2002 Acura TL problems
NHTSA has received 404 complaints about the 2002 Acura TL, and 47% of them involve transmission. Next are air bags (11%) and drivetrain & axles (10%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 404 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Transmission 47% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 39 and 2
- Injuries and deaths
- 31 and 1
- Typical mileage
- 73,000 miles 254 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 | 22 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 46 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 40 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 37 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 27 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 23 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 14 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 19 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 14 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 4 |
| 200k+ miles | 8 |
What the data shows
Of the 254 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 73,000 miles. For transmission specifically, the median reported mileage is about 46,000 miles (119 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 39 complaints mention a crash; 2 complaints mention a fire; 31 injuries reported; 1 death reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2002 ranks 1st most-complained-about out of 16 model years of the Acura TL with enough data (241 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 7 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.
Recall campaign 99v089000; consumer's son was involved in a tragic accident which may have been a result of the automatic transmission recall. (letter from the lawyer, richard kaufman)
Vehical slips out of gears while driving on the hwy also feels like the car wheels or maybe even the transmission locks up while on the hwy . A very bad jerk , it seems like the gears are locking up for a quick second after the jerk it will proceed on . The jerks. These jerks are starting to damage my suspension and also my gears..
My husband and I have owned a 2002 acura tl-s since it was initially purchased. We know there is a recall on the transmission, and the warranty has been extended to 100,000 on the transmission. However since then at approximately every 30,000 miles, the transmissions has had failures. I am on my 3rd transmission after 2 replacements. We are at about 78,000 miles on this car and should be hitting 90,000 miles soon. This will be in about 6-8 months.
We were driving on the freeway going 50 miles an hour on our way to drop off our car at the acura dealership when the transmission shifted in to 2nd gear lunging us forward. Luckily we were in the slow lane and able to pull over avoiding and accident. Car was towed to acura and new transmission was put in. Since that incidence we have had an additional 2 transmissions put into the car. One on 11/8/04 and the most recent 5/24/06.