someguy11

I thought of you specifically through my ordeal because you were one who traded Acura for Lexus. I am the proverbial guy on the receiving end of your trade in. I know your former TLX is not my current TLX because our timelines were different and we live on opposite ends of the country. However, someone just like me bought yours, and someone just like you traded in mine. Acura ABSOLUTELY MUST know this problem is in the midst of being passed down from original early adopters to second owners. Through this transition, more and more Honda/Acura loyalists will get pissed off by their new-to-them TLX and its crunchy, jerky OEM ZF9.

To be fair -- had I gone three years complaining, getting jerked around by this food processor, complaining trip after trip to the dealer who could offer no help but reset the computer -- I would have traded it in by now too. My dealer said my car isn't even the worst they have seen. People are taking huge financial baths on these cars because they are intolerable to drive. I feel bad for all parties except ZF - mostly the initial owners and how raw of a deal they got. They were dealt a tranny with teething pains. Dealers got all the complaints but no help from Acura in fixing the problem. Acura was fed a line of steamy pile of horse dung from ZF that this could be fixed with software patches. I even saw an article in which ZF blamed the jerkiness on the way Americans drive their cars. I'm like "ARE THEY SERIOUS RIGHT NOW?? THEY CAN'T BE SERIOUS!!" The TLX was simply not ready to be shipped to and sold by Acura dealers.

I'm guessing what happened is that after years of messing around, Honda finally took ZF to the woodshed, placed blame on them, threatened a legal battle and threatened withdrew any/all future business. Acura was (and still is) getting hammered for the TLX transmission performance and quality. AcuraZine. Edmunds. Consumer Reports. Car & Driver. It's no secret. I'm guessing ZF finally offered full scale replacement on the early adopters and is reimbursing Honda for all costs. Otherwise there is no chance Honda would still be working with ZF. That's my uneducated guess.

Also, keep in mind that I'm not privy to the maintenance history of my TLX. My previous owner may have already taken it in for the reset/relearn. It's possible I brought it back after more than 500 miles and Acura said "alright this car has had enough." It's possible that other second owners will get a response from their service department saying "the previous owner doesn't matter - you need to do the 500 mile relearn yourself for your style of driving." That line is another steamy pile of horse dung stall tactic. If you are in the VIN range and they insist you absolutely must go through the 500 mile relearn, take it back right after and express concern with the 2-3 shift. Make sure you know the exact conditions during which it occurs. Hot or cold outside, engine warm or cold, morning or night, hilly or flat, what IDS mode, what RPM, what speed, paddle shifting or auto, exactly what throttle/pedal actuation, so the dealer can replicate it and capture snapshots.

Rocketsfan

Amen. Hey Acura - if you had ever replaced my transmission, my next car would've again been an Acura.

neuronbob

You didn't go through a tranny replacement, @Rocketsfan ? Thought you did, for some reason. How do you endure with over 85k miles on yours?

I'm glad I don't have those early tranny issues in my 2018.

The ZF9 is still a pile of shiz.

Rocketsfan

Lol. Nope -- no new tranny. I've taken it and complained to 3 different dealers. To be honest, after all the software and whatever else fixes and flashes, the shifting isn't as horrific as it was when I first got the car, so I'm going to let it ride out. The only issues now are a minor "thump"/lag when I accelerate every now, then and a hesitation in the car moving when I come out of reverse and go into drive, and probably unrelated starting issues after stopping the car for a few minutes. This would've been a pretty nice car outside of the initial quality issues and those remaining issues. I'm probably going to drive this to around 120k before making a decision on it since I paid cash for it (which should be another 1.5 or so years). I'm already leaning toward Toyota/Lexus at the moment, but I have time to think about it, unless this thing blows up or leaves me stranded somewhere. lol.

Gotta agree the tranny is crap for the shifting alone. Outside of that, I think it would've been pretty much what Acura wanted in the car for this price-point.

Rocket_man

Acura still is not offering replacements for later 2015 model TLX's. Some of us are still screwed. The replacement policy is limited to certain VIN ranges.

rgpolson

And if you have a 2016 with the problem, forget about it. My last dealer visit got a "oh, your battery is bad, under-volt is causing the problem." Please.

1Louder

I can't believe they actually said that with a straight face.

swedrows

I have a 2015 Acura TLX Advance that I recently bought, and was lucky because I test drove it at a carmax, noticed the hard shift and mentioned it to the sales guy...we went on 2 test drives, so he said the mechanic would look it it. After a few days, he called me and said they took it to acura delaership and the dealership was going to replace the transmission because they said it shouldn't have hard shifts like that. i got lucky because they replaced the tranny BEFORE i committed to buy the car, and once it was done, i test drove it 2 more times. it drove like butter, so i bought it and love the car! the only thing i have done to the car since i got it was add a navtool unit so i have android auto and apple carplay now. i couldn't be happier that i was able to luck out with this one with a smooth replacement tranny, and can now enjoy the car without worrying about it...now time to figure out what other things to add to the car to put it over the top...maybe sprintbooster and then i'll be set!

someguy11

To close the loop on my experience for anyone reading this thread, I traded in my TLX after 14 months and ~20k miles. The expressway vibration was the real reason, but the tranny is a close second. I was a fortunate 2015 owner who qualified for a new ZF9, which I got, but the replacement really only eliminates the 1-2 and 2-3 hard shifting. All the other impossibly wonky stuff like hesitations, riding the torque converter, late shifts, early shifts, jerky shifts, clicking/clunking at low speeds, very long delays shifting between park, drive and reverse. I really couldn't focus on anything but the tranny when driving around town, so I joined everyone else who dumped their TLX. You can basically Google ZF9 and read critical reviews or forums plagued with negative feedback. Consider this when shopping for a V6 TLX.

If you're a recent buyer who hates the tranny, consider a Lemon Law if Acura cannot fix it.
https://www.lemonlaw.com/wordpress/z...acura-drivers/

This thread is up to 65 pages now. It is the most viewed thread in Problems & Fixes, doubling that of next one being 8DCT problems, and the third most on this whole site, behind a 1st Gen prerelease discussion and a 3rd Gen TL to 1st Gen TLX comparison. I've read this from start to finish (when researching how to get a replacement). There are some sad stories embedded here. It's remarkable that this TLX was released and what Acura put owners through for almost 3 years before rolling out replacement. Acura ought to print this whole thing, put it in a binder called "lessons in customer service" and save it for the next generation of employees.

Rocketsfan

Congrats. I'm up to 104k miles on mine, though I do have my extended warranty until 120k. With my luck, I'll hit 120,001 miles and the transmission'll explode. lol. I don't want to get rid of a car nowadays until I hit around 200k or so, but this car's transmission has left me with an uneasy feeling. I may dump this one earlier - who knows.
Many of the original owners in this thread have either sold their cars, decided to live with the crappy transmission, or were able to get a new transmission from Acura. Hopefully your next car won't give you grief. I'm trying to hold on for the next generation Lexus cars or something before I jump ship. Good luck!

1Louder

I hope they do. The transmission was huge mistake of course, but how the treated me is the reason I won't be back for a long, long time. I really can't figure out what happened to Acura. Honda is still going very strong and putting out the same reliable cars with great customer service. Why did they stop carrying those principles over into their own luxury brand? How could the non-luxury brand be building better cars than the luxury brand?

Maybe they'll do a Ford and drop their sedans and just build SUVs. Might not be a bad move considering where the ILX/TLX/RLX currently are.

fiatlux

Same here (although I didn't have an issue with the transmission because I got the 8DCT instead). The customer service experience left me wanting, especially since I've had the good fortune of experiencing how BMW, Mercedes, and Lexus dealerships treat their customers. Around these parts it really seems like the Acura dealerships don't care about customer retention because they know that most of their clientele aspire to own a "Tier 1" luxury car, not a car from a near-luxury brand, so they don't even bother putting their best foot forward.

tmitch2315

It has been a long road(no pun intended) and I'm sorry for those among us who never got a complete fix. I was lucky to have gotten a new 9 and that fixed the issues. Now at about 38,000 and still good after 23,000 on the replacement. For 2020 they are still going with the 9 and the cars ratings have come up so they must have gotten the issues fixed after about 6 years. Acura paid a heavy price and I hope I still can get the faith back. I was a true believer before this happened now for me Acura is just another car company. Expectations adjusted.

UA8

WOW, reading the last few post and the first few post, you would have thought this issues would come up in the NHTSA logs. This has been around since 2014 - 2019. I just purchased my 16, pre owned MDX and it is having the acceleration lag issues on full stop. Took it in to the service and 1 error code was found. Now it shift super hard on 1st, 2nd and 3rd. If i switch to paddle shifting, I have no issues.

I did see a lawsuit happening on this issue in Florida. A law firm filed. Could be a class action.

1Louder

I never understood Acura doubling-down on this transmission and not moving away from it immediately. But then I look at their sales figures from say 2013 and now and I can't detect a trend - they seem to be selling in quantities consistent with normal variation year to year. So I guess since they kept selling they were fine screwing over the people impacted by this issue. Which is why after 5 Acuras you won't find one in my garage now.

someguy11

I forgot whatever I said earlier in this thread, but if I said this, it bears repeating: the ZF9 is a disaster in almost every way, shape and form.
https://www.zf9optout.com/
https://www.goldsmithwest.com/lemon-...-in-acura-tlx/
https://www.lemonlaw.com/wordpress/z...acura-drivers/

Had I not simply trusted Acura and done some research, I would have avoided the 2015 TLX and probably any newer 1G TLX too. There are guys on here who say "it's fine" or "it's improved," but that doesn't mean good. Hesitations, hard shifts, late/early shifts, popping into neutral, powering down and riding the torque converter led to plenty of complaints online and in class action suits. If you want to live with it, fine. But it's not good. Certainly nothing like the impressive Acura DCT8, the renowned Honda 10 speed, and the ZF8 (and I think the ZF7 too) which people say are two of the best slushboxes ever made.

That they stuck with it is mind boggling. I can't wait to see if it made it into the 2G TLX.

datadr

Adding my 2 cents after 4+ years in my 2015 (and 115K miles). Mine exhibits all of the terrors of this transmission. The 2-3 shift isn't as bad in mine as others have reported, but it's still there. My biggest gripes are all of the other issues - 2-3 second lag in downshifts, hesitation, riding the torque converter, etc. I've owned Acuras since my 1993 Integra (still miss that car). RSX,TSX and TLX. The TSX was by far my favorite. This car is certainly nice for a highway cruiser, but it will be my last Acura. I gave up on complaining mainly because of how futile it was based on reports here, and since mine wasn't that bad on the 2-3 shift I didn't want to end up worse off.

I tend to keep cars for 6-8 years, and since this is paid for I'll run with it for the a while. Overall it's been reliable, but just not really a fun car to drive. I picked up an S2000 two years ago to put some life back into the driving experience and the TLX is just a commuter car now. I'll likely be looking at a Tesla next.

wiscoacura

Hey, How do you check your VIN number. I just picked up an 15 acura tlx with about 130k miles for only $10k. Have you ever went to acura of brookfield? I talked to the lead mechanic and he said I should be covered for 10 years on the transmission.

Rocketsfan

Are you asking where to find your VIN #? If so, check the inside door post where the door latches/closes.
The transmission is "covered" for failure. Only a few people on this forum have experienced a failure that I recall -- most of the problems are the crazy shifting of the transmission which can be delayed, abrupt, or hard in some cases. The degree to which this happens varies among all cars and can cause you to either ignore it by now, be mildly annoyed, or nearly get into a wreck -- it varies among cars and from person to person.

Brant Abbott

Thanks everyone for a great/informative thread.

I've been looking at these in the used market. I got enough out of browsing this thread to know to stay away from 2015's (unless tranny replaced) and that issues seem resolved by 2018's. What about 2016/17's? Is there any VIN cutoff or other way to know whether you are looking at a vehicle with an improved transmission?

Thanks!

neil0311

I bought a 2015 TLX SH-AWD almost 5 years ago and still own and drive it. The transaxle was replaced in early 2016.

My advice to you...stay away from the TLX. If you still want one badly, then stay away from the 2015 models.

I’ve had lots of little issues. Electrical ones mainly, and the tranny is now exhibiting an issue that has a TSB, so when I get time I will need to take it in and they may need to replace the tranny a second time.

There are better cars out there. Mine was bought with cash, so I’m just getting my money out of it, but would not buy it again if I had it to do over.

1Louder

I tend to agree with what neil0311 said. I had my transmission (finally) replace in my 2015 after an 11 month battle. While the new transmission did make the 1-2 and 2-3 shifting issue better, the transmission, in my opinion, is still not great. It's just not a well executed design. There are excessive and at times dangerous delays in downshifting, questionable shift points, etc. Looking back, there are other features of the car that just aren't well implemented.

All that being said, if you are truly a fan of the brand and the car, your safe bet is aim for 2018. I doubt you'll get accurate or reliable information about whether a 2016 or 17 has the new or old transmission. I'm not aware they published a VIN cutoff - keep in mind Acura went to great lengths to deny there was an issue here, probably to avoid a fleet recall. So you won't get a lot of cooperation from Acura, and if you are buying used from a non-Acura dealer, they won't have a clue.

Personally, I was much happier with the 2016 Lexus IS I switched into. Get the AWD version (which has the bigger engine) and you'll have something comparable, with equal or better performance, significantly better handling (with the F-Sport), and a buttery smooth transmission.

Brant Abbott

Thanks for the replies.

1louder: Is the awd in the Lexus the same system as e.g. Toyota Rav 4? I found the sh-awd close to my current quattro in snow, which I drive in about 5 months a year, but never really liked the Rav 4 system. I also have a tundra btw, which is the best vehicle I ever owned, so I do like toyota in general.

neil0311

I had a Lexus IS 250 AWD prior to my Acura as well. It’s a rear wheel bias 70/30 system. My guess is the RAV4 is FWD bias.

1Louder

I wish I could answer - I should have mentioned my IS was the 200t and RWD. In retrospect I should have gone for the AWD. But I don't have any driving experience with it. If you are shopping, it might be worth a test drive just for comparison.

Ljmjr10

How do I know if my vin is early or later?

someguy11

The TSB applies only to 2015 V6 models within the following ranges:
FWD VIN 000001 to 021489
AWD VIN 000001 to 007728

At this point, 2015s are surely out of the original 4 yr 50k mi warranty, unless somehow it was on the lot forever and a leftover sold in Dec 2016. The powertrain is 6 yr 70k mi though. If you are in the range but outside the warranty, I would ask my dealership if they still perform the TSB free of charge under the powertrain. Good luck man!

dezymond

I believe Acura sent out a letter to the owners of the 2015 model year that their powertrain warranty was extended to another 10yrs/unlimited miles. I got the letter somewhere.