2020 Acura MDX
Problems, recalls and owner-reported issues
Engine is the leading concern among 221 owner complaints filed for this model year. This is the 4th highest complaint count among 24 MDX model years with reports.
Of the 2020 reports, 4 involved a crash. 2 people were injured.
What owners report most often
Recalls and investigations
Structure, frame and membersJun 4, 2026
American Honda Motor Company (Honda) is recalling certain 2016-2022 Honda Pilot, 2017-2023 Ridgeline, 2019-2023 Passport, and 2014-2020 Acura MDX vehicles that were sold in Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, or Wisconsin. The rear subframe may corrode at the suspension mounting points, which can result in rear suspension component failure.
Failure of rear suspension components, such as the rear control arm, can cause a loss of vehicle handling and control, increasing the risk of a crash or injury.
Dealers will inspect the rear subframe and install a rear subframe reinforcement kit and, as necessary, repair or replace the rear subframe components, free of charge. Interim letters notifying owners of the safety risk were mailed July 27, 2026. Additional letters will be sent once the final remedy is available, anticipated in the fall of 2026. Owners may contact Honda's customer service at 1-888-234-2138. Honda's numbers for this recall are AOU and AOT. Vehicle Identification Numbers (VINs) involved in this recall will become searchable on NHTSA.gov beginning June 10, 2026.
Campaign 26V365000 on NHTSA.gov
Air bags, sensor, occupant classification, front passengerMay 21, 2026
Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) is recalling certain 2018-2021, 2023 Acura TLX, 2019-2024 RDX, 2017-2020, 2022-2026 MDX, 2017-2021, 2023, 2025 Honda Ridgeline, 2017-2022 Pilot, 2019-2021 Passport, 2018-2026 Odyssey, 2019-2022 Insight, 2019-2021 HR-V, 2018-2020 Fit, 2020-2022 CR-V Hybrid, 2017-2022 CR-V, 2017-2018, 2021 Civic Type R, 2017-2021 Civic hatchback, 2016-2020 Civic coupe, 2016-2022 Civic, 2017-2022 Accord Hybrid, and 2016-2022 Accord vehicles. The front passenger seat weight sensor may crack and short circuit, which can cause the air bags to deploy unintentionally during a crash.
Air bags that deploy unintentionally during a crash increase the risk of injury.
Dealers will replace the seat weight sensors, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed July 7, 2026. Owners may contact Honda's customer service at 1-888-234-2138. Honda's numbers for this recall are BOL, WO9, OOA, WOM, XOH, NOC, POD, BOE, UOF, POB, EOG, AOI, QO8, TOJ, DO7, and SOK. This recall expands previous NHTSA recall number 24V064. Vehicle Identification Numbers (VINs) involved in this recall will be searchable on NHTSA.gov beginning May 29, 2026.
Campaign 26V332000 on NHTSA.gov
Exterior lightingApr 17, 2025
Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) is recalling certain 2014-2020 Acura MDX vehicles. Moisture may enter the tailgate lid light assembly and wiring harness, which can cause the interior and exterior lights to fail, including the lid lights, position lights, license plate lights and taillights.
Vehicle lights that fail to illuminate can decrease visibility and increase the risk of a crash.
Dealers will inspect the wiring and install a fuse harness, replace the lid light, and repair the body dust sealer, as necessary, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed May 30, 2025. Owners may contact Acura's customer service at 1-800-382-2238. Acura's number for this recall is FLI. Vehicles included in this recall that were previously repaired under NHTSA recall number 19V-256 will need to have the new remedy completed.
Campaign 25V259000 on NHTSA.gov
Air bags, sensor, occupant classification, front passengerFeb 1, 2024
Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) is recalling certain 2020-2022 Pilot, Accord, Civic sedan, HR-V, Odyssey, 2020 Civic coupe, Fit, 2021-2022 Civic hatchback, 2021 Civic Type R, Insight, 2020-2021 CR-V, CR-V Hybrid, Passport, Ridgeline, Accord Hybrid, 2020 Acura MDX, 2022 Acura MDX, 2020-2022 Acura RDX, and 2020-2021 Acura TLX vehicles. The front passenger seat weight sensor may crack and short circuit, failing to suppress the air bag as intended.
An air bag that deploys unintentionally during a crash can increase the risk of injury.
Dealers will replace the seat weight sensors, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed March 28, 2024. This is a phased recall. Owners may contact Honda customer service at 1-888-234-2138. Honda's numbers for these recalls are XHP and VHQ.
Campaign 24V064000 on NHTSA.gov
Fuel system, gasoline, delivery, fuel pumpDec 18, 2023
Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) is recalling certain 2013-2023 Honda Accord, Civic Coupe, Civic Sedan, Civic Hatchback, Civic Type R, CR-V, HR-V, Ridgeline, Odyssey, Acura ILX, MDX, MDX Hybrid, RDX, RLX, TLX, 2019-2022 Honda Insight, Passport, 2020 Honda CR-V Hybrid, 2018-2019 Honda Clarity PHEV, Fit, and 2015-2020 Honda Accord Hybrid, Pilot, Acura NSX vehicles. The fuel pump inside the fuel tank may fail.
Fuel pump failure can cause an engine stall while driving, increasing the risk of a crash.
Dealers will replace the fuel pump module, free of charge. Owner letters were mailed September 6, 2024. Owners may contact Honda customer service at 1-888-234-2138. Honda's numbers for this recall are KGC and KGD. This recall is an expansion of NHTSA recall numbers 21V-215 and 20V-314.
Campaign 23V858000 on NHTSA.gov
Engine and engine cooling, engine, hard parts internal/mechanicalNov 13, 2023
Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) is recalling certain 2015-2020 Acura TLX, 2016-2020 Acura MDX, 2016 and 2018-2019 Pilot, 2017 and 2019 Ridgeline, and 2018-2019 Odyssey vehicles. Due to a manufacturing error, the connecting rod bearing in the engine may wear and seize, damaging the engine.
A damaged engine may run improperly or stall while driving, increasing the risk of a fire, crash, or injury.
Dealers will inspect and repair, or replace the engine as necessary, free of charge. Owner letters were mailed March 28, 2024. 2016-2017 Acura MDX owner letters were mailed November 1, 2024. 2016-2020 Acura MDX owner letters are expected to be mailed in mid-December 2024. Honda began mailing owner notification letters as of March 18, 2024. 2015-2016 Acura owner letters are expected to be mailed mid-December 2024, 2018 Acura TLX owner letters are expected to be mailed the end of March/early April 2024, 2019 Acura TLX owner letters are expected to be mailed mid-May 2024, 2020 Acura TLX owner letters are expected to be mailed mid-June 2024, and 2016-2020 Acura MDX owner letters are expected to be mailed January 27, 2025. Owners may contact Honda customer service at 1-888-234-2138. Honda's numbers for these recalls are XG1 and GG0.
Campaign 23V751000 on NHTSA.gov
Service brakes, hydraulic, foundation components, master cylinderJun 29, 2023
Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) is recalling certain 2020-2021 Civic, 2020-2023 Ridgeline, 2021-2023 Passport, 2021-2022 Pilot, and 2020 Acura MDX vehicles. The tie rod fastener that connects the brake booster and the brake master cylinder may have been improperly assembled during manufacturing, which can cause the brake master cylinder to separate from the booster assembly.
Brake master cylinder separation can cause a loss of brake function and increase the risk of a crash.
Dealers will inspect and repair the brake booster assembly as necessary, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed August 7, 2023. Owners may contact Honda customer service at 1-888-234-2138. Honda's numbers for this recall are VEU, AEV, and ZET.
Campaign 23V458000 on NHTSA.gov
Fuel system, gasoline, delivery, fuel pumpMar 25, 2021
Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) is recalling certain 2019-2020 Acura MDX, MDX Sport Hybrid, RDX, TLX, Honda Accord, Civic Hatchback, Insight, 2019 Acura ILX, Honda Accord Hybrid, Civic Coupe, Civic Coupe Si, Civic Sedan, Civic Sedan Si, Civic Type R, Fit, HR-V, Odyssey, Passport, Pilot and Ridgeline, and 2018-2019 CR-V vehicles. The low-pressure fuel pump inside the fuel tank may fail.
Fuel pump failure can cause an engine stall while driving, increasing the risk of a crash.
Honda will notify owners, and dealers will replace the fuel pump assembly, free of charge. Owner letters were mailed May 18, 2021. Owners may contact Honda customer service at 1-888-234-2138. Note: This recall is an expansion of recall 20V-314.
Campaign 21V215000 on NHTSA.gov
Representative owner complaints: other or unspecified
39 reports, newest first. Show all
Other or unspecified, Engine, Jul 18, 2024
The car's Auto Start/Stop (AST) function is malfunctioning. It frequently fails to restart the engine after stopping, causing the engine to completely shut down at traffic signals. When this occurs, the car must be shifted to park and the engine manually restarted.
Vehicle speed control, Other or unspecified, Jun 7, 2024
I stopped at a stop sign and the car went into N without me changing anything. The car wouldnt go back to D or P mode even when I pressed the buttons. I had to turn off the car and turn it on again to make it function properlty. This happened twice within 5 mins.
Other or unspecified, Jun 1, 2024
The Auto-Idle on this car has disabled the car at a light or stop sign and you need to turn the car off and restart it. It may take 10-20 seconds for the car to restart. The car has been brought in to the dealer and the first time they updated software. the second and third time said the battery needed to charged. Being disabled at a light or stop sign in a heavy traffic area is very dangerous in high traffic area which I reside in.
Other or unspecified, Engine, Forward collision avoidance, May 18, 2024
I purchased this car in September of 2023 with 23,000 miles on it then I received a recall in December 2023. I purchased tires for my car at the dealership and they scheduled my car to have this recall to be fixed on Monday May 13, 2024. I brought the car in on Monday and received a call on Saturday May 18, 2024 to pick my car up from the dealership that it was fixed. I took my car to get gas and two lights on my dash board came up one about my emergency brakes and the other code stated that there is a engine problem and immediately bring the car to the dealership less than one hour of picking it up from a so called recall repair that I was told was going to take two weeks to fix ended up less than 5 days and the car is back at the dealership less than a hour of picking the car up today. I am pissed off and the car is a $40,000 car I paid for with these types of problems when Iam paying a $680 a month on the car note and can’t drive it . BTWay the car smelled of burnt oil while driving it back to the dealership when the lights came on. I want my money back on this recall I need to let you know that is why I bought a new car so I wouldn’t have to deal with this big ass migraine. The dealership needs to replace my car period in my eyes this can’t be fixed it already has to many problems and issues with this vehicle.
Other or unspecified, Apr 22, 2024
This vehicle is being sold by Corwin Honda in Fargo, North Dakota. As I understand it, this car should not have been taken in on a trade and should not be sold until repairs are made. I do understand that parts have been hard to get and it is a huge inconvenience for the car owner. We looked at this car and were quite prepared to purchase it, but I fear for our safety and anyone else on the road.
Other or unspecified, Dec 7, 2023
Was at stoplight with idle stop on and when light turned green car wouldn’t engage. Saw it had shifted to neutral and needed to turn the car off, restart before I could drive away. Could have been hit from behind especially since it was dark out
Other or unspecified, Nov 8, 2023
My vehicles rear back up camara, and others i checked at dealership is quite blurry not clear at all and much more so at night, causing me not to see my neighbors son and almost running him over as i backed out of driveway , dealership stated thats how resoltion is, changing camara wont help, and no known fixes and said they all are like that
Other or unspecified, Engine, Nov 6, 2023
Idle stop feature causes vehicle to auto shift to neutral at stop. There are many forums noting this issue. It happened a year ago several times, they replaced the battery and it is happening again. You are sitting at a light or stop sign, go to hit the gas, and the car is in neutral. You need to turn the car off and start again. This is a serious risk of getting rear ended with this issue. One time when it happened last year a cop pulled me over to see if everything was all right. The car should not be shifting to neutral at a stop.
Other or unspecified, Aug 29, 2023
This is happening for the second time. Exactly same thing happened for the first time as well. I stopped a light. The car went to auto idle and shut the engine off. I kept my foot on the break pedal until the green. When I release the pedal, the car didn't restart and it went to neutral. I pushed the drive button but it didn't change. I had to shut off everything by pressing the stop button and I started the car again. I think this also happened to other people based on the posts online: [XXX] INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
Other or unspecified, Engine, Aug 24, 2023
Its a known issue with my 2020 Acura MDX it has an issue with the autoidle completely turning off the engine, so you pull up to a red light and the engine goes into Autoidle mode and then completely turns OFF the engine so you are stuck in the middle of the road for a few minutes and then you have to wait for the car to allow you to turn it back on. Acura is aware of the issue and sent a letter to consumers for a mandatory software update to fix the issues. After experiencing this, I took it to the dealership and they completed the software update to fix this issue earlier this year. But my issue is still happening and we got stuck in the middle of a road for 5 mins with a toddler and a teenager. Incoming traffic almost caused a collison because of this.
Other or unspecified, Power train, Dec 21, 2022
Twice at a stop light the car went into neutral by itself which then required me to go put in park then drive. One time a police officer was nearby and pulled me over after, asking if everything was ok since I was stopped at the light for a prolonged period of time. I took it to the dealership and they said it was the battery and replaced under warranty. Battery should not go when car has less than 30k miles. I checked forums and many people have experienced this issue. There are too many other complaints on line not to bring this to your attention. It has happened already. It is very nerve racking to be at a stop, hit the gas and go nowhere when traffic is quickly approaching from behind. This will eventually lead to someone getting rear ended.
Other or unspecified, Nov 12, 2022
When the brake is suppressed at a Stop sign or stop light, the vehicle has an Auto Idle stop feature which shuts off the engine completely to preserve fuel. The vehicle is supposed to restart once the brake is released. In my case, there have been multiple times when the brake is released but fails to restart and go. I have encountered the issue in the following scenarios: 1. Getting off the freeway, if there is a line getting off the freeway, then the vehicle will potentially shut off and fail to restart. This is a safety hazard as the driver behind me or others behind at a distance can potentially hit the vehicle. 2. At a Stoplight, especially when making a left turn, the vehicle will shut off and fail to restart. It takes more than 8 secs to restart/reengage by restarting manually. If there are any vehicles attempting to go behind me or at a distance, then they can potentially hit my vehicle. This is a huge risk to my family and I, to assist in our safety, we end up having to turn on our hazard lights. This is unacceptable especially since this is a 2020 vehicle with under 45k miles. I have attempted to reach out to the Acura service team, Customer relations team and even called the Warranty department. However, they were not taking ownership on the issue and responded as it has not been reported before. Based on forums, the issue is being encountered by other owners as well. Hopefully, this can be sorted in the near future for safety of my family.
Other or unspecified, Service brakes, Jan 4, 2022
Car broke down 3 times on the road while driving, it show 12Vbattery failure, ABS failure nd started flashing lights on the dashboard nd broke down while driving. When first time it happened dealer said they have fixed the issue. It happened again md yesterday is 3rd time. Vehicle is 19k miles only it. Pls help us getting this resolved. Dealers make false promises and it’s breaking down again and again on the road while driving which is very scary.
Other or unspecified, Jun 10, 2021
My fiancé is 8 months pregnant and her sunroof literally exploded on her while she was on the freeway yesterday. She was almost in an accident and could have been killed. She has a 2020 MDX and I’m reading online that she isn’t the only person this has happened to. The dealership told her that she’s on her own and this defect isn’t covered under warranty when she called. It has not been inspected, but I have taken many pictures. There were no warnings or indications anything was wrong.