I am unable to start my car today using the Acura App nor the push button. I got this error in the dash. Good thing this happened In the driveway and we have another car to use. If this happens elsewhere we would have gotten stranded.

 

Called Acura emergency road services to toll the car to the dealer. As soon as the AAA tow truck guy arrives he got a battery jump starter pack on hand. He immediately pop the hood and connect it to battery terminals and the car started right up. I ask him how did he know the battery was bad he said he was a Honda technician. He then told me to drive it to Acura dealer for them to pull the code from the car computer. Good thing I called my Acura dealer in advance to bring the vehicle in. No appointment needed. He was right. The car battery was bad and replaced.

 

Same thing happened to me Saturday. Dash lit up with errors and car wouldn’t start. I have a charger and was able to recharge the battery. Took it to the dealer yesterday and they replaced the battery under warranty. RDX is only 28 months old, and this happened on my previous Honda at 37 months, right after the battery warranty expired, so I’m 2 for 2 with Honda batteries. Conversely, the original battery in my Tacoma is 9 years old and still kicking.

 

Honda batteries tend to be garbage. I have not had one last me more than 4 years; most die around 2-3 years. At least your dealership replaced yours under warranty; mine refused and claimed it was still good even though it left me in need of a jump twice in one week.

 

I am a little surprised to hear about battery failures so soon in the RDX, as it has (Click here: AGM batteries ) which are supposed to last longer than lead-acid batteries.

"AGM batteries can start an engine more than 60,000 times. That’s more than three times the starts you’ll get out of a conventional battery"

 

Honda batteries are all made by the same few companies, there are only few companies that make batteries.

I dont think Honda batteries are bad, they are like any other battery, either good or bad. With covid, a lot of people do not drive or drive very little to keep battery fully charged, this will wear out battery much faster.

 

Yes, agree on both points.

 

My guess was battery as well. glad you resolved it

 

Funny, my family has never had other batteries wear out as fast as Honda batteries, and that’s across at least a couple dozen cars (8 of them being Honda/Acura cars). I guess we must be driving them wrong.

 

Our Accord battery died right after the 3 years/36k miles warranty expired. Unfortunately we had only 30k miles on the car but it ran out of time. Hopefully the Optima battery last longer. It’s been 3+ years and still going strong. With COVID I know folks are not driving much. I do take the car out at least twice a week driving 20+ minutes. Last weekend we took the RDX on a 2 hrs drive. It was not a lack of driving but rather a defective battery not holding the charge.

 

I had one Honda battery last 1 year before it died, and another last 7 years. So I dont know what to make of it.
I also had a "DieHard" battery that I bought myself with a fresh manufacture date, dead in less than 2 years. Seems like a hit or miss to me.

 

This is my first Honda car, great info, thanks for sharing.