991, 1992, 1990; cleanest: 1987, 1995, 1986. 45 reports describe a crash, 11 a fire. On average the car was 8.3 years old when the problem happened.
What breaks on Acura Legend
Grouped by the system owners named — percentages are shares of all 288 Legend complaints. Open any row for the full reports in owners' own words.
Equipment 74 Read
1992 acura legend. Factory installed stereo amplifier caught fire. Back seat and rear of the car partially destroyed. Fire department had to put out the flames. Acura still refusing to make it right, due to liability issues
Rear speaker amplifier wiring caught fire
The consumer receive a recall notice for the amplifier to the speaker march 2 2002. The consumer had it done and a couple of months the problem still reoccur. *ph
Service Brakes 40 Read
Vehicles ABS braking system had long and extended unwanted stopping distance which caused a crash. Tt
I released the brake to allow my car to advance to a proper parking alighnment. Instead, the car engine suddenly revved-up and sped up the sloped mountain. I experienced another sudden acceleration, at the beginning of the trip, and I turned off the cruise control
Brakes failed resulting in vehicle collision, no deployment of both driver and passenger air bags during collision, injury to driver's foot from trying to press brake pedal for force. Mjs
Air Bags 38 Read
When vehicle was involved in a rear end crash, the driver's seat belt did not restrain the driver, causing driver to hit head on steering wheel. On jan 28, 1999, vehicle was involved in a rear end crash traveling about 32 mph, and there was no deployment of the driver's side air bag. The seat belt did not restrain…
While waitng in a line and easing off the brake just a little, vehicle suddenly took off and hit another vehicle. Consumer stated airbags didn't deploy
After hitting the curve, air bag deployed causing burns to the driver. Tt
Vehicle Speed Control 17 Read
The vehicle had sudden acceleration. The vehicle was parked, turned on the car and just than the vehicle went out of control, resulting in a crash
Sudden acceleration, causing accidents
Sudden acceleration, causing accident/injuries
Power Train 16 Read
While the vehicle was in park it jumped out of gear into reverse at very high speed, hit someone and stuck two houses before stopping. Cause unknown. Please give any further details
Clutch slave cyl failed causing lost of control of transmission
Total premature failure of transmission. Two adults and two children (ages 3 and 7) were left stranded over 300 miles from our home in the middle of the night. The tempature that night was about 15 degrees farenheight
Engine And Engine Cooling 16 Read
No summary listed for abov evehicle
I have owned 2 acura legends 1992 & 1995. Failure of radiator top tank $600 repair on both at apprx 75,000 miles. Scalding or stranding can occur. I understand that it is a common failure in honda radiators
Engine stalled, causing loss of all power functions
Seat Belts 14 Read
Hit brakes hard while driving five mph, seat belt broke sternum
My mother was involved in an accident in my 1989 acura legend, which the driver's seat belt released upon the impact of the incident. She was then citated for not wearing a safety belt. I have recently found that they were recalled in may of 1995. I purchased the vehicle on a year ago
Rear lap belt incorrectly assembled, causing belt to fit poorly around child restraint
Electrical System 12 Read
On 01-28-04 officers from this agency responded to a fire involving a 1994 acura legend. VIN#[xxx]. The vehicle had not been operated for four days prior to the fire. The fire originated in the driver side engine compartment. *ak updated 07/30/2012 *js information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act…
The contact owns a 1994 acura legend. After turning off and exiting the vehicle, a fire originated on the bottom passenger side of the front passenger seat near the electronic seat control buttons. The vehicle was parked. The dealer was notified of the failure. The contact was to check with the manufacturer to…
Electrical fire started in the trunk and spread through the whole car, burning it to the pavement
Legend years to avoid — and the clean ones
Complaints per model year. More reports usually means more cars on the road as well as more trouble, so read the crash and fire columns alongside the count.
| Model year | Complaints | Top system | Crashes | Fires |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Air Bags | 1 | — | |
| 1994 | Air Bags | 3 | 2 | |
| 1993 | Air Bags | 3 | — | |
| 1992 | Air Bags | 8 | 3 | |
| 1991 | Air Bags | 10 | 5 | |
| 1990 | Air Bags | 6 | 1 | |
| 1989 | Air Bags | 4 | — | |
| 1988 | Electrical System | 6 | — | |
| 1987 | Fuel System, Gasoline | 3 | — | |
| 1986 | Engine And Engine Cooling | 1 | — |
The same model year, different builds
Every complaint carries the first 11 characters of the VIN — plant, year, body and engine. That is a production series, and complaints are spread across them very unevenly.
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Distinct production series | 197 |
| Average complaints per series | 1.5 |
| Worst single series | 8 complaints |
| Average age at failure | 8.3 years |
A model average of 1.5 hides a worst series at 8. Enter a VIN above to see the numbers for that exact build instead of the model as a whole.
Owners reported these. Find out if yours is one of them.
- Complaints matched to the exact production run, not just the model
- What the car is worth given what tends to fail on it
- The original window sticker and factory options
- Full research report as a PDF for the pre-purchase inspection
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- No ads, no tracking — and much more
How we count
Every figure here comes from complaints owners filed with NHTSA — 1,100,006 of them, covering 1,982 models built between 1981 and 2026.
A complaint is an unverified report: someone wrote down what happened to their car. It is not a confirmed defect and not a recall. What makes the volume useful is the pattern — when thousands of owners of the same build describe the same failure, that is a signal no marketing brochure will give you.
Two things we do that the source does not. First, we compute the age of the car at the moment of failure from the incident date and the model year. Second, we group complaints by the first 11 characters of the VIN — the production series — so a bad plant run does not disappear into a model-wide average.
Frequently asked questions
What are the worst years for the Legend?
By complaint volume, 1991, 1992, 1990 drew the most owner reports. Bear in mind that popular years put more cars on the road, so check the crash and fire columns too.
Which Legend years are the cleanest?
1987, 1995, 1986 have the fewest complaints on file. For recent years that can simply mean the cars are young.
How many complaints does the Acura Legend have?
288 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, covering 1986–1995. Of those, 45 describe a crash and 11 a fire.
Are these complaints verified?
No. They are unverified reports from owners. NHTSA publishes them as filed and investigates only a fraction. The value is in the pattern, not in any single report.
Can I check complaints for one specific car?
Yes — enter its VIN above. We match the first 11 characters, which identify the plant, year, body and engine, so you get complaints on that exact production series rather than the whole model.