2021 Acura TLX
This year drew an ordinary 65 complaints for a Acura TLX — the model's median is 62. What they were about is the unusual part: 7.7% of them mention wheel drive, against 0% across the model's other years.
First year of a new generation. The Acura TLX was redesigned for 2021. A first year carries problems nobody has found yet, and they are found by the people who buy it — which is worth knowing before you become one of them.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 65 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 62 |
| Involving a crash | 3 |
| Recalls | 4 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 24.5 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- wheel drive — 7.7% of this year's complaints, against 0% across the model's other years (38.5×).
- known — 20% of this year's complaints, against 6.5% across the model's other years (3.1×). Owners wrote it as: known, given, resulting, pay out.
- traction — 12.3% of this year's complaints, against 1.8% across the model's other years (6.9×). Owners wrote it as: traction, because car, accelerating stop.
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
My car has suffered a well known issue in the 21-25 Acura TLX community. At 71,000 miles my transfer case splines stripped also with the transmission splines. Resulting in me having to pay out of pocket to replace both the transmission and transfer case. I’m r…
Transfer case broken; no longer sending power to the rear wheels. Car loses traction when accelerating from a stop.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 24V064000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 24V950000 FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE Fixed free of charge.
- 25V391000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC Fixed free of charge.
- 26V332000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Acura TLX 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 2021 Acura TLX? What happened to yours?
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