2020 ACURA MDX Unknown Or Other Problems

The Auto Start-Stop Technology is malfunctioning. I bought my 2020 Acura MDX in 2022 and with the first 2 weeks of having it, it turned completely off while in a drive through line. It only does this when the Auto start- stop is on. I took it back to the dealership and of course they found nothing wrong. This happens frequently and sometimes the car doesn’t want to start back up. Sounds like I am not the only one with the same issue.

On multiple occasions, after coming to a complete stop, the engine shut off as designed but then failed to automatically restart when I released the brake pedal or pressed the accelerator. This left the vehicle completely disabled in traffic until I manually restarted it by shifting into Park and pressing the ignition button. This failure is unpredictable, occurs without warning, and poses a significant risk of collision, particularly when stopped at busy intersections or in heavy traffic. I contacted my Acura dealer, who confirmed that this issue is a known concern on 2016–2020 MDX models and that Acura has issued Technical Service Bulletins (such as 23-001 and 23-002) and a warranty extension. However, even after updates, the problem continues to occur, and there is no permanent remedy at this time.

The auto start feature on the vehicle has been failing. When you come to a stop the engine’s start feature enables but when proceeding to start moving again the vehicle stalls out and will not restart right away. The vehicle must sit for about 30secs or after two tries in order to restart up. It has stalled out on me while in traffic on the highway, at traffic lights, stop signs. My most recent experience was me being stuck at an intersection unable to move for an ambulance and firetruck in route to an emergency. This issue has put my safety as well as others at risk many times. I have voiced my concerns many times with the dealership but they state there is nothing wrong with my auto start feature nor any other issues that can contribute to this. Any help with this issues is appreciated.

I been having deceleration problem and shut down unexpectedly problem with my Acura MDX 2020 truck. I can be driving my truck normally and out of no where my truck would lose power slow down and eventually shut off completely. I avoided like 5 car accidents with this incident happened to me. I have bring the truck to Acura and they are not fixing my problem.i am scared to dead to drive my own truck. I always drive with my kids in my truck. Please help I don’t know what else to do. This truck is going to get me in a nasty car accident and I can even lost my life. Back in 2024 in September I was driving on 78 on my way to Jersey City, I was driving like 65 miles, my truck slow down lose power and eventually turned off. Someone almost hit me from behind. On Wednesday July 02/2025 I was driving like 20 miles approaching a red light to stop once I press the break pedal my truck completely shuts off. I needed to wait like 1 minute or 2 to turn on. Also on Thursday July 3/2025. I was on my way to the hospital with my kids and my truck turn off completely on a Burger King drive through. That day I took my truck again to Acura to check on it. They told me nothing was wrong with my truck.

My car has been going into neutral when in the autostop. The only way to get out of it is to turn it off and back on. It's incredibly dangerous. I almost got into a horrible accident. It happens suddenly and without warning.

I was in traffic on a major highway during rush hour, and my car went into neutral on its own in the middle of the highway. I was unable to put it in drive, restart it, turn it off or do anything else. The car truck behind me almost hit me and other cars were honking their horns as they changed lanes and drove past me. It was extremely frightening and unsafe as my car sat there without moving, on a major highway, in the middle of rush hour, at 5:35 pm. This happened before and I reported it to the dealership in 2024, and took my car in on three different occasions. In November 2024, less than a year after I purchased the certified pre owned car, it shifted into neutral twice within 20 minutes while I was driving intown, and again later than day as I exited a highway. The third time, I was able to get a video of it on my phone. The dealer said they could not reproduce the problem but fortunately, I sent them the video that shows the oil, battery, ABS, ACC, brake, road departure system, tire pressure, LKAS, brake system and other lights were all on. They said they addressed the issue then. This time around, in April 2025, they told me that they were unable to reproduce the issue but that it was because my battery tested low. Nothing was mentioned about a battery in November when the battery was still under warranty. Now they are saying it is the battery. There were no warnings before the car stalled. This is concerning and very unsafe. I cannot upload videos to this report so I have uploaded a few screenshots from it.

My Acura MDX 2020 had an issue in which the automatic start-stop system sometimes not manage to start the engine after stopping.

I stopped at a red light and when I went to pull of the car cut off. I had to restart the car to pull off. This is the second time that this has happened.

March 21, 2025. I made an appointment to the closest Acura Dealership (Sterling McCall Acura Sugar Land, TX) for the two recalls I have on my 2020 Acura MDX. They were not able to accommodate with my timing request. Since I reside more than one hour away, I am not able and willing to drive so many times for this issue. I've asked them to fix the recalls today, as I have 3-4 hours free. They were not able to and offered me a rental car to keep until the problems are fixed. Due to my location and timing consuming to drive to their location (the closest to me), I refused. When I bought my brand new MDX I trusted the brand, and now they are not able to provide a covenant solution to me. I am very disappointed.

The vehicle stalled and was unable to start again, Called AAA , they jump started but when I went to dealership they said it wasn't the battery. The car electrical electric system was flashing. The breaks won't release. This is not the first time. My car is currently in Acura service for 5 days and they can't figure out what the problem is. My friends car also has had similar issues. I have a video of the flashing indicators. The car has only 33k miles.

Twice so far my car just turned itself off while stopped in traffic at a stoplight. It would not turn on immediately. Traffic built behind me, steering was locked, brakes not working. After sitting a minute or so it would start again and then the steering would then work, gas accelerator, brakes would all then start to work again. It was scary and unsafe. This needs a recall!!!

Dealership is unable to repair recalls

My 2020 MDX with less than 52,000 miles (VIN [XXX] ) has a transmission problem. I serviced the SUV as recommended by the dealer regularly and I take very good care . The transmission jerks several times when taking my foot off the gas to slow down within my short drive to and from work. If I parked on a little uphill or downhill roads and switch gear (either forward or reverse), the car jerks and jumps. I mentioned the issue to the dealer 3 weeks ago but of course couldn’t find any issues. Please advise. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

When the vehicle is idle, for instance at a light, it will shut down. It idles a little, goes into neutral and shuts completely down having to be restarted. I always turn off the automatic start on the vehicle after I start it, so it is not that. It has also done it while driving. It is very unsafe to be driving in traffic and have your vehicle shut down with no warning. Please advise on what actions should be taken to correct this issue.

Auto Idle Mode - After we've stopped and released the brake to go forward, the car will then shift to neutral by itself instead of restarting to drive. This has happened frequently and is now starting to happen more often. This is a safety issue, especially if you're the last car in line and other cars are traveling 55-60 miles behind you on a major road and see a green light ahead. Each time this happens, we have to turn off the car and try to restart the car, and sometimes this has been iffy and we've had to repeat the process a couple of times. There were no warning lights of problems with any of car components. There have been similar reports of this occurring: [XXX] INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

WHEN I WAS STOPPED AT A RED LIGHT IN TRAFFIC (MY VEHICLE WAS IN IDLE STOP MODE), MY CAR SIMPLY DIED AND WOULD NOT RESTART WHEN THE TRAFFIC LIGHT TURNED GREEN AND I STEPPED ON THE GAS PEDAL TO MOVE FORWARD WITH TRAFFIC. IT TOOK NUMEROUS ATTEMPTS TO RE START THE VEHICLE WHILE STUCK IN VERY HEAVY TRAFFIC BEFORE IT GAINED POWER AND WAS ABLE TO DRIVE FORWARD. MY SAFETY WAS COMPROMISED I WAS IN THE MIDDLE OF MULTIPLE LANES OF MOVING TRAFFIC, IT WAS SCARY. NO WARNING LAMPS OR MESSAGES OCCURED PRIOR TO THE INCIDENT.

I was in traffic and we slowed down to a stop. Suddenly my car went to neutral and it didn’t want to go to Drive. I put emergency lights, as many cars were behind in the highway. I turned the car off and turned it back on. Then I was able to drive again! This has happened twice in the last 3 months.

Sunroof Explosion. On [XXX], I was driving southbound on [XXX] north of the [XXX] exit (about 15 miles north of Chicago, Illinois). It was mid to late morning, sunny, 75 degrees. I drove over some pavement that was under repair but was not marked as being under repair. Within 60 seconds I heard a loud bang or explosion. My sunroof cover was closed and heard glass falling onto the cover. I exited the highway and saw that the glass was broken in the center of the sunroof. There were no rocks or objects in the sunroof and no evidence that anything had impacted the sunroof. The vehicle is available for inspection however, I am in the process of clearing the glass so that I can operate the vehicle during the month that it will take for a replacement glass to arrive. The problem has not been confirmed by a dealer, the component has not been inspected by anyone other than myself. There were no warnings prior to the incident. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

This vehicle engine has shut down in traffic on 6 separate occasions over the course of a year. Each time, the car locked up and would not restart until 1-3 minutes passed. This happened in stop and go traffic on the interstate. The other instances were at stoplights. I believe this is an issue with the auto idle stop feature. The dealership is unable to recreate the issue, thus no resolution was offering during the warranty period.

No warning lights or other indications occurred. This is the 2nd time while sitting at a stop light that the car has gone into neutral gear and it was unknown until the traffic signal turned green and I could not go. I could not shift into drive. The remedy required that I shut the car off and restarted (very little time between) before putting it in gear. Both occurrences were with idle stop function on. There is an entire discussion forum on this exact issue on [XXX] . Being first in line at a stop with 4 other passengers and a line of drivers expecting me to go on green is a sure way to result in an accident. The car goes in for regular service next week and I will bring it to the dealer’s attention. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

The car's Auto Start/Stop (AST) function is malfunctioning. It frequently fails to restart the engine after stopping, causing the engine to completely shut down at traffic signals. When this occurs, the car must be shifted to park and the engine manually restarted.

I stopped at a stop sign and the car went into N without me changing anything. The car wouldnt go back to D or P mode even when I pressed the buttons. I had to turn off the car and turn it on again to make it function properlty. This happened twice within 5 mins.

The Auto-Idle on this car has disabled the car at a light or stop sign and you need to turn the car off and restart it. It may take 10-20 seconds for the car to restart. The car has been brought in to the dealer and the first time they updated software. the second and third time said the battery needed to charged. Being disabled at a light or stop sign in a heavy traffic area is very dangerous in high traffic area which I reside in.

I purchased this car in September of 2023 with 23,000 miles on it then I received a recall in December 2023. I purchased tires for my car at the dealership and they scheduled my car to have this recall to be fixed on Monday May 13, 2024. I brought the car in on Monday and received a call on Saturday May 18, 2024 to pick my car up from the dealership that it was fixed. I took my car to get gas and two lights on my dash board came up one about my emergency brakes and the other code stated that there is a engine problem and immediately bring the car to the dealership less than one hour of picking it up from a so called recall repair that I was told was going to take two weeks to fix ended up less than 5 days and the car is back at the dealership less than a hour of picking the car up today. I am pissed off and the car is a $40,000 car I paid for with these types of problems when Iam paying a $680 a month on the car note and can’t drive it . BTWay the car smelled of burnt oil while driving it back to the dealership when the lights came on. I want my money back on this recall I need to let you know that is why I bought a new car so I wouldn’t have to deal with this big ass migraine. The dealership needs to replace my car period in my eyes this can’t be fixed it already has to many problems and issues with this vehicle.

This vehicle is being sold by Corwin Honda in Fargo, North Dakota. As I understand it, this car should not have been taken in on a trade and should not be sold until repairs are made. I do understand that parts have been hard to get and it is a huge inconvenience for the car owner. We looked at this car and were quite prepared to purchase it, but I fear for our safety and anyone else on the road.

Was at stoplight with idle stop on and when light turned green car wouldn’t engage. Saw it had shifted to neutral and needed to turn the car off, restart before I could drive away. Could have been hit from behind especially since it was dark out

My vehicles rear back up camara, and others i checked at dealership is quite blurry not clear at all and much more so at night, causing me not to see my neighbors son and almost running him over as i backed out of driveway , dealership stated thats how resoltion is, changing camara wont help, and no known fixes and said they all are like that

Idle stop feature causes vehicle to auto shift to neutral at stop. There are many forums noting this issue. It happened a year ago several times, they replaced the battery and it is happening again. You are sitting at a light or stop sign, go to hit the gas, and the car is in neutral. You need to turn the car off and start again. This is a serious risk of getting rear ended with this issue. One time when it happened last year a cop pulled me over to see if everything was all right. The car should not be shifting to neutral at a stop.

This is happening for the second time. Exactly same thing happened for the first time as well. I stopped a light. The car went to auto idle and shut the engine off. I kept my foot on the break pedal until the green. When I release the pedal, the car didn't restart and it went to neutral. I pushed the drive button but it didn't change. I had to shut off everything by pressing the stop button and I started the car again. I think this also happened to other people based on the posts online: [XXX] INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

Its a known issue with my 2020 Acura MDX it has an issue with the autoidle completely turning off the engine, so you pull up to a red light and the engine goes into Autoidle mode and then completely turns OFF the engine so you are stuck in the middle of the road for a few minutes and then you have to wait for the car to allow you to turn it back on. Acura is aware of the issue and sent a letter to consumers for a mandatory software update to fix the issues. After experiencing this, I took it to the dealership and they completed the software update to fix this issue earlier this year. But my issue is still happening and we got stuck in the middle of a road for 5 mins with a toddler and a teenager. Incoming traffic almost caused a collison because of this.

Twice at a stop light the car went into neutral by itself which then required me to go put in park then drive. One time a police officer was nearby and pulled me over after, asking if everything was ok since I was stopped at the light for a prolonged period of time. I took it to the dealership and they said it was the battery and replaced under warranty. Battery should not go when car has less than 30k miles. I checked forums and many people have experienced this issue. There are too many other complaints on line not to bring this to your attention. It has happened already. It is very nerve racking to be at a stop, hit the gas and go nowhere when traffic is quickly approaching from behind. This will eventually lead to someone getting rear ended.

When the brake is suppressed at a Stop sign or stop light, the vehicle has an Auto Idle stop feature which shuts off the engine completely to preserve fuel. The vehicle is supposed to restart once the brake is released. In my case, there have been multiple times when the brake is released but fails to restart and go. I have encountered the issue in the following scenarios: 1. Getting off the freeway, if there is a line getting off the freeway, then the vehicle will potentially shut off and fail to restart. This is a safety hazard as the driver behind me or others behind at a distance can potentially hit the vehicle. 2. At a Stoplight, especially when making a left turn, the vehicle will shut off and fail to restart. It takes more than 8 secs to restart/reengage by restarting manually. If there are any vehicles attempting to go behind me or at a distance, then they can potentially hit my vehicle. This is a huge risk to my family and I, to assist in our safety, we end up having to turn on our hazard lights. This is unacceptable especially since this is a 2020 vehicle with under 45k miles. I have attempted to reach out to the Acura service team, Customer relations team and even called the Warranty department. However, they were not taking ownership on the issue and responded as it has not been reported before. Based on forums, the issue is being encountered by other owners as well. Hopefully, this can be sorted in the near future for safety of my family.

Car broke down 3 times on the road while driving, it show 12Vbattery failure, ABS failure nd started flashing lights on the dashboard nd broke down while driving. When first time it happened dealer said they have fixed the issue. It happened again md yesterday is 3rd time. Vehicle is 19k miles only it. Pls help us getting this resolved. Dealers make false promises and it’s breaking down again and again on the road while driving which is very scary.

My fiancé is 8 months pregnant and her sunroof literally exploded on her while she was on the freeway yesterday. She was almost in an accident and could have been killed. She has a 2020 MDX and I’m reading online that she isn’t the only person this has happened to. The dealership told her that she’s on her own and this defect isn’t covered under warranty when she called. It has not been inspected, but I have taken many pictures. There were no warnings or indications anything was wrong.