flonzer

Just very curious I was told by one of the master techs at Acura that all 2004 through 2008 Acura TL's will eventually have cracked dashboards due to the design flaw in them....mine has been cracked for years now...I am on my third transmission on my TL and pretty much everyone else on this site has had to have a new transmission or at one point will have to have a new transmission....just really curious has anyone ever attempted a class action lawsuit on these issues for our generation vehicle I know that the 99 through 03 had the class-action lawsuit... I know that someone had contacted the news in Atlanta but that was the last I'd ever heard of it....was never a second-story done or anything plus the 300 people on Facebook Dashboard page but that has been removed for some reason?? Thanks in advance everyone !!!!!!

UCLAs2k

I am guessing the statute of limitations for claims ran out on most of the potential claimants.

paperboy42190

iTrader: (7)

the problem is exaggerated because only ppl who have the problem post about it. Yes Im sure there are thousands of cracked dashboards, but remember there are hundreds of thousands of 3rd gen TL's. I havent seen this issue much on the 2007-2008 models, even though I know the dash is the same part number, maybe sometime in 2006 or 2007 they started making them a little better? my 2007 tl-s hasnt had this problem, its got more miles than some 04-06's and has seen plenty of direct sunlight. *knock on wood*

nfnsquared

someone was attempting to gather a class action on the dash cracking. search through one of the dash threads. the contact info is in there.

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

frivolous lawsuit any one!?

04WDPSeDaN

iTrader: (1)

Mileage has nothing to do with it. Time is the key word. Some owners had their dashboards crack much sooner than others, but now we factor in location. All 2004-2008 dashboards will crack. The replacements will also crack again.. Acura isn't willing to assist most on this issue. The main thing it comes down to is MONEY. Dealerships and the corporation don't want to see a loss. I learned a lot due to working at two Acura dealerships. They weren't willing to help their own let alone your average joe that comes through the door. The number 1 guy to kills the entire process is the District manager. He controls what is goodwill repair, how much goodwill or no goodwill. 90% of the time it's either 50/50 or no goodwill assistance. You call Acura about the dash board most will say "OH we never heard of this problem before!".. With the transmissions, you have a better chance of a recall.

flonzer

No paperboy unfortunately they never did change the dashboard or improve upon it between 04 and 08...this was the major reason I didn't pay the $500 to have mine replaced because I was told it would only crack again there are many 07 and 08 on Facebook if you find the Acura TL defective dashboard page look through there and you'll see plenty of the 07's and 08 on there buddy so sorry it's only a matter of time until yours cracks.....Especially if you keep your car out in the sun often mine was always garage kept and still is but I went to Orlando for a couple days and the hotel didn't have a parking garage so it sat outside 2 mornings later the dashboard was cracked.....every single other 04 through 08 will crack as well it's just surprising to me that acura itself wouldn't want to satisfy their customers by owning up to these issues but just like 04WDPS said if you call corporate Acura they will act like they've never heard one person calling with this complaint before..... and as for you justnspace I don't see how it's a frivolous lawsuit if these are ongoing problems for so many people my Acura has never been touched by anyone other than Acura all transmission services fluids flushed every bit of maintenance possible has been done to my car and I'm on my third transmission...it's not like these Acuras are known for having great transmissions anymore buddy so I'm not sure how someone of your stature on the site would think something so major would be frivolous....I don't think people should have to pay $3500 to have new transmissions installed in their cars when it's a flaw of the transmission itself will see how you feel about swallowing that frivolous pill when you have to pay $3500-$5000 for a new transmission!!!!

nfnsquared

Pay no attention to JustnCantGetaCrankBoltOff

AisforAnthony

Those damn District Managers man I tell you But honestly I think most TL owners have found ways to fix or make do. I mean our cars are such beauties so most of us deal with these inconsiderate people!

350

iTrader: (4)

My dash isn't cracked and my transmission is fine. For years GM dash cracks were referred to as the "GM Mark of Excellence", I don't think anyone ever sued, it just kinda happens. I think I saw something about Infiniti having bubbling dash boards, don't think anyone sued, it's really normal wear and tear from sitting in the sun. Get it custom wrapped in leather or something or a dash cover if it bugs you.

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

we do have lawyers here on acurazine. I dont pretend to play one, but the dashboard lawsuit sounds frivolous.

might have a case with the transmissions; but again, I am no lawyer.
waiting for a lawyer to chime in

ggesq

iTrader: (1)

blacktsxwagon

There is a TSB out there for bubbling dashboards on the TSX. Fortunately, my VIN was not in the range, but it is apparently not just TLs

nokkieny

Wasn't there a recall on the 2G transmission possibly 2004s also?

I think the only case for the dash would be if there was an airbag issue.

Maybe buy a hyundai with 100k mile powertran warranty instead? If I bought a TL and my transmission went out before 100k miles I would be pissed.

Speeden6

iTrader: (2)

06 and my dash and Trans are fine. and I am running over 300 Wheel Torque right now.

My mother actaully has a 07 infinity and I was driving it the other day and the dash was bubbling. she parks in the garage all the time and is OCD about her car. these things just happen some times. some are lucky, some aren't. think about it, the cars are ranging from 5-8 years old. and if you really think about it they have more technology in them than the first space ship that went to the moon, and even more technology built them. just part of life and ownership, things break down over time.

dynodonkey

i disagree with everyone saying "these things happen". dashboards arent supposed to crack. I have had many cars, most of them 10-20 yrs old and cheap, corollas, civics and accords, and never had a dashboard crack. bad engineering or manufacturing is causing these to crack. which imho makes a lawsuit not frivolous.

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

^plays a lawyer on TV.

aIRpeACE

iTrader: (2)

in general, how much it costs to replace the transmission and the dashboard?

most of us probably need to start save up now for later

FamilyGuy

Mine is an 07 and no cracks yet but it has the outline around the air bag location.

What transmission are you guys talking about and is the common issue with it?

flonzer

To all you guys that are saying my dashboard hasn't cracked yet......yet is the keyword I was told by many Acura employees that all 04 through 08 dashboards will crack it's only a matter of time until you get in your car and the first thing that you see is 50 cracks on your dashboard because mine has been cracked for about three or four years now and literally has about 50 cracks in the dashboard......it's pretty disappointing out of a luxury vehicle My airbag light comes on and off all the time especially when it's hot outside.....I was told by Acura it had something to do with the seat belt latch which they replaced the airbag light stayed off for about a week and then started coming off and on again and now they're starting to recall all of these Hondas because defective airbags exploding due to high humidity areas I don't know how frivolous that is or if our tls have the same brand of airbags but still a little worrisome not knowing..... Those outlines of your airbag on your dashboard were definitely not always there overtime those appear and soon enough your dashboard will definitely crack....it's exactly what happened to mine I have a 21-year-old Lexus that I hasn't been driven in years that sits in my mother's yard in Florida in direct sunlight and doesn't have one crack on the dashboard or throughout the entire car at that.... These dashboards just were not built correctly there only a single layer dashboard that are so thin it's amazing not everyones are cracked yet as for the transmissions on these vehicles they did do a recall on the 2004 Acura TL certain Vin numbers but that's it but I don't think they ever really fixed the issue on our generation so over time I would imagine mostly everyone will have to replace the transmission...Acura replaced two of mine and I didn't push it on them at all they were the ones that diagnosed these issues saying that it needed to be done and would be fixed properly as for the cost of fixing the transmissions that can range anywhere from a thousand dollars if you were to buy a used transmission and fix it yourself upwards to $4500-$5000 getting a reman transmission from Acura and having them install it worst-case scenario but if it happens to you I would recommend finding a transmission guy you trust and having them rebuild your transmission so they can actually figure out what the issue is because Acura themselves will not take your transmission apart and rebuild it themselves they will send it out to someone they are not trained or qualified to rebuild transmissions I am sure there are a few of the Acura mechanics that are qualified to do it but they do not do it at Acura. I hope none of you ever experience these problems but they really do seem inevitable and that's very unfortunate!!!

Sbarbee54

Knock on wood, I have neither of these issues on my 08 at 100K. But I do agree things dont just crack it is a engineering issue or quality control issue in the product.

Sbarbee54

Heck at your point it should be a safety issue, as all Honda Acuras cover all safety and restraint malfunctions life time under their warranty. Airbag issues, seat belt issues. I had my civics front seat belts replaced because of srs light, then it came on again and they replaced drive and passenger air bags all free of charge

carbngrytl

The issue I think everyone is having with the dash cracking, is if the car is in an accident and the dash is cracked, the airbag may not deploy correctly.

FamilyGuy

What is the issue with the transmissions?

And on which ones? 5AT, 6MT?

MOBB

Seems like Northern area (upsate and Canada) TL's don't suffer from these cracked dashboards. No cracks on my 06, when shopping I browsed through all 04-08's saw about 20 NONE has had any cracks on the dash. I believe its only related to the southern areas, extreme heat and high humidity may be a big factor for the materials used. No one I have encountered locally here (Canada) has ever experienced any cracked dashes some are also over the 200k mi mark with no issues to the dash.

Just to compare the dash in my 03 TL-S seemed like super thick and had some flex room to work with. Although in the 8th year of ownership me and alot of 2nd gen's experienced warping on the dash, (hi and low spots) the pass side air bag cover also warped and popped up from the corners.

paperboy42190

iTrader: (7)

Dude you put way too many periods together, and then put no periods for a long time. It's really hard to read your sentences like that. I highlighted it in red because that's all 1 sentence.

DeathMetal

iTrader: (2)

So if I can ask the obvious question, has anyone actually

(a) Completed a population sampling to generate a plaintiff base? Typically this requires 30 or more incidents of putative damages to give the complaint wings

(b) Filed a motion for discovery?

Filing a class action suit really isn't rocket science, and given the systemic failure of this component, there is more than sufficient evidence to push for a motion...

...but seriously, has anyone actually done the most basic bullshit to get this moving, i.e. compiled a formal list and presented this to a law firm?

JTS97Z28

iTrader: (4)

Im not too worried about it. I have had 6 3G TL's and none have had tranny or cracked dash problems.

triax37

iTrader: (1)

^^^ This. I believe humidity has a huge factor in cracked dashes. Many of the posters in the cracked dash thread are from TX or FL or other states with high humidity, with significantly fewer from AZ or CA.

Oh - OP, please, please use periods when finishing your sentences. Thanks!

Mugen.Justice

5AT failures - generally for the 04-06 models, I believe.

jkopuffs

my dash JUST cracked 2 days ago down the passenger airbag and this morning ANOTHER F**KING CRACK!!!

04 TL 04

iTrader: (2)

Just go to Acura corporate and dont give up when asking for a new dash. I got my repacment for free, sounds like a better plan to me then the $3.37 I would recieve from a class action lawsuit. No problems with transmission for me, im at 146,000 miles.

FamilyGuy

My car came from Chicago IL and it already had the marks around the air bag. Pretty sure it'll crack soon now that it's in FL. It's been here for 2 years now. I'm using a sunshade and aerospace 303 to try and prolong the inevitable.

JTS97Z28

iTrader: (4)

So I'm just wondering, has anyone that owns a TL that has been garaged it's entire life had a dash crack? In other words, a car that when at home is in the garage at all times. My TL is garaged and has been indoors all it's life, and when it sits outside at work I use the covercraft uvs100 shade. So would a car like mine even be prone to this? No signs whatsoever of anything.
I'm just trying to see if there is a pattern here on which cars are more prone to this. All 3G TL's, or mainly earlier ones, or ones that never see a garage etc...

Mondo375

iTrader: (3)

Central FL Cracked dashed checking in. 08 TL-S that I've owned since 2010. I could of done more to delay it from happening. But it follows the exact outline of the rightside air bag so even with sunshade, i think it would of happened eventually.

nttstt444

iTrader: (1)

My dash is still hanging in there. It bakes in the sun all day while im at work and I don't keep it in a garage at home. Iv always used a sunshade and 303. Im not sure that the Aerospace offers any protection tho. I fully anticipate getting in my car one day after work and seeing my dash cracked, its just a matter of time.

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

my 2006 is garaged kept.
she's a garage queen.

she rarely sees sun.

<---- no cracks.

flonzer

Sorry about the punctuation I'm writing these novels from my cracked cell phone.. It's completely shattered on the period button so either hits 1 or none or many..... I'll wait till I get back home to respond to some of these ?

rockyfeller

iTrader: (6)

First of all I hear a lot of people who don't have issues with their TLs that want to blame the owners. I don't think people are out here saying the 3GTL is garbage so I don't see a need to defend the brand over it. Most of us love this model and it is certainly much more reliable than most cars of it's age.

However thank you for this thread because these two issues are relatively common and well documented here. It shows that Acura did not engineer them properly nor do they want to acknowledge it. These 2 items should last till at LEAST 200k miles, the way the rest of the car is design to.

Ironically if your car baked in the sun a LOT or went through a LOT of abuse you could have had these items covered on warranty while it was still during it's warranty period. THAT is what I would call real abuse. But for the majority of us these issues happen at the 75k-125k mark. Sucks for us huh? And if it hasn't happened to you, just consider yourself lucky. You're in line, your day will come, it's inevitable. Face it, these are real defects in engineering of these 2 areas of the car.

Even I can say "Ha Ha" my dashboard is not cracked! But I know why, there is a reason for it. I'm lucky that my car is garaged nearly 95% of the time. I know that is the only reason I've been safe. Even with that, if I look at my dash, it looks aged and a bit ashy. It is conceivable it could crack one day in the future. I never had another brand of car with a dash that has showed UV damage like this. 303 is the only thing making it look good right now. If my car was outside even half the time it is, I KNOW that my car would have the same issue. So I sympathize with anyone who has gone through it.

You might want to say, "Well everything you are reading is just from the people who have problems so this appears artificially inflated." I disagree again. People on these forums are either enthusiasts and all about DIY/fixing up their cars or maybe they don't do modding but they are the type that are research/information junkies that like to stay on top of things. Sure there are a few people who make an AZine account ONLY because they had a tranny issue and wanted to seek advice. That is the only factor that inflates the number of complaints a bit. But the majority of stories I'm reading about are from existing members. So you could extrapolate those numbers to the whole. If so, I'd say the problem is a KNOWN common defect. If anything the problem is well UNDER estimated. That is because these were the best selling years of the TL, there are tons of them out there. Even Acura is not aware of the scope because plenty of people are getting their 3GTL trannys fixed outside of Acura. Or living with cracked dashboards and not bothered. So where are the statistics for that? Acura is just hiding their face in the corner.

The only reason there hasn't been a class action suit is because there hasn't been an INITIATOR. Who wants to invest all the legal fees to get it started? It would be a lot of risk for that person. I doubt they would lose. There has to be a substantial number of failures. How to get numbers? Every owner should be mailed a survey to figure out the stats. As said the best person to initiate would be someone who is a lawyer. (With a TL. This person would have a vested interest to fight.) I'm a science guy, not a law guy otherwise believe me I would have spearheaded this.

I know there are law guys reading this right now. Get this ship sailing, I'm on board!

Mugen.Justice

My '08 TL-S gets the 303 treatment once every two weeks. I always look for shady spots to park in when I go to work (4 hours in the shade is better than 8, after all).


I always use the sunshade anywhere I go - regardless if I'm parking for 5 minutes or 5 hours. It's not the best sunshade - just one of those folding silver ones. I'm considering of switching to the springy collapsible ones.


I'm in upstate NY, so it gets a bit humid here. In my case, my TL-S is parked outside during the summer, as it's my DD. When winter comes, I put her away in the garage. So....I guess half the year she typically doesn't see much sun. The other half...well, it's the sunny half of the year. Lol.