Owners have filed 12 complaints on the Acura NSX, covering 1991–2021. The system named most often is Service Brakes (4 reports). Worst years by volume: 2017, 1991, 2021; cleanest: 1992, 1994, 2001. On average the car was 3.2 years old when the problem happened.
What breaks on Acura NSX
Grouped by the system owners named — percentages are shares of all 12 NSX complaints. Open any row for the full reports in owners' own words.
Service Brakes 4 Read
Carbon fiber brake rotors are cracking and acura s doing nothing to correct the problem
ABS system failed, causing entended stopping distance
ABS modulator is leaking pump metal into the reservior causing ABS failure
Engine And Engine Cooling 2 Read
Motor oil leak danger of fire if in an accident - back seat sticker could choke a child as they fall off in the afternoon heat
Catalytic converters have been removed from vehicle, state of colorado requires emission test which cannot be done, thus car is not road worthy
Electrical System 1 Read
The car has lost power a couple of times. When the car's battery goes dead, you cannot close either door on this car. If you have bad weather there is a good chance the interior of this car will get damaged. There is an one inch gap between the door and the body of the car. The doors will lock up and you cannot do…
Fuel/propulsion System 1 Read
On my 2017 Acura NSX, Fuel Pump Module have failed on July 12, 2025, while driving on a highway, and the engine stalled coming to a stop in the middle of the freeway. The service dealer at Greensboro Acura confirmed the failed Fuel Pump Module part number is 17708-T6N-A02-M1 and it is clearly listed under NHTSA Recall…
Power Train 1 Read
Dear NHTSA: while driving under normal acceleration I noticed a grinding noise from the transmission. I subsequently discovered that a transmission part failed. See attached photo. I learned by further investigation that acura of america is aware of this manufacturer defect and has issued multiple technical service…
NSX 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Unknown Or Other | — | — | |
| 2017 | Electrical System | — | — | |
| 2001 | Engine And Engine Cooling,seat Belts | — | — | |
| 1994 | Service Brakes, Hydraulic | — | — | |
| 1992 | Engine And Engine Cooling | — | — | |
| 1991 | Power Train | — | — |
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 | 9 |
| Average complaints per series | 1.3 |
| Worst single series | 2 complaints |
| Average age at failure | 3.2 years |
A model average of 1.3 hides a worst series at 2. 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
- No ads, on every page
- 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 NSX?
By complaint volume, 2017, 1991, 2021 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 NSX years are the cleanest?
1992, 1994, 2001 have the fewest complaints on file. For recent years that can simply mean the cars are young.
How many complaints does the Acura NSX have?
12 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, covering 1991–2021. Of those, 0 describe a crash and 0 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.