richngray

This is a long thread! I bought a CPO 2019 A-Spec SH-AWD and I was going around 75~80mph in ACC mode when the RDX went into limp mode. A re-start of the car fixed the check engine light. The Auto-Stop also just stopped working too. I only have 14k on the clock. It's going to the dealer today to be checked out and have the recall fixed. My 2012 TSX Sport Wagon with 235K, which my Son drives now, never gone into limp mode!

jdnsx

Just happened in our 2020 RDX.
Traveling in the rain on Bluegrass Parkway at 75 mph, needed to push the accelerator to maintain speed going up a long hill. When I did the engine sputtered and decelerated and went into limp mode! I pulled to the side of road with check engine light blinking. Shut the car off for 5 minutes and when restarted everything was normal. I noticed in the other complaints the common denominators.

1.Traveling long distance in the rain.
2. Needing to accelerate
3. 65-75 mph initial speed.
4. Limp mode without warning.
5. Normal operation after off/on sequence.

Surely Acura will start to listen?!? I have owned an NSX, 2 TL's, 2 MDX's, TSX, a Vigor and now the RDX. This was one of the more unnerving problems I have had with all of them!

acuraada

sounds like what Acura would say. CR didn’t rate Acura a poor reliability score for no reason

jdnsx

Just pulled the codes - Misfire cylinder 1, misfire cylinder 2, multiple cylinder misfire.

richngray

I was also driving in the rain! The dealer said there were no stored codes!

zroger73

Accord owners with this engine are reporting the same problem.

https://www.driveaccord.net/threads/...p-mode.502130/

Ginoj56

Hi,

I had the limp mode once on a hot and sunny day. The thing that triggered it was I floored it with sport plus while changing lanes on the express way.

So, if those misfires caused it, what was the fix and how do we prevent it?

llecrupwt

My wife's 2019 RDX, with 25400 miles, just pulled the go into "limp home mode" as she was starting to pass a line of cars in a designated passing area on US45 in MS 2 days ago. She started to accelerate from 55 MPH. At 60 mph, the check engine light flashed, power was lost, and deceleration began. She made it to side of road, shut the car off for 1 minute. Upon restart, no flashing check engine light, and car was fine for the remaining two hours home. I pulled the following codes from the OBDII when she got home: P0300, P0301, P0304, and C1555. Definitely a computer software issue IMHO. This incident has been reported to the NHTSA web site.
BTW, 1/2 tank of 93 octane, 90+ degrees with high humidity, 6 hours into a cross country trip, A/C on, Comfort Mode.
Acura needs ot get on the ball an fix this!

DJA123

These are primarily misfire codes:
P0300 Random Misfire
P0301 No. 1 Cylinder Misfire
P0302 No. 2 Cylinder Misfire
P0303 No. 3 Cylinder Misfire
P0304 No. 4 Cylinder Misfire

This issue has appeared in a variety of Honda forums, and complaint sites, for at least several years (This thread is two years old) I've seen claims of moisture collection in the intercooler as the cause, among others. So far, it doesn't look like Honda will address this until required to do so.

zroger73

Don't forget: It's often cheaper for a manufacturer to lose a number of customers, arbitration hearings, lemon law cases, and lawsuits rather than recall hundreds of thousands or millions of automobiles.

DJA123

Oh, absolutely. We're likely seeing that calculus right here. There's no way they haven't been aware of this for a long time. And it's surely happening in every market where this engine/intercooler type is used. I've seen complaints from the Chinese market. An article from there claimed to describe an unofficial fix that involved a metal insert just past the intercooler. FWIW. I'll post a link if I can find it again.

jdnsx

It will take a family getting killed while trying to perform a safely executed pass of slower traffic. The husband and father thinks he has purchased a safe, capable vehicle for the wife and kids only to have a now known issue finally happen at the worst time. The lawyers will find out the brand new car went into limp mode on the car's computer and put the pieces together. They will find internal Honda emails trying to down play the problem for the last two years. Honda will only address the problem after the massive damage verdict and precedent to lose even more money if not fixed. Just my $.02

fiatlux

Takata part 2?

JB in AZ

I don't think so. Takata is/was a contractor supplying air bags to almost all auto manufacturers. Honda/Acura is one auto manufacturer. Unless this issues is happening on other brands with turbos? Maybe some (unverified) posts here referring to it happening on Accord 2.0L Turbos? From only reading this forum, and the Gen5 CR-V forum (1.5L Turbo) where I haven't seen any reports of this) I really don't know.

fiatlux

Except Honda did know about the issue for at least 5 years before they finally issued a recall. What I'm referring to is Honda quietly settling with the victims rather than actually addressing the problem. They knew about the problem, and kept it to themselves so other manufacturers who were in the dark stayed in the dark. It's pretty damning: https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a1...irbag-recalls/

JB in AZ

Interesting...however, it does say .."Honda....is alleged to have known"

I'm not sure if this is any different than how any other auto manufacturer behaves, sadly. In Honda's defense, they may not have known the reason(s) or how widespread the issue was at that "alleged" 5 year prior to the issuance of the recall.

"As of December 9, 2016, car manufacturers affected by this recall include Acura, Audi, BMW, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Chrysler, Daimler Trucks North America, Daimler Vans USA LLC, Dodge/Ram, Ferrari, Fisker, Ford, GMC, Honda, Infiniti, Jaguar, Jeep, Land Rover, Lexus, Lincoln, Mazda, McLaren, Mercedes-Benz, Mercury, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Pontiac, Saab, Saturn, Scion, Subaru, Tesla, Toyota, and Volkswagen"

Jan 10, 2019"Fiat Chrysler is recalling more than 1.6 million vehicles worldwide to replace Takata front passengerairbag inflators that can be dangerous. Takata inflators can explode with too much force, hurling shrapnel into drivers and passengers. ... About 10 million inflators are being recalled this year.

NOT saying that Honda is perfect..but you certainly do find a way to put them down, often, IIRC. Whatever.

If I had experienced this "limp Mode" issue I would likely be furious.

fiatlux

That's because this is a Honda/Acura forum, where said complaints are relevant. If this were ClubLexus, I'd be crapping all over Toyota for how they handle crash safety or their lousy "AWD" setups, or if this were Audizine I'd have them on blast for Dieselgate (among other things).

At the risk of derailing this thread, the NHTSA felt there was enough evidence to fine Honda $70M for failing to report 1729 death and injury claims, so it's less so "alleged" and more so "convicted". Either they chose to try to hide the issue, or they exhibited some pretty bad incompetence with regards to recordkeeping and disclosures. Your choice which one you want to believe, both are are pretty bad.
https://one.nhtsa.gov/About+NHTSA/Pr...da-$70-million

JB in AZ

You already derailed this thread. And I bought into your baiting. Never again!

russianDude

How can Acura “fix” this problem if they can not reproduce it and have no codes stored?
I dont think Acura is intentionally ignoring it, to fix it, they need to know whats happening first.

jdnsx

Not acknowledging a problem is very different from not being able to fix it! My dealer told me that Honda is aware but is so far choosing to ignore it. My guess is that the problem will be expensive to fix and so far it has not caused any motivational deaths!!

russianDude

lucky that someone got the codes, some people reported that after restarting car it would act normal and dealer would find no codes, in which case there is nothing they can do.

So you think the reason they are not fixing is money, or they dont know? Its possible its both.

fiatlux

If dealerships aren’t able to fix it because they can’t reproduce the problem, then surely Honda with all their resources and money should be hard at working trying to reproduce the problem. Either they choose not to because they don’t think it’s worthwhile, or they’re incapable of fixing it. Given how many owners on these forums have complained about it (plus the Accord owners) it would be incredibly unlikely they Honda does not know about the problem. So your choice, either they choose not to fix it, or they’re incapable of reproducing it even with so many cases.

russianDude

Its obviously an issue, but we dont know how wide spread it is. Surely there are dozens of cases, but many never had this happen. I hope they will fix it eventually, it takes them a while. Some of the TSBs are just showing up now even though people were complaining about it for 2 years.
I dont know if Honda handles it any different than Toyota, all car manufactures are similar in their games when it comes to issuing recalls that cost them money/time.

DJA123

None of us, that I know, are Honda insiders. We don't know much about their engagement with this issue that is fact-based; we're all making assumptions. Here are more from me.

I believe most manufacturers have employees who lurk in the more popular brand forums. It could be an official or unofficial function. I'll go further and say engineers probably do this a lot to see how people are using their work. It's personal research, if nothing more. A problem thread that goes on for years, and hundreds of posts, is hard to miss. Chances are good that someone from Honda, in a decision-impacting role, has seen this discussion.

All corporations, regardless of product or service, are in the self-interest business. Having foreknowledge about potential threats and liabilities to the business is a critical asset. This type of [apparently] widespread problem is very definitely a potentially big liability for Honda. Do you think they'd make an effort to know about something like this, to prepare a worst-case business plan should it be necessary? Or, do you think they prefer being blindsided by design failures and hope it all works out?

Again, just my uninformed view from outside looking in. But, I'm firmly convinced they know this is happening, understand why it's happening, and will play coy until some external force shifts their self-interest.

sonyfever

The recall in China was for 1.5T. Similar symptoms reported, but hard to say if the information applies to K20c as well.

I came across an interesting post that tried analyzing the issue, please use your favorite translator tool. Apparently the author have doubt whether the official answer was the true root cause.
https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/77531828

russianDude

how did Chinese recall fixed it? Software update, or some big replacement of parts?

sonyfever

The recall inserts a metal inner tube into the intercooler outlet. Here is a pic, but I cannot tell if it is the real fix or just for illustration purpose.

http://auto.hx2car.com/image/show/at...3758dee0d3.png

russianDude

Seems to be happening mostly in moisture/humid and hard acceleration?

Darren B

I have had my 2020 RDX for two months and have experienced this "limp mode" problem twice. The first time as I was accelerating to merge on a highway and the vehicle lost power. The second time I was accelerating to pass a semi and the vehicle lost power. Both times it was raining out and was able to restore the vehicle after restarting it. The most recent incident (a couple of days ago) it was 59F.

acuraada

Recall Isn’t about if it could happen or already happened but rather when it could happen.

All of companies weight this risk vs financials. Is it more costly to pay and settle with complaints or do a mass recall voluntarily. It’s unfortunate but short term profit drives business decisions

russianDude

They could be playing a game of “we know nothing about it”. It might keep them safe from legal action.

Sure there are multiple complaints, but I guess its still in 1-2% area, and no code registered, so they could sort of shrug it off and say that they are not able to see the issue.
I dont know if there will be a recall?

Trust037

Bumping this thread... Limp Mode happened to me today while driving 70 and merging I went into manual mode to pass a line of semi trucks and when I down shifted I probably had an over-rev condition so I cycled through the higher gears and waited for it to go back to auto. When pressing the accelerator pedal, there was no power and looked down and saw the engine light on and blinking. Had to pull over, turn off the car, then everything was back to normal. Definitely scary. 2018 TLX Aspec AWD. Don't know if I should be worried but am thinking about getting the car checked out. I noticed the front sensors also go berserk (seeing an object or something) when the weather is hot. 😔

JB in AZ

You realize this is an RDX forum for 2019+ models. I don't think your '18 TLX has the same engine, trans etc.

jumpj37

I have a 2020 RDX Advance, had it since April, and had 2,700 miles on it when this issue occurred. We were driving back from a weekend trip, on the highway and in the rain. The engine light began blinking and the engine then lost power. We put our caution lights on and pulled over in the safest spot possible. After we consulted the manual, it said the blinking light indicated a cylinder misfire. It said to turn the engine off, wait 10 minutes, and restart, then take to the dealer. Once restarted, we were able to get home around 100 miles without further issue.
We took it into the dealer on Wednesday. Apparently, there were no codes related to the event in the system. After speaking with Acura over the course of a few days, the dealer told me that it’s a known issue. According to the dealer, moisture is being drawn into the intercooler, which is then passed into the turbo charger, which triggers the engine shutdown. Acura does not yet have a solution. He said they’re working on one. The solution from Acura for the time being is simply to not drive in the rain, which is surprising and unacceptable to me. It’s often unpredictable when you’re going to run into some rain on a trip, and it’s a serious safety issue when your engine shuts down at highway speeds forcing you to pull over whenever and wherever this happens to occur.

I opened a ticket with Acura and they’re supposed to get back to me next week. I’m wondering if anyone has experienced this issue with their RDX or another model? And if so, what resolution did Acura offer you? I’m really not sure what I should do. Will dealers or Acura buy the car back from you for a fair price? I don’t feel safe with this vehicle and would prefer to trade it in for another. But I also don’t want to lose $10K on a brand new car due to a manufacturer defect.

russianDude

I think there will be a fix. At least they are acknowledging the problem now. They are just slow to fix it.

russianDude

They used to be in denial phase, so there is progress. The question is what can they realistically do without spending a lot of money? Could it be new ECU programming? New sensor?

DrWoo

the thread you just posted this in is full of others who had a similar experience. I’m at almost 26 months of ownership and had this occur once during the first 6 months, also with no codes. I also reported it to the NHTSA, and the more people who report it the better.

xerious3d

What do we think the % of cars are experiencing Limp mode at this point? 5%? 2%? 10%? do we think this is something leading to a full recall repair? This thread has me mega worried, i was REALLY looking to get a CPO 2019 or 2020 RDX - Now im not sure...

xerious3d

also saw this searching about more limp mode problems? https://www.classaction.org/acura-rd...oblems-lawsuit

zroger73

This forum says it has 307,410 members. I see posts about 20 years old, so I assume that's about how long this forum has been around?

Acura sold 157,385 vehicles in the US in 2019. How many Acuras have been sold over the past 20 years - perhaps around 3 million?

At best, can we roughly estimate that 10% of Acura owners are members of this forum?

This thread has nearly 400 posts. How many of those are unique reports of "limp mode"? 50, perhaps? (Maybe someone with some free time would like to go back and count them.)

So, let's assume that 50 reports on this forum represents 500 occurrences in real life.

How many 3G RDX's have been sold so far - around 150,000?

500 occurrences in 150,000 vehicles would represent a 0.3% failure rate.

I have no idea what number is acceptable to Acura. I believe Apple would be displeased with a failure rate as high as 0.3% for their products while a bottom-tier TV manufacturer like TCL would be ecstatic over a failure rate as low at 0.3%, so I'll let you decide if that's an acceptable failure rate for an automobile.