Owners have filed 351 complaints on the Acura RL, covering 1996–2012. The system named most often is Air Bags (123 reports). Worst years by volume: 2005, 2000, 2002; cleanest: 2012, 2011, 2004. 15 reports describe a crash, 8 a fire. On average the car was 8.7 years old when the problem happened.
What breaks on Acura RL
Grouped by the system owners named — percentages are shares of all 351 RL complaints. Open any row for the full reports in owners' own words.
Air Bags 123 Read
The contact owns a 2006 acura rl. While driving 70 mph the vehicle hydroplaned on water, crashed into a rail, and then was struck by a semi-tractor trailer. The vehicle was completely destroyed. After the failure, the check air bag warning light illuminated on the instrument control panel, but the air bags failed to…
The contact owned a 2005 acura rl. The contact stated that her son was driving and approached a crash that had already taken place. The victim of the crash was ejected from the vehicle and was lying in the road. The contact applied the brakes and attempted to avoid a vehicle that was stopped in the road. The contact's…
My wife was entering a bend in the road and came upon a car stopped in her lane, with no brakes lights!!! She attempted to swerve to the shoulder but it was too late. She impacted the car in the rear, slightly offset to the right (passenger) side. The front of her car impacted slightly offset to the left (driver's)…
Exterior Lighting 42 Read
Was struck by a drunk driver while traveling north on gsp. Left driver side of the car was side swiped from the back to the front. I hadn't notice the light prior to the accident however according to the body shop there was a problem prior to the accident. The afs light was not triggered by the incident and it is a…
Cannot see beyond about 50-60 feet on dark roads using low beams only
2010 acura rl. Consumer states fault with low beam headlight design which results in a serious lack of vision beyond 30 yards *tgw the consumer stated he nearly had an accident on a rural road as he was unable to see a detour sign due to road flooding until it was almost too late to stop. It appeared as though the top…
Electrical System 39 Read
The front passenger door handle started smoking and burning on my vehicle. It melted part of the door handle and left most of the electrical equipment inoperative including the inability to start the car. The vehicle was parked/stationary & off at the time of occurrence
On 4 occasions since buying car in 2006 reported that intermittently car lurched forward when lifting foot off brake. Dealership found no defects on 4 separate checks. Aug 13had this sudden acceleration' occur in heavy traffic. Totalled car,damaged 4 others
In 2008 I bought a 2006 acura rl that after 8 months caught fire while is parked overnight, the fire inspector deemed electrical due to faulty electric in door channel overhead. I subsequently bought another of the same acura rl 2006 as of 6 weeks ago the air conditioning system was faulty and by the acura dealer…
Power Train 27 Read
My husband drove onto a sloped driveway (uphill) and left the car running, got out and rang the doorbell to our daughter's house to see if anyone was home. They answered the door and he came back to the car and motioned for me to get out of car and come into house. He remembered he had left the car running, so as I…
SH-AWD will randomly come on and I’ll lose power suddenly as it switches from awd to front wheel drive. It can be scary especially if you are accelerating to get up to speed for the freeway or trying to take a quick left hand turn. The whole car shutters while the awd kicks off. It happens randomly, it has probably…
Torque converter failure with 61000 miles. Slippage and rumble noted at 45mph and 1550 rpms. Lurches at turns from stopped position
Service Brakes 17 Read
After informing the acura service center about 3 months prior to the accident that the brakes were not functioning properly on 2 separate occasions, and being reassured that there was nothing wrong with the brakes, I rear-ended another car on april 5 because the brakes failed again. Acura refused to run a computer…
The contact owns a 2000 acura rl. The contact stated that while attempting to turn right at 20 mph, she attempted to engage the brakes and the pedal depressed to the floor. As a result, she was involved in a rear end crash with another vehicle. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, who was unable to diagnose the…
On three occasions the gas pedal and brake pedal deployed at the same time on my 2009 acura rl. The third time this resulted in an impact on a parked vehicle. The brake pedal and accelerator pedal are two inches apart and when I step on the brake pedal it stops on a level equal to the accelerator pedal therefore it…
Visibility 14 Read
Vehicle had multiple electrical problems. The problems may have cause one crash. Bf the consumer hit a vehicle which was stopped in a turning lane at 35 mph. When the vehicle crashed the air bags did not deploy. Throttle body was bent. Faulty window regulator caused the window to not close
The contact owns a 2006 acura rl. The contact stated that he noticed creases in the corners of his sunroof, which eventually lead to permanent dents. The vehicle was inspected by a dealer who informed him that it was due to outside influences. The vehicle had not been repaired. The failure mileage was approximately…
Driver and passenger side mirrors became dangerously loose. Service bulletin 08-022 issued june 7, 2008 by acura warning "probable cause: the bolts fastening the mirror housing to the mirror base were not properly torqued." mirrors must be replaced at cost of $750 each to consumer plus installation
Steering 13 Read
The contact owns a 2001 acura rl. The contact stated that while stopped at a traffic light, smoke started to emit from the engine compartment. The vehicle was taken to a local mechanic who diagnosed that the steering pump was leaking onto the catalytic converter or the engine. As a result, the power steering pump and…
Driving down steep "s" turn in mountains when battery cable disconnected and all of car's systems shut down. No brakes, no steering, no power. Worst part was that doors locked and we could not unlock them nor the windows. Extremely frightening. There was no cell phone service where we were. If not for forest ranger…
When backing car out from parking stall, after turning wheel beyond other car and ready to go forward, I stop completely with foot on brake . As I begin turning steering wheel in the other direction a loud scraping noise comes from area of the steering column. It an be heard for at least 100 feet. This does not happen…
Engine And Engine Cooling 10 Read
Car suddenly died at 2500 miles, was towed to dealer, engine oil pump not installed properly at factory, took over 7 weeks for new car/replacement car to arrive, rental car fees not reimbursed despite reassurances from manufacturer and dealer
The air conditioner blows out only warm air. I have taken it to the dealership and they have diagnosed the problem as a faulty compressor and have ordered a new part but it is on a national backorder with no eta for the part. It is unacceptable that acura is ignoring a wide spread problem and not issuing a recall or…
Problem is with the filtration system on the vehicle. Dealer has been notified. Please provide further information. Ph
RL 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Exterior Lighting | — | — | |
| 2011 | Air Bags | — | — | |
| 2010 | Air Bags | 1 | — | |
| 2009 | Air Bags | 1 | 1 | |
| 2008 | Air Bags | 1 | — | |
| 2007 | Air Bags | 1 | 1 | |
| 2006 | Air Bags | 2 | 1 | |
| 2005 | Air Bags | 4 | 1 | |
| 2004 | Air Bags | 1 | — | |
| 2003 | Air Bags | — | — | |
| 2002 | Air Bags | — | — | |
| 2001 | Air Bags | — | 1 | |
| 2000 | Air Bags | 2 | — | |
| 1999 | Air Bags | — | 1 | |
| 1998 | Air Bags | — | — | |
| 1997 | Electrical System | 1 | — | |
| 1996 | Air Bags | 1 | 2 |
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 | 168 |
| Average complaints per series | 2.1 |
| Worst single series | 15 complaints |
| Average age at failure | 8.7 years |
A model average of 2.1 hides a worst series at 15. 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 RL?
By complaint volume, 2005, 2000, 2002 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 RL years are the cleanest?
2012, 2011, 2004 have the fewest complaints on file. For recent years that can simply mean the cars are young.
How many complaints does the Acura RL have?
351 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, covering 1996–2012. Of those, 15 describe a crash and 8 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.