Complete transmission failure on the 2000 Acura TL
When complete transmission failure gets reported
Owners of the 2000 Acura TL report complete transmission failure at a median of 115,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 90,000 miles and a quarter after 125,000 miles, from 17 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 98,000 miles. It is the 3rd most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 55,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 140,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 83,000 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.
0% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 55,000 miles | 92,000 miles | 115,205 miles | 124,000 miles | 138,000 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
Putting it right typically runs $2,800–$8,000 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.
This mode is classified as critical, which means a failure can leave the car unable to stop, steer, or stay out of the way of traffic. It is weighted accordingly in the risk score.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 8 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2002, at a median of 40,000 miles, and latest on the 2006 at 175,000 miles.
By volume the 2003 carries the most reports, with 72; the 2000 has 23. 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.
My transmission failed at approximately 92,000 miles. This seems to be a common event for acura tl owners. The car slipped out of gear on the road and I was forced to coast the car off to the side of the road. Luckily, my transmission did not lock up as others have experienced, but the problem with these vehicles is more prevalent than the NHTSA may be aware. Just do a search at any of the various acura owners' websites and you will see instances of up to 5 replaced transmissions on individual cars. *la
I purchased this vehicle as new in april 2000. In november 2001, the transmission failed, and I was thrown forward at a high rate of speed as though rear-ended. The transmission was replaced with a rebuilt transmission at the dealer in temecula, california, and covered under recall or warranty (I think it was warranty, and that the recall was made after the fact.) well, now it has been a little over 2 years, and the same thing has happened again. While traveling on an interstate, my transmission failed, throwing me forward, and rapidly decelerating the vehicle. I was quite fortunate to have not been rear-ended! My neck and back hurt, and my dealer has charged me nearly $6000 for the repairs. A failure of this sort must be investigated before people are injured or killed. *la
I purchased this vehicle as new in april 2000. In november 2001, the transmission failed, and I was thrown forward at a high rate of speed as though rear-ended. The transmission was replaced with a rebuilt transmission at the dealer in temecula, california, and covered under recall or warranty (I think it was warranty, and that the recall was made after the fact.) well, now it has been a little over 2 years, and the same thing has happened again. While traveling on an interstate, my transmission failed, throwing me forward, and rapidly decelerating the vehicle. I was quite fortunate to have not been rear-ended! My neck and back hurt, and my dealer has charged me nearly $6000 for the repairs. A failure of this sort must be investigated before people are injured or killed. *la
Also reported on the 2000 Acura TL
Other powertrain problem
Other visibility problem
Airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault
Control module (ECM/PCM/BCM) failure
Airbag inflator rupture
Other electrical problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 23 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 complete transmission failure happen on the 2000 Acura TL?
Across 17 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 115,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 90,000 miles and a quarter after 125,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is complete transmission failure on the 2000 Acura TL?
23 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