2016 Acura RDX
This year drew an ordinary 40 complaints for a Acura RDX — the model's median is 33. What they were about is the unusual part: 7.5% of them mention think, against 0.6% across the other years of this generation.
Generation 2 of the Acura RDX, which began in 2013 and ran to 2018. 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 | 40 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 33 |
| Involving a crash | 3 |
| Involving a fire | 2 |
| Recalls | 2 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 22.5 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- think — 7.5% of this year's complaints, against 0.6% across the other years of this generation (12.2×).
- rdx driving — 7.5% of this year's complaints, against 0.8% across the other years of this generation (9×).
- order — 12.5% of this year's complaints, against 4.3% across the other years of this generation (2.9×). Owners wrote it as: order, breaking, look.
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.
What owners wrote
COLLISION MITIGATION BREAKING SYSTEM ENGAGES RANDOMLY WHEN NOT NECESSARY. SEEMS TO BE HEAT RELATED AS IT OCCURS DURING VERY HOT WEATHER. A SUDDEN STOP IS JARRING AND COULD BE DANGEROUS.
The driver side airbag. And yes, it can be inspected. I was involved in a low impact accident, where I struck a minor curb. The airbag deployed in my face, causing a loss of consciousness and ongoing concussion. No warning signs at all. Not yet, the vehicle is…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 19V182000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 16V061000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Acura RDX 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 RDX? What happened to yours?
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