Other engine problem on the 2017 Acura MDX
2 fires 2 of the 58 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 engine problem gets reported
Owners of the 2017 Acura MDX report other engine problem at a median of 75,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 20,000 miles and a quarter after 105,000 miles, from 21 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 10,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 110,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 104,054 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A spread this wide points at use rather than design. Towing, climate, service history and city mileage all move a failure like this, so the median is a weak guide to any individual car.
33% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7,946 miles | 22,000 miles | 76,000 miles | 105,000 miles | 112,000 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 fire is 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 $300–$4,000 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 24 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2014, at a median of 10,000 miles, and latest on the 2006 at 135,000 miles.
By volume the 2016 carries the most reports, with 85; the 2017 has 58. 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.
We own a 2017 acura mdx, my wife was driving the SUV attempting to park when the vehicle briefly accelerated. I was driving the SUV at low speed when it briefly accelerated, I was kind of stunned, and asked did you feel that, she said yes, and then stated I guess I wasn't imaging it when it happened to me, these were separate issues at different times and dates. The vehicle was brought in for service and this issue was mentioned, the service writer explained that acura is aware of this and it's an intermittent issue and acura has no fix, it was asked why acura hasn't warned owners of the potential problem and the service writer explained it's a intermittent issue that hasn't been replicated in service and doesn't happen to all the vehicles. We asked doesn't someone think it's a safety issue, that when I was driving in laconia nh bike week it could have accelerated into a motorcycle or pedestrian. There was no response other than please rate us good on the service call what we did not what acura isn't doing?????????
On several occasions as I reduce speed, the car suddenly accelerates when I release the break to start accelerating again. The acceleration happen when you are going at slow speed. The first time I took it to the dealership it had happened in 4 occasions and I had atributed the incident to lack of experience in driving a new car. Because it happened in front of my daughters school ' and in theory I could have actually killed a child ' I promptly deliver it to the dealership. During the test drive with the technician, the car changed gears from the comfort mode to sport mode on its own. Because it was a safety issue, they informed me that an engineer from acura would come and inspect the unit. After a week with my car, they just did an update into the transmission software - and informed me they were unable to recreate the issue. Thirty three days later' while dropping my dad at his dialysis ' at a turn - the car went form 3 miles to 25 miles, and it was fortunate that it was 5:45 in the morning ' since I could certainly would have cause an accident considering I almost ran a light. I called the dealership and on february 1…
Yesterday while stopped a light, the mdx refused to move once I took my foot off the break. The engine became very loud and 'emissions system problem' and 'brake parking problem' appeared on the dashboard. The trunk opened but wdnt close automatically. I had to have the vehicle towed to the dealer. The vehicle had issues staying in neutral and would immediately revert back to park. The towing company had me continuously hold it in neutral in order to get it on the flat bed. It took 45 mins to finally get the vehicle on the bed. I was really annoyed as I've never experienced anything as such with my prior mdx and was on the way to meet my children. When we arrived at the dealer, a tlx was towed and had the same issues. The vehicle shut down and wdnt move like mine. Thank god I was not on the highway. I have complained about the shifting of gears when driving and was told it was normal and the vehicle would eventually change but it's also still happening. Needless to say I am very dissatisfied and disappointed and will not purchase another acura
Also reported on the 2017 Acura MDX
Other powertrain problem
Other electrical problem
Lane keep or steering assist fault
Parking brake failure
Other brake problem
Cruise control failure
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 58 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 engine problem happen on the 2017 Acura MDX?
Across 21 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 75,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 20,000 miles and a quarter after 105,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other engine problem on the 2017 Acura MDX?
58 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 1.5 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