2017 Acura MDX POWER TRAIN,VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Owner-reported problems and safety issues filed with NHTSA. Review common failures, severity levels, and complaint trends over time.
Complaint Timeline
Chronological view of owner reports
There were several instances where my vehicle either accelerated or decelerated while I was driving. I first noticed the issue about a week after I purchased the car in May 2022. I took it back to Acura of Brookfield, and they said they couldn’t replicate the issue. I also took my car to Acura of Brookfield in September 2023 for the same jerking issue. They charged me for an update, but the issue did not change. I continued noticing the problem over the years, but it happened more frequently in 2025. In May 2025, I was driving down a hill in Brookfield, Wisconsin, when my car jerked aggressively and then accelerated on its own. Throughout the rest of the year, it would either accelerate or decelerate while I was on the highway. On January 20, while I was on my way to the gym, my car jerked and decelerated while I was on the highway. I was able to pick up speed again and continue driving to the gym. When I came back out, my car started, but it would not shift out of park. I had the car towed to Acura of Brookfield, and they said something about the hydraulics inside the transmission being bad, and that they had to replace the entire transmission.
When stopping for traffic or at a light and accelerating for take off the car has a delay. It does nothing. It’s a 2sec delay that will be deadly to someone.
I was driving on the highway at normal highway speeds of 70MPH when the car lost the ability to accelerate, and I was forced to make an emergency stop on the side of the interstate. With the heavy traffic on the interstate, this scenario could have been catastrophic as there is currently construction and no place to pull over for emergencies. The vehicle was towed to Hubler Acura in Greenwood IN where they performed a diagnostic test and no known issues were found on their diagnostic computer. However, the issue is not happening on a computer at the dealer, the issue occurred on the interstate while traveling 70mph. I have read several message boards where the users have posted similar experiences about losing power when accelerating in their 2017 MDX. The dealerships seem to offer a transmission fluid change or a computer reset as a solution. I have previously had the same acceleration issue and had these two items already completed within the past 90 days and neither issue resolved the problem, which further led to the most recent interstate incident. From my online research, Honda is either unwilling or unable to diagnose this common transmission problem and they need to be held accountable for their inaction. This issue needs to be addressed before it creates a scenario with fatalities.
MULTIPLE SYSTEMS INDICATOR FAILURES WEN ON, PER ATTACHED PICTURES. THE TRANSMISSION WAS STUCK IN THE 1ST GEAR, THE VEHICLE WAS VIBRATING AND WAS UNABLE TO ACCELERATE. THIS CREATED A DRIVING HAZARD, AS I WAS ON THE ROADWAY.
I BELIEVE THE 9-SPEED TRANSMISSION IN THE 2017 MDX PRESENTS SERIOUS SAFETY ISSUES. ONE OF MY MAJOR CONCERNS IS THE SIGNIFICANT "LURCHING" I GET WHEN PARKING ON A SLOPE, SHIFTING TO "PARK" AND THEN TAKING MY FOOT OFF THE BRAKE. ON SNOW OR ICE, THE CAR COULD EASILY SLIDE SOME DISTANCE. I SIMILAR LURCHING ALSO FREQUENTLY OCCURS WHEN SHIFTING INTO DRIVE OR REVERSE WHEN ON A SLOPE AND THEN STARTING TO ACCELERATE. MY SECOND MAJOR CONCERN IS THAT WHEN I DOWNSHIFT ON A DOWN-SLOPE IN LIEU OF BRAKING, THE CAR ACTUALLY FIRST SPEEDS SIGNIFICANTLY UP AFTER DOWNSHIFTING AND DOES NOT SLOW DOWN AS IT SHOULD. I DO A SIGNIFICANT AMOUNT OF DRIVING IN MOUNTAINS WHERE DOWN-SHIFTING IS SAFER THAN BRAKING AND THIS IS A MAJOR SAFETY ISSUE. LASTLY, THE CAR HESITATES AT TIMES WHEN ACCELERATING FROM A STOP. I HAVE TAKEN THE CAR BACK TO THE DEALER AT LEAST TWICE AND AM TOLD THAT THESE ISSUES ARE JUST THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CAR.
Trend Over Time
Complaints by year
Other Issues
Common problems reported
Quick Summary
The 2017 Acura MDX has 5 POWER TRAIN,VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL complaints on file. Review the timeline above for detailed owner experiences.