AutoUtility currently tracks 3 official NHTSA owner defect complaints for the 2017 Acura RLX. Suspension issues are the most frequently reported category, appearing in 2 complaints (66.7% of submitted records). Among these NHTSA complaint records, 1 cites a fire.

Key Problem Findings
  • Total NHTSA Complaints: 3 reports
  • #1 Reported Problem Area: Suspension (2 reports • 66.7% of submitted complaints)
  • Secondary Problem Areas: Steering System (1), Engine & Cooling (1)
  • Crash-Citing Complaints: 0 filings
  • Fire-Citing Complaints: 1 filings
  • Complaints Reporting Injuries / Fatalities: 0 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
3
Submitted to NHTSA ODI
Crash-Citing Complaints
0
Filings citing a collision
Fire-Citing Complaints
1
Filings citing smoke or fire
Complaints Reporting Injuries
0
Filings citing one or more injuries
Complaints Reporting Fatalities
0
Consumer filings citing fatalities

Most Reported Problems for 2017 Acura RLX

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

#1 Problem Area 66.7% of complaints

Suspension

2 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
✓ 0 crashes or fires cited
#2 Problem Area 33.3% of complaints

Steering System

1 owner complaint submitted to NHTSA ODI
✓ 0 crashes or fires cited
#3 Problem Area 33.3% of complaints

Engine & Cooling

1 owner complaint submitted to NHTSA ODI
🔥 1 fire report
#4 Problem Area 33.3% of complaints

Brakes & Traction Control

1 owner complaint submitted to NHTSA ODI
✓ 0 crashes or fires cited
#5 Problem Area 33.3% of complaints

Wheels & Tires

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 2017 Acura RLX

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

Steering System NHTSA ODI ID: #11742249
Filed: 06/05/2026

"The contact owns a 2017 Acura RLX. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the vehicle pulled to the right, with a creaking sound while turning the steering wheel to the left or the right. The contact replaced the brake pads and rotors every year, but the failure persisted. The..."

Incident Date: 06/05/2022 • Raw NHTSA Component: STEERING,SUSPENSION
Engine & Cooling NHTSA ODI ID: #11728965
Fire Cited Filed: 04/03/2026

"Catastrophic engine failure at speed, connecting rod failure, which is a known failure for this engine. Engine blew, lost all power, and hot oil hit the hot exhaust and the car caught on fire. A fire truck came to put out the engine fire."

Incident Date: 04/02/2026 • Raw NHTSA Component: ENGINE
Brakes & Traction Control NHTSA ODI ID: #11066940
Filed: 02/05/2018

"TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 2017 ACURA RLX. THE CONTACT STATED THAT THE VEHICLE EXPERIENCED A SEVERE VIBRATION ON THE DRIVER'S SIDE WHEEL. THE CONTACT WAS ABLE TO FEEL THE FAILURE MORE WHILE DRIVING HIGHER SPEEDS. THE FAILURE OCCURRED WITHOUT WARNING. ACURA OF ORANGE PARK (7200 BLANDING BLVD,..."

Incident Date: 11/16/2017 • Raw NHTSA Component: SUSPENSION,WHEELS,SERVICE BRAKES
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 RLX

Reported defect complaint volume across sibling model years (2015–2020)

Model Year NHTSA Complaints Crash Reports Safety Recalls Detailed Report
2015 Acura RLX 11 0 3 View 2015 Problems →
2016 Acura RLX 5 1 0 View 2016 Problems →
2017 Acura RLX Current Page 3 0 0 Current
2018 Acura RLX 6 0 1 View 2018 Problems →
2019 Acura RLX 0 0 3 View 2019 Problems →
2020 Acura RLX 2 0 1 View 2020 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 RLX

Complete distribution of consumer defect reports across all 3 granular NHTSA system and subsystem classifications

Vehicle Component / System Total Complaints Crash Reports Fire Reports Reported Injury Entries Reported Fatality Entries
Engine NHTSA category: ENGINE 1 0 1 0 0
STEERING,SUSPENSION 1 0 0 0 0
SUSPENSION,WHEELS,SERVICE BRAKES 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 (3). 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 (3)

1 OPEN 2 CLOSED

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 →
CLOSED Defect Petition (DP) ODI Action #DP22005
Opened: 2023-01-27 • Closed: 2023-08-07

Pedestrian alert sounds

Affected Component: ELECTRICAL SYSTEM:PROPULSION SYSTEM

NHTSA received a petition on or about July 18, 2022, requesting that Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) 141 be applied to all electric and hybrid vehicles operating in the United States. The petition can be reviewed at NHTSA.gov under ODI Number 11486072. FMVSS 141 establishes performance requirements for pedestrian alert sounds for motor vehicles. The standard applies to hybrid and electric vehicles that have a gross vehicle weight ra...

✓ Resulted in Safety Recall Campaign: 22V063000 Official NHTSA File →
CLOSED Engineering Analysis (EA) ODI Action #EA19001
Opened: 2019-04-19 • Closed: 2024-09-19

Electrical overstress

Affected Component: AIR BAGS: AIR BAG/RESTRAINT CONTROL MODULE

The Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) opened this investigation to determine if the failure of airbags to deploy during severe crashes, in certain vehicles, was the result of a safety related defect.  During the investigation a complex failure was studied that can result in non-deployment of subject vehicle air bags and other restraint system devices in severe crash events. The subject vehicles may be equipped with an airbag control unit (AC...

✓ Resulted in Safety Recall Campaign: 20V024 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.