mbar172

I am 3 months into ownership of this vehicle. Most recently, I traded in a 2013 TL AWD Advance for this model. It was the 4th TL i've owned and the 7th Acura overall. Needless to say I am a loyal customer.

I went into the dealership yesterday to discuss return the car due to numerous frustrating issues I've been having. The service manager and general manager assured me that no one has complained about the vehicle and they are planning on keeping the car for a few days to run it through some diagnostics. They even arranged for a loaner RLX advance so I can compare apples to apples. If it turns out to be a vehicle specific issue they cannot repair, they will replace the vehicle for me.

I am writing this post to see if any other owners have had similar issues as mine? I hope I'm the only one, but something tells me the car was released prematurely and the bugs have not yet been worked out. Here is the list of issues:

1. Approximately once per week I receive an error on the screen that indicates the “Navigation system has lost power and needs to restart, if the problem persists, take the car to the dealer”. This screen can sometimes take about 3-4 minutes to clear and the main interface to return. During this delay I am unable to access any of the functions. This actually happened today as I left the dealership, but the screen cleared after about 30 seconds, which was the fastest that has ever happened.

2. I utilize the address book in the Navigation function. The address book has a feature to create an “Alert” for specific entries. I use this feature specifically for speed cameras located in my city as the alert is a visual and audible sound when approximating the location. This feature works intermittently, and sometimes not at all. On the same trip I can have the alert go off on one location with sound, another location with visual and none at all on a 3rd location. The next day, the alert may work on all 3 locations.

3. The “auto” function on the windshield wipers is unpredictable. I have been in steady rain where the wiper was not accurately sensing the amount of rain and literally leaving me with zero visibility. Other times it works excessively at the highest speed for the smallest amount of rain. I have been forced to turn off this feature for safety reasons.

4. The “auto” function on the HVAC is not functional. The windows will completely fog up if there are 2 or more persons in the vehicle, requiring me to manually adjust the settings and fan speed. Auto almost always uses the floor vents exclusively with no other vents coming on. This never occurred in any of the 4 TL’s I’ve owned previously. The auto function would work perfectly and all the time in those vehicles, but not in the RLX. I’ve now been forced to use the HVAC in manual mode all the time.

5. AcuraLink traffic works sparingly. I will routinely start the vehicle and have no traffic data. It is not until I turn off and restart the vehicle that the data returns. This never happened when XM radio provided the NavTraffic data.

6. When utilizing bluetooth audio for Pandora or iPod from my phone, the Album art is visible about 3 out of 10 times. Sometimes, I have to physically pause and restart the music for the artwork to appear. Other times I have to plug in the phone through USB and quickly unplug it to “trick” the system into displaying the artwork. I recently borrowed my sister’s RDX and tested her bluetooth audio and the artwork was visible at all times without error during the week I used the car.

7. Sometimes the car connects to bluetooth audio when starting and sometimes it does not. I would say about 5 out of 10 times I have to physically connect my phone with USB and then unplug in order for the car to start playing music. This is separate from the album art issue listed above.

8. On 2 separate occasions the center stack screens remained dark/off for about 10 minutes after starting the car. I was unable to control any functions and there was no audio. Again, this only happened twice.

9. On one occasion the rear view camera remained on while driving after shifting from R to D. This lasted approximately 3-5 minutes then returned to normal.

10. Lastly, the interface experience tends to be very delayed/slow in response. Often times I will select a function (Nav, audio, phone, info) and it will take 1-2 seconds to respond and change the screen. I’m not sure if this is an isolated problem or just a deficiency in the processing power of the interface present on all the vehicles.

Am I alone here??

George Knighton

Wow! I would be upset, too, if my car had all those issues. Good luck with what the dealer decides to do.

But no, I don't have anything like that and as the car grows on me I am finding myself pretty happy with it.

I have had the charging system bug, not a big deal. I have had a vibration complaint that turned out to be a combination of road conditions and being able to tell when the car was on 3 cylinders, also not a deal breaker for me.

I won't spend time talking about what I like because I do not want to appear to be discounting your dissatisfaction, and, again, good luck !

NotEnthused

Have all those issues and more. Been told this are characteristics of the car . Huh? And when brought into service (which it has been already out of service to me for so long I asked Finance to waive a payment) I am told that they cannot duplicate the malfunction.

Easy answer and out for them. Are they telling me I'm crazy. Took video of events (I suggest you do the same) and I get the same response. HuH/ We can't duplicate.

Selling dealer will not buy the car back. Said I can't move the one's I have, why would I want another one.

CGTSX2004

iTrader: (1)

Looking through the list, I see only one issue we have experienced in our RLX Tech, which is the issue with Bluetooth audio, and I have only experienced it once. Most of your other issues are likely unique to your vehicle.

One thing to clarify, the auto-mode for the HVAC system primarily adjusts fan speed and the vents, but will not defrost the front windshield automatically. You should also double-check your vents to make sure they are not sealed because you can close off each vent individually. If you are experiencing fogging in the car, make sure the A/C condenser is turned on and you are recirculating cabin air when the HVAC is running because the car has no way to pull the moisture out of the cabin otherwise. The system should do this by default, but if your upper vents are not open, then it will not make a major difference.

miner

The only issued that I have experienced so far with no fix available yet is the Charging System Failure alert.

holografique

Number 10 is the only issue I've experienced (and continue to experience) out of your list. And I've complained about it many times here on the forums. It could be a software issue, otherwise it's as you said, poor design with insufficient CPU/processing power. Unfortunately I think Acura see's the issue as "subjective to the individual user". I'm work in IT/Cloud computing, and I expect that the technology in a $60k+ car should at least be snappy and responsive for the user interface. Especially when the UI in my wife's ILX is faaaar snappier and responsive than what's in my RLX.

Otherwise haven't come across any of your other issues and like George, am very happy with my Advanced.

weather

OP....I am very sorry to hear about your issues and judging by how loyal you are to Acura and all, your post adds a lot of credibility. Its unfortunate that you are having so many issues but given how you get along with your dealer, I feel confident that they will either resolve your issues or give you an opportunity to find a solution that will be acceptable to you. You are a good example of how important it is to have a good rapport with your dealer....they are the one that will stick by you when you are running into problems....more so than Acura corporate in my opinion.

Best of luck and I'll be frequently check the status of this thread....I hope the TLX will not be having some of these growing pains. My 2009 TSX never had these sort of issues when new but it didn't have the amount of "tech" this RLX and TLX have....

dturboman

1,6 and 10 for me... and of course when I take it to the dealer they can not duplicate it. The navigation screen issue drives me nuts, I dont want to wait 5 minutes to use my navigation system. - happens to me 2x a week

dturboman

Whats your location and what Dealer are you working with on this?

Overall I must say this is the most disappointing car I've every owned and being I was a loyal Acura customer I may not be anymore due to all the issues I've had with my RLX
- seems Acura will step in and try and help further by paying payments or trying to help the dealer, but I had to resort to Twitter and tweeting at Acura client relations about all my issues. Acura only stepped up when they were worried the public tweets would hurt sales and image.

dturboman

Acura dropped the ball horrible on that and they know its a major issue, I traded cars with my family member for a day, 30 minutes later they texted me asking if there was something wrong with the interface as it was so slow and unresponsive. - they drive a 2013 C300

NWRL

I have experienced several of your issues and quite a few more. This is the most disappoining car I've ever owned. I've owned 9 Acuras and this will probably be the last. This car was not ready for prime time and we're doing the beta testing for them. I did not have this many issues with the other 8 Acuras combined. In my opinion their quality has gone down the tubes.

getakey

this is very discouraging. I've been looking forward to the RLX and a possible purchase. Wonder if they are working on a fix or fixes

dturboman

Acura should step in and address all the un happy customers, they are killing their brand reputation with their most loyal and wealthy buyers.

dwboston

These complaints sound familiar. They echo some of the complaints made from early adopters of the 2005 RL. Lots of issues at the time with XM satellite radio, NavTraffic, Acuralink, the door handles, HandsFreeLink. Sad to see Acura couldn't get these issues ironed out before shipping the RLX, especially given that the car was delayed a year.

CFoote

Agree with dwboston. Unfortunately you guys are experiencing version 1.0 -- the issues will get fixed, but it will take time. Ask your dealers to escalate the issues and phone them in/file them with Acuras technical support chain so they can be made aware of the issues.

I am 99.99% sure you will see software/OS updates for the car soon, but its going to take some time to get through testing and be approved for release.

Chris

CFoote

Just curious, is A/C enabled in your HVAC settings? Usually when the windos dog its due to lack of A/C being used. The problem clears itself up when you change the vent settings?

Chris

George Knighton

Well. Most of us aren't having issues, and it's going to be those of us who do have issues who will become vocal about it.

It's rare for people the age of the typical RLX owner to be looking for things to talk about unless something is wrong.

I'm looking forward to the Consumer Reports reliability ratings. That's if enough people both buy the RLX and respond to Consumer Reports to be able to rate the car.

For whatever it's worth, my car gets better every day. :-) I like it.

Still waiting for the charging bug to repeat itself, but I can't get it to happen. I think that in my case it might have been related to that 12v-USB converter that I was using.

George Knighton

I'd also be interested in knowing the production number of the cars that appear to be the most trouble.

My own car, #6893, seems to be pretty late in 2013 production.

spdandpwr

this post isn't very reassuring for me. OP good luck with a resolution. I am waiting for the sh-awd version to release before I venture into a potential acquisition, but now I'm thinking I should wait for the 2015 my

victorber

I'm totally amazed at the number of problems some of you are having, I have 11,300 miles, and my prod# is 3606. I'm not saying I haven't had a few hic-ups along the way but when the frustration reaches a boiling point I would recommend sending a email to the Customer Relations (ACR@ahm.acura.com) explaining in detail the host of problems and request a reply. Just ensure you have your Ph#'s on the letter.


When I did this, I had a rep call within 2 days and he stayed with the problem until it was rectified. Remember the old saying about the "Squeeky Wheel"...


Good Luck.

KeithL

I a shocked myself, I had an 09 AWD TL fairly shortly after they wer available and it was one of the best built cars I ever owned. Had it 2 years and 20K miles without any issues just a fee oil changes and diff fluid change.

spdandpwr

yet somehow you ended up with an audi

dzionny_dzionassi

^^^^LOL

heisnuts

Yeah, he wanted to see what it was like to have a car that allows you to get to know your service advisor on a first name basis because you get to see them a lot....

weather

^^ LMAO....you guys are cruel I know you are all teasing but KeithL was getting tired of waiting for Acura to get their shit together and give us the TLX (or at least information to keep us holding). So I am actually hoping Keith's Audi is bulletproof so he doesn'tcome back to Acura....they need to learn their lesson on this TLX fiasco....you can't hold your loyal customers hostage and expect them to wait forever or be their Beta testers.

Don't be surprised if I jump ship too......

getakey

Understood
Is everyone having the slow Navi response issue? That would be a deal breaker for me. If everyone is not having it, not sure why it would be specific to certain vehicles unless a product change was made by the supplier

dwboston

That's how I ended up with an Audi as well. Got sick of waiting for the AWD RLX, and I wasn't going to be an early adopter of a first-year model with all new AWD technology from Honda/Acura. We'll see about long-term reliability. I wouldn't consider the 2006 RL I owned to have been bulletproof, with issues with wheel bearings and the CF driveshaft.

George Knighton

All I can say is that it works for me, and I use it extensively.

KeithL

Because I was sick of waiting for TLX and the RLX was a huge disappointment for me. I was there the day my dealer got his demo RLX and drove the Advance model 45 minutes and was underwhelmed by styling, ride and some execution. If you look back you will see my posts from a year ago. You have to give Audi credit, they have been on a roll, delivering a great balance of tech, ride, quality and value. Do it think my A6 is perfect, no, but I really don't see Acura swaying me back any time soon. I actually like where the Genesis is going, they clearly have Audi in their target if you look at the new styling, tech and offering 40/60 AWD.

KeithL

Actually A6 has very decent reliability stats. Sure it is early on, but my A6 seems extremely well built, my Infiniti was at the dealer more by this point than my Audi has been. And since I never keep a car more than 3-4 years I will be out of this Audi before warranty is up.

George Knighton

It is a recent development, but I have noticed that Consumer Reports are finally mentioning the Audi A6 in their lists of very reliable cars.

They make a point of saying that it is only the A6 of which they speak so highly, however. I am not well versed enough in Audi to know what would be different to put them ahead of even the vaunted A8.

Now...something I do know based on my research ahead of buying the RLX is that the Audi A6 with Prestige + Driver Assistance has an Infotainment interface that I could not crash.

The RLX Advance and the Audi A6 + Prestige + Driver Assistance were the only two systems that I could not crash. Cadillac CUE and My Ford (Lincoln) Touch crashed when I yelled boo!

I understand why you'd want an A6.

But here's the thing....

Without being able to put a Sport Differential in any version of the A6, no matter how it's configured and no matter how much you pay, the advantage of Audi AWD is (for this writer) substantially diminished. It's reduced to something that has less to do with handling and more to do with bad weather safety.

This is just one dumb old man's opinion, and I know what your argument is going to be, and I'll concede that you've made it. :-)

The other thing is that if you equip an A6 to have the same equipment level as the RLX Advance, it's going to be something like 64,000 MSRP and the best discount you can get will bring it down to 61,500 before taxes and whatever else you want to add.

So even though I understand your choice of the Audi, the fact that it was easy for me to get an RLX Advance for 52,200 before taxes made it a hands down best buy.

But we're all making personal choices here, so there isn't anything wrong with your choice (or anybody else's) if that's what you saw the advantage in buying.

All I can say is that I understand, but I saw a more "reasonable" luxury and more "reasonable" performance choice for this particular old man. :-)

KeithL

I thought Quattro without sport diff would not be good either, but honestly it is good and they use the brakes on an axle to distribute power to wheel with traction. When I had my SH-AWD you really had to push it to get the AWD to do much, at least with Quattro it is AWD all the time with 40/60 split. As for price, yes it does get up there. Problem is RLX Advance does not have AWD, so let's say AWD in General is a $2500 option, that would mean let's see what you get in an A6 for around $65K. The Acura will still come out ahead, but only by $2-3K if you leave the B&O out. Audi rapes you for the B&O otherwise the prices would be close enough that Acura has a tough job ahead. I was able to get a tad over 6% off on my A6, about invoice, plus $300, but got 4 years maintenance for half off, $410.

And correct we are all making choices based on various things we deem important, and none of these cars would exist if there were not people to buy them.

mbar172

Update 1/14/14

So I dropped the car off at the dealership late last week. They made special arrangements to find me another Advance as a loaner (ended up being the owners car) so that I could test out these issues and see if they were specific to my car.

1. Wipers worked normally on loaner, determined it is likely bad sensor
2. Address alerts still do not work on loaner
3. Pandora still does not connect predictably on loaner. Album art is still missing
4. "Navigation system lost power" error still occurs on loaner
5. Interface is still slow/lagging on loaner
6. HVAC still causes intermittent fogging. Yes, I am aware I can turn on A/C and adjust vents to clear things up, but to me Auto means Auto. In my TL I never had to adjust anything. The service manager even confirmed that he's noticed the fogging issue.

The dealership has gone above and beyond to try and find a solution for these issues. After contacting Acura directly, here is what they have determined

1. Address alerts are a function of the navigation unit directly and is an issue from the 3rd party manufacturer (Pioneer) and they will have to determine a fix
2. Nav losing power is a known bug and Acura will work on a software update
3. Slow/unresponsive system is a characteristic of the vehicle and cannot be corrected/repaired. Unfortunately, it will likely be addressed in future models.
4. They are ordering a brand new complete navigation unit to replace what's in my car. Seems like a stab in the dark, but unfortunately this is what acura is suggesting. I am not confident this will fix anything as the loaner had the same issues.
5. HVAC fogging is a characteristic of the car and the solution is to manually make vent adjustments as needed.

Ultimately, I'm very disappointed in the quality and technology in the vehicle. To be fair, there are some very nice useful/advanced features (ACC, LKAS, CMBS), but those are infrequently used. The main interface which is used daily has critical errors and cannot be ignored.

Working with the dealership and Acura we are now trying to negotiate a trade/buy out of the vehicle that is fair for all parties. Hopefully Acura stands behind their product and commitment to customer satisfaction as I am not willing to continue paying for their "flagship" model if they cannot render it fully functional.

Fabvsix

AND tearing apart your DASH to replace the NAVI is totally unacceptable in a brand new vehicle as they will NEVER put it back together like from the factory.....That is a deal killer for me!!! :ann oyed:

Fabvsix

After digesting all the quality issues with the new MDX and RLX built in Ohio and ALLABAMA suggest I wait well into the next year vehicle as I'm not interested in being the beta tester!!!!! As they say "never buy the first new production vehicle"......

Fabvsix

Correction RLX japan (under the gun) and the all new TLX is OHIO....let's hope this one is BUG FREE......

sotiri

I've had mine now for 3 months- the only thing I can report is that sometimes I would prefer the interface on the nav to work faster.
I couldnt say its slow, but it could be faster.
I've experienced none of the other reported issues.

dturboman

Let me know what happens... on top of the shared issues we have my transmission issue seems to have come back, I now have wrapped rotors, with no heavy braking being done.

If they could fix the transmission issue for good and the other issues this car would be perfect! they released too early and are paying the price both in media reviews and unhappy customers... every dealer I spoke with has a handful of unhappy RLX customers. - considering the average dealers has sold 20-25 RLX thats not a good ratio.

SIGUY6027

Typically with any 1st year of introduction new model vehicle there will be some issues. Usually after the 2nd year of production, all 1st year introduction issues are solved. I don't care if its Acura, BMW. Mercedes, Honda or Ford; more than likely each manufacturer has had issues with 1st year introduction of new models. Be patient, or next time buy the 2nd year production vehicle in this case the 2015 Acura RLX.

mbar172

I'm sorry but this is completely ridiculous. I just purchased the MOST expensive vehicle Acura/Honda makes. This is their flagship. It is completely absurd that a car of this caliber has SO many problems and oversights. The excuse of "wait for the next model year" is unacceptable. I did not pay $60k to be a beta tester for Acura.

By far the most regretful purchase I have ever made. Ever.