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:
1 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
2 / 0
Average Mileage:
100,123 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.
Driving on Highway going 65mph vehicle suddenly jerked and dropped to 20 mph. Causing my entire body to collide with the steering wheel. Luckily there no cars behind me. Was on my way to work when this happened too far from home. So when I got at work which is thirty minutes from where I live I had to get a tow truck to get my car home. That-??s how bad it was. My mom had this car for about ten years. I-??ve had it now for three years. Never had this problem before. We-??ve had the car in the family for almost fifteen years. Only thing that-??s had to change was a power steering line and front shocks. Almost sold it last week and I-??m glad I didn-??t. Has over 230,000 so I-??m not upset. Just a bit sad that this happened to my TL. Needs A/T clutch pressure control solenoid valves A B.
The contact owns a 2003 Acura TL. The contact stated while driving from a complete stop, the vehicle failed to shift from second gear to third gear. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact stated that upon depressing the accelerator pedal, the RMP-??s revved up but the vehicle failed to respond. The contact stated that the failure had been reoccurring while driving. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, where it was diagnosed and determined that the failure was related to NHTSA Campaign Number: 04V176000 (Power Train); however, the VIN was not included. The dealer and the manufacturer were not notified of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 160,000.
The contact owns a 2003 Acura TL. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle jerked and hesitated to accelerate. The check engine, third and fourth gear, ESP fault, and VSA system warning lights were illuminated. The contact self-diagnosed the vehicle with a code reader and the code P1750 appeared. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired by an independent mechanic or dealer. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure but informed the contact that there was no recall associated with the VIN. The failure mileage was approximately 160,000.
The contact owns a 2003 Acura TL. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, there was an abnormal sound coming from the vehicle. The vehicle then lost motive power. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic and diagnosed with transmission failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The contact related the failure to NHTSA Campaign Number: 04V176000 (Power Train) however, the VIN was not included in the recall. The failure mileage was approximately 200,000.
The contact owns a 2003 Acura TL. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, with the accelerator pedal depressed, the vehicle jerked and hesitated. The contact stated that the vehicle failed to shift above third gear. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact referenced the failure to NHTSA campaign number: 04V176000 (power train). The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic who diagnosed the vehicle with a defective speed sensor. The dealer nor the manufacturer had been notified of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 230,000.
The paint on all 2003 Acura TL the paint fails badly. The transmission also went out on me soon as my car hit 100,000 miles which sad for an Acura. I owned a 96 TL and never had any of these issues.
2003 Acura T.L was in motion when the vehicle started slipping on 2nd gear. Then when vehicle was stationary it would not move in reverse gear. As I was on highway the car started jerking out of control, I could not accelerate, vehicle barely wanted to move so I put it in #2 gear so it work catch and I was able to drive to safety without anyone getting hurt. Very frightening and dangerous. Problem must be addressed immediately.
The contact owns a 2003 Acura TL. The contact stated that the gear did not shift properly and the check engine indicator illuminated. The vehicle was taken to Acura of laurel (301-498-3322, located at 3506 laurel fort meade rd, laurel, md 20724) where it was diagnosed that the transmission needed to be replaced at the contact's expense. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and informed the contact to take the vehicle to the dealer. The vehicle was not repaired. The VIN was included in NHTSA campaign number: 04V176000 (power train). The failure mileage was approximately 111,000. Parts distribution disconnect.
While driving on the highway and doing about 60 mph my car suddenly down shifted into 2nd gear. I nearly lost control of the car and caused an accident. There was no prior indication that something was wrong with the car. I'm a mechanic, and have been one for over 20 years and I have never seen or had a transmission give out on me in such a way. Called the dealer and was told that the car was not covered anymore by the recall. Recalls for this model and year Acura. Now, I think, no I know that this is a real safety concern that someone might possibly lose their life over. Upon doing some research on my own I learned that the transmission problems that this 2000 to 2003 Honda's and Acura has is due to shoddy workmanship. Now I'm if the manufacturer knows this and they should cover any and all vehicles still on the road with recalls that they should honor.
Update nthsa safety issue id 11132318 today my 2003 Acura TL again tcs. Cel. D5 blinking. NY car mileage is 123599 now I'm driving D4. Not D5 if I D5 driving car sharking. Dear. Nthsa what can I do? thank you for help & I hope transmissions recall.. nor when I take picture only check sign. But obd II scanner 5 code showing.
On September 26. 2018 my Acura TL 2003 is tcs on. Cel on. D5 blinking. After that I have obd II scanner (actron CP9680) they have 5 code. I search the google this code means my transmisson is dead. This car now little sharking. But repair cost is more than $20. I also search for Acura & Honda forums. Many same cases. But now 2018. But my is 2003 who got the transmission recall.
Vehicle was in motion, while going on the highway at 65 mph all of a sudden it jumped to 20 miles per hour making me and every body unsafe on the road, luckily the cars that were behind me were far enough and were able to react quickly. I never had any warning signs or check engine lights that would warn me there was something wrong with the car. I called the dealership and they said they couldn't do anything to cover the repair because the recall was closed back in 2005. I feel there was poor workmanship when they looked at the vehicle back when they inspected it putting peoples lives in danger.
In forward motion, freeway. Electrical. Tranny. Car currently reads 138,356 miles. Around roughly 134,000 miles the vehicle check engine light began to flash as a result from rpms reaching about 6 on the cluster RPM display due what felt like slipping into to 3rd or 4th gear. Slipping however usually results with what I would consider a slamming experience from eventually catching and shifting into the correct gear. This happened as I was merging onto freeway. Car did not catch gear but nuetralized until I switched to sport shift mode and displayed 4 gear and the vehicle jetted off. Cel has remained on and 3rd gear still a issue. Did much maintenance, replacement of solenoids, fluid flush, etc. Problem solves then returns. This has went on for about 6mon this last month seemed issue had resolved itself after two more atf flushes in the prior month. This last week my lady and I coming home from our date night, luckily thats Wednesday(hump day) for us, so freeways at 12:30-1am in san diego hold few traffic.I say luckily because going about 70-75 mph the car suddenly felt like what slamming into a wall head on at 75 mph must feel like. Jerking us forward, uninjured due to seatbelts, thank god. The scariest thing however was the fact that in the far right lane at that speed after the jolt caused the vehicle to neutralize and any accelaration that would occur would instantly give a less intense jolt but rapidly slowed the vehicle down making it extremely difficult and drastically increasing our levels of danger of something worse, as I made my way over to far left side of freeway. Reaching safety I examined vehicle found nothing visually wrong. After letting car cool and letting warm to normal op.temp I put vehicle in sport mode exited freeway and took city streets home only using D2, no problems occurred. Today repeated the maintenance as before. Runs okay but I'm nervous
'tamara recall' before taking off the car had trouble going into gear. Once the car was in motion it began to have a hard shift then once I gained speed of 45 on the highway it wouldn't accelerate any more it actually started to slow down so I pulled off the road I put the car in park and heard a fast clicking noise turned the car off turned it back on tried put it in gear and it wouldn't move
The contact owns a 2003 Acura TL. While driving 35 mph around a curve, the vehicle failed to brake or accelerate and the transmission seized. The steering wheel also became very difficult to turn. As a result, the contact lost control of the vehicle and left the road. The contact crashed into an embankment and a tree. The air bags did not deploy. The driver sustained injuries to the hands, wrists, head, ankle, chest, and shoulder. Medical attention was required and the contact visited his physician after the crash. A police report was filed. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic. The vehicle had not been diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The contact stated that the VIN was not included in NHTSA campaign number: 04V176000 (power train). The approximate failure mileage was 263,138.
The contact owns a 2003 Acura TL. While driving various speeds and depressing the accelerator pedal, the vehicle made a whining noise coming from the transmission. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The VIN was not included in NHTSA campaign number: 04V176000 (power train). The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 87,000.
My car's check engine light and tcs light came on. Had my car scanned at my local obii service center and recieved code P1676. Still experiencing same problem after, I then took my car to the local Honda dealership service center to get a verification of this code and saw a flyer for recalls. I review the information, (I own an Acura, Honda was unable to provide the recall repair service) and found that recalls pertaining to the code generated from the initial scan for when the check engine light came on pertained to the code. I called in reference to the recalls posted on the NHTSA.gov website. I was informed that a recall repair for the transmission/power-train (04V176000) and timing belt (02V226000) were made to my vehicle however I am still having the same problem including excessive vibration & hesitation during acceleration especially between 50-60mph), cruise control has shut off without warning/notice while driving, and inability to pass nc emissions inspections. I contacted the NHTSA and was informed with 2 different reasons why my vehicle was not eligible for repair. (1) vehicle batch number was not affected and then (2) the repair had already been made in Feb 2005 by previous owner. All these problem started occurring after I took my car to leith Acura of cary, nc for the recall on the tarkata airbags(15V320000). I have been denied safety repairs to my vehicle. Leith Acura of cary, nc is requiring me to pay $131 inorder to do a diagnostic scan only that I already have proof from several ase certified inspection stations (which were free of charge). I does not include the amount that may be required to fix the problem pending it is not totally a recall repair. I believe that the repair was done incorrectly or the current transmission is not the one that replaced the original transmission after the recall repair. If so, I should be allowed repairs.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Miami , FL, USA