While accelerating on I-95 on-ramp in Florida, my 2008 MDX shut off. I managed to get to the shoulder but when I unlocked the manual door lock and pulled the latch to exit the car, the door wouldn't open. Tried the same thing on front passenger door and on back passenger door to no avail. Called 911. Officer arrived and started yanking on exterior handle while I was manipulating the manual door lock. After a few minutes, the door suddenly opened & I exited. Door slammed shut behind me and relocked. We could see that all 4 manual door locks were "unlocked" but none of the doors would open. After 45+ minutes of tow truck driver yanking on exterior handle, the door inexplicably opened. We opened the hood and saw that the recently-installed battery had disconnected (shoddy dealer install). Once reconnected, car started and everything worked. I drove to local Acura dealer with a window down in case it happened again. Service Dept has never heard of this happening and could not replicate the incident at the shop. Corporate Honda/Acura says they can't do anything because local dealer couldn't replicate. I'm scared I'll be locked in the car again. On-line research found a 2007 MDX driver from Aurora, IL that had same thing happen in 2013. Has this happened to anyone else?

 

Weird.. The manual locks are directly connected to the locking mechanism, it should work to open the doors..
Also how come the battery "Had disconnected" you mean like a terminal completely fell off? how is that even possible? and in any case that would not make the car shut off as the alternator can keep the car running.
Both things should have no relation, better to find the reason why the car shut off.

 

Weird is an understatement! Yes, terminal end fell off battery. Tow operator thinks dealership just didn't secure the connection. And yes, the car completely shut down. After incident, had my non-dealership mechanic check alternator (it was fine) and secure the battery connection before taking it to Acura the next day. Acura dealership could find no reason why car shut off and no reason why manual locks failed to engage. I am hoping someone else has experienced this so that I can pursue this with Honda/Acura corporate further. Right now, they won't investigate because dealer can replicate incident. I am so frustrated!!

 

Yeah its hard when you go to the mechanic and suddenly everything works as intended and the mechanic just sees you like you were lying...
Perhaps it was a one time only incident? Like for me almost 2 months ago for some reason the passenger side air bag code pop off just randomly while driving, it hasn't gone off again in all this time..

 

The door lock is mechanism is mechanical with a cable connecting the inner handle to the lock, same with the exterior handle. If the Lock is manually disengaged (showing the red on interior side), it allows the cable to unlock physically move and open the door latch.

There is no electronic interface with this, so the only thing I can think of that in your panic, the door was not completely unlocked.

 

Thanks for the vote of confidence, but I correctly toggled each door lock to open. The tow driver used his jimmy tool to also manipulate the locks. I am not posting to elicit comments about how the manual locks should have worked. I know they should have worked and that they aren't related to the battery. I'm trying to find out if anyone besides myself and the person from Aurora, IL in 2013 had this happen.