2011 Acura MDX
This year drew an ordinary 70 complaints for a Acura MDX — the model's median is 87. What they were about is the unusual part: 34.3% of them mention oil, against 3.8% across the other years of this generation.
Generation 1 of the Acura MDX, which began in 2007 and ran to 2013. 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 | 70 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 87 |
| Involving a crash | 4 |
| Involving a fire | 1 |
| Recalls | 0 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 18 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- oil — 34.3% of this year's complaints, against 3.8% across the other years of this generation (8.9×).
- expected — 8.6% of this year's complaints, against 2% across the other years of this generation (4.2×). Owners wrote it as: expected, dealers, fort, determine.
- vin unavailable — 7.1% of this year's complaints, against 2% across the other years of this generation (3.5×). Owners wrote it as: vin unavailable, who diagnosed, 000 vin, engaged.
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
THE VEHICLE IS CONSUMING TOO MUCH OIL. DEALERSHIP MADE US GO THROUGH OIL CONSUMPTION TEST AND CONFIRMED THIS IS AN ISSUE AND INCLUDED US IN THEIR WARRANTY EXTENSION TO DO THE REPAIRS. HOWEVER, ITS BEEN MORE THAN A MONTH AND THERE IS NO TIMELINE ON EVEN WHEN TH…
BURNING EXCESSIVE AMOUNT OF OIL. I CHECK IT EVERY TWO WEEKS AND EVERY TIME I HAVE TO TOP OFF.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
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 2011 Acura MDX? What happened to yours?
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