AtWhatMileage
Steering · 19 owner reports

Other steering problem on the 2014 Acura MDX

Reports of this failure 19
With an odometer reading 15
Reports per 1,000 built 0.4 per 1,000
Filed below 36,000 miles 67%
Mention a crash, fire or injury 0
Typical repair $350–$2,400
What it means when it happens High
Rank among this year's problems 1st

When other steering problem gets reported

Owners of the 2014 Acura MDX report other steering problem at a median of 20,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 10,000 miles and a quarter after 60,000 miles, from 15 reports that carried an odometer reading.

A part like this is normally expected to survive 95,000 miles. It is the 1st most-reported problem on this model year.

The mileage distribution

The reported range runs from 5,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 90,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 86,700 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.

67% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.

The whole distribution

Percentiles of the 15 odometer readings owners gave.
10th25thMedian 75th90th
3,200 miles 9,457 miles 18,000 miles 59,750 miles 89,900 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

Putting it right typically runs $350–$2,400 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 12 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2018, at a median of 15,000 miles, and latest on the 2001 at 180,000 miles.

By volume the 2014 is the worst of them, which makes this a problem of this specific year rather than of the model as a whole.

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.

What owners wrote

Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.

On highway going downhill and curves, the steering wheel horribly shakes and vehicle feels very unsafe to drive (wobbly). Felt almost like if brakes were bad but it is not the brake (brakes have almost decent amount of pads). Tires are good too. *tr after the incident, equipped telescoping steering wheel makes loud squeaky noise when it is retracting

33,000 miles NHTSA complaint 1084874 filed 2014-07-10

Happens more often when exiting a parking space (steering to the max, then going straight) but also when when taking a sharp turn. The steering locks and makes a grinding noise for couple seconds making it very hard to maneuver. The problem as been reproduced and acknowledge by dealer service, but no fix has been applied. *tr

1,000 miles NHTSA complaint 1094944 filed 2014-08-06

Tl* the contact owns a 2014 acura mdx. While driving at low speeds, the power steering failed. The steering wheel became difficult to maneuver and made a high pitched buzzing sound. The vehicle was taken to the dealer for diagnostic testing, but the results were unavailable. The manufacturer was notified. The approximate failure mileage was 11,513.

11,513 miles NHTSA complaint 1101800 filed 2014-08-25

Also reported on the 2014 Acura MDX

Other engine problem

18 reports median 12k

Other powertrain problem

16 reports median 20k

Other speed control problem

13 reports median 26k

Other brake problem

12 reports median 13k

Other body or interior problem

12 reports median 5k

How far this goes

Complaints are voluntary, so 19 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 steering problem happen on the 2014 Acura MDX?

Across 15 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 20,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 10,000 miles and a quarter after 60,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.

How common is other steering problem on the 2014 Acura MDX?

19 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.4 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