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2015 PAWS rear wheels change direction while car is driving straight
Hello everyone. I have a 2015 RLX Advance with PAWS. I have a problem where the rear wheels turn while the car was going straight, causing the rear end to kick out, kind of like what happens to a rear wheel drive car loosing traction. I took the car the my local Acura dealer and they were unable to duplicate the problem, but said a weak battery could cause the issue I described. They replaced the battery under warranty and everything was fine for a few weeks. Now the problem is back and worse than before. The rear wheels have only done this a few times in the past week, but it has required an immediate steering correction to keep the car in the lane. It seems to happen after leaving a roundabout, under normal driving. I've not been able to duplicate the issue with any reliability. It just seems to happen out of no where.
Has anyone else experienced a problem with their rear wheel steering? If so, what was the problem and what did the dealer do to fix it. I am taking the car back to Acura for them to do some more testing, but they told me that they have not had any other reports of an issue like this and that they are not sure what else to do to diagnose it. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.
The lugnuts are tight. I'm expecting them to check the alignment at the dealer this time, but I do not think it is out of alignment. It drives great 99% of the time. I suspect something is going bad with a sensor somewhere and the car thinks it is turning when it is actually going straight, causing the rear wheels to turn. I had hoped someone else had experienced a similar issue, so, I could provide some guidance to my dealership. The last time they drove it around for a while and reported back that they could not duplicate the problem. There are no mods to the car and it has never been in an accident.
Just something that you may ask, not a mechanic or anything like that. Just some info from the repair manual.
Ask them about the Precision all wheel steer control unit (the brain of the P-AWS).
Also ask them to check the Rear Toe Position Sensor Neutral Position Memorization.
There was a recall that targeted the 2014 PAWS models where a bolt connecting the PAWS control arms was improperly torqued. We had one member whose rear wheel detached in his driveway (fortunately not on a highway). I believe his was the root to the recall.
I know your PAWS is a 2015, but perhaps your dealer did not consider this issue as the recall pointed to 2014?
The dealer inspected the car last week and could not duplicate the problem, however, they spent some time on the phone with an Acura engineer and decided to replace both left and right actuators. The engineer said this was not the first time they had heard of this problem. We are waiting on parts.
Just a quick update. I got the car back from the dealer yesterday. They performed TSB 13-041 and 15-050. The service manager told me they were never able to duplicate the issue I described, but they could tell that something was wrong with both of the actuators after they got them out of the car. He did not elaborate on how they could tell. I've only had the car for about a day, but I don't notice any change in how it drives. I suppose this is good, since it drove great 99% of the time. If I have any other instances of the rear turning unexpectedly, I'll post back to this thread. Thanks for your help with this!
I Ran across this board and found OP very helpful. I have a 14 rlx with paws, just got tires replaced in the back. A few hours after getting tires replaced I started getting front collision warning and lane departure warning, continued to drive straight at 40 mph and all of a sudden felt my right rear tailfish. That freaked me out. The next day I towed car to tire place to make sure they had everything mounted correctly, they took tires out and put em back in. No problem there , I started to drive back home and 5 miles later I take a turn and going straight on a road again and without any warning signs at all on my dash, the car does the same from right rear as well. Now I do hear a moaning sound from that area too...
MY QUESTION IS, IS IT POSSIBLE THAT TIRE REPLACEMENT COULD CAUSE SENSORS TO BE THROWN OFF ..WHAT COULD THE TIRE TECH COULD HAVE DONE INADVERTENTLY THAT COULD CAUSE THIS. RIGHT NOW the car is at dealership waiting to be diagnosed
I Ran across this board and found OP very helpful. I have a 14 rlx with paws, just got tires replaced in the back. A few hours after getting tires replaced I started getting front collision warning and lane departure warning, continued to drive straight at 40 mph and all of a sudden felt my right rear tailfish. That freaked me out. The next day I towed car to tire place to make sure they had everything mounted correctly, they took tires out and put em back in. No problem there , I started to drive back home and 5 miles later I take a turn and going straight on a road again and without any warning signs at all on my dash, the car does the same from right rear as well. Now I do hear a moaning sound from that area too...
MY QUESTION IS, IS IT POSSIBLE THAT TIRE REPLACEMENT COULD CAUSE SENSORS TO BE THROWN OFF ..WHAT COULD THE TIRE TECH COULD HAVE DONE INADVERTENTLY THAT COULD CAUSE THIS. RIGHT NOW the car is at dealership waiting to be diagnosed
Just a quick update. I got the car back from the dealer yesterday. They performed TSB 13-041 and 15-050. The service manager told me they were never able to duplicate the issue I described, but they could tell that something was wrong with both of the actuators after they got them out of the car. He did not elaborate on how they could tell. I've only had the car for about a day, but I don't notice any change in how it drives. I suppose this is good, since it drove great 99% of the time. If I have any other instances of the rear turning unexpectedly, I'll post back to this thread. Thanks for your help with this!
tallyrlx, its been about 3 yrs since your issue. have you had any issues with the rear steering actuators since? Do remember what TSB 15-050? It's not showing up on the TSB list anymore... Thanks!
Took it to a few dealers, they couldn't replicate it and Acura basically said they rely on their techs. Long story short, wasting my time and looking to sell my car. I narrowed my problem to one recurring theme, this only happens when I take a right turn at 90 degrees(not all instances). Only solution I can think of is doing a tire rotation and putting older tires in back..maybe it's the new tire causing my problem . If it is actuators , I will have to pay out of pocket so rather just sell the car at that point. I am pretty sure it's a TSB that I found but of course Acura won't pay for it even if they did the TSB.
Done with Acura, horrible experience even tho I've owned and told them about owning 3 Acuras .
I did some searching since I own the same car. I haven't had any issues with mine thankfully. Here's what I found from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Scroll down the page to the "Complaints" section and then click on "steering" to filter. It looks like there are several instances similar to yours that have happened in the last couple of years with the frequency of events increasing in the last year. The tire change may have been a coincidence or maybe an actuator was damaged during your visit. It is definitely concerning
I did some searching since I own the same car. I haven't had any issues with mine thankfully. Here's what I found from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Scroll down the page to the "Complaints" section and then click on "steering" to filter. It looks like there are several instances similar to yours that have happened in the last couple of years with the frequency of events increasing in the last year. The tire change may have been a coincidence or maybe an actuator was damaged during your visit. It is definitely concerning
Thanks, the funny thing is I took it to two dealers and they couldn't hear any noise or replicate the issue... But it is so obvious (the noise), and clearly the techs didn't drive the car more than needed. I'm going to try to escalate my case to a district manager, this is reckless behavior on Acura from all angles.
Interested in finding out what they find. My 2014 Advance with 77k miles has similar issues. When hot and humid outside, mine will act up. On slow left hand turns, usually from a stop, when done with the turn, the rear steering won't straighten out right away and the steering wheel needs to be at about 1 o'clock to drive straight. 99% of the time, it will straighten back out and be fine. 1% of the time, it will trigger the steering wheel angle sensor and through a code. This freaks the dash out and it lights up like a Christmas tree. Car goes into limp mode. I have to clear codes and disconnect battery for 5-10 minutes to reset it it.
I have been dealing with this for over a year. Local Dealership can't figure it out last year. They couldn't duplicate and uploaded the TSBs. So I started looking elsewhere. I reached out to a friend who has been a service director at a dealership a few hours from me, he has never encountered the problem. His contacts at Acura (engineers etc.) have been no help. Engineers said that the rear steering has nothing to do with the front steering wheel angle sensor. They said that when they encountered issues with cars under warranty, they just replaced EVERYTHING. I even reached out to my friends at Real Time Racing and they don't know what is causing it.
To say that I'm frustrated at this point is an understatement. I'm hoping that someone here finds something out because I'm not replacing everything. It's like $4k in parts even with my discount.
Thanks for the detail. That is frustrating to say the least , at least yours is throwing up codes. My issue is not throwing any codes and acting on its own at random, mostly when I take a right turn. My friend has a 14 advance as well and just hit 55k miles, he started to complain to me about some weird noise from the rear..I drove it and told him it's the paws system ..and started to sound like the same noise I get . Clearly Acura won't own up to the defect here , seems like an issue with 14 and 15 rlx models, of the complaints I have read online(legitimate through NHTSA and this board) along with my own problem and friends .......makes it obvious that this is a defect and Acura either won't own up to it or their feet on the street (i.e dealers) don't know this model and technology well enough. I am looking for any class action lawsuit , do you know of any behind this issue?
Originally Posted by rtamb1
Interested in finding out what they find. My 2014 Advance with 77k miles has similar issues. When hot and humid outside, mine will act up. On slow left hand turns, usually from a stop, when done with the turn, the rear steering won't straighten out right away and the steering wheel needs to be at about 1 o'clock to drive straight. 99% of the time, it will straighten back out and be fine. 1% of the time, it will trigger the steering wheel angle sensor and through a code. This freaks the dash out and it lights up like a Christmas tree. Car goes into limp mode. I have to clear codes and disconnect battery for 5-10 minutes to reset it it.
I have been dealing with this for over a year. Local Dealership can't figure it out last year. They couldn't duplicate and uploaded the TSBs. So I started looking elsewhere. I reached out to a friend who has been a service director at a dealership a few hours from me, he has never encountered the problem. His contacts at Acura (engineers etc.) have been no help. Engineers said that the rear steering has nothing to do with the front steering wheel angle sensor. They said that when they encountered issues with cars under warranty, they just replaced EVERYTHING. I even reached out to my friends at Real Time Racing and they don't know what is causing it.
To say that I'm frustrated at this point is an understatement. I'm hoping that someone here finds something out because I'm not replacing everything. It's like $4k in parts even with my discount.
Thanks for the detail. That is frustrating to say the least , at least yours is throwing up codes. My issue is not throwing any codes and acting on its own at random, mostly when I take a right turn. My friend has a 14 advance as well and just hit 55k miles, he started to complain to me about some weird noise from the rear..I drove it and told him it's the paws system ..and started to sound like the same noise I get . Clearly Acura won't own up to the defect here , seems like an issue with 14 and 15 rlx models, of the complaints I have read online(legitimate through NHTSA and this board) along with my own problem and friends .......makes it obvious that this is a defect and Acura either won't own up to it or their feet on the street (i.e dealers) don't know this model and technology well enough. I am looking for any class action lawsuit , do you know of any behind this issue?
I haven't heard of any class action lawsuits. I really just want to find someone that can help me fix it. I live the car otherwise. The codes that I got are on a handheld Centech that nobody can tell me what they are. See attached.
I also have a 2014 Advance w/PAWS. I had a similar issue with turning left from a stop where the rear wheels wouldn't straighten out and I would have to hold the steering wheel at about 1 o'clock to keep the car straight in the lane. Very awkward feeling. It was happening a few times a month. If I increased speed to about 30-35 sometimes the rear wheels would realign and straighten out which felt like the rear end hitting a patch of ice and throwing the rear end around. Scary the first time. I took pictures of the dash warnings and used my phone to record me driving straight on the road but having to hold the steering to the left to keep the car aligned with the road. I showed the pics and video and explained it to the service advisor. I don't know if they were able to replicate the issue, but they cleaned the PAWS angle sensors and updated the PAWS control module with the most current software version. That was at 49,000, 9/2018. I'm at 70,000 now and have had no additional issues with my rear steering getting stuck since then.
I also have a 2014 Advance w/PAWS. I had a similar issue with turning left from a stop where the rear wheels wouldn't straighten out and I would have to hold the steering wheel at about 1 o'clock to keep the car straight in the lane. Very awkward feeling. It was happening a few times a month. If I increased speed to about 30-35 sometimes the rear wheels would realign and straighten out which felt like the rear end hitting a patch of ice and throwing the rear end around. Scary the first time. I took pictures of the dash warnings and used my phone to record me driving straight on the road but having to hold the steering to the left to keep the car aligned with the road. I showed the pics and video and explained it to the service advisor. I don't know if they were able to replicate the issue, but they cleaned the PAWS angle sensors and updated the PAWS control module with the most current software version. That was at 49,000, 9/2018. I'm at 70,000 now and have had no additional issues with my rear steering getting stuck since then.
Exact same issues that I'm having. I had the service department install the latest update last year but I don't think that they did anything to the sensors. Thank you very much for your help
Ugh..my 2015 RLX is at dealer as I speak with this same problem. The unfortunate thing is that the car is clearly outside of the manufacturer warranty. The dealer is suggesting to replace the actuators..I’m curious if anyone has had them replaced and it actually fixed the problem. Because they are NOT cheap. 🤦🏼♀️
Ugh..my 2015 RLX is at dealer as I speak with this same problem. The unfortunate thing is that the car is clearly outside of the manufacturer warranty. The dealer is suggesting to replace the actuators..I’m curious if anyone has had them replaced and it actually fixed the problem. Because they are NOT cheap. 🤦🏼♀️
I ended up replacing the actuators after messing with everything else possible for a few years. It's fixed now. The issues with my actuators was that they would sometimes not recenter themselves and lock up. I'm lucky to have an Acura dealership in the dealer group I work for now and it still cost a lot but it was way cheaper than if I didn't have an employee discount.
The service director, and tech that worked on my car, have been at the dealer since our cars came out. They told me that they replaced a bunch under warranty. The engineers would just tell them to replace everything and never had them really diagnosis the problem.
As of July 2023 Acura has been reaching out to 3G RLX owners to offer reimbursement and fix this issue for free. Acura is also adding a 10 year warranty from your date of purchase for this issue. I'm sure they now recognize the severity and are trying to avoid a much more costlier class action lawsuit.
I have a 2014 RLX and have experienced the same problems with rear fishtailing. It has recently gotten much worse so I had it towed on September 8th 2023 it to the Dealer. In August 2023 , I received the bulletin from Acura I needed to replace both actuators in the car if I had a problem and cost of $4784.72 would be fully warrantied. BIG PROBLEM, there are no parts available until earliest January 2024 and I'm getting the impression maybe not at all. We have no car and the dealership says they can do nothing and Corporate says the same. If anyone knows of a class action suit we would like to know. We have no other recourse.
Any suggestions would be much appreciated.
There are no actuators to have replaced. NONE anywhere.Dealership says January 2024 possibly. Reading on line not being made anymore. Corporate only has customer service respond to us. I am so disappointed in the brand we have been with since 1985 having bought 9 of their cars. Our car is not drivable and Acura/Honda Corporate and Dealership so disapointing. The car has been at the dealership for one month now and is undriveable. Sorry to complain here but think others should know this isn't the brand it used to be quality wise and caring about their loyal customers.
There are no actuators to have replaced. NONE anywhere.Dealership says January 2024 possibly. Reading on line not being made anymore. Corporate only has customer service respond to us. I am so disappointed in the brand we have been with since 1985 having bought 9 of their cars. Our car is not drivable and Acura/Honda Corporate and Dealership so disapointing. The car has been at the dealership for one month now and is undriveable. Sorry to complain here but think others should know this isn't the brand it used to be quality wise and caring about their loyal customers.
There are no actuators to have replaced. NONE anywhere.Dealership says January 2024 possibly. Reading on line not being made anymore. Corporate only has customer service respond to us. I am so disappointed in the brand we have been with since 1985 having bought 9 of their cars. Our car is not drivable and Acura/Honda Corporate and Dealership so disapointing. The car has been at the dealership for one month now and is undriveable. Sorry to complain here but think others should know this isn't the brand it used to be quality wise and caring about their loyal customers.
02-22-2017, 03:50 PM
2014 Acura Bulletin... replace both actuators
