Owners have filed 579 complaints on the Acura TSX, covering 2004–2014. The system named most often is Steering (198 reports). Worst years by volume: 2012, 2004, 2009; cleanest: 2014, 2007, 2008. 35 reports describe a crash, 4 a fire, 1 a death. On average the car was 6.6 years old when the problem happened.
What breaks on Acura TSX
Grouped by the system owners named — percentages are shares of all 579 TSX complaints. Open any row for the full reports in owners' own words.
Steering 198 Read
Our non-moving vehicle was involved in a hard rear-end collision at a in city traffic waiting to make a legal turn. A week later vehicle lost steering mobility. We had baton rouge, la acura dealership run a diagnostic. They failed to determine if the failure was directly associated with rear-end collision. I would say…
I had an accident in the snow and slid into the guardrail while turning. Not much body damage, but the steering completely locked. Was stuck in the road for 2 hours with the police having to block off around me. Had it towed to my mechanic. He could not do anything with it because he said it was electrical and could…
I am installing a third EPS module and they keep failing. Acura needs to initiate a recall for the power steering issue. There are some many people having this same issue
Air Bags 98 Read
The airbags did not deploy when I got in the front end accident
Traction control didn’t work, and the large OEM seats did not hug my body as advertised, causing bodily injury when struck by another vehicle, “t-bone” on passenger side
Ran into bear while traveling down route 58 east, boydnton, va, air bag of driver did not deploy, but air bag of front passenger deployed
Service Brakes 61 Read
The brake does not work during winter and morning when it's cold. The pedal gets stiff and does not work. But after 5 mins of engine running or after several steps on pedal the brake works. This was checked in the dealership but service department said it was normal
My brakes have been defective since I bought the car 4 years ago. If you brake suddenly the car does not stop. If you hit a pothole there is a distinct slipping feeling in the brakes. I have to slow down ahead of time or gently pump the brakes to stop the car. I have taken the car to acura and to my mechanic who is a…
The contact owns a 2004 acura tsx. While driving 50 mph the vehicle drove to the left lane when the brake pedal was depressed. The road conditions were clear. The dealer was unable to diagnose the failure. The failure and current mileage were 50,000
Electrical System 43 Read
The contact owned a 2011 acura tsx. The contact stated while the vehicle was parked at his residence, a popping noise was heard as the contact went to investigate he found the vehicle on fire. The contact stated that it may have been an electric problem. The fire department was able to extinguish the fire. No fire…
The contact owns a 2008 acura tsx. The contact stated that the power outlet was being used to charge a cell phone. When the removed the charger from the power outlet, a small flame was present, which extinguished independently. The contact sustained a burn to her right finger. The failure recurred. The vehicle was…
Acura tsx 2006 6speed occasionallycar at low speedor wait traffic lightprompt low voltagecar power off and restartat before car power failure 5 minutesyou can hear in the audio speaker outgoing electric current soundthen vehicle shutdown 1 secondinstant return to normalhow to solve help please thank you
Engine And Engine Cooling 28 Read
Fire under the hood while driving around 40 mph about 5 miles from home. Heard a squeaky sound around the stearing wheel minutes earlier. I do not know what componenet failed but had a recall sometime ago that was repaired. Had oil change exactly a week earlier. No body injured
It was approximately 8:00 am, conditions were clear and the temperature was 51 degrees. I was at a full stop at a traffic light with the car in drive and my foot on the brake. The car was idling normally while waiting at the light and then suddenly I heard the engine noise change, rpms increased and I could feel the…
This is a 2009 acura tsx. While driving there is a rattle-type sound that comes from the engine. Took the car to two acura dealers and both acknowledged the sound, but declared it a "characteristic" of the car. Hundreds, if not thousands of other '09 tsx owners are experiencing this same noise (there are several blogs…
Power Train 26 Read
Brake pedal is freezing. Why is this not a recall!? It was a cold morning (3 degrees f). I warmed up the car, left my road and, as I approached the light at the main road, I went to apply the brakes and the brake pedal was like a rock. It wouldn't move. I'd already applied the brakes several times before getting to…
Vehicle is manufactured with defective vtc actuator, it is making rattle sound on a cold start. Manufacturer is not willing to accept the defect part
On acceleration. The car would shudder and there was a loud grinding coming from the front of the car. After inspection by the dealer the front 2 axles had to be replaced. The car has only been driven 70K miles. This posed dangerous driving and control issues on the Interstate. Cost of repair was $3600
Seats 23 Read
Had just picked up my car from being repaired from an accident and was just driving along and I turned the seat heater on and I started seeing smoke coming from under me and was getting hot so I pulled over and found my seat was on fire ,I was 9 months pregnant at the time and feared for me and my soon to be child's…
Drivers seat squeaks and creaks when weight shifts. This is most noticeable when making left turns. There are 7 pages of owners on an acura tsx owners website that also experience this problem. Many have taken it to their dealer and either the seat base or rails are replaced or tightened. Some dealers mentioned that…
Driver's side seat rails squeak badly. Acura needs a TSB to get this problem fixed quickly. Should not have this problem on a 3 month old $30,000 car. Check acurazine website under tsx forum- squeaky drivers seat and notice how many people are reporting his problem
Engine 21 Read
The vtc actuator part number 14310-r40-a01 has gone bad. The very same part number is used on multiple hondas and acuras. When used on the honda variant (accord) the part has been deemed to be defective by honda of america per TSB 09-010. Yet when the very same part is used in the same engine on an acura, honda of…
A grainding noise from the inter rod bearing
When the car is started for the first time of the day--especially in cold weather: symptom: noise during start for a second or two. Info: sound comes from the (timing chain?) cover on the left top side of the engine--looking from the bumper. Called acura dealer and mentioned items I had read about---stretched/loose…
TSX 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Air Bags | — | — | |
| 2013 | Air Bags | 2 | — | |
| 2012 | Air Bags | 3 | — | |
| 2011 | Air Bags | 3 | 1 | |
| 2010 | Air Bags | 5 | — | |
| 2009 | Air Bags | 7 | — | |
| 2008 | Air Bags | 2 | 1 | |
| 2007 | Air Bags | 1 | — | |
| 2006 | Air Bags | 3 | — | |
| 2005 | Air Bags | 4 | 1 | |
| 2004 | Air Bags | 5 | 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 | 234 |
| Average complaints per series | 2.5 |
| Worst single series | 12 complaints |
| Average age at failure | 6.6 years |
A model average of 2.5 hides a worst series at 12. 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 TSX?
By complaint volume, 2012, 2004, 2009 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 TSX years are the cleanest?
2014, 2007, 2008 have the fewest complaints on file. For recent years that can simply mean the cars are young.
How many complaints does the Acura TSX have?
579 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, covering 2004–2014. Of those, 35 describe a crash and 4 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.