Catastrophic Failure
 

I had posted a reply to someone else's problem with all their lights coming on. Well now I have the cause, and what Acura has offered.

Two weeks ago, driving down the highway in the snow and at night, every single light came on:

• Engine
• Brakes
• Vehicle Stability
• Power Steering
• Adaptive Cruise
• Forward Collision

Took the car home, parked it in my garage for the night, drove (very slowly and carefully) to the dealership the next day.

Now I have had all the regular problems which I have been waiting for fixes on: the infotainment center, suspension noise, squeaky brakes, intermittent auto unlock not working on drivers door, and my car even started on its own before. But this one, this one was TERRIFYING nothing was talking the car drove really sluggish and slow land had no reaction to me driving in the middle of ta busy highway with my kids in the car.

Diagnosis, the sensor in the inner cooler froze over, something the service manager has NEVER seen before. He had to take everything apart to let it "dry out" for a couple days. My husband asked could there be a possibility of condensation is getting into the inner cooler, so could dust and dirt, and he agreed. He also agreed this could happen again.

Fast forward to refusing to take the car back until the Manufacturer will deal with this issue and all the rest. They offer extended warranty up to 130,000km.

I am really disappointed, I bought a luxury SUV known for its safety and reliability. The vehicle is crap, it checks none of those boxes, I have essentially thrown my money away on this car.

Anyone else have a similar problem?

There is a thread on "limp mode", but I wouldn't assume there is only one possible cause. It's pretty much what the car's computers do to reduce the risk of complete mechanical failure when they detect something is wrong. But the computers are at the mercy of what their sensors tell them.

The intercooler on a turbocharged engine is a component designed to get rid of heat, like a radiator. When a gas is compressed, it heats up. A turbocharger is a compressor. I can only surmise that the car was being driven gently, as appropriate for conditions, and the turbo wasn't compressing very much, so the intake air stream stayed cold and moist and the intercooler iced up inside. Obviously, the engine control computers didn't deal with it gracefully.

The engine air filter should prevent dust and dirt from getting into the intercooler, but it won't stop moisture. OTOH the car shouldn't snorkel snow.

Just out of curiosity, how cold and wet were the conditions? From your comment about 130,000km warranty extension, I'm guessing you're in Canada. I'm NOT trying to excuse the failure, just curious.

I'm glad everyone made it out of the situation safely.

I would advice you research your local state lemon laws.

Extending warranty to 130km does not guaranteed no further issues down the road that might put you and your family safety in jeopardy. It just cover costs and nothing is worth trading safety over.



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A build-up of ice and snow on the front emblem (where the radar sensor is located) will stop the adaptive cruise and forward collision systems from working.

Also read the fine print if they want you to sign anything to take the 130k warranty to make sure you don't waive any rights to demand action on take back or exercising lemon law

Car was being driven on the highway at 122km/hour for a period of 2 hours straight. So not "gently". Temperature was about -24 Celsius. I drive hwy everyday 54km each way, this is my commuting vehicle, all on hwys and no traffic. What bothers me is that Acura doesn't have a fix, they immediately made the assumption I only drive short distances, which is the exact opposite.

They have sent the problem to engineering in Japan.

We told them taking apart the vehicle and "drying" it out isn't a solution or a fix. If the car can;t drive in Canadian winters then why sell it here? Balls back in Acuras court. The nice thing about the situation is my dealer is backing us, and have been wonderful to deal with.

Yes agreed, but that is not what caused this, once the sensor in the inner cooler went then all the computers stopped talking.

Unfortunately we don't have Lemon Laws in Canada.

We did not accept their offer.

Ouch. But you got free health care and folding mirrors that Maddog envy. (For the record, I want a pair too)

We have headlight washers too.

By driven "gently", I meant with relatively little turbo boost ( compression ), since that would heat the intake air stream. The turbo may not be doing much in steady highway cruising, but if you're curious turn on the turbo boost pressure gauge on the dashboard.

From what has been reported, my guess is that the offending part is a temperature sensor somewhere in the intake air stream between the turbocharger and the intake manifold of the engine.

This is where the intercooler lives, the function of which is to cool the air that has been compressed by the turbocharger. For reasons I won't attempt to discuss, this improves the efficiency and performance of a turbocharged engine. But because the intake air is no longer the same temperature as the ambient air, after it passes through the turbocharger and intercooler, a temperature sensor is required downstream of the intercooler.

This is one candidate for such a sensor. It mounts in the intake manifold housing.

Full disclosure: I'm not an engineer, just a geek. :tongue:
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/acurazi...cc3acaaa64.jpg

And puddle lights which I think it's super useful for many reasons including safety.

BTW, -24°C ( -11°F ) is cold, but hardly arctic. Damn right the vehicle should be able to handle it.

Mine got through -30 to -35°C without major incident during our arctic blast a while ago, but I didn't do any long highway trips. Kinda avoided that, actually.

I just had this happen today while parked on my driveway. One by one all the sensor lights started coming on...easily 6 or 7 of them. WTF?

Head to the dealership and PLEASE report it to Acura.

@jeh1982 Other owners have been reporting this safety issue to the NHTSA. I would highly suggest you do the same. You can do so here: https://www.nhtsa.gov/vehicle/2019/A...AWD#complaints

Sorry you're having these issues and best of luck.

this just happened to me for the second time in a month..my dealership is absolutely useless. the first time they claimed it was my battery, this time they are claiming its my sensors being blocked by snow on a CLEAN car....not happy.

@topdolla Be sure to file a complaint with the NHTSA if you haven't already...others are and it may be the best bet to eventually force Acura to find a fix. https://www.nhtsa.gov/vehicle/2019/A...AWD#complaints

While I understand your frustrations; you also bought a first year car that intended to be sporty over luxurious. just to bring you back down to Earth.
Everyone knows 1st year cars are beta testers. meaning; YOU are testing it for bugs and quirks. the only exception to that rule is simple economy cars.
$$$$$ does not equate to reliability.

also, is there engine damage? title has me led to believe catastrophic engine damage. but even that can be fixed.
in my short, 32 years of life, I have learned that everything can be fixed.
Be calm and carry on!

The difference here, with a car as compared to most all other "large" purchases, the manufacturer or seller (ie: the dealer) will NOT easily (or at all) accept a return. When you arrive to pick up and pay for your new car, it's yours! The paper work with VIN has basically been completed and other than signing and paying, that's YOUR CAR! Sure you can do a walk around and visually check out the car BUT you can't take it for a week or two and "test drive" it then bring it back.....only bring it "in" to be fixed. The Lemon Laws are not always the answer. They're time consuming, involve legal matters, money and many states don't have them or they are very weak. Face it, you buy it, you own it and until you sell it, you're stuck with it!....just my 2 cents.

Like it or not. This is why Tesla is ahead of it's time. They will allow you to bring the car back in 7 days under 1000 miles.

That's because they are closing down most of their dealers to cut costs. So most potential buyers will have NO opportunity to test drive ANY Tesla, much less the one they intend to drive home. Talk about commoditization.

You say you need service? The service truck comes to you. No joke. I think Musk has been smoking his stash again.

Carvana allows something similar. They will actually come pick it up.

They had this policy before the reduction of retail stores. Used to be full refund in 1 day and 3 days if you never test drove the car.

They just upped 3 to 7.

If you are Canadian, consider joining our new 3rd Gen RDX Canadian Facebook group at > https://www.facebook.com/groups/RDX3rdGenCanada/

Slightly off topic, but I just checked out the NHTSA site and there are some extremely disturbing complaints. Moonroof explosion at a stop light?! Yikes! Well, at least I can confirm that my horn works.

If this is what they told you that's mildly amusing considering while Acura is owned by Honda, Acura only sells vehicles in North America and the RDX was designed in Ohio USA and in your case likely built in Canada. All of the engineers responsible for the design and construction of the new RDX are in North America and not Japan.

This was the the resolution of my issues. no issues so far after 2 weeks of having the car back.
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/acurazi...cf1f8f51f0.png