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Acura · NHTSA safety record

2026 Acura MDX

Every safety complaint, recall and defect investigation the US government holds on this vehicle.

Owners have filed 9 safety complaints about the 2026 Acura MDX with the US government. Of those, no death is recorded. One recall campaign is open against it, covering the air bags.

The most complained-about system is the electrical system, named in 3 complaints, 33% of the total.

Compiled from NHTSA's complaint, recall and investigation files · Covers July 2025 to October 2026 · How this is counted

What is on file

9 complaints on file

9

Complaints

0

Describe a crash

0

Mention fire

0

People injured

0

Deaths

A complaint is an unverified account by the person who filed it, not a finding of fault. One complaint is one ODI number, which is how NHTSA counts them.

A recall is the manufacturer conceding a defect, and the repair is free. Whether one covers your particular car is a question only its VIN can answer, because a campaign covers a production range rather than a model year.

Which system owners named

Complaints naming each system
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 3 · 33%
UNKNOWN OR OTHER 3 · 33%
ENGINE 2 · 22%
LANE DEPARTURE 2 · 22%
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 1 · 11%
POWER TRAIN 1 · 11%
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL 1 · 11%
VISIBILITY 1 · 11%
0 4 8

Red marks a system with a recall campaign against it. One complaint can name several systems, so these add up to more than 9.

When the complaints arrived

By the year NHTSA received them

By the year NHTSA received them, which is not the year the failures happened. They peaked in 2026 at 6.

8 6 4 2
25 26

This is the year the complaint was filed, not the year the failure happened. The range runs from 2025 to 2026, the last of them a part year, which is why its column is drawn faint.

Crash test ratings

NHTSA New Car Assessment Program

NHTSA crashes a car into a barrier and a pole and measures what happens to the dummies inside. This is what it awarded the 2026 Acura MDX, and it is a separate question from what owners report going wrong later.

Test SUV N/A AWD SUV N/A FWD
Overall Not rated
Frontal crash
Frontal, driver
Frontal, passenger
Side crash
Side barrier
Side pole
Rollover Not rated
Chance of rollover — 15.1%
Stability control standard Forward collision warning standard Lane departure warning standard

A rating belongs to a tested body style and drivetrain, not to the model as a whole, which is why more than one is listed. A dash means NHTSA did not rate that test for this vehicle.

Recall campaigns

1 on file

AIR BAGS:SENSOR:OCCUPANT CLASSIFICATION:FRONT PASSENGER

26V332000 · May 21, 2026

The defect
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.
The risk
Air bags that deploy unintentionally during a crash increase the risk of injury.
The remedy
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.

Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) · up to 98,892 vehicles across all model years covered

In owners’ own words

Quoted from the complaint file

Quoted from NHTSA's complaint file. These are unverified accounts by the people who filed them, not findings of fault.

ENGINE
On October 1, 2026 at approximately 5:45am, while driving my 2026 Acura MDX, I stopped at a red traffic light on a busy street. The vehicle's Auto Idle Stop system shut the engine off as designed. When the light turned green and I attempted to proceed, the engine failed to restart. The vehicle became disabled in an active traffic lane in the dark and I was unable to move it for several minutes. I attempted to restart the vehicle multiple times. It took several attempts to fully the shut the vehicle down and restart it before I was able to actually restart the car and resume driving. Because the vehicle was unexpectedly immobilized in traffic when surrounding vehicles began moving, I was

NHTSA complaint 11768794, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

VISIBILITY:REARVIEW MIRRORS/DEVICES:INTERIOR

1,800 miles

The contact owns a 2026 Acura MDX. The contact stated that while driving 30 MPH and adjusting the interior rearview mirror, the mirror detached and was hanging down. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, where it was determined that the windshield and the interior rear-view mirror needed to be replaced. The contact declined to pay for the repair because the vehicle was brand new. The dealer repaired the rear-view mirror without replacing the windshield; however, the failure recurred approximately 8 months later. The dealer was notified by phone and informed the contact that there was no available appointment to repair the vehicle. The contact believed the failure was a factory defect. The

NHTSA complaint 11768571, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

LANE DEPARTURE: BLIND SPOT DETECTION
Blind spot warning system stops working when the it is hot outside or inside of the vehicle

NHTSA complaint 11762463. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

LANE DEPARTURE: BLIND SPOT DETECTION
I am writing to formally escalate an unresolved matter regarding my 2026 Acura MDX Technology, purchased on XXX, from Piazza Acura of [XXX]. As a loyal Acura customer of over nine years and currently on my fourth lease, this experience is both unexpected and unacceptable. Since shortly after purchase, the vehicle has exhibited persistent and unresolved performance issues, most notably harsh and inconsistent gear shifting and a pronounced vibration in the accelerator pedal. Despite multiple service visits and significant time invested, these concerns remain unresolved. I have repeatedly been advised that these conditions are “normal characteristics” of the vehicle due to adaptive

NHTSA complaint 11750166, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

ELECTRICAL SYSTEM:ADAS:BLINDSPOT:SENSORS
The blind spot monitor becomes inoperable when you leave the car in an open area with sun and warm weather on the car. If you take the car and place it in a garage or during nighttime the monitors will come back on. This problem was brought to the dealer, Gettel Acura, [XXX] in XXX. They replaced a Chip and told me it was fixed. It has not been fixed and the inoperable monitor makes it dangerous, especially on the interstate highway. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

NHTSA complaint 11748188. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
Google on-board gives a persistent error that the MMI and car driving technology firmware cannot be completed. Service center says it’s known and they can’t do anything. The car is supposed to have voice control over vehicle temperature and functionality — it does not. It frequently will not automatically connect to a wireless Apple Car Play or Google Auto connection. Firmware is also supposed to communicate w car speed, etc. to make Acura Assist driving more safe.

NHTSA complaint 11708181. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

Compare

Other years of the Acura MDX

Model year Complaints Recalls Deaths
2025 117 3 —
2024 41 3 —
2023 44 3 —
2022 162 3 —
2020 227 8 —
2019 193 9 —
2018 169 10 —
2017 261 8 —
2016 378 7 —
2015 71 8 —
2014 172 8 —
2013 30 1 —
2012 76 1 —
2011 70 0 —
2010 45 1 —

Every Acura on this site — 73 vehicles.

If this is your car and a dealer keeps failing to fix it, your state's lemon law may require the manufacturer to replace it or buy it back. How many repair attempts it takes, and how long you have to file, is set by the state you bought in and by nothing on this page.

Where these numbers come from

A complaint is one owner's account and has not been verified by NHTSA or by us. A vehicle with more complaints is not necessarily worse: models that sold in larger numbers collect more of them. How this is counted.

Compiled and maintained by
Independent developer and analyst