Well this was fun....

Sold my Turbo Mustang the other day and am in process of putting a bit of money into the RL since I've used it as a "beater." I'll be getting a CTS-V soon so I'm wanting the RL to last a bit longer. As I'm getting in the car at Dobb's after getting new tires, an alignment, and a tie rod put on, I go to close the door and snap....oops:



Gotta admit, I was laughing but was horrified at the same time. It had been loose for a while and I guess the plastic just had enough. I searched for door handles but mostly just exterior handle issues, etc. Has anyone ever had this happen to them? Car has 153,000 miles on it. I'm assuming I will have to replace the whole door panel and not just that part.

 

You can order just the door handle piece from the dealer.

 

It has happened to a lot of members and is a bit of an embarrassing point on Acura's part. Heavy doors, . Weak plastic door handles, .

A lot of members glued theirs back on, but I don't know how clean those broke off in the first place. One thing is for sure, always pull at the lowest point or use the arm rest.

Part # 46. $136 Make sure you get the right interior color code. OEM Acura RL 2007 FRONT DOOR LINING parts

 

This is a known problem on 05-08 RLs. It happened to me on my 2005 RL, in 2012 the handles gave in and the leather handle pulled right off the plastic surround. Luckily, $50 super-glue from Home Depot and some DIY was all the handle needed. The doors are very heavy, more so than the cheap plastic handles are good for. I'm pretty sure you can order the part from a dealer or online from an OEM Honda/ Acura part website.

Acura overcame this problem by adding door pull pockets in 2009, they also added more padding to the outboard door armrests

 

will that armrest from the 09 with pockets fit into the 05-08 door panels?

 

Yes, you would need to retrofit the metal bracket that supports the pull pocket and order the door panel pocket pieces that will replace your armrest.