Other electrical problem on the 2005 Acura MDX
2 crashes 2 injuries 4 of the 14 reports for this failure mention a crash, a fire, an injury or a death. Those are the owner's words on the complaint form, not a verified finding, and one report can mention more than one.
When other electrical problem gets reported
Owners of the 2005 Acura MDX report other electrical problem at a median of 100,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 65,000 miles and a quarter after 120,000 miles, from 9 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 85,000 miles. It is the 3rd most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 40,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 200,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 157,671 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
When the reports scatter this far, the mileage is telling you about how these cars were driven more than about the part itself.
11% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 39,929 miles | 64,000 miles | 100,000 miles | 120,000 miles | 197,600 miles |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Of these reports, 2 a crash and 2 an injury are mentioned. Owners write their own complaints and the agency does not verify them, so read this as what the reports say happened rather than as a confirmed count.
Putting it right typically runs $250–$2,000 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 23 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2014, at a median of 15,000 miles, and latest on the 2002 at 160,000 miles.
By volume the 2017 carries the most reports, with 32; the 2005 has 14. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
Tl* the contact owns a 2005 acura mdx. While driving approximately 65 MPH she heard a loud noise outside of the vehicle. The "vsa" and "exclamation mark" warning lights illuminated on the instrument panel, and then the vehicle began to jerk violently. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer for diagnostic testing. The technician detected a power surge in the battery, but no repairs were made. There was a separate occasion when an identical failure occurred accompanied by a loss of vehicle control. However, the driver was able to gain control. The failure mileage was 49,900. The current mileage was 49,950.
Have booming sound coming from the sub-woofer in the rear. Sounds deafening, quite loud and booming. Took it in because I had a warranty and they did nothing- didn't notice they didn't fix it till I got home as I didn't pick up the car. Took it back and they said they replaced the sub-woofer. On saturday driving home and had the car running, went to back to remove something and heard this crazy noise. I though it was coming from the tail pipe, that's how loud it was until I opened the back and realize it was the sub-woofer again! I have seen that a lot of other people are having the same problem, and not sure why there isn't a permanent fix from acura regarding this. The dealership, will imply its your cd's etc, but its not, it sounds crazy whether its the radio or even if you have the bass lowered to help with the noise. *tr
This complains pertains to my 2005 mdx acura. While driving up a slope close to my home at 50mph, the dashboard suddenly shuts down and the wheels locked up. I took it to dch acura dealer in tustin, ca, and they could not detect any problem or replicate the problem. *ln
Also reported on the 2005 Acura MDX
Torque converter failure
Other powertrain problem
Airbag inflator rupture
Other engine problem
Other brake problem
Other driver assistance problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 14 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does other electrical problem happen on the 2005 Acura MDX?
Across 9 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 100,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 65,000 miles and a quarter after 120,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other electrical problem on the 2005 Acura MDX?
14 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.1 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed