2005 Acura RL
Complaints about this year name headlights far more often than the model's other years — 27% of them, about 68× the usual rate of 0.4%.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 125 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 9 |
| Involving a crash | 4 |
| Involving a fire | 1 |
| Recalls | 11 |
| EPA combined | 19 mpg |
Also unusual this year
- light — 23% of complaints, 58× usual
- back — 23% of complaints, 58× usual
- turn — 18% of complaints, 46× usual
What owners wrote
THE HEADLIGHTS INTERMITTENTLY GO OFF WHILE DRIVING. SOMETIMES ITS ONE AND SOMETIMES BOTH. YOU HAVE TO TURN THE LIGHTS OFF AND BACK ON AND THEY TURN BACK ON. THIS IS A MAJOR SAFETY ISSUE.
MY HEADLIGHTS FLICKER A LOT WHILE DRIVING AT NIGHT. THEY GO OUT SOMETIMES ONE AT A TIME, DRIVER'S SIDE HEADLIGHT OR PASSENGER SIDE HEADLIGHT. SOMETIMES THEY BOTH GO OFF AND I AM REQUIRED TO TURN THE HEADLIGHTS OFF AND BACK ON USING THE SWITCH. THIS IS VERY DAN…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 19V500000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 19V501000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 17V029000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 14V700000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 16V344000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 16V061000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 14V353000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 13V092000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC Fixed free of charge.
Showing 8 of 11. The rest are on NHTSA's site.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Acura RL 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 2005 Acura RL? What happened to yours?
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