Problems with 2016 Acura MDX ELECTRICAL SYSTEM

Vehicle had an electronic failure (eps) which caused a loss of steering control. vehicle was in motion in our driveway.

My 2016 acura mdx. stalled twice. both times in start and stop traffic when stopped the cylinder deactivation engaged, however then the power went out completely without warning, it took about 5-10 min then the push to start worked and the car restarted. after the first stall we took it acura, however they said there was nothing wrong. i am writing this report after the second stall today.

Tl* the contact owns a 2016 acura mdx. on several occasions, while stopped at a traffic light, the vehicle stalled. when the push to start button was pressed, the vehicle restarted. the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. a diagnostic appointment was scheduled with acura of fremont (located at 5700 cushing pkwy, fremont, ca 94538, (510) 431-2500). the manufacturer was not notified of the failure. the approximate failure mileage was 38,000.

Car electrical activated when start button was pushed but it wasn't clear if engine was running. car would not "turn off" or lock. many error messages came across dash and car was not properly recognizing fobs. an acura service center was called and we were told our only option was to disconnect battery leads or let the car run until the battery died. many hours later the battery died. when the acura service truck came to get us they couldn't even get the car into neutral after charging the battery and wheel truck had to be called. the dealership had the car for weeks and was not able to determine the pause. we have multiple videos of the incident. note that the car was not in accessory mode and the behavior is inconsistent with accessory mode.

While in motion, first brakelight had warning then warning about trailer stability assist. when i went in reverse, the whole dashboard including the navigation screen went black and the car felt like the engine stopped. this happened a few times. i don't think the engine actually stopped though because i did not have to restart the car. the brake light error message has occurred driving forward as well, but not accompanied by the blackout of the dash and nav panel. all of this happened while in motion. the worst of this happened on 07/30/2018 but variations of this occurred prior to that.

When driving around 75 mph on the interstate i went to switch lanes and when pressing the accelerator nothing happened and acceleration was not possible. all warning lights came on, including all wheel drive system problem, emission system problem, all wheel drive system problem, transmission system problem. check engine and sh-awd. the power steering and brakes still worked and was extremely lucky to get the car to the shoulder without getting injured or killed. had car towed to chattanooga acura dealer. car was operating normally when they received it. acura tech support advised dealer to replace transmission and transmission control module (tcm). also was told acura is working on a software update for the tcm but it is not available yet but i have little confidence in the fix and little confidence that this won't reoccur. strongly considering replacing the car

June 10, 2018 - 4 hours into 5.5 hour trip, traveling on hwy 98, south of tallahassee, fl, vehicle lost acceleration, series of warning lights started flashing. limped over onto shoulder, turned vehicle off, called roadside assistance. when tow truck arrived an hour later, started vehicle and it ran normally....drove vehicle to proctor acura, following tow truck. dealership and factory personnel unable to determine problem. december 4, 2018 - 1 hour into 3 hour trip, wife traveling alone on interstate 10e, mobile, al. while on bridge across mobile bay, vehicle lost acceleration. as she was coasting onto narrow shoulder, frantically pumping accelerator, vehicle re-engaged and trip was completed with no further issue. unsure if warning lights came on. march 8, 2019 - 3.5 hours into 5 hour trip, traveling on hwy 49n, between hattiesburg and collins, ms. various warning lights came on, emergency flashers came on by itself, vehicle never lost acceleration. pulled over onto shoulder, left engine running, and then drove appx 5 miles to a sonic drive-in. turned vehicle off, let it sit for a few minutes, called acura customer service and was assigned a case #. restarted engine, emergency flashers no longer on, other warning lights still flashing and drove to destination. started trip back home the next day, warning lights remained on until a third of the way, then those lights went off. took vehicle to tim smith acura, ft. walton beach, fl. met with dealership service manager, who explained diagnosis and repairs made, but would provide no assurance whatsoever problems would not reoccur. also mentioned he just received an email from factory that a possible fix was at hand but would be a few weeks away. notes: * problems occur only during a road trip * vehicle fixes itself every time * vehicle is unsafe & unreliable * emailed am honda, no reply

Tl* the contact owns a 2016 acura mdx. while driving 72 mph with the cruise control activated, the vehicle lurched twice and all the warning indicators illuminated, displaying transmission system failure, fuel emission failure, and lane departure failure. the vehicle stalled and was coasted to the side of the road. the contact attempted to restart the vehicle, but was unsuccessful. the vehicle was towed to an acura dealer (acura of jackson, 828 adcock st, ridgeland, ms 39157) where it was determined that there was a computer glitch. the computer system was reset. the dealer stated that this was a known failure with acura and no permanent remedy was unavailable. the dealer also stated that the failure could recur in 10 to 10,000 miles. the contact was concerned that the failure would recur and took the vehicle to david mcdavid acura of austin (13553 research blvd, austin, tx 78750). the contact informed the dealer that she felt unsafe driving the vehicle and wanted to trade it in for another vehicle. the manufacturer was notified and advised the dealer to attempt to duplicate the failure. the vehicle was currently at the dealer awaiting a new diagnosis and possible repairs. the failure mileage was unknown.

While driving all warning and hazard lights com on has happened 3 times now in dealer shop for over a month i do not fell safe in car the dealer can not tell me weather safe or not and does not seem to be able to fix problem

Vehicle jerked while stopping (in motion), vehicle would hesitate on acceleration (in motion or from a stop), this was followed by flashing error lights. the vehicle was inoperable and had to be towed in by acura service.

Transmition problem ( electrical )

Inexplainable battery drain on several occasions resulting in not enough power to start car. no solution from acura except that it happens to a lot of owners. most recently car died in an intersection (with two kids in car) and could not restart or shift to neutral (without power) to move out of intersection. car was stopped at intersection, driver moved forward to make turn, driver stopped in intersection and auto-idle engaged (turning car off momentarily), when driver released brake, which would normally restart engine, car would not restart due to loss of power. stuck for an hour in middle of intersection until jumped. three days prior to that, car sat for 5 days without use in 40-50 degree weather, and battery was dead when attempted to start. seems to be a parasitic drain or faulty charging electrical problem with car.

Un intended non acceleration. due to severe lag, delay, and sluggish transmission response. acura has replaced my transmission under warranty at 11,000 miles and did not admit fault and say there was a problem. here's more on my experience..in my 1 year of ownership.. to whom it may concern: 2016 acura mdx 13,000 miles , purchase new from sierra acura , alhambra, ca i am writing to request buy back of my vehicle this car is a lemon. since taking ownership a year ago, my 2016 mdx purchased new has experienced nothing but one problem after problem. acura replaced transmission a month ago but the problem is still there. is it engineered and designed to perform in a not safe manner ? many times i experience shifting and accelerating hesitation and jerky/jolting. my family and i do not feel safe operating and riding in this vehicle. several times gas pedal depressed and vehicle lagged at 20 mph for more than 10 seconds before accelerating. a few of the latest new and ongoing problems are below. driver door now appears off set and at different angle protruding out now. appears that the door is not closing properly and therefore not sealed at closing. furthermore every single window has experienced faulty mechanisms with motors, actuators, and seals. when closing the doors it feels like the windows are loose. there are also squeaks and rattles eminating throughout the cabin area. i secured and collected all loose items and the sound is still there. at engine start up each time, there is a high pitch whining noise for a few seconds before engine starts (perhaps something else faulty?) i have video / sound documentation of this with 2 seperate recording dates . with regard to the navigation, multimedia unit, it has been lagging, slow (er) to function, and severe delay in backup camera actuating, and audio functions delay in response sometimes.

Nothing but trouble since i bought it. purchased jan 2016. has replaced --- navigation, amplifier & fuel pump!!! owned 2016 mdx for less than a week- vehicle jolts forward-gives itself extra gas even when your foot is on the brake! transmission not smooth. been in for service over 40 days now (total). hesitates sometimes- was stuck at 15 mph for a few minutes. radio goes unresponsive- no buttons work gets stuck at station/vol can't turn off either. navigation died- turned off, then flickered(was replaced) . speakers went flat- amplifier died (was replaced). the engine idle feature doesn't work right. it doesn't keep my samsung phone charged. i've tried multiple cords including the original one that came with phone. acuralink doesn't always work either. i sent a destination but it doesn't show up for a few hours or days! it tweets now. the window now squeaks (no, it is not tinted or anything). it makes a strange dripping noise when you turn it off. it eats gas! i fill it up and it's gone in a blink..not the appropriate miles. it beeps loudly and blinks that there is an object approaching for no reason- no one/thing there- nothing moving. it has a mind of it's own. i've been a loyal honda/acura owner for over 18 years and they have not helped. when they replaced the navi they said they'd give me $500 for my trouble- but didn't anyway. they say there is nothing wrong with it-- but just monday said it needs a new fuel pump but is "so new" they don't have one so it had to be ordered. disgraceful. i asked for it to be replaced- was denied. acura client rep says- "at this time there is nothing we can do" i have a spinal condition and the jolting hurts me greatly. somedays i can't drive my brand new vehicle bc i cant take the pain. they don't care. they don't stand behind their product either. highly disappointed in vehicle and company

At 1300 miles. vehicle exhibited a condition where the entire electrical system failed, triggering alerts for every system. emissions, stability, every safety function, brakes, steering. vehicle went into some kind of failsafe mode where the transmission did not shift well at all, and the car was barely drivable. vehicle did this twice over a weekend. took it to acura, and after an analysis they blamed "bad gas." this is an excuse as the vehicle only had 1300 miles on it and had only had 2 fill ups, and both were with top tier premium gasoline. in addition, i do not believe some "bad" gas should cause the entire vehicle to go completely haywire shutting every system off. this seems to be a major flaw if so. however, as i don't believe the analysis that it was "bad gas", i think acura handled the situation wrong and is simply using an excuse rather then determining why some sort of electrical condition caused this massive failure of the vehicle.

Two days after getting our first oil change. the car wouldn't start in our garage. the system flashed on and off rapidly. a tech came out and jump started the engine manually because the computer wouldn't start it. i drove it to a second acura dealership and they stated that the onboard computer randomly sought out a system update so it impacted the engine. i asked what caused this on a new 2016 mdx and they couldn't explain it nor could they promise it wouldn't happen again. if they couldn't predict when the computer does this, then what's to stop it from doing this while the car is in motion? this is a safety issue that needs to be investigated. thank you. *tr

This is almost brand new 2016 acura mdx awd (with tech and entertainment packages). when accelerating on a freeway/road, suddenly lots of the warning lights turn on and then the vehicle does not accelerate any more. the speed suddenly drops. this is definitely a hazard - especially because i am trying to accelerate. this happened 4 times so far - roughly 500 miles between each incidents. the problem condition goes away after we completely stop the vehicle and turn it off and on multiple times (and also put the vehicle in neutral in between). last time when the problem happened, i cleared the condition and then drove and showed the vehicle to the dealer. the dealer said that there were persistent codes about communication failure and he cleared them. and asked us to call back when the problem happened again. dealer does not seem to know any systematic problems with such types of vehicle. i have a video of the previous problem condition at https://youtu.be/ljslicwj7-8

Very similar to nhtsa id number: 10762375. after 3-4 days of driving the check engine light came on along with transmission system u0401, vsa problem, hill start assist problem etc etc etc. the suv would not speed above 35-40 miles and shake. dealership replaced cracked spark plug, ignition coil - cause - possible moisture in spark plug. they were nice enough to take the car back and currently waiting for it to be replaced.

On 9/3/15, i was pulling into my garage when all the warning lights on the dashboard went off - transmission, check engine, lane detection light etc. since i was going out of town the next morning, i put it in reverse and drove directly to the dealer. the car was in "limp mode" and i could only drive 35-40 mph. i showed the tech in the service dept. all the warning lights going off, and he said he had never seen anything like this before. he wrote up a work order with the following info: inspect for check engine light on, check engine light flashing and every warning light in the vehicle is on, would not accelerate over 35 mph. the following day i was contacted by the service dept. and was told they could not find a problem; there were no lights on, they even drove it for 40 miles. the service dept. said they are only allowed to hold the car for five days. today, 9/8/25 i picked up the car. the dealer's invoice reads: cause: light on 123505 diagnostic trouble codes/programmed fuel injection (pgm-fi) retrieve codes with the hds, read data, 74 wa3. inspected for check engine light on, found dtc p0303 (cylinder # 3 misfire) recorded freeze data and cleared codes, at time of inspection vehicle was running perfectly, test drove vehicle twice on extended test drives and engine ran perfectly, no dtcs are reset no problem is present at this time. since the service dept. could not find the problem and fix it, this means the car has not been repaired and i am driving a defective car. the next time the warning lights go on, i could be travelling on a crowded freeway at a high rate of speed (with my family inside), the car goes in to "limp mode - 35 mph and an accident occurs. this is a safety issue. how can acura manufacture a $50,000.00 car and their dealership not be able to find the problem and repair it?