Head Gasket failure. Design failure there are grooves holding coolant on the block making the coolant leak into cylinders heads
2019 Acura RDX transmission problems
37 complaints (8% of all complaints for this car). Typical mileage when it fails: 7,100.
- owner complaints
- 37
- of this car's complaints
- 8%
- typical mileage
- 7,100
- crashes
- 0
- recalls
- 0
Which part fails
Owners did not name a specific part.
At what mileage
Complaints by mileage at the time of the problem.
Acura RDX transmission problems in other years
Specific symptoms reported on the 2019 Acura RDX transmission
Phrases found in the owners' own descriptions, so one complaint can mention several symptoms.
Related recalls
No recalls on record for this model year.
What 2019 Acura RDX owners say
Most recent owner complaints, unedited.
The car started jerking and overheating. Mechanic says blown head gasket. The car is only 64000 miles.
Three weeks ago when New York had the two big snow storm and the road condition was really bad, my Acura RDX unexpectedly pop up warning message that says disabling of AWD (switching to FWD). This happened every time when it snow and will disappear when the weather is good.
We have owned our 2019 Acura RDX for about 4 years. Roughly 2 years ago my wife called me panicked that the car had lost power and the check engine light was on as she was exiting the freeway. It was a rainy day, she had our kids in the car on the way to a soccer game. I called off work with an emergency, drove an hour to where she was and scanned the car. No codes popped up on my scanner, I started the vehicle and it seemed to run like normal, no check engine light. I had it towed to Honda of Gresham, OR and after a week or so they called and said they couldn't find anything wrong with our vehicle. I paid for a oil change, a tow and a dealer diagnostics and was told they could not find anything. $500 later no answers. Fast forward 2 years Oct 26th 2025 I was driving the RDX this time, in the rain on the freeway. Wife and kids in the car. Went to accelerate past a slow driver and the car went into limp mode. Check engine light flashing and limited to 40 mph or so, I put the hazards on as I was on a single lane bridge with traffic behind me. I pulled over after the bridge and turned the vehicle off. After 5 minutes or so I started the car again and everything seems fine, no check engine lights nothing seems off. I continued on down the freeway without any more incident. I started researching what is going on and find many many reports of this same thing. Acura has a tsb for a front mount intercooler as the fix, but when I took ours in for the stated problem they couldn't find a problem. This car looks beautiful, but it's a safety hazard on the freeway when moisture is present, we live in the PNW and it rains 7 months out of the year. I have owned 10-12 hondas in my lifetime and this 2019 Acura RDX is the worst. Absolutely a safety hazard to my family. Disappointed this will be the last Honda we buy.
On July 12, 2025 my husband, the driver, and myself, owner of the vehicle and passenger this day, were driving on the freeway at approximately 7:00am in the middle lanes of the freeway. Without any codes or warnings beforehand, we heard the car make alarming beeps and automatically loss all power to the engine while traveling at highway speeds. This situation put my husband and my lives at risk and in a dangerous situation as there was traffic on a busy freeway and lost all power to the vehicle and made even maneuvering off the freeway a dangerous action as we had no warning beforehand there was something wrong. My husband was able to get us safely out of harms way. After being diagnosed at a mechanic, it turns out this problem happened due to a cracked cylinder head and had no previous warnings of an issue and no warning lights on the vehicle alerting to a problem, I will have the cylinder head in my possession and the mechanic I took my vehicle stated it cannot be ruled out this could be a manufacturer’s or casting defect. I tried contacting Acura Corporation about this situation but was told that since I did not take it to a dealership and have a certified tech look at my vehicle, there will be no case and no type of remedy or reimbursement for this situation.
all maintenance performed at Acura. 6 weeks after the Transmission aged out of warranty dealer found metal shavings in Transmission oil. Car had only 60k miles. $13000 maintenance bill to fix.
The breaks did not work while in a parking lot right after switching into drive. No major risk of any injury where this occurred. Not reported to the dealer, not inspected. No injury, no property damage. I left my wife in the vehicle with the car in park and went into the store. I came out 15 minutes later, car was running. I got in, put my foot on the break, and switch to drive? The car started rolling forward on its own. I repeatedly tried the breaks, but no response. I had steering. I gave it a little gas, and the engine reved like it was in neutral. I looked down and that point the car indicated it was in neutral. My wife said that none of the drive indicators were on while I had the issue. At some point the breaks started working, after I gave it a little gas? I got the car into drive, and tested it before moving on to verify it was behaving correctly. The forward motion of the vehicle was probably due to the slope it was parked on, rather than the car's idle power. This also matches the car then reporting it was in neutral. The biggest issue was no breaks at the point it started rolling forward. My comment was that was weird, but it scared my wife, so I am reporting it. I was operating the vehicle.
Driving 55mph at night on highway . Went to accelerate around slower vehicle to 70mph speed limit when vehicle lost engine power and yellow check engine light began flashing on left side of instrument panel. Vehicle began slowing forcing move to right shoulder from left lane in moderate traffic. Vehicle would not accelerate past 20 mph on shoulder to nearest exit. Once at a safe location vehicle was shut off. Restarted vehicle approximately 30 seconds after shut down and vehicle began running normal.
I’ve had this happen 4 times now with my 2019 RDX. The latest Is on 12/10/23. Low speed braking and the tac revels to over 5000. Vehicle lurches forward with both feet on the brake peddle nearly hit a car broadside that was moving perpendicular to me., Three times under warranty to the dealer who could find anything. They even had the factory rep , in who after keeping the car for 5 days replaced an abs sensor. Now that the warranty is up they want 120.00 an hour to diagnose the problem that they couldn’t before .. But this is a dangerous vehicle that.I’m scared to drive. After reviewing several forums this appears to be a know problem Acura won’t address.
Transmission intermittently gets stuck in a gear while driving and will not shift until car is powered off and on again. Brake system, LKA, power steering, vehicle stability/traction control, hill assist, cruise control, collision mitigation, and road departure mitigation intermittently stop working and error. Infotainment and audio intermittently error or get stuck on after powering off vehicle. Trunk randomly opens when no one is in range of the vehicle. Horn randomly sounds for approximately 30 seconds on hot days after vehicle is stopped. Engine cylinder heads, transmission, and horns have been replaced without resolution. MOST bus system has been replaced twice without resolution. All issues have been recorded on video and documented with the local Acura dealer and Acura Client Relations, but neither has been willing to help reach a resolution.
Questions about the 2019 Acura RDX transmission
Does the 2019 Acura RDX have transmission problems?
Owners have filed 37 complaints about the transmission of the 2019 Acura RDX, 8% of all its complaints.
At what mileage do 2019 Acura RDX transmission problems start?
The typical (median) mileage in owner complaints is 7,100 miles.
Was there a recall on the 2019 Acura RDX transmission?
There is no recall for this problem on this model year.
What year does the Acura RDX have bad transmission?
The Acura RDX model years with the most transmission complaints are 2019 (37 complaints), 2017 (24 complaints) and 2020 (22 complaints).
Other 2019 Acura RDX problems
Visibility 114Engine 92Fuel system 44Electrical 39Body 23Brakes 23Acceleration 17Airbags 12Driver assistance 9Steering 5Suspension 5Lights 4Seat belts 4Seats 4Tires 2Wheels 1
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