2001 Acura TL problems
NHTSA has received 163 complaints about the 2001 Acura TL, and 55% of them involve transmission. Next are air bags (9%) and drivetrain & axles (9%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 163 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Transmission 55% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 8 and 2
- Injuries and deaths
- 5 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 82,000 miles 94 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 | 2 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 24 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 13 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 5 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 14 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 12 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 9 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 8 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 3 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 1 |
| 200k+ miles | 3 |
What the data shows
Of the 94 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 82,000 miles. For transmission specifically, the median reported mileage is about 66,000 miles (47 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 8 complaints mention a crash; 2 complaints mention a fire; 5 injuries reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2001 ranks 7th most-complained-about out of 16 model years of the Acura TL with enough data (90 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.
I have been involved in two car accidents where I was hit from behind and my airbags did not deploy. In the second accident my car was totaled.
After rear-end collision (my fault on slick pavement, going est. 15 MPH where brakes locked up and car skidded for at least 15-20 feet) the front end of my car simply had a dented front end and grill and left (driver's side) headlight. A few minutes later a small flame broke out around this broken headlight and the flame quickly grew before the fire engines could get there, w/in 5 minutes the entire engine area was on fire and the car is now totaled.
I drove my car out the garage into the common alley in reverse, once out the garage. When I was out of garage attempted to close the garage door with the genie , and the garage door wouldn't close . I drove the car further away from the garage/building in reverse to determine , whether the genie would operate from another position , next thing I knew the car was accelerating uncontrollably, between 20 - 25 miles per hour in reverse next to our building's garages .
My acura 3.2 tl transmission has failed for the second time in 5 years. I replaced the transmission for the first time 2 years after I bought it. After another 70,000 miles, it has failed again and replacing the transmission costs approximately $5000.00. As a consumer of a supposedly high quality vehicle, this is just wrong.
Tl* the contact owns a 2001 acura tl. The contact stated that he received a NHTSA recall letter number 20v027000 (air bags). During the recall repair they told the contact they did not have the right parts and said they would call him back. The dealer called back and said that the manufacturer rep said they did not make that airbag part since the vehicle was old. The vehicle was not able to pass inspection since the repair shorted out several functions.