Airbag inflator rupture on the 2004 Acura TL
When airbag inflator rupture gets reported
Owners of the 2004 Acura TL report airbag inflator rupture at a median of 100,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 95,000 miles and a quarter after 125,000 miles, from 10 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 80,000 miles. It is the 7th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 90,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 125,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 35,300 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A window that narrow is the signature of a part that fails on its own schedule rather than on how the car is driven — which is usually a design or supplier problem rather than wear and tear.
0% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 91,700 miles | 94,386 miles | 98,542 miles | 124,500 miles | 127,000 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 $0–$0 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 10 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2011, at a median of 40,000 miles, and latest on the 2005 at 160,000 miles.
By volume the 2012 carries the most reports, with 24; the 2004 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.
We purchased an acura tl in 2013 as a third owner. We love the car and is always garage kept. However, one day suddenly cracks starting appearing along the dashboard on the passengers side. Also, the cracks propagated along the driver's side too. When I checked online, I wasn't the only one with this issue. There are several hundreds of people with this issue. I called acura and they did not take responsibility for a defective part. I have a master's degree in manufacturing systems engineering from university of kentucky and a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering. I work with plastic & steel components with design and manufacturing day in day out. I can tell you confidently that it is a 'defective' plastic part. It's not about the money for me, it's the safety concern I have. In case of an accident, I do anticipate the dashboard plastic chips acting as a shrapnel and causing injury to the passenger/driver. I really wish you could do something about this. Appreciate your help. Regards *js
We purchased an acura tl in 2013 as a third owner. We love the car and is always garage kept. However, one day suddenly cracks starting appearing along the dashboard on the passengers side. Also, the cracks propagated along the driver's side too. When I checked online, I wasn't the only one with this issue. There are several hundreds of people with this issue. I called acura and they did not take responsibility for a defective part. I have a master's degree in manufacturing systems engineering from university of kentucky and a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering. I work with plastic & steel components with design and manufacturing day in day out. I can tell you confidently that it is a 'defective' plastic part. It's not about the money for me, it's the safety concern I have. In case of an accident, I do anticipate the dashboard plastic chips acting as a shrapnel and causing injury to the passenger/driver. I really wish you could do something about this. Appreciate your help. Regards *js
Not sure if this is takata issue as well! Or due to defective dashboard materials which have cracked severely bad! When it started they were lines hardly noticeable! Now due to neglegance of the company the primary cracks are over the airbag area & have crevices across top and they are across entire dashboard? The light for airbags comes on and off at random times? The seat belt beeping indicator is not working all the time anymore! My car even though it is a 2004 is in very good shape from what other people have told me! That is of course until they see the craters in the dash of what is suppose to be a higher end nice model car that should hold up better than???? This is not to mention the fact of safety? Is there a possibility the airbags have dried out or became effected due to these large cracks as well as what other damage it could be causing electronically? Am I going to end up in some horrific car accident due to airbag release when just driving down the interstate and then it all be my fault for sweving over in another lane and cause the accident! Then it will look as if I were at fault and airbags deployed as they should…
Also reported on the 2004 Acura TL
Other body or interior problem
Other wheel or tire problem
Airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault
Other powertrain problem
Other steering problem
Other suspension 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 airbag inflator rupture happen on the 2004 Acura TL?
Across 10 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 100,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 95,000 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 airbag inflator rupture on the 2004 Acura TL?
14 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.2 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