2016 Acura MDX
Complaints about this year name transmission far more often than the other years of this generation — 27% of them, about 3× the usual rate of 10.2%.
Generation 2 of the Acura MDX, which began in 2014 and ran to 2020. Everything below compares this year against the others in that generation, not against a different car wearing the same name.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 364 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 80 |
| Involving a crash | 10 |
| Involving a fire | 4 |
| Recalls | 7 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 22 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- transmission — 27.5% of this year's complaints, against 10.2% across the other years of this generation (2.7×).
- vin — 19.5% of this year's complaints, against 7.5% across the other years of this generation (2.6×).
- spot — 7.1% of this year's complaints, against 1.8% across the other years of this generation (3.9×). Owners wrote it as: spot, blind, transmission system, blind spot.
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
Also unusual this year
- rod — 20% of complaints, 4× usual
- vin — 20% of complaints, 3× usual
- rod bearing — 13% of complaints, 4× usual
What owners wrote
Driving up a hill, new knocking noise, car lost engine power, steered the car to the curb and turned engine off. Got car towed to mechanic, ultimately diagnosed as connecting rod bearing failure at cylinder 1. No noted leaks nor other issues at engine nor tran…
Due to a manufacturing defect of the engine crankshaft, the connecting rod bearing prematurely wore and could seize. This is a recall for 2016 MDX V6 engines, my VIN is not included for some reason.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 19V060000 FUEL SYSTEM, OTHER Fixed free of charge.
- 19V256000 EXTERIOR LIGHTING Fixed free of charge.
- 16V417000 FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE Fixed free of charge.
- 23V751000 ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING Fixed free of charge.
- 23V858000 FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE Fixed free of charge.
- 25V259000 EXTERIOR LIGHTING Fixed free of charge.
- 26V365000 STRUCTURE Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Acura MDX was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2016 Acura MDX? What happened to yours?
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