Other suspension problem on the 2004 Acura TL
1 fire 1 injury 2 of the 18 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 suspension problem gets reported
Owners of the 2004 Acura TL report other suspension problem at a median of 45,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 5,000 miles and a quarter after 150,000 miles, from 9 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 100,000 miles. It is the 6th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 400 miles at the tenth percentile to 155,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 153,512 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.
44% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 400 miles | 7,000 miles | 47,218 miles | 150,000 miles | 153,912 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 and 1 an injury are 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 $350–$2,000 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 3 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2005, at a median of 35,000 miles, and latest on the 2003 at 70,000 miles.
By volume the 2004 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.
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.
Dt: the contact stated when hitting a bump the rear end the vehicle skidded out. Causing abnormal tire wear. He replaced the rear tires twice, every 7,000-8,000 miles. The vehicle has been taken to two different dealerships, and they were unable to diagnose the problem. *ak updated 12/7/2005. The consumer's vehicle is now on it's third set of tires. The dealer stated that since the rear tire were worn evenly that alignment was not the problem. *nm
Tl*the contact owns a 2004 acura tl. The contact stated that every time he drives his vehicle at 50 MPH, the vehicle vibrates and then stops. Once the speed reaches 75 MPH, the vibration becomes worse. He took the vehicle to the dealer twice, but they could not determine the cause of the failure. The current mileage was 46,000 and failure mileage was 500. Updated 02-19-08 *bf
Tl*the contact owns a 2004 acura tl. The vehicle has goodyear eagle tires. The contact stated that there was a tsb number 05-076 that was issued by acura. The tsb pertains to tire wear when the vehicle is loaded. The contact purchased brand new tires in december of 2007. He took a road trip with 5,000 miles on the tires. The trip was 5,600 miles. While driving 75 MPH, he noticed that the tires were bald a couple of days ago. He called the acura dealer and informed them of the failure. The dealer stated that they would repair the tires with the towing issue and the tsb, but would not replace the tires. The tires are both on the rear of the vehicle. The tire size was unknown. The failure mileage was 29,000. Updated 09/10/08 *bf the consumer didn't believe the problem was with the tires. He believed it had to do with the poor design of the vehicle. The consumer stated there was extra weight in the rear of the vehicle, in his case was about 300lbs comprised of suitcases and his daughter in the back seat (the suitcases were in the trunk). When he arrived home, he noticed the tread on the tires had worn down to nothing. Updated 09/10/08
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
Airbag inflator rupture
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 18 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 suspension problem happen on the 2004 Acura TL?
Across 9 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 45,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 5,000 miles and a quarter after 150,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other suspension problem on the 2004 Acura TL?
18 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.3 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