AutoUtility currently tracks 75 official NHTSA owner defect complaints for the 2017 Acura RDX. Powertrain & Transmission issues are the most frequently reported category, appearing in 22 complaints (29.3% of submitted records). Among these NHTSA complaint records, 7 filings cite a crash, 1 cites a fire, 4 report one or more injuries, 1 reports one or more fatalities.

Key Problem Findings
  • Total NHTSA Complaints: 75 reports
  • #1 Reported Problem Area: Powertrain & Transmission (22 reports • 29.3% of submitted complaints)
  • Secondary Problem Areas: Electrical System (18), Driver Assistance & Safety Tech (14)
  • Crash-Citing Complaints: 7 filings
  • Fire-Citing Complaints: 1 filings
  • Complaints Reporting Injuries / Fatalities: 4 injury filings • 1 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
75
Submitted to NHTSA ODI
Crash-Citing Complaints
7
Filings citing a collision
Fire-Citing Complaints
1
Filings citing smoke or fire
Complaints Reporting Injuries
4
Filings citing one or more injuries
Complaints Reporting Fatalities
1
Consumer filings citing fatalities

Most Reported Problems for 2017 Acura RDX

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

#1 Problem Area 29.3% of complaints

Powertrain & Transmission

22 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
⚠️ 1 crash report
#2 Problem Area 24% of complaints

Electrical System

18 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
✓ 0 crashes or fires cited
#3 Problem Area 18.7% of complaints

Driver Assistance & Safety Tech

14 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
✓ 0 crashes or fires cited
#4 Problem Area 17.3% of complaints

Brakes & Traction Control

13 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
⚠️ 3 crash reports 🩹 4 injury report entries
#5 Problem Area 13.3% of complaints

Engine & Cooling

10 owner complaints 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%.

Symptoms Mentioned in NHTSA Owner Reports for 2017 Acura RDX

Specific mechanical, electrical, and driver-assist defect symptoms identified via deterministic narrative analysis

AutoUtility uses deterministic phrase matching to identify recurring symptom descriptions within consumer-submitted NHTSA complaint narratives.

Powertrain & Transmission 4% of complaints

Loss of Motive Power While Driving

3 complaint narratives describe this symptom
Symptom Identification Method: A complaint may describe more than one symptom, so percentages may sum to more than 100%. Symptom identification reflects text contained in consumer-submitted complaint records and does not establish a confirmed mechanical diagnosis.

Recent NHTSA Owner Reports for 2017 Acura RDX

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

Powertrain & Transmission NHTSA ODI ID: #11759968
Filed: 08/27/2026

"TRANSMISION WARNING LIGHT COMES ON ALONG WITH SIDE WARNING INDICATOR , STAYS ON TILL VEHICLE IS TURNED OFF . THEN MAY OR MAYNOT COME BACK ON . VERY INTERMITENT."

Incident Date: 05/01/2025 • Raw NHTSA Component: POWER TRAIN
Electrical System NHTSA ODI ID: #11755243
Filed: 08/06/2026

"I have been experiencing issues with the alarm system when I lock the car the alarm randomly goes off. I have had my battery replaced and it still happens. There is nothing touching the handles during these times, it happens randomly, something internal going on. The only way to be sure it won’t..."

Incident Date: 09/01/2025 • Raw NHTSA Component: ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
Powertrain & Transmission NHTSA ODI ID: #11737421
Filed: 05/12/2026

"The contact owns a 2017 Acura RDX. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle loss automotive power while the accelerator pedal was depressed. No warning lights were illuminated. The failure occurred on several different occasions. A dealer was contacted and made aware of..."

Incident Date: 05/12/2024 • Raw NHTSA Component: POWER TRAIN
Driver Assistance & Safety Tech NHTSA ODI ID: #11734021
Filed: 04/27/2026

"The contact owns a 2017 Acura RDX. While the contact's wife was driving at an undisclosed speed, the brake pedal was depressed; however, the vehicle failed to stop as intended. The contact's wife enabled the parking brake. The contact stated that at a later while, the vehicle independently..."

Incident Date: 04/06/2026 • Raw NHTSA Component: POWER TRAIN,VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Powertrain & Transmission NHTSA ODI ID: #11726756
Filed: 03/24/2026

"The contact owns a 2017 Acura RDX. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle unexpectedly sputtered, and the transmission warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, and DTC: P0741 was retrieved. The mechanic determined that the..."

Incident Date: 03/24/2026 • Raw NHTSA Component: POWER TRAIN
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 RDX

Reported defect complaint volume across sibling model years (2015–2026)

Model Year NHTSA Complaints Crash Reports Safety Recalls Detailed Report
2015 Acura RDX 409 7 3 View 2015 Problems →
2016 Acura RDX 40 3 2 View 2016 Problems →
2017 Acura RDX Current Page 75 7 1 Current
2018 Acura RDX 77 5 1 View 2018 Problems →
2019 Acura RDX 433 3 5 View 2019 Problems →
2020 Acura RDX 342 4 5 View 2020 Problems →
2021 Acura RDX 111 3 3 View 2021 Problems →
2022 Acura RDX 31 4 2 View 2022 Problems →
2023 Acura RDX 21 0 2 View 2023 Problems →
2024 Acura RDX 11 1 2 View 2024 Problems →
2025 Acura RDX 29 1 1 View 2025 Problems →
2026 Acura RDX 0 0 0 View 2026 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 2017 Acura RDX

Complete distribution of consumer defect reports across all 35 granular NHTSA system and subsystem classifications

Vehicle Component / System Total Complaints Crash Reports Fire Reports Reported Injury Entries Reported Fatality Entries
Powertrain NHTSA category: POWER TRAIN 12 1 0 0 0
Electrical System NHTSA category: ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 10 0 0 0 0
Service Brakes NHTSA category: SERVICE BRAKES 8 3 0 4 0
Engine NHTSA category: ENGINE 4 0 0 0 0
Other / Uncategorized NHTSA category: UNKNOWN OR OTHER 4 0 0 0 0
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,ENGINE 3 0 0 0 0
Air Bags NHTSA category: AIR BAGS 2 1 0 1 0
POWER TRAIN,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 2 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,SERVICE BRAKES 2 0 0 0 0
Structure & Body NHTSA category: STRUCTURE 2 0 0 0 0
Visibility & Wipers NHTSA category: VISIBILITY/WIPER 2 0 0 0 0
AIR BAGS,SEAT BELTS 1 1 0 1 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,BACK OVER PREVENTION,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,UNKNOWN OR OTHER 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL (ESC) 1 0 0 0 0
ENGINE,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 1 0 0 0 0
EXTERIOR LIGHTING 1 0 0 0 0
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE,LANE DEPARTURE 1 0 0 0 0
Fuel & Propulsion System NHTSA category: FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 1 0 0 0 0
Lane Departure Warning NHTSA category: LANE DEPARTURE 1 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE 1 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,LANE DEPARTURE 1 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,UNKNOWN OR OTHER 1 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL 1 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,ENGINE 1 0 0 0 0
Seat Belts NHTSA category: SEAT BELTS 1 0 0 0 0
SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 1 0 0 0 0
Steering NHTSA category: STEERING 1 0 0 0 0
Suspension NHTSA category: SUSPENSION 1 0 0 0 0
SUSPENSION,POWER TRAIN,WHEELS 1 0 0 0 0
UNKNOWN OR OTHER,FIRERELATED 1 1 1 0 1
UNKNOWN OR OTHER,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 1 0 0 0 0
Vehicle Speed Control NHTSA category: VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL 1 0 0 0 0
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL (ESC),ENGINE 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 (75). 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 NHTSA Defect Investigations (1)

1 OPEN

Formal safety defect inquiries and engineering analyses opened by the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI)

Official Federal Inquiries: NHTSA opens a defect investigation when safety screening or consumer defect trends indicate a potential unreasonable safety risk. An open investigation is a formal inquiry and does not by itself confirm a defect or result in a mandatory recall.
OPEN Engineering Analysis (EA) ODI Action #EA21002
Opened: 2021-09-17 • Currently Active

Desiccated Air Bag Inflator Rupture

Affected Component: AIR BAGS:FRONTAL:DRIVER SIDE:INFLATOR MODULE

From 2000 through 2017, Takata produced millions of air bag inflators using two types of phase-stabilized ammonium nitrate ("PSAN") propellant -- propellant 2004 and propellant 2004L. After prolonged exposure to high temperature cycles and humidity, inflators using propellant 2004 can degrade, causing the propellant to burn too quickly when ignited. The rapid burning can cause the inflator to rupture during deployment, potentially causing serious...

Active federal investigation. Official NHTSA File →
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.