AutoUtility currently tracks 11 official NHTSA owner defect complaints for the 2021 Acura ILX. Driver Assistance & Safety Tech issues are the most frequently reported category, appearing in 4 complaints (36.4% of submitted records). Among these NHTSA complaint records, 3 filings cite a crash, 1 reports one or more injuries.

Key Problem Findings
  • Total NHTSA Complaints: 11 reports
  • #1 Reported Problem Area: Driver Assistance & Safety Tech (4 reports • 36.4% of submitted complaints)
  • Secondary Problem Areas: Exterior Lighting (3), Air Bags & Restraints (3)
  • Crash-Citing Complaints: 3 filings
  • Fire-Citing Complaints: 0 filings
  • Complaints Reporting Injuries / Fatalities: 1 injury filings • 0 fatality filings
Reporting Methodology: Statistics describe unverified consumer submissions voluntarily filed with NHTSA. Complaint volume is not normalized for vehicle sales volume or miles driven. Multiple components can be cited within a single owner complaint submission.
Total Complaints
11
Submitted to NHTSA ODI
Crash-Citing Complaints
3
Filings citing a collision
Fire-Citing Complaints
0
Filings citing smoke or fire
Complaints Reporting Injuries
1
Filings citing one or more injuries
Complaints Reporting Fatalities
0
Consumer filings citing fatalities

Most Reported Problems for 2021 Acura ILX

Top automotive subsystem defect categories ranked by unique owner complaint volume in federal records

#1 Problem Area 36.4% of complaints

Driver Assistance & Safety Tech

4 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
⚠️ 1 crash report
#2 Problem Area 27.3% of complaints

Exterior Lighting

3 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
✓ 0 crashes or fires cited
#3 Problem Area 27.3% of complaints

Air Bags & Restraints

3 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
⚠️ 2 crash reports 🩹 1 injury report entry
#4 Problem Area 9.1% of complaints

Visibility, Wipers & Glass

1 owner complaint submitted to NHTSA ODI
✓ 0 crashes or fires cited
#5 Problem Area 9.1% of complaints

Suspension

1 owner complaint submitted to NHTSA ODI
✓ 0 crashes or fires cited
Domain Share Note: Share percentage represents the proportion of unique complaint filings referencing each vehicle system. Because single complaints may cite multiple systems (such as engine and electrical simultaneously), domain percentages represent individual category incidence and may sum to over 100%.

Recent NHTSA Owner Reports for 2021 Acura ILX

Representative defect filings submitted by owners to the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation

Driver Assistance & Safety Tech NHTSA ODI ID: #11725735
Filed: 03/20/2026

"I am reporting a severe and hazardous safety defect in my 2021 Acura ILX involving water intrusion into the headlight assembly, resulting in electrical failure of critical lighting and signaling components. Due to an apparent manufacturing defect in the headlight sealing, moisture is entering the..."

Incident Date: 01/30/2026 • Raw NHTSA Component: EXTERIOR LIGHTING,LANE DEPARTURE
Driver Assistance & Safety Tech NHTSA ODI ID: #11725734
Filed: 03/20/2026

"am reporting a serious safety defect in my 2021 Acura ILX involving the front headlight assembly. Water is entering the headlight housing due to what appears to be a manufacturer sealing defect, with visible condensation inside. This is causing electrical malfunction, including intermittent failure..."

Incident Date: 01/30/2026 • Raw NHTSA Component: EXTERIOR LIGHTING,LANE DEPARTURE
Air Bags & Restraints NHTSA ODI ID: #11706024
Crash Cited Filed: 12/19/2025

"I am submitting this complaint regarding a 2021 Acura ILX (VIN: [XXX] ) that has been unreleasable for an extended period due to manufacturer inability to supply a required safety component. The vehicle was involved in an accident on July 6, 2025 and delivered to Caliber Collision in Corpus..."

Incident Date: 07/10/2025 • Raw NHTSA Component: AIR BAGS
Driver Assistance & Safety Tech NHTSA ODI ID: #11605515
Filed: 07/30/2024

"My vehicle continues to accelerate when I press the gas pedal, and it sometimes makes clicking noises from underneath during acceleration. Occasionally, it veers to one side even when I keep the steering wheel straight. At times, it gives a warning and vibrates as if I'm merging into another lane...."

Incident Date: 07/30/2024 • Raw NHTSA Component: UNKNOWN OR OTHER,LANE DEPARTURE
Visibility, Wipers & Glass NHTSA ODI ID: #11574756
Filed: 02/29/2024

"The contact owns a 2021 Acura ILX. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, he became aware that the white lines on the road appeared curved through the windshield. The contact then noticed that the windshield was distorted. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, where the..."

Incident Date: 11/15/2023 • Raw NHTSA Component: VISIBILITY
Consumer Narrative Notice: Excerpts are sanitized text descriptions submitted by vehicle owners to the federal ODI database. They reflect the reporting consumer's observations at the time of filing and have not been independently confirmed by vehicle manufacturers or government investigators.

Complaint History for Acura ILX

Reported defect complaint volume across sibling model years (2015–2022)

Model Year NHTSA Complaints Crash Reports Safety Recalls Detailed Report
2015 Acura ILX 19 0 4 View 2015 Problems →
2016 Acura ILX 52 4 6 View 2016 Problems →
2017 Acura ILX 20 2 4 View 2017 Problems →
2018 Acura ILX 23 2 4 View 2018 Problems →
2019 Acura ILX 36 2 5 View 2019 Problems →
2020 Acura ILX 9 1 2 View 2020 Problems →
2021 Acura ILX Current Page 11 3 0 Current
2022 Acura ILX 3 0 0 View 2022 Problems →
Comparative Disclaimer: Complaint totals are unadjusted historical counts and are not normalized for vehicles sold, active fleet size, or total road mileage. Newer model years naturally have had less calendar exposure time to accumulate owner filings.

Detailed NHTSA Component Breakdown for 2021 Acura ILX

Complete distribution of consumer defect reports across all 9 granular NHTSA system and subsystem classifications

Vehicle Component / System Total Complaints Crash Reports Fire Reports Reported Injury Entries Reported Fatality Entries
Air Bags NHTSA category: AIR BAGS 2 2 0 1 0
EXTERIOR LIGHTING,LANE DEPARTURE 2 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 1 1 0 0 0
EXTERIOR LIGHTING 1 0 0 0 0
Seat Belts NHTSA category: SEAT BELTS 1 0 0 0 0
SUSPENSION,UNKNOWN OR OTHER 1 0 0 0 0
Other / Uncategorized NHTSA category: UNKNOWN OR OTHER 1 0 0 0 0
UNKNOWN OR OTHER,LANE DEPARTURE 1 0 0 0 0
Visibility / Glass NHTSA category: VISIBILITY 1 0 0 0 0
Data Attribution & Reporting Methodology: Complaints are unverified voluntary submissions to the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI). Because multiple vehicle components can be cited within a single owner complaint submission, component-level rollups may sum to more than the unique complaint count (11). Injury and fatality entries in the detailed table reflect raw values entered by reporting consumers across individual submissions; they are not deduplicated casualty statistics and may include duplicate or unverified entries. Complaint volume is not normalized for sales volume or vehicle mileage and does not represent an audited component failure rate.
Official US Government Data Provenance

The complaint records on this page are retrieved directly from the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) public database.

Local Production Store Compiled: August 2026 • Deterministic Audited Dataset • Zero Dynamic External API Runtime Latency.