CarComplaints.com Notes: The 1999-2003 Acura TL has a known & widespread defect with the transmission.
Honda fixed some vehicles with a recall in 2004 by changing the oil cooler return line. To settle a class action lawsuit in 2006, Honda extended the transmission warranty on some of these Acura TL's to 93 months / 109,000 miles.
Now these vehicles are past the warranty limit, so buyer beware.
10.0
really awful
Crashes / Fires:
2 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
2 / 0
Average Mileage:
40,840 miles
About These NHTSA Complaints:
This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
I am writing to you to get some assistance on the problem I am having with Honda/Acura of usa. According class action settlement case no: Rg 03099677, Acura settled with all claimants to provide an extended warranty on transmissions on all class vehicles up to 109,000 miles. I own an Acura TL 2001. My car currently has 103K miles on it. I am perhaps the second or third owner of this vehicle. I recently experienced transmission problems related to the car's manufactured defect, namely with the faulty transmission. Here is the NHTSA recall# and report below on the recall. NHTSA campaign id number : 04V176000 mfr's report date : Apr 13, 2004 component: Power train:automatic transmission potential number of units affected : 1099796 I got in touch with a local Acura client services and took it to a local dealer. They looked at the car and the next day informed me that the extended warranty would not be covered since the car had been fixed previously at a repair shop and not by Acura. According to their own records, my car has had the transmission fixed by Acura in 2004. They refused to fix it despite the class action settlement that they agreed to in December of 2006. According to the independent repair shop I took my car to, the car had an original replaced transmission in it and not an aftermarket part. Even by Acura's own records, this car had the transmission replaced in 2004 at one of their dealerships and this is the transmission that failed. Based on the lawsuit settlement therefore, they are responsible for fixing this transmission again since it is still under the extended warranty. The refused to assist me and I had no choice to get the car fixed by a local repair shop. I paid $2,292.47 to a local repair shop to get my car fixed that Acura should have fixed under wrty.
The contact owns a 2001 Acura 3.2tl. While driving 40 mph, the vehicle would not accelerate and the contact could not shift gears with ease. He stated that the check engine light illuminated intermittently. The dealer replaced the transmission. The current and failure mileage were 105,700.
On June 20th, we were exiting the toll booth to enter a major highway. The car failed to accelerate for about 10 to 15 seconds. We had our 1 and half year old son on board at the time this incident occurred. It was very dangerous and we were very lucky there was no car behind us. We brought the car to Acura dealer nearby our house on June 25th, 2007. They did the diagnostic and told us that the transmission is on the way out. They recommended to us to replace the transmission. Since the car is out of warranty, therefore Acura will not cover the cost of the repair. We called the Honda manufacturer a few times and asked them to fix the faulty transmission that was recalled back 2004. Honda had denied our claim simply because our car is out of warranty.
I am the original owner of an Acura TL 2001. At 40K miles as I was driving on a busy highway the car started jerking, I went from 40 mph to almost a complete stop in seconds. I took the car to the dealer and a new transmission was placed as it was under warranty. The car now has 108K miles. My husband was driving yesterday on a busy highway at 65 mph and the car did the same thing again. We had the car towed to the dealer today and the have informed us that it needs a new transmission again. My first concern in all this is the safety of my family. My husband could have been killed yesterday. He was on a busy highway in which the speed limit is 65 mph we feel very fortunate that the car behind him was far away enough that it did not run into him. Looking back I was very lucky when it happened to me. This transmission problem can cause a very serious accident. My second concern is that the dealer says the warranty on the transmission is only good to 109K miles no matter what happens after that. I started doing research on this problem and found that many people have had to replace their transmissions three times. This leads me to believe that they are replacing them with faulty transmission which continues to be a hazard on the road. I feel that Acura is not doing enough to protect the public and to resolve this issue.
We were returning on 10/02/06 from a 1,000 mile road trip to pa, on the way home (at night, in the pouring rain, with a toddler) we lost our transmission. This was on a 65 mph highway. The transmission slipped from 2000 RPM-5000 RPM and back a few times. By the time I could get safely pulled over, the car would not move. When I tried to drive it to move safely off of the highway, it was revving at 5000 RPM and moving a 2 mph. I obviously did not want to do more damage, so we sat on the highway in the middle of an off ramp until assistance arrived. We had it towed to a local garage. They called the next day to tell us that the transmission was gone and they have such a high failure rate that they go for $2000 even at salvage yards. They quoted us $3650 for a rebuilt, with a new computer (Acura required!!!) and labor. The kicker is, we had only been over our warranty mileage by 3K. We were also given no warning (neither warning light nor driving) that there was a problem. I can not believe that Honda/Acura can have the #2 most reliable vehicle reputation. After simply searching for "2001 Acura TL transmissions" there were pages upon pages that have had their transmissions replaced as early as 25K and some have even had two to four replacements. How is this the #2 most reliable care company? I do not think a transmission should go at 100K, if maintained properly, there is no reason for it. I am disgusted that we just bought this vehicle last year and still owe 2 and a half more years on it!! even worse, since we bought the vehicle, we were never made aware of any recall by Acura and were not able to bring it to Acura (for free) to make sure everything was ok. Had we been made aware when we took possession (I am sure Acura has records of new owners as we just got a recall on our used 2002 Chevy), we could have avoided this. Right now, we are renting a car since we both work full time jobs, on top of a $3650 repair.
- Berwick, ME, USA
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Honda claims to have a good reputation for building stable vehicles. I bought my Acura brand new in 2001 and my transmission has failed only 100,000 miles later. That is worse than a old Ford escort. Honda has been attempting to deceive consumers by claiming they will address a transmission defect they identified since in 2004. I have seen dozens of complaints indicating that they are not honoring their commitment to consumers. A class action lawsuit is needed to prevent this company from abusing their customers. Someone is going to loose their life if Honda does not fulfill their obligation. They are giving consumers the run around by claiming that the inspection was allegedly completed and no breakage in the gears were detected so that the cost of replacing transmissions will not be incurred by them. The Acura transmissions are now beginning to fail at a rapid pace and Honda is refusing to replace them. Please investigate this matter before people starts losing their lives because of this company's negligence. What they have been doing is attempting to stall the process by passing faulty transmissions as operable then waiting until the warranty expires to trap the consumer with the costs of repairs. This is unscrupulous and unethical behavior. If my car isn't repaired immediately I am going to invite media attention to this matter as I have evidence of this wrong doing.
As I was driving through the mountains in monteagle Tennessee my transmission went out. My car actually started rolling back down the mountain, because I could not accelerate, but I was able to back it into the emergency lane as I was rolling backwards. I was frightened to death because trucks were coming up on me and it was night time. I was stranded for six hours in the mountains because my cell phone did not work and I did not know where I was because I was on a trip to Chicago from atlanta. Luckily a Tennessee state trooper saw me and he got me a tow truck. I had to stay in a hotel for two days and I had it towed to pye Acura in chattanooga Tennessee. My car had 90000 miles at the time. Pye Acura replaced the transmission under the 100000 mile warranty with no problem and had me back on the road. Hopefully this transmission will last, from what I have been hearing, even the re-manufactured transmissions are bad. I was still upset though because I lost a lot of money paying for a hotel and a tow truck, and I was going to Chicago for my birthday so I missed my party.
Consumer reimbursement request for transmission replacement on the 2001 Acura 3.2tl.** answer required***. the Acura dealership performed an oem transmission jet kit update recall on the vehicle, but since he vehicle had over 15000 miles the recall required that the transmission be replaced because the gears were chipped/broken. Acura refused to honor this portion of the oem transmission recall 04V176000.
Transmission locked almost causing vehicle behind to rear-end me. Previously submitted report on this to NHTSA, but would like to enter Acura's response. Acura performed one of the transmission recalls, but refused to perform the other transmission recall due to the fact that my auto was previously salvaged, but at the time, now had a clean title. Vehicles less than 10 years old from the first date of purchase should be honored whether or not all warranties have been voided, especially if it is dangerous. Since they honored one recall, they should also honor the other.
Complete transmission failure on 2 separate occasions within 3 years. 1st failure at 67,000 under normal freeway driving in 2002. While enroute to work in the morning, the transmission froze. 67.000 miles later at 134,000 the 2nd transmission froze under normal driving on the interstate. Both times I was in a lot of traffic creating a very dangerous situation as I started immediate and unexpected slowing. On the initial failure, fortuntely a highway patrolman was able to safley stop traffic and get me off the freeway. I was later towed to valencia Acura where they did replace the transmission under warranty. I was able to borrow my mothers car to get to and from work while they repaired my car. The most recent failure I was stuck 80 miles from las vegas, Nevada in the hot desert. It cost me $480 to be towed to the local Acura in las vegas and was stranded over night, losing a days work. I had only planned and was prepared for a day trip to primm, Nevada on my off day. I was forced to rent a car for $50 and get a hotel room. The local dealer said the 2nd and 3rd gears had frozen and he would charge me $7000 to repair the transmisson. That was outrageous so I had to rent a truck and trailer at a total cost of $450 to tow my car back home. Then I had to pay to have it towed to my dealer, valencia Acura, where I purcased the car new and have had all my major services, except oil changes, done. Most recently I had the 100,000 mile service done there. I was never told by Acura that this model of car has a faultly transmission destined to unexpcted failure. I had no idea and would never expect they would replace one defective transmission with another that would fail at exactly the same mileage. Currently, my car is sitting at the dealer with no known date of repair as Acura is unwilling to repair or replace the current defective transmission under warranty.
2001 Acura 3.2 TL transmission problem have gotten worse after recall repairs were completed. Consumer feel that the dealership did not do the proper repairs to fix the transmission.
Vehicle suddenly slows down to approximately 15 mph almost causing the vehicle behind to rear-end me. In this particular incident, the vehicle behind me slammed on their brakes. NHTSA has a recall campaign id#04V176000 that my Acura dealer will not honor since it was previously salvaged, but now has a clean title. Spoke with customer service at Honda motor and they also refused to honor the recall. I had the entire transmission replaced with Acura's updated parts. I expect reimbursement and a written letter for dealer to repair transmission when it happens again, as it most likely will, according to the many complaints on your site.
While driving the vehicle transmission locked up and without warning. The driver turn the vehicle off and was able to coast off of the road by applying the vehicle in neutral. The driver restarted thirty minutes later and drove to the dealer for inspection. The mechanic informed the driver that the housing unit of the transmission needed replacement. Please provide additional information.
The vehicle does not accelerate past second gear, preventing it from moving. Taken to dealer for checkup, and results showed that the transmission needed to be replaced.
Vehicle failed to maintain speed. Consumer has been in close circumstances where vehicle hesitated upon acceleration. NHTSA recall campaign 04V176000: Automatic transmission second gear. The dealership will not perform repairs because the failure did not occur within their two minute drive inspection. Consumer contacted the manufacturer, but they kept referring her back to the same dealer because the vehicle was still under warranty. Consumer was still having problems with the vehicle performing erratically off dealership premises.
Problems with automatic transmission. Gear slippage, sluggish on acceleration, numerous transmission repairs through dealer, vehicle recalled - still not working properly.
Transmission fails into mode of down hifting and upshifting inappropriately. This causes the automobile to change speed suddenly and irratically. Extremely dangerous for highway driving. Note: This problem is not related to the previously reported 2nd gear problem with these transmissions.
The transmission failed to shift and would down shift on its on. The mechanic informed the consumer that the problem could not be duplicated. The driver informed the mechanic this problem has occurred on numerous occasions and has not been resolved. Please fill in additional information. Heat buildup transmission second gear. Transmission lockup. Recall campaign id number : 04V176000
I own a 2001 Acura TL. As I write this it is in the shop for it's third transmission. I was almost in three rear end crashes as the car would not move when I steped on the gas.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Orlando, FL, USA