2020 Acura MDX Engine
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
The contact owns a 2020 Acura MDX. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V751000 (Engine and Engine Cooling); however, the part to do the recall repair was unavailable. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue. The contact had not experienced a failure. Parts distribution disconnect.
The contact owns a 2020 Acura MDX. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V751000 (Engine and Engine Cooling) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The local dealer was contacted. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was not made aware of the issue. The contact had not experienced a failure. Parts distribution disconnect.
Engine shuts off at red light as auto idle stop got activated. Then at green light when I press the accelerator my car was in”neutral”mode and it didn’t allow me to move. I had to put my car into parking then switch it off and restart it. People behind me were agitated and honking.
There is a clear engine knock. I have a recording of it both on video and audio, my engine performance and gas mileage has gotten worse. I picked up on the sound about 6 weeks ago and called (Mueller Acura), said I would have it checked at the next oil change. The dealer (Mueller Acura of Merrillville) has had my Acura MDX, for two days two weeks ago and for the last 7 days, currently. The didn’t tear down the engine completely. But they told me they had their master mechanic and Honda’s (from another shop Team Honda) Master mechanic came down and used a camera and I have a bad tensioner, bad rockers, and a bad cam shaft. I’ve been speaking with an outside mechanic who is a Honda certified Master mechanic who now runs an independent shop. Acura, says I have a bad camshaft, bad rockers, and bad tensioner. They said I need all of those replaced as well as the $3000 100K service. They are deeply discounting what they quoted me because I’ve documented well and made so many trips out there to physically show them the engine knock (right now they want $3606 to fix and then they will listen again). They finally heard it at the back of the engine. I’m in a rental and it’s costing me daily. The independent shop says the correct answer is you have a bad engine and they need to check the crank shaft, the head, and the rod bearings, in addition. He said if I changed the oil myself I would probably see metal particles in the oil and if I fix it I’m wasting my money as the entire engine is in need of replacement. It only has 86K miles on it and should not have these issues. I don’t think I should have to pay, and I need my vehicle back. I’m now without a vehicle and they are demanding I give them an answer by Monday at 7am on whether or not I’m fixing it. They won’t put anything in writing as they want to keep it kept quiet until I make a decision. The service manager is now trying to talk me into trading but not at their dealership. I feel like May need to contact an attorney.
Issue with Auto Idle Stop. I have had multiple instances of the auto idle stop kicking in and shutting the car off while I am at a stoplight. This has resulted in VERY close calls with me getting rear ended. I have taken the vehicle in to be inspected at an Acura dealership only to be told that they cannot replicate the issue. When this issue occurs, it takes about a minute to get the car working again. The dashboard lights up with a lot of different flashing lights. There was no warning prior to this issue occurring. You cannot permanently shut off the auto idle stop and I should not be expected to remember to do it every time I get into the vehicle. I am afraid that one day this will cause a bad car accident that will lead to myself or my family getting severely injured/killed as other drivers are not aware that the car won't be going. The most recent incident occurred last weekend.
The contact owns a 2020 Acura MDX. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V751000 (Engine and Engine Cooling) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The local dealer was not contacted. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue. The contact had not experienced a failure. Parts distribution disconnect.
My MDX will randomly shut itself off while at a red light. It takes MULTIPLE attempts to get it restarted. The vehicle is available for inspection upon request. My safety and the safety of others was put at risk and continues to be at risk! This has happened at a highway red light multiple times. I am impeding the flow of traffic at an intersection with EIGHT lanes and FOUR lanes cross traffic. People move through this intersection extremely fast. This puts me at risk of causing an accident, injury the occupants of my vehicle and the occupants of the other involved vehicles. There is no warning as to when this will occur and there are no warnings at the time of the actual event either. I called the dealership and the service department acknowledged there have been others with the same issue. Acura is aware of the issue yet there is NO RECALL?? There is a Service Bulletin issued January 2023 by Acura admitting to the issue and it shows how Acura will resolve the issue for affected vehicles. If Acura is aware of the issue and the dangers of it, why have they not issued a recall to rectify the situation? The vehicle has not been inspected by the manufacturer, police, insurance representatives or others. I have a service appointment with the local dealership. There are no warning lamps, messages or other symptoms prior to the failure. The first occurrence was about four months ago. The second occurred three months ago. It occurred again today. THIS IS AN ACCIDENT AND LAWSUIT WAITING TO HAPPEN. SOMEONE COULD BE SERIOUSLY INJURED OR KILLED DUE TO ACURA’S NEGLIGENCE!!!
Persistent Idle Start issue not being addressed by the Acura dealership despite multiple trips to the dealership with the same issue. My SUV intermittently shuts down in the middle of busy intersections leaving me at great risk for a crash and bodily harm. There is a Service Bulletin issued in January 2023 by Acura admitting to the issue and it shows how Acura will resolve the issue for affected vehicles. Unfortunately Acura is not following their own Service Bulletin, and a recall of these vehicles needs to be issued to address the affected vehicles. I am requesting the NHTSA to take immediate action and issue a recall for this known idle start issue that is putting many Acura drivers at increased risk for bodily harm.
The contact owns a 2020 Acura MDX. The contact stated that while driving at undisclosed speeds, the vehicle lost motive power and stalled. There were no warning lights illuminated. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V751000 (Engine and Engine Cooling) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The local dealer was contacted. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue. The failure mileage was approximately 36,000. Parts distribution disconnect.
The contact's wife owns a 2020 Acura MDX. The contact stated that when his wife started the vehicle, he observed a clanking noise emanating from the engine compartment. A mobile mechanic was dispatched to the residence where a handheld diagnostic machine failed to retrieve any error codes. The mechanic advised the contact to contact a dealer immediately for assistance. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 55,000.
The contact owns a 2020 Acura MDX. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V751000 (Engine and Engine Cooling); however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The local dealer was contacted. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue. The contact had not experienced a failure. Parts distribution disconnect.
the vehicle shut down while at a red light and went the transmission went into neutral and should not start until i place the vehicle into park and then i had to press the start button two or three times to get the vehicle to start again. this is the second time this same problem has occurred in a two week span
Car stalls when auto idle at stop lights. There is a recall for my make and model however, I called Acura and they said my vin was later removed from the recall. The service bulletin states all trim levels and my MDX falls within the parameters. They could not tell me why my car had the recall once listed and then removed. This is very dangerous because it takes a few minutes for the car to start again.
The engine started knocking while driving on [XXX], it can be inspected upon request. This knocking is due to the connecting rod bearing failure recall and it creates a safety issue for passengers and other drivers on the road as the engine can fail at any given moment causing a road hazard. I have made an appointment to get this matter diagnosed with King Acura in Hoover, but I am being denied a supplemental vehicle. This is a manufacturing defect that should be completely covered by the manufacturer including supplemental transportation for the duration of diagnosis and repair. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
The contact owns a 2020 Acura MDX. The contact stated while driving 65 MPH and attempting to stop, the brake pedal was depressed; however, the vehicle failed to respond, and the engine shut off unintendedly. The “Idle Stop” message was displayed on the instrument panel. The vehicle was not taken to be diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 54,000.
The contact owns a 2020 Acura MDX. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V751000 (Engine and Engine Cooling) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, and while the vehicle was idling, the vehicle stalled without warning. The contact made several attempts to restart the vehicle before the vehicle regained normal power. The contact stated that the failure occurred intermittently. The vehicle was taken to the dealer however, the mechanic was unable to determine the cause of the failure. The vehicle had not been repaired. The failure mileage was unknown. VIN tool confirms parts not available.
On multiple occasions car has gone into neural while I’m stopped at a light or at a stop sign. I Have called dealer multiple times and still not resolved. I’m afraid this will cause an accident bc I’ll could get hit from behind.
2020 Acura MDX, bought this in February of 2021. Issue with the auto-idle completely turning off the engine, when you pull up to a red light or stop sign and the engine goes into Auto-idle, then go into neutral, sometimes showing the battery sign. The car is completely disabled, have to shut off the engine and restart. This happened about 3 times, the last time was with my 2 young children in the car and people honking at me!!!!! Brought it into Acura, when said it was battery issure and replaced the battery in Sept. 2022. August 2023, brought it in for 2 recalls, once was for the idle engine, they service person said the issue was fixed. October 2023, by car did not restart from auto-idle (AGAIN TWICE in less than a week), brought it in again, they said they couldn't find anything wrong with it! Just got my car back, called Acura headquarter, made a complaint!
Our Acura MDX has continued to have Auto Idle Stop issues since we purchased the vehicle. Sometimes the vehicle would not restart after being stopped at a traffic light. Most recently, an accident almost occurred when the vehicle stuck behind us at the traffic light tried to go around us while we were trying to get the engine started and almost collided head-on with an oncoming car. The dealership performed a software update but it did not fix the problem. Acura claims that the engine can be restarted immediately after putting the car into Park, but in our experience, it takes much more time than that.
(4/2021). While cruising on a 2 lane hwy the power went to zero. All I could do was coast to the shoulder. Restarted and was on the go. If I was passing another car and this happened when there was oncoming traffic I could had a head on collision. This occurred twice on the same 3 day vacation Another time (8/2022) While cruising at normal speed and acceleration in the passing lane on the interstate all of a sudden the power went zero. All I could do was coast into the median to get out of traffic. I didn’t have time to check for warning lights. Just restored the engine and all was fine. Totally scary and unsafe. Dealer says they’ve had no similar complaints. Only thing to do is have it checked but if can’t duplicate the problem or find a code nothing they can do Thinking of selling it due to not knowing what deadly situation I may be in when it reoccurs. Internet chats are saying it happens to others as well. Where is the recall that should exist?
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Quick Summary
The 2020 Acura MDX has 45 Engine complaints on file. Review the timeline above for detailed owner experiences.