Owners have filed 2,062 complaints on the Acura RDX, covering 2007–2025. The system named most often is Exterior Lighting (585 reports). Worst years by volume: 2019, 2015, 2020; cleanest: 2024, 2009, 2011. 55 reports describe a crash, 9 a fire, 1 a death. On average the car was 4.9 years old when the problem happened.
What breaks on Acura RDX
Grouped by the system owners named — percentages are shares of all 2,062 RDX complaints. Open any row for the full reports in owners' own words.
Exterior Lighting 585 Read
The headlights are horrible. I am unable to drive safely without using my bright lights. When I dim my headlights before approaching an oncoming car it is dangerous. On October 28, 2023 I did just that and missed seeing a deer due to the lack of visibility due to the defective headlights and hit the deer damaging my…
My 16 year old son was at a church function until after dark because daylight savings time means it is dark earlier. When he began to drive home he could not see the roadway because the low beam headlights provided close to zero illumination. He lost visibility and drove off the road into someone’s yard. There were…
The headlight reflector has become so foggy that it does not illuminate anything further than 5 feet in front of it. The light does not spill onto the road. This has caused other drivers to be unaware of my presence at night, and lead to one turning into my lane and running me off of the road, popping my tires and…
Air Bags 212 Read
2022 Acura RDX VIN: [XXX] 1. Component failure: passenger side air bag did not employ in side collision (t-boned). 2. Risk: passenger was not protected during impact by air bag. 3. Brought to dealer for inspection and pictures to be sent to Honda HQ. 4. Insurance adjuster upon inspection was surprised no air…
The contact owns a 2022 Acura RDX. The contact stated while driving approximately 25 MPH, a deer unexpectedly crashed into the middle of the front end of the vehicle. The contact stated that after the impact, the front driver's side knee bolster air bag gradually deployed and exploded, causing a 5-inch opened wound on…
Upon entering the cross driveway at a mall parking lot, car suddenly veered right, accelerating & unresponsive to stepping on brakes pedal, steering wheel locked, gear buttons did not respond, seat belts tightened, but air bags DID NOT deploy. Speed was slowed when car ran over a large rock and crashed into the wall…
Visibility/wiper 173 Read
The windshield is distorted and when looking through it is like looking through a convex piece of glass. I went onto the Acura forum and there are numerous complaints. My daughter won't drive the car because its dangerous she said. Its like looking through a fish bowl. All forum complaints were similar to mine.…
Driver side mirror is vibrating while driving- more noticeable at speeds above 35 mph. Took into the dealer for replacement. After ride with tech, tech confirmed issue. Dealer replaced driver side mirror but still shakes/vibrates while driving. Vibration causes distortion of vehicles and other surrounding items in…
See attached document for complaint
Power Train 119 Read
The contact owned a 2020 Acura RDX. The contact stated while driving approximately 35 mph, the vehicle inadvertently slowed down and without warning a strange noise came from the engine compartment and a sudden jerk to the wheel when the vehicle accelerated without warning up to approximately 100 mph. The contact was…
The car accelerated rapidly when I came to a stop. When I brought it to, the dealership they found 3 problems with the transmission. First, the transmission had overheated, there were problems in the clutch assembly, and I don't know the third
The contact owns a 2013 acura rdx. The contact stated that after securing the vehicle into park and exiting, the vehicle suddenly began to roll away at a speed of approximately 10 mph. The vehicle crashed into another parked vehicle before traveling across an intersection and crashing into a hot dog stand. There were…
Electrical System 118 Read
My SUV has been in service over 15 times stemming from electrical issues with the dash harness, multi times for loss of power while driving, loss of infotainment systems, and piping noise coming from the speakers. The loss of power and 'limp mode' has happens 3 times. Once at highway speed after an out of state trip,…
The 2016 acura rdx newly purchased on 4/25/2016 from fresno acura had a spontaneous fire and subsequent immediate electrical system failure during a trip from fresno (california) to monterey (california). The vehicle had an estimated 250 miles on the odometer at the time of the engine and electrical failure. The…
We have two 2014 rdx's. Wife hit a deer with damage to the right front light and right front quarter panel. Suppose to be a 3700.00 repair but when body shop drove rdx into their building it caught fire and now we have a totaled 40,000 rdx. Everybody has said they can't ever remember a acura ever catching on fire. In…
Engine 105 Read
2016 acura rdx with approx 31,000 miles. After approx 1.5 mile trip parked it at a shopping center, turned off the engine and locked the car. Within 3 min the engine spontaneously caught fire and burned the entire engine compartment before the fire dept put it out. Contacted honda and told them they should look at it…
Interstate 10 near Live Oak, Florida. Conditions were light fog and roads were dry. The previous day we drove about six hours, two or three times in very heavy rain. We were driving eastbound (two eastbound lanes) in the right lane. We were approaching a Semi-trailer followed by a medium-sized box truck and switched…
Fast blinking engine light, and car not able to accelerate past 40mph. Was informed by dealership that it was possible water intrusion but had no guarantee or adequate mitigation strategy to ensure the problem would not occur other than indicating it is normal behavior to expect during heavy down pour!! The following…
Structure 78 Read
My vehicle was parked, running and unoccupied on the street. My wife entered from the passenger side reaching in to retrieve something from the center console. She pressed the start/stop engine button to shut off the vehicle. The car started rolling backwards down a hill, knocking my wife to the ground causing injury.…
On Friday, January 13, 2023, the rear hatch window on my 2023 RDX spontaneously shattered while it was sitting in my garage. After I discovered it, I searched for a cause and found nothing. I had just purchased this vehicle on 12/3/22. I discovered online similar complaints being made about the rear windshield glass…
My issue is with the liftgate on all Acura models including my own RDX. I was sitting on the edge of the van with the liftgate fully opened taking off my spikes after golfing. I inadvertantly triggered the fob in my pocket when i leaned forward causing the liftgate to close. At first i did not realize it was closing…
Service Brakes 73 Read
The contact owns a 2024 Acura RDX. The contact stated that while driving approximately 35 MPH, the brake pedal was depressed and went to the floorboard. The vehicle failed to stop and crashed into the rear driver’s side of another vehicle. During the crash, the braking system malfunctioned, and the air bag failed to…
While sitting in a long row of stopped vehicles at a traffic light for an extended amount of time due to an accident I had the Automatic Brake Hold feature activated { I did not have to have my foot on the brake while sitting still) as well as the Auto Idle Stop OFF button meaning {the engine shuts down when you come…
I was driving on a highway and I wanted to slow my car down because I was approaching a construction area. When I applied the brakes the break pedal went right down to the floor. This total break failure did not allow me to stop my car
RDX 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Electrical System,engine | 1 | — | |
| 2024 | Engine | 1 | 1 | |
| 2023 | Electrical System | — | — | |
| 2022 | Air Bags | 4 | — | |
| 2021 | Air Bags | 2 | — | |
| 2020 | Air Bags | 4 | 1 | |
| 2019 | Air Bags | 3 | — | |
| 2018 | Air Bags | 5 | — | |
| 2017 | Air Bags | 6 | 1 | |
| 2016 | Air Bags | 3 | 2 | |
| 2015 | Air Bags | 7 | — | |
| 2014 | Air Bags | 2 | 1 | |
| 2013 | Air Bags | 6 | 1 | |
| 2012 | Air Bags | — | — | |
| 2011 | Air Bags | 1 | — | |
| 2010 | Air Bags | 1 | 2 | |
| 2009 | Air Bags | 1 | — | |
| 2008 | Air Bags | 1 | — | |
| 2007 | Air Bags | 7 | — |
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 | 618 |
| Average complaints per series | 3.3 |
| Worst single series | 27 complaints |
| Average age at failure | 4.9 years |
A model average of 3.3 hides a worst series at 27. 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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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 RDX?
By complaint volume, 2019, 2015, 2020 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 RDX years are the cleanest?
2024, 2009, 2011 have the fewest complaints on file. For recent years that can simply mean the cars are young.
How many complaints does the Acura RDX have?
2,062 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, covering 2007–2025. Of those, 55 describe a crash and 9 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.