Driving in the rain, accelerating onto a highway, our 2020 acura rdx lost power and would not accelerate. The check engine light was blinking, and we were forced to pull over. After restarting the car, the the check engine light was off and we were able to drive normally. The car was taken to the dealer on 10/24/20 but the issue could not be reproduced. We were informed that acura is aware of the problem and may be working on a fix. The problem is also widely reported on the acurazine internet forum. Researching the issue, it appears to only happen during rainy conditions and when accelerating.
2020 Acura RDX engine complaints
Page 3 of 3: complaints 41 to 57 of 57, newest first, as owners wrote them.
I recently leased 2020 acura rdx base model SUV. I have noticed frequent unexplained deceleration when on highway, probably occurs at leased once every time I drive at highway speeds. I have contacted acura of pleasanton via the sales associate I have dealt with for the past several years, described the problem. Have not received response, and it does not appear that a recall on this model has been issued, so I am is contacting the company directly. In researching the issue online I find there have been at least 40 complaints to the federal safety agency regarding exactly the same issue. Many of the complaints have included prior visits to acura dealers for repairs, but what was done did not solve the problem. So appears acura is aware of the issue also that it could be a safety factor, based on reports in the complaints. I have not had an instance where safety was involved - yet - but I can see the potential for a dangerous situation, when my rdx decelerates, there is nothing I can do, the vehicle is unresponsive for a period of time, which could lead to an accident. I have received mailings from a legal group urging me to file, they indicate that my rdx is subject the 'lemon law'. I am also aware from searching the internet that more than one class action suit has been filed by rdx owners who have experienced the same problem. I don't see the point of taking vehicle in for service since others report the problem does not get resolved, and acura does not seem to have solution for deceleration issue.
At approximately 10a oct 14th 2020 traveling south bound route 15 in lycoming county pa weather conditions light rain 65deg f driving 2020 acura rdx with 2800 miles on odometer. Upon approach of truck traffic in right lane moved into line of faster moving traffic in left lane to pass trucks when the acura rdx immediately lost power and speed, almost caused a chain of rear end collisions and the vehicle flashed the engine light on the display and would not maintain more than 25 MPH in a 70 MPH zone. Left the roadway shut the vehicle off and restarted in approximately three mins and vehicle function was normal for the remaining 40 miles of the trip. Oct 16 2020 contacted honda motors USA customer service and was told to contact dealer (150 miles away) for diagnosing. Upon some quick research discovered this is a common complaint for many 2019/2020 acura rdx owners. This is an obvious safety issue that acura is aware of and is not addressing. Currently there is no recall and not one owner has had any resolution to date. I request the federal safety agency intervene immediately to engage acura in resolving this critical vehicle design flaw. This is a deadly issue. Thank you.
Car lost all acceleration and went into limp mode attempting to overtake someone on the freeway, accelerating from 60 to 70 MPH (in a 70). I had to navigate from left lane to right shoulder across 3 lanes of traffic. Terrifying. Car was remedied after turning off for a few minutes. Of note, this was a long (3+ hour) trip in the rain. A quick search revealed a ton of other acura owners with a similar issue' noting specifically that it doesn't generate an error code thats stored that honda/acura can use to troubleshoot. My car was cpo, under a week since purchase, 6,000 miles on the odometer. Crazy there isn't a recall. Very dangerous
While driving down a two lane 55 MPH speed limit road, I came upon a car that had stopped in my lane and direction of travel. I slowed down, probably under 30 MPH, and decided to go around the vehicle. I was over the center line of the road and floored my accelerator to get around the stopped vehicle as quickly as possible. Right after this my car lost power and the mil light came on. I can not remember if it was flashing or on steady. My car's engine was running but had no power so I pulled off the road and turned it off. After about a minute, I restarted my car, the mil light was off and my car ran fine. I have a code reader. When I got home the first thing I did was attach the code reader and found that there was no code(s) stored. I was of the belief that if the mil light came on a code would be stored. My concern is my car lost power when I really needed it to pass safely. The dealer said the manufacturer is aware of the same problem but I want it on record. I checked the acura forum and found other owners have had the same problem of the car going into limp mode, the mil light coming on and no code stored.
I was accelerating to approximately 55mph to pass a vehicle. As soon as I completed the pass,the engine decelerated to 20 MPH and the check engine light was flashing. Fortunately for us we were able to get the car safely off of the road. We then shut the engine off. Waited about 5 minutes restarted the engine and it ran fine the rest of the way home.
While driving northbound on I-75 through the leading edge of the remnant of hurricane sally on 9/16/2020 my vehicle suddenly lost speed control and the check engine icon started flashing. I managed to safely pull off the interstate onto the shoulder and stopped the engine. After reviewing the owners manual I verified that the gas fill door was closed. Started the engine and had no icons or warnings. I then got back on the interstate but about twenty miles later the car again lost speed, 9 maintenance warnings and multiple alarm icons lit up. This time the max speed obtainable was about 20 MPH. I managed to drive on the shoulder to an exit and stop. I called acura and they had aaa send a tow truck to take car to the dealer in macon, ga. The dealer said two cylinders were not firing and numerous codes were reported. They were able to reset the computer to eliminate the alarms and take it out of "limp mode" but they could not say what caused the problem or what the permanent fix would be. My vehicle had 4314 total miles and had only been owned for less than 3 months when this occurred. This could have caused a multiple vehicle wreck resulting in injuries or deaths to my family and other motorists.
I wanted to let you know a frightening experience we had with the acura rdx on august 16th. My family, including my 2 children & dog, were driving home on the expressway in the hov line. My husband was driving the rdx we just leased not even a month ago. He had the car in cruise control doing 60 MPH. The car suddenly lost acceleration and despite my husband trying to hit the gas, the car would not go and eventually lost power and came to a dead stop in the hov lane. He just missed getting hit by the car behind him. You can imagine how catastrophic this could have turned out. The malfunction indicator light came on. He turned the car off and let it cool as it said to in the manual. Eventually after being turned off for approximately 5 - 7 minutes, he turned the car back on and it started. He drove home, but clearly we were beyond shaken.
While driving at a consistent rate of speed on a 65 MPH highway the vehicle suddenly and without warning lost engine power. The vehicle began to rapidly drop speed and the check engine light would blink when the accelerator was depressed. I was forced to abandon the highway and pull over onto the shoulder - not in an emergency lane - in between north and south bound traffic because the vehicle would not accelerate over 20 MPH or exceed 2,000 rpms. After 3 hours of waiting in this dangerous location acura roadside assistance was unable to locate a tow truck. I turned the vehicle off and back on and noticed the check engine light ceased blinking. I then proceeded to return home and the problem returned a second time, this time accompanied with numerous indicator lights (e.g., awd problem, ABS problem, etc). The vehicle was towed to pohanka acura in chantilly, virginia. I was told the first time they cleared the codes they returned, but after a second time they did not. They were not able to replicate the problem, did not fix anything, and said it was caused by fuel choice. This is significant problem and safety risk known to acura. There is a patent history of acura choosing to not identify the root cause, associate this anomaly with fuel choice, and return the vehicle to the owner. In my opinion this is a negligent business practice and acura should be responsible for any injuries or damages associated with these unexpected, unannounced "limp mode" events.
2020 acura rdx with approx 6,200 miles. Driving from pittsburgh, pa to new jersey. I reached new jersey after driving from pittsburgh. There was moderate to heavy rain showers during the drive. The rain ended prior to me entering new jersey. I exited the jersey turnpike for the on ramp to 195 east. I was going approximately 45 miles MPH when I pressed the gas pedal to accelerate so I could safely enter traffic. I could feel the engine give way as I pressed the pedal. The car decelerated and the check engine light illuminated. I pulled off the highway to the side of the road and put on the flashers. I let the car run at idle. The check engine lite went off so I tried to accelerate the vehicle with no luck. The engine would rev a little but the car would only accelerate to approximately 25 MPH. I tried this multiple times. I was near an exit and the vehicle was able to move at a slow speed so I drove approximately 2 miles to a friend's house. Again, the vehicle would not go over 25 miles an hour. After reaching my friend's house, I turned off the ignition. About 1 hour and 30 minutes later I turned on the vehicle. This seemed to fix the problem and I was able to continue home with no further issues. The check engine light remained off. Acura looked at the car but there was no record of the problem and they could not duplicate the issue. Not sure if it was an electrical issue or an engine issue.
On 7/22/2020, I was entering the mass pike from I-495 outside of boston. I accelerated to get around a box truck and suddenly the engine light started flashing and the car started to lose power. No matter how much I stepped on the gas, the car kept losing speed. Thankfully, I was near a rest stop and was able to pull to the shoulder (from the middle lane) and had enough momentum to get the car in the parking lot. Thank goodness it was nighttime and with covid, there aren't as many cars on the road. This could have ended very badly for my children and me if traffic levels were what they usually are in that area. As soon as I put the car in park, the engine light went off. I called acura roadside assistance and turned the car off. Roadside assistance transfered me to an acura service department on the west coast that was still open. The service tech I spoke to said she never heard of the problem and "maybe" if I turned it off and turned it back on, it might be okay. I also googled and saw that this exact situation has happened to other owners and that after turning the car off and back on again, their cars were fine. I did the same, and the car went back into its normal mode and I was able to drive the rest of the way home without further incident.
- 2020 acura rdx aspec purchased apr2020 new - ~2,800 miles when incident occurred on sat, 4jul2020 - was traveling on I-10 west at ~70 to 75 MPH - attempted to pass a vehicle (on the left) when car lost all ability to accelerate and orange engine light began to blink in lower left corner of dashboard - I was pushing accelerator to the floor but no acceleration, no engine revving - vehicle slowed down to ~20 MPH by the time I was able was able to get over to shoulder safely - turned car off waited ~30 seconds turned car back on and car appeared to function properly - I reported issue to acura dealership - service rep advised that this is a known issue, but service manager said he knew nothing about this issue - I researched issue and discovered that my vehicle appears to have experienced "limp mode" - as have many other 2019 and 2020 acura rdx models - at time of incident was using adaptive cruise control with one bar spacing between vehicles, start/stop was on, comfort mode, always use premium (93) fuel, gas tank was ~1/2 full, weather was clear ~90 degrees - after restarting car realized that had changed to sport+ mode - at this point, I no longer trust the safety of this vehicle - this could have caused a catastrophic accident had there been a fast moving vehicle (e.g. 18 wheeler) behind me - up to and including death - vehicle is currently at dealership for analysis
After driving on secondary roads for an hour, I entered a highway. I was accelerating on the entrance ramp and noticed a car going very slow in the slow lane. I put on my blinker, accelerated more and moved to the middle lane of the highway. The car immediately went into 'limp mode', losing all power and the check engine was blinking. I could not pass the car that was going about 30 MPH and had to apply my brakes in the middle of a highway as trucks were bearing down on me. This was terrifying! I was able to pull off to the side and shut down the engine. After 30 seconds I restarted the car and all power was returned with no check engine light. The dealer could find no problem, but honda needs to fix this before someone gets killed.
While driving at approx. 75mph one rainy evening the engine lost power, and would not maintain speed. After mitigating oncoming traffic from behind I was able to get over 3 lanes to the shoulder and turn the vehicle off. After restarting the ignition, the vehicle resumed with normal power.
I drive a 2020 acura rdx having 1,840 miles. While driving on the highway on two separate occasions (approximately several months apart), my car had suddenly decelerated. My foot was not on the break at all. The car would not accelerate when applying my foot on the accelerator. Fortunately there was still enough forward motion in the car for me to be able to pull over to the side without incident. After a few seconds, I stepped on the accelerator again and the car had returned to normal operation. I brought the car in to the dealership for service. They could not find or duplicate the problem related to my experiences. I gave them copies of my internet searches showing other drivers' complaints having similar "limp mode" experiences. The dealership claimed they are not aware of this problem and of any complaints. I find this response absolutely frustrating because the safety of my family and friends are at stake. For now, I am limiting my driving to what is only necessary until this defect is resolved. I am also considering other options.
From the day I took delivery of my 2020 rdx advance in august, I've been completely crazy about it. Now, however, I'm feeling sad and disillusioned, but more importantly, I don't feel 100% safe driving it. Recently, after spending a few weeks in georgia, we were driving back home to northern virginia on I-85n in north carolina. It was and had been raining steadily the entire trip. There was moderate/heavy traffic moving at speeds between 60-75/80 MPH. Somewhere just south of charlotte, the car suddenly started slowing down, even though I was pressing the accelerator! It was barely moving in the middle of traffic. The check engine light was blinking and the engine was rattling and sputtering. I immediately turned on the hazards and started crossing the two far right lanes to get over to the narrow shoulder. Terrifying. Fortunately, we were only about a 1/4 mile from an exit. We slowly made it on the shoulder to one of gas stations there. After checking the support section in the app and calling a tech at my home dealership, I shut the car off and let it sit for about 15 minutes. It started and we were able to finish the trip without further incident. We made it home safely, but the remaining six hours of the trip were mentally excruciating. We drove as slowly as safely possible in the right lane. I couldn't get it out of my head that it could happen again at any moment. And, I can't say it hasn't crossed my mind that I won't be able to get over that extended feeling of uncertainty while driving it. At least, not for now. I took it to the dealer on 11/25/19. They said they could not duplicate the issue, and that there were neither error nor fault codes stored. I had been hoping they would give me some explanation and reassurance that everything is fine. I wanted to feel 100% that the car is still safe to drive, but I'm not feeling that now.
Tl* the contact owns a 2020 acura rdx. While the contact was passing a vehicle accelerating at 45 MPH, the vehicle suddenly lost power and the check engine indicator flashed. The vehicle went into limp mode and slowed down to only 10 MPH. When the contact pulled over and restarted the vehicle, it operated normally and was able to be driven home. The same failure occurred randomly on an earlier model vehicle. The contact scheduled an appointment with acura of augusta (1760 gordon hwy, augusta, ga 30904, (706) 737-5200). The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was 3,400.
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