Hi all,

I bought a certified pre-owned MDX in October of 2007 for my wife. I'll spare you all the boring details, but the navigation system malfunctions on a regular basis. The navi shows the car being as far away as 50 miles off track of where we actually are most of the time. It has been replaced twice and had 5 service calls to no avail. Supposedly there is a "rare" software glitch that requires a patch disc being designed by Alpine. We filed a claim with the BBB and had a hearing back in March for a buy-back, but they ruled against us because "not enough time had passed for the dealer to fix the problem". It has now been over a year and still no peep out of Acura. My next step is to file a possible class action lawsuit, so I wanted to see if anyone else has had this issue. Please let me know if you have.

 

Wow sounds tough. I haven't heard of any issue like that regarding navi. Anyone?

 

wow..that sucks. Can a software cause that type of glitch on a gps system? Hope it turns out ok for you.

 

Mine is always off by like 50-75 feet. I think it has to do with the gyro sensor and my system

 

try a different dealer

 

It couldn't hurt.

 

I appreciate it, but BBB arbitration is the step prior to a lawsuit. Acura Corporate has made it clear that this is an Alpine Software issue. I'm not crazy about the idea of going through long drawn-out litigation, but wouldn't mind if it was a Class Action Suit. I honestly have always loved Acura, but the last year has been a real eye opening experience about their customer service. The reality is that all auto manufacturer's have some quality issues, it's impossible not to when you mass produce, but the way they have handled this has been beyond disappointing. I will probably buy a Lexus or Infiniti next time around.

 

can i ask what year the mdx is ? and does it have rear entertainment

 

oh, yeah sorry. 2003, no rear entertainment

 

we haev only had 1 tl in our shop with the same problem. but would only do it coming from san francisco to the central valley . no where else very strange the bay area triangle i think the issue was corrected with a new navi unit.

 

I appreciate you researching the problem! Unfortunately, we have had the nav unit replaced once just weeks before we purchased it and again one week after we owned it. Additionally, the service dept tried several different tests, including changing antennae placement, frequent resets, and extended test drives.

The location of the malfunctions is inconsistent as is the duration and severity of the problem. Sometimes the navi shows us 10 miles away from our actual location, sometimes it shows us 70 miles away.

What would be helpful is if you know anyone to speak with at the corporate level who would be willing to make some sort of concession to us. We originally wanted a buy-back which the BBB denied since the problem had "only been occurring for 6 months", but we're over 13 months now with no resolution. PM me if you have any suggestions or recommendations. Again, I really appreciate your help!

 

Check your DVD for scratches, it sounds like a database issue to me, scratches or dirt on the DVD difinitely will cause erratic behaviour of the map. Good luck.