2002 Acura CL problems
NHTSA has received 71 complaints about the 2002 Acura CL, and 44% of them involve transmission. Next are air bags (7%) and brakes (6%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 71 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Transmission 44% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 3 and 0
- Injuries and deaths
- 0 and 3
- Typical mileage
- 41,000 miles 39 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 | 4 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 6 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 15 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 0 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 1 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 1 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 0 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 5 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 3 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 1 |
| 200k+ miles | 3 |
What the data shows
Of the 39 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 41,000 miles. For transmission specifically, the median reported mileage is about 38,000 miles (15 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 3 complaints mention a crash; 3 deaths reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2002 ranks 2nd most-complained-about out of 6 model years of the Acura CL with enough data (54 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 2 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.
My son hit a pole and the air bag crushed him. He died! It ripped his aorta, his liver, crushed his lungs, head injury, metal in chest.
Automatic transmission failure. Cars transmissions for 6 months has been shifting erratic, hard, surging, downshifting without notice at highway speeds, and slipping. Car only has 13k of miles and now is in at the dealer for a new tranny. There are many reports of this failure and a few fatalities it seems. This issue needs to be resolved fast. I plan to ditch this car in the next 6 months because it just doesn't feel safe anymore to drive. Even the replacement trannys are dieing.
Acura is knowingly putting defective transmissions in these cars. When my first trans went out, I was doing 50 MPH on lake shore dr. And if I weren't wearing my seatbelt, I would've gone through the windshield. They admitted that they knew all these trans were bad and replaced the 1st one @ 103,000 miles and said they would "good will" these trans as long as im the original owner. My husband was a master tech. Mechanic at acura for 10 yrs. And said they never came out with a good trans. For these cars.