2001 Acura CL problems
NHTSA has received 317 complaints about the 2001 Acura CL, and 57% of them involve transmission. Next are air bags (10%) and drivetrain & axles (10%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 317 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Transmission 57% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 23 and 2
- Injuries and deaths
- 13 and 3
- Typical mileage
- 65,000 miles 206 complaints with mileage
Source: NHTSA owner complaints
Where the complaints are
Share of this model year's complaints by the part of the car involved. One complaint can name more than one part, so the shares can add up to more than 100%.
When problems show up
View the numbers
| Mileage | Complaints |
|---|---|
| 0k to 20k miles | 19 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 40 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 38 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 18 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 23 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 16 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 21 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 11 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 10 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 3 |
| 200k+ miles | 7 |
What the data shows
Of the 206 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 65,000 miles. For transmission specifically, the median reported mileage is about 48,000 miles (112 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 23 complaints mention a crash; 2 complaints mention a fire; 13 injuries reported; 3 deaths reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2001 ranks 1st most-complained-about out of 6 model years of the Acura CL with enough data (176 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 3 safety recall campaigns.
What owners wrote
A few complaints as filed, shortened and with personal details removed. The first ones are among the most serious reports for this model year; the rest are typical.
The vehicle was involved in fatality which was my brother, they cannot explain why the vehicle entered into a skid on a pretty straight part of the highway not sure if it was a powertrain issue as I did see a recall after I did some research following the accident. The other issue is the mechanism on how the driver safety belt attaches to the frame as that was damaged on first impact which caused my brother to be ejected. Something as important as a safety should not be compromised so easily.
Acura 3.2 cl type s has had 4 total failures all related to transmitions problems. The failures occured while driving in the insterstate highway at 65MPH. Dealearship has replaced four transmitions causing time loss at work and placing my self in a hazardous situations while the failures occured leaving standed in unsecure areas and far away from any kind of help or assistance even in areas with cell phone coverage. The date of the incident registered below is the last one.
There is a huge space of time in 3rd gear when the transmission basically feels like it's in neutral and won't respond to throttle. The engine revs higher but the car does not move while in middle of motion. The rev range when it happens is between idle (700RPM) and 1300 RPM. It happens all the time.