Treblig

Just experienced the same thing with my RL. When it rains, locking the car via the "dimples" does not work. Dealer was aware of this "rain/car wash" door locking problem and has ordered new door handles for my car.

AcuraRLBlue

My passenger side door handle dimple only works intermittently. Most of the time it doesn't work. This is a replaced handle. I don't feel that Acura could resolve this issue by replacing the handle, so I am waiting a bit longer before bring it in.

johnfmadden

I too had the same problem and took the car to the dealer for service. They immediately stated they never heard of the problem and I showed them a printout of this forum showing many with the same problem. Even though the door acted fine for them, they agreed to replace the door handle rather than have me bring the car back at a later time.

Do not accept any less than a new door handle!

Treblig

Has the problem been solved for you???

johnfmadden

So far ...so good.. Lets see after some time.

jfprl

My drivers dimple would not work if it was wet, even from fog. Dealer replaced handle, now its better than before. You don't even have to hit the dimple just the vicinity, wet or dry.

I love this car.

INOPLOVR

Does Acura replace the door handle as a recall or do you need to pay for the handle, I have a 2005 and I believe I am past my warranty period.

thanks,

GoHawks

Technical Service Bulletins (TSB) relate to known problems, if the TSB involves a safety issue, then it can escalate to a recall. Given that this specific problem isn't safety related I don't see it as a recall. Acura may offer some level of goodwill given that it's a known problem.

Typically in goodwill cases Acura will pay for the part (~$400 in this case) and you pay for labor. In some extremely optimistic cases they'll cover everything if you aren't too far out of warranty. It all depends on how far the dealer go for you.

When I had my TL, my dealer replaced my seat heaters when I was 5K mile out of warranty as goodwill. They covered the whole thing, but they were an awesome dealer ship.

Another hope is that if the problem is widespread enough, they may extend the warranty on that item.

For example, Toyota just sent me a notice that the extended the warranty on the backup camera on my Land Cruiser to 100K miles given the fact that it's a documented case that they had a high amount of failure rates with them.

rettenhu

I brought my RL in last week for the power steering hose recall and also mentioned the intermitent dimple door lock problem I have. When I picked the car up they said the dimple lock worked fine when they tested it but that this is a know problem that has been reported frequently. They are ordering a replacement handle...

lindros2

Mine is intermittant (ironically it failed after the Acura dealer washed my car). Been fine ever since, and could have been related to the "laser" car wash system or just water+cold in the mechanism.

INOPLOVR

Man these door locks piss me off, after a snow storm my door handles didn't work for about 2 weeks, now out of no where they started to work again, and I have an appointment with Acura to take a look and see why they don't work. Just great I'll take it in and they will say everything is fine sir "Your just a moron"

Sheesh!!

lland

Mine has been acting up as of late...typically when it's wet or cold. Many complaints appear to be water related (wet weather, recently washed car) so that's probably the main cause of the problem. I'll bring it up when I bring the car in for my next oil change (may be a while as I'm at 60% right now) and have them do the steering recall as well.

LL

miserable

I recently had this issue with both handles in a mtter of months. I have a 2006 RL. my problem is not this.

I originally bought the car in the US but since have moved to Canada where things may be a little different and the cars behaviour has changed since I last remember it. After the change, the following is happening:

1) Both handles always lock...even if the car is already locked. is this normal?
2) The light in the passenger side handle does not come on....is there one there?
3) and this one I am almost certain is messed up. The passenger side handle always unlocks the doors, even if the car is unlocked....the driver's side does not do this.

That last one is a pain on many levels, worst of which is that if I unlock the car, and then my wife opens the passenger door before I get in (and she has her key), it takes her settings over mine, even though I unlocked first with my remote. The real kicker is that the service guy tested this on another Acura up here (i.e. canada) and it did the exact same thing (i.e. passenger side always unlocks).

To sum up, I would love to hear from other owners on two things?
1) is there a light in your passenger side handle?
2) does the passenger side always unlock when you put your hand in the handle (i.e. even after the car has been unlocked)?

please indicate if you have a US or Canadian acura when you respond and many, many thanks in advance.

Cheers

neuronbob

Haven't noticed this, I'll have to check. Usually if I lock the door with the dimple, I'm already walking away from the car and so I wouldn't notice this.

There should be a light on the passenger side. Looks like it burned out.

It is very likely that your car is set to only unlock the driver's side door when you unlock the car with the driver's side handle. In that circumstance, the other doors remain locked and if your +1 has a key fob and unlocks the passenger side door, her settings are placed into the navi.

The solutions are a) tell your +1 not to carry her keyfob or b) program the car via the MID screen to have all the doors open at the time you unlock the driver's door. b) will work better and the process is described in the owner's manual.

HTH!

miserable

So I went to try your suggestion, but here is what I found out.

1) my remote (driver 1) seems to have become unlinked which is not good and the manual is not clear on how to link it. I'll have to experiment a little.

2) I tried opening the doors with the second remote, which opened all doors (I tested with one of the back doors), but then when I tried the passenger side door with the first remote (since it always unlocks as soon as you touch the handle), it over wrote the settings of driver 2. That tells me it does not have much to do with whether all doors all being unlocked or not.

why the passenger door always unlocks and forces the settings gain, is still unclear.

Also, jsut to be clear...when you say there should be a light in the passenger side handle......is there infact or not? my handle is new and the light does not work. And on another Acura in canada, it did not even work on the drivers side, so again...I am trying to see which of my issues are related to canada vs. actually Acura.

getakey

I recall that the "Quick Start" Manual and the Large Manual had different instructions for relinking a FOB, at least in '05. I cannot remember which one is right, so experiment may be in order.
I suspect the problems you are seeing are related to the delinked FOB1. Remember if 2 FOBs are present, it is not the person who touches the dimple first, but rather which FOB gets in recognition zone first, again that's how it works in '05. Can that explain the item 2 behavior?

miserable

I fixed the link issue, the quick guide had the best instructions for it and it was something I had done in my desparate attempts to fix #2.

#2 however is a different beast. I can ask my wife to stay away from the car completely. I open the doors by touching the handle, and this opens all doors. then she comes and touches the passenger handle and the doors unlock again and her settings are in.

there seems to be another thread related to this (https://acurazine.com/forums/showthr...5#post10606205) and it may have been an issue with the 05 model? I could have ended up with an older door handle?

I hate the RL now, cause I almost never have my settings in unless I am driving alone.

getakey

I have an '05 and do not see this behavior at all. My wife always has her FOB with her when she is a passenger. I rarely open the door for her (oops), so she always opens passenger side door after me, but Car recognizes me (D1) and keeps D1 settings. Did you say that the Dealer replaced the passenger handle? I would take it back and show them the problem.

COMplex

It is correct in the actual manual. The quick start piece of paper was incorrect. I had this problem yesterday. Unable to change driver settings because it wasn't linked.

I had problems with my driver door lock dimple in the rain yesterday.
It was fine when dry and all day today.
Now the driver unlock stopped working and it was dry all day.
The passenger unlock does not work. Haven't tried locking from that side yet.

Sucks I've only had the car two days and neither handle will unlock the car. That feature was one of my favorites of the car, if it works.

I'm just hitting 60000 miles do I highly doubt any dealer would be so kind as to replace it for free.

RL09

OK, my turn. Both door handles worked in keyless entry, both nipples locked the doors.

Since 2 days, both options don't work in passenger's, and nipple doesn't lock on driver's; only keyless is working on driver's.

oo7spy

Hopefully it's just fob batteries or EMI.

RL09

Batteries were changed last month. what's EMI?

oo7spy

Electromagnetic interference. Is the fob far away from other electronics? Does the car have a power adapter plunged into the cigarette lighter?

RL09

i did carry the fob in my hand away from cell phone, then tried bringing it close to handle.

There's a usb charger plugged in under the arm rest.

oo7spy

Unplug the USB charger and try again. While it's a long shot, it has been known to cause issues with the keyless access system.

RL09

No not that either.

it's odd that both side would stop working, and only keyless entry works on driver's...

RL09

OK. So, what others wrote in this thread before is most likely correct. It has to do with car washing, change of weather conditions, etc.

This morning, I took out the car and parked it outside for an hour, then went and tested the doors, everything worked except the nipple lock on the passenger side. But driver side dimple there worked - it locked the doors. keyless entry worked now too on passenger...

So, it can't be both handles needing replacement given how they are working and not working together.

So I went to costco and decided to do a quick car wash on the way back. While under the hose inside, the cmbs, airbag and acc lights all came on. This is when i thought surely the nipple lock won't work too. And its not working anymore.

It might be a coincidence that the car wash triggered those 3 lights and the door handle problem, or that they are related.

An expert will have to answer this question on what this can be?

RL09

Confirmed again. Sunny day, it works. Drive in the rain, stops and works intermittently.

with so many others having the same problem, isn't this covered by Acura?

Ntordsen

I don't think this has much to do with the recent post but my doors will not lock with the key fob or the switch within the car. I replaced both the front and side door actuators and it fixed the problem for awhile but they recently stopped working. When I press the door lock switch in the car I can hear the relay. Anything helps

oo7spy

That is really strange, and I can't say I have ever heard of that situation. Does anything lock the doors ever? What about the keyless access door handle dimples?

Ntordsen

Nothing will lock the doors other then manually pressing each lock down, iv herd that it could be the fuse box but I'd like to know for sure before I spend $$ on something that won't fix the problem.

oo7spy

You should definitely check your fuses, but if replacing the actuator changed something then a fuse wasn't the initial problem. My guess is a wiring issue, but that is far fetched given the passenger side behaves the same way. Can the passenger master switch lock them?

Ntordsen

No the passenger side switch won't lock the doors but it will unlock them, I checked the fuse for door locks but it's still good. I just don't understand why they worked fine when I fixed them the first time but randomly stop working again.

oo7spy

That is very weird. I'm thinking you have a bad MICU. You could try to follow the wiring diagram in the service manual if you are electronically inclined. The dealer should be able to tell you with an HDS, but that will cost you at least $100 to diagnose.

Ntordsen

Ok thanks.

RL09

I've had a nice encounter with this problem today. everytime i press the hfl button a very loud scxreeching sound like the ones usually when a mic does a feedback loop.

I tured off the car and restarted, it went away, immediately being replaced by my usual cmbs, acc and airbag lights.

of course, it is raining today.

I have noticed rain, car wash, makes these problems along with the dimples on handles and keyless entry working intermittently after a shower.

What is all this?

RL09

No one has any clue about this? am i being ignored until i find the already posted answer by myself? or is it because no one has an answer?

not even a pointing in a direction?

oo7spy

To me, it's obvious the handles have a defective or bad sealant design. I think that is the reason so many short out over time and a car wash can affect them.

We used to think the newer models had a better design, but time is proving otherwise.

RL09

But what about when a bunch of things happen together with the handles as i mention above? which means its something else no?

I got this answer today on the TL forum https://acurazine.com/forums/audio-b.../#post15722336

what do you think?

johndo18

I just bought an 09 and my handles don't lock or unlock?!?!

The light on the handle works and when i touch the dimple the light flashes on the key fob so theres at least a recognition so i don't know what it could be

The remote is linked as it says driver 1 on the mid...anyone got any ideas?