2012 Acura MDX
This year drew an ordinary 76 complaints for a Acura MDX — the model's median is 87. What they were about is the unusual part: 7.9% of them mention front car, against 0% 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 | 76 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 87 |
| Involving a crash | 4 |
| Involving a fire | 3 |
| Recalls | 1 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 4/5 |
| EPA combined | 18 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- front car — 7.9% of this year's complaints, against 0% across the other years of this generation (39.5×). Owners wrote it as: front car, pretty, normally.
- saying — 10.5% of this year's complaints, against 3% across the other years of this generation (3.5×). Owners wrote it as: saying, try, keeps coming, check air.
- driving down — 9.2% of this year's complaints, against 2% across the other years of this generation (4.5×). Owners wrote it as: driving down, sunroof, shattered.
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
I AM HAVING PROBLEMS WITH MY AIR BAG LIGHT KEEPS COMING ON THE DASH BOARD, SAYING CHECK AIR BAG SYSTEM. THIS HAPPENS EVERYDAY WHEN DRIVING.
WHILE DRIVING DOWN THE HIGHWAY MY CHECK AIRBAG SYSTEM INDICATOR LIGHT CAME ON. I REACHED MY DESTINATION AND TURNED OFF MY VEHICLE, I THEN RESTARTED MY VEHICLE AND THE LIGHT WAS STILL ON. I TOOK A PICTURE OF THE LIGHT FOR PROOF. STILL ON FOR 3 WEEKS NOW. I CHEC…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 12V063000 FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE 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 2012 Acura MDX? What happened to yours?
Loading comments…