Other powertrain problem on the 2004 Acura TL
1 fire 1 of the 39 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 powertrain problem gets reported
Owners of the 2004 Acura TL report other powertrain problem at a median of 107,500 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 10,000 miles and a quarter after 145,000 miles, from 30 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 92,000 miles. It is the 4th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 400 miles at the tenth percentile to 170,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 169,883 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.
30% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 417 miles | 11,000 miles | 108,500 miles | 143,750 miles | 170,300 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, 1 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 $400–$4,500 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 14 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2007, at a median of 15,000 miles, and latest on the 2009 at 150,000 miles.
By volume the 2002 carries the most reports, with 143; the 2004 has 39. 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.
Vehicle vibration at constant speeds in the range a) 30-40 MPH; and b) 50-60 MPH; this vibration in the vehicle creates an aversion to drive with the vibration and therefore exceed these speed limits although the local speed limits posted may be lower. *jb
No accident tires, over drive, quick to pull to the right is a big saftey fault. I feel there are all problems related to the horsepower, front wheel drive, transmission, and humming and vibration through out the car and most notable at speeds between 50-60mph. *jb
Recently purchased an accura 2004 tl.car currently has 600 miles.noticed a vibrations between the speeds of 45 to 55 MPH.took the car back to dealer(rick case) twice to have the wheels rebalanced.did not remove the vibration.the third time back to the dealer I was told that acura is aware of the problem and that all tl's have this issue.I called honda.they said there is nothing they intend to do regarding the problem and that the vibration is normal for the 2004's as it goes into 5th gear. *ak
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 steering problem
Other suspension problem
Airbag inflator rupture
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 39 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 powertrain problem happen on the 2004 Acura TL?
Across 30 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 107,500 miles. A quarter were filed before 10,000 miles and a quarter after 145,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other powertrain problem on the 2004 Acura TL?
39 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.6 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