Instrument cluster or gauge failure on the 2005 Acura TL
Only 5 reports for this mode came with an odometer reading, which is too few for percentiles to mean anything. The page is here because someone linked to it; treat the figures as anecdotes, and see the full report for this year instead.
When instrument cluster or gauge failure gets reported
There are 5 reports of instrument cluster or gauge failure on the 2005 Acura TL, 5 with a mileage attached. That is too few to place the failure on the odometer with any confidence.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 90,000 miles. It is the 15th most-reported problem on this model year.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | 67,100 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 $350–$1,400 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, every year of the Acura TL
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.
2005 acura tl: the dashboard began cracking about a month ago over the instrument cluster and just yesterday it began cracking over the passenger side airbag. I believe this may pose a threat when the airbag is the deployed, because the crack may possibly rip the airbag. Airbag systems are designed to open a specific way, but a crack may interfere with that. There are also several 100 other people on a vehicle forum that are having same exact problem. Thank you for your time. *tr
My dash is cracking. I take care of my dash, keep it clean, garaged, etc. All of a sudden there are two long cracks in the middle of the dash and right above the instrument cluster on the dash. I checked around and it appears I am not the only one that has had this problem. The car is only 5 years old, and is considered a "luxury sport car." the reasons I am concerned is because airbags are located underneath the dash, could they one day deploy while driving? Or not deploy at all when involved in an accident? Also, this really devalues the car, and the approximate cost of repair is around $1700. *tr
2005, 78,000 acura tl (garage kept) cracks on dash above the instrument cluster and passenger side in middle. These cracks start from the window and end on the glove box and instrument cluster. What will happen when air bag deploys? I am afraid of when the air bag deploys that the dash will separate into several shards of plastic and imbed in face, upper-body of driver and passenger. Worst-case scenario is that the air bag will be defected, as the dash-console structure has been compromised. I have read numerous complaints and viewed pictures of the exact same defect online. What will it take acura to recognize that there is a problem with this dash does someone have to be hurt or worse die? *tr
Also reported on the 2005 Acura TL
Other body or interior problem
Airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault
Other powertrain problem
Audio or connectivity failure
Other wheel or tire problem
Other steering problem
How far this goes
This page is kept out of search results because 5 reports is not enough to publish percentiles from. It stays reachable because somebody looking at this exact car would rather see the reports than be told there are none.
Complaints are voluntary, so 5 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 instrument cluster or gauge failure happen on the 2005 Acura TL?
Across 5 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 65,000 miles. A quarter were filed before — and a quarter after —. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is instrument cluster or gauge failure on the 2005 Acura TL?
5 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.1 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