Owners have filed 135 complaints on the Acura RSX, covering 2002–2006. The system named most often is Power Train (26 reports). Worst years by volume: 2002, 2005, 2003; cleanest: 2004, 2006, 2003. 24 reports describe a crash, 1 a fire. On average the car was 4.3 years old when the problem happened.
What breaks on Acura RSX
Grouped by the system owners named — percentages are shares of all 135 RSX complaints. Open any row for the full reports in owners' own words.
Power Train 26 Read
I was driving and shifted from 2nd to third and I let out the clutch at 30 mph and the transmission came apart with gears on the ground. Acura never called the warranty company so it was never fixed and they reposed it
After my rsx type s sits for a few hours I get in it to drive, and when I shift from 1st gear to 2nd gear the gear grinds
Component: power train:manual transmission details: when shifting from 1st to 2nd the transmission grinds. The colder the temp. Is the worse the grinding
Air Bags 25 Read
The contact owns a 2006 acura rsx. The air bags failed to deploy during a crash at 65 mph. The vehicle is currently at the repair shop. The cause of the failure has yet to be determined. The current and failure mileages were 23,000
Airbag failure to deploy in a substantial passenger door side impact causing total loss of the vehicle and injuries to the passenger seat occupant. Driver's side airbag did deploy but there was no door impact there. Front airbags did not deploy as there was no frontal impact
Dt: the contact stated after rear ending another vehicle at 45 mph he lost control of the vehicle and stroke a fence and a neighbor's residence. The vehicle was extensively damaged on the front and the sides. Upon impact, the front and side airbags did not deploy. The contact was wearing a seat belt but sustained…
Engine And Engine Cooling 17 Read
While driving 60 mph a fire started in the engine. Consumer managed to pull over, and had the vehicle towed. Dealership was notified, but did not resolve the problem
Fog light cracked they blamed it on me replaced it and it cracked again 1 week later and they fixed it again blaming it on road vibration. It took acura 3 times to fix my sticking map lights. My car was at acura for 1 1/2 weeks for a buzzing sound from the engine they found a buzzing wire after all that time.…
Problems shifting from 3rd into 4th gear. Car shifts into second and redlines engine. Computor fails to shut engine down and engine blows. This has happened twice in the past 6 months. Acura blames it on driver error. Mechanic told me gear pattern is very tight and this has occured to an acura technician
Suspension 16 Read
Consumer states that while traveling at 50 mph, another vehicle traveling at 100 mph rear ended consumer and broke axle. Vehicle went into a spend resulting in an accident. Please provide any further information. Mr
Purchased the car in october 2005. Began to notice a popping sound from the right front of the car in low speed turns. Took in to be checked november 9 2005 with 901 miles on the car. Dealer replaced right front strut assembly, shock absorber/damper popping sound from the right front of the car in low speed turns…
When making slow turns, sounds from strut will be heard or when the car is stationary turning the wheels will cause pop sounds from the suspension
Exterior Lighting 8 Read
1. Hazardous night driving loss of low beam headlight due to poor light socket design and construction. This defect appears to be a burnout light halogen light bulb. 2.the bulb burns out due vibration, or arching caused by the light bulb locking mechanism assembly failure leaving the bulb loose, and held in place only…
Exterior lighting - headlights burn out regularly. Acura dealer has replaced my headlight 4 times while still under warranty. I have replaced those 4 more times myself. Acura denies any faulty manufacturing, but do say that this happens often as the light must vibrate and thus burn out. They also (while under…
Water leaks in to the trunk (where the spare tire is kept).it puddles and causes rust and mold. It causes asthma exacerbation and respitory illness. Due to the water, the tail lights get fogged up and it makes it difficult to see the brake lights. It also fogs up the inside of the car and makes it difficult to see out…
Service Brakes 6 Read
I own a 2006 acura rsx. I was driving at 40 mph on the new york state thruway yesterday (12/9/09) morning at approximately 6:55am. It was raining and the road was slushy. I was driving slowly in the right lane and my car spun all the way around to the right and my front bumper hit the right corridor of the thruway. My…
For some time now I have felt my brakes do not perform up to par. Recently, in stop and go traffic, I was unable to stop on time when a vehicle in front of me slammed on their brakes. I bumped the other driver in the rear of their car and now it is costing me a surcharge on my insurance. I feel my brakes are…
The car failed to stop for an intersection. Luckily there was no cross traffic, so we did not have an accident. Mechanic diagnosed the problem: power brake booster failed to keep vacuum, making brakes weak. I see that this exact failure was recalled for the next model year (2006). Both model year cars use the same…
Structure 6 Read
The hood latch is separating from the the bracket attached to the frame. This occurred while attempting to secure the hood closed while parked. The latch no longer aligns correctly with the hood. The vehicle has 193000 miles. It appears the metal bracket is of insufficient design strength. The safety latch will not be…
The rsx is a brand new car that has only been on the market for about six weeks. The car has a very serious safety problem when driven by smaller adults. Basically, smaller adults can not see effectively out of the car. I will fax a letter that I have written to the president of american honda motors with this form. I…
Rear bumper cover falling off. The rear of the car has a large plastic cover that extends the width of the car and covers the bumper from the bottom of the car to the bottom of the taillights. The top of this cover is held in place by a series of clips that are part of two metal strips bolted to the car. These clips…
Visibility 4 Read
The hvac (air conditioning / heating system / defroster) started smelling bad with a toxic mildew odor the very first day with a brand new automobile. I took it to the dealer and they denied anything was wrong. However, they put a citrus smelling chemical into the vents that only partially masked it. It smells bad…
The hvac (air conditioning / heating system / defroster) started smelling bad with a toxic mildew odor the very first day with a brand new automobile. I took it to the dealer and they denied anything was wrong. However, they put a citrus smelling chemical into the vents that only partially masked it. It smells bad…
The issue I am having is not a one time problem but seems to be ongoing in the winter months. When it gets cold outside, the windows of my car, including front and back windshields, fog and ice up significantly. I have the defroster going at full blast on highest heat, but I still have this issue. The safety issue…
RSX 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Air Bags | 4 | — | |
| 2005 | Air Bags | 2 | — | |
| 2004 | Air Bags | 5 | — | |
| 2003 | Air Bags | 3 | — | |
| 2002 | Air Bags | 10 | 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 | 81 |
| Average complaints per series | 1.7 |
| Worst single series | 6 complaints |
| Average age at failure | 4.3 years |
A model average of 1.7 hides a worst series at 6. 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
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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 RSX?
By complaint volume, 2002, 2005, 2003 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 RSX years are the cleanest?
2004, 2006, 2003 have the fewest complaints on file. For recent years that can simply mean the cars are young.
How many complaints does the Acura RSX have?
135 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, covering 2002–2006. Of those, 24 describe a crash and 1 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.