There are 50 owner-reported powertrain & transmission complaints for the 2003 Acura TLin NHTSA's database. These are unverified consumer reports and may not reflect confirmed defects.
Driving on Highway going 65mph vehicle suddenly jerked and dropped to 20 mph. Causing my entire body to collide with the steering wheel. Luckily there no cars behind me. Was on my way to work when this happened too far from home. So when I got at work which is thirty minutes from where I live I had to get a tow truck to get my car home. That’s how bad it was. My mom had this car for about ten years. I’ve had it now for three years. Never had this problem before. We’ve had the car in the family for almost fifteen years. Only thing that’s had to change was a power steering line and front shocks. Almost sold it last week and I’m glad I didn’t. Has over 230,000 so I’m not upset. Just a bit sad that this happened to my TL. Needs A/T clutch pressure control solenoid valves A B.
The contact owns a 2003 Acura TL. The contact stated while driving from a complete stop, the vehicle failed to shift from second gear to third gear. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact stated that upon depressing the accelerator pedal, the RMP’s revved up but the vehicle failed to respond. The contact stated that the failure had been reoccurring while driving. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, where it was diagnosed and determined that the failure was related to NHTSA Campaign Number: 04V176000 (Power Train); however, the VIN was not included. The dealer and the manufacturer were not notified of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 160,000.
The contact owns a 2003 Acura TL. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle jerked and hesitated to accelerate. The check engine, third and fourth gear, ESP fault, and VSA system warning lights were illuminated. The contact self-diagnosed the vehicle with a code reader and the code P1750 appeared. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired by an independent mechanic or dealer. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure but informed the contact that there was no recall associated with the VIN. The failure mileage was approximately 160,000.
Unknown but transmission is slipping in and out of gear even while going down the road
The contact owns a 2003 Acura TL. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, there was an abnormal sound coming from the vehicle. The vehicle then lost motive power. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic and diagnosed with transmission failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The contact related the failure to NHTSA Campaign Number: 04V176000 (Power Train) however, the VIN was not included in the recall. The failure mileage was approximately 200,000.
TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 2003 ACURA TL. THE CONTACT STATED THAT WHILE DRIVING AT VARIOUS SPEEDS, WITH THE ACCELERATOR PEDAL DEPRESSED, THE VEHICLE JERKED AND HESITATED. THE CONTACT STATED THAT THE VEHICLE FAILED TO SHIFT ABOVE THIRD GEAR. THERE WAS NO WARNING LIGHT ILLUMINATED. THE CONTACT REFERENCED THE FAILURE TO NHTSA CAMPAIGN NUMBER: 04V176000 (POWER TRAIN). THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO AN INDEPENDENT MECHANIC WHO DIAGNOSED THE VEHICLE WITH A DEFECTIVE SPEED SENSOR. THE DEALER NOR THE MANUFACTURER HAD BEEN NOTIFIED OF THE FAILURE. THE VEHICLE WAS NOT REPAIRED. THE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS APPROXIMATELY 230,000.
2003 ACURA T.L WAS IN MOTION WHEN THE VEHICLE STARTED SLIPPING ON 2ND GEAR. THEN WHEN VEHICLE WAS STATIONARY IT WOULD NOT MOVE IN REVERSE GEAR. AS I WAS ON HIGHWAY THE CAR STARTED JERKING OUT OF CONTROL, I COULD NOT ACCELERATE, VEHICLE BARELY WANTED TO MOVE SO I PUT IT IN #2 GEAR SO IT WORK CATCH AND I WAS ABLE TO DRIVE TO SAFETY WITHOUT ANYONE GETTING HURT. VERY FRIGHTENING AND DANGEROUS. PROBLEM MUST BE ADDRESSED IMMEDIATELY.
TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 2003 ACURA TL. THE CONTACT STATED THAT THE GEAR DID NOT SHIFT PROPERLY AND THE CHECK ENGINE INDICATOR ILLUMINATED. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO ACURA OF LAUREL (301-498-3322, LOCATED AT 3506 LAUREL FORT MEADE RD, LAUREL, MD 20724) WHERE IT WAS DIAGNOSED THAT THE TRANSMISSION NEEDED TO BE REPLACED AT THE CONTACT'S EXPENSE. THE MANUFACTURER WAS MADE AWARE OF THE FAILURE AND INFORMED THE CONTACT TO TAKE THE VEHICLE TO THE DEALER. THE VEHICLE WAS NOT REPAIRED. THE VIN WAS INCLUDED IN NHTSA CAMPAIGN NUMBER: 04V176000 (POWER TRAIN). THE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS APPROXIMATELY 111,000. PARTS DISTRIBUTION DISCONNECT.
WHILE DRIVING ON THE HIGHWAY AND DOING ABOUT 60 MPH MY CAR SUDDENLY DOWN SHIFTED INTO 2ND GEAR. I NEARLY LOST CONTROL OF THE CAR AND CAUSED AN ACCIDENT. THERE WAS NO PRIOR INDICATION THAT SOMETHING WAS WRONG WITH THE CAR. I'M A MECHANIC, AND HAVE BEEN ONE FOR OVER 20 YEARS AND I HAVE NEVER SEEN OR HAD A TRANSMISSION GIVE OUT ON ME IN SUCH A WAY. CALLED THE DEALER AND WAS TOLD THAT THE CAR WAS NOT COVERED ANYMORE BY THE RECALL. RECALLS FOR THIS MODEL AND YEAR ACURA. NOW, I THINK, NO I KNOW THAT THIS IS A REAL SAFETY CONCERN THAT SOMEONE MIGHT POSSIBLY LOSE THEIR LIFE OVER. UPON DOING SOME RESEARCH ON MY OWN I LEARNED THAT THE TRANSMISSION PROBLEMS THAT THIS 2000 TO 2003 HONDA'S AND ACURA HAS IS DUE TO SHODDY WORKMANSHIP. NOW I'M IF THE MANUFACTURER KNOWS THIS AND THEY SHOULD COVER ANY AND ALL VEHICLES STILL ON THE ROAD WITH RECALLS THAT THEY SHOULD HONOR.
UPDATE NTHSA SAFETY ISSUE ID 11132318 TODAY MY 2003 ACURA TL AGAIN TCS. CEL. D5 BLINKING. NY CAR MILEAGE IS 123599 NOW I'M DRIVING D4. NOT D5 IF I D5 DRIVING CAR SHARKING. DEAR. NTHSA WHAT CAN I DO? THANK YOU FOR HELP & I HOPE TRANSMISSIONS RECALL.. NOR WHEN I TAKE PICTURE ONLY CHECK SIGN. BUT OBD II SCANNER 5 CODE SHOWING.
ON SEPTEMBER 26 . 2018 MY ACURA TL 2003 IS TCS ON. CEL ON. D5 BLINKING. AFTER THAT I HAVE OBD II SCANNER (ACTRON CP9680) THEY HAVE 5 CODE. I SEARCH THE GOOGLE THIS CODE MEANS MY TRANSMISSON IS DEAD. THIS CAR NOW LITTLE SHARKING. BUT REPAIR COST IS MORE THAN $2.000. I ALSO SEARCH FOR ACURA & HONDA FORUMS. MANY SAME CASES. BUT NOW 2018 . BUT MY IS 2003 WHO GOT THE TRANSMISSION RECALL.
VEHICLE WAS IN MOTION, WHILE GOING ON THE HIGHWAY AT 65 MPH ALL OF A SUDDEN IT JUMPED TO 20 MILES PER HOUR MAKING ME AND EVERY BODY UNSAFE ON THE ROAD, LUCKILY THE CARS THAT WERE BEHIND ME WERE FAR ENOUGH AND WERE ABLE TO REACT QUICKLY. I NEVER HAD ANY WARNING SIGNS OR CHECK ENGINE LIGHTS THAT WOULD WARN ME THERE WAS SOMETHING WRONG WITH THE CAR. I CALLED THE DEALERSHIP AND THEY SAID THEY COULDN'T DO ANYTHING TO COVER THE REPAIR BECAUSE THE RECALL WAS CLOSED BACK IN 2005. I FEEL THERE WAS POOR WORKMANSHIP WHEN THEY LOOKED AT THE VEHICLE BACK WHEN THEY INSPECTED IT PUTTING PEOPLES LIVES IN DANGER.
IN FORWARD MOTION, FREEWAY. ELECTRICAL. TRANNY. CAR CURRENTLY READS 138,356 MILES. AROUND ROUGHLY 134,000 MILES THE VEHICLE CHECK ENGINE LIGHT BEGAN TO FLASH AS A RESULT FROM RPMS REACHING ABOUT 6 ON THE CLUSTER RPM DISPLAY DUE WHAT FELT LIKE SLIPPING INTO TO 3RD OR 4TH GEAR. SLIPPING HOWEVER USUALLY RESULTS WITH WHAT I WOULD CONSIDER A SLAMMING EXPERIENCE FROM EVENTUALLY CATCHING AND SHIFTING INTO THE CORRECT GEAR. THIS HAPPENED AS I WAS MERGING ONTO FREEWAY. CAR DID NOT CATCH GEAR BUT NUETRALIZED UNTIL I SWITCHED TO SPORT SHIFT MODE AND DISPLAYED 4 GEAR AND THE VEHICLE JETTED OFF. CEL HAS REMAINED ON AND 3RD GEAR STILL A ISSUE. DID MUCH MAINTENANCE, REPLACEMENT OF SOLENOIDS,FLUID FLUSH, ETC. PROBLEM SOLVES THEN RETURNS. THIS HAS WENT ON FOR ABOUT 6MON THIS LAST MONTH SEEMED ISSUE HAD RESOLVED ITSELF AFTER TWO MORE ATF FLUSHES IN THE PRIOR MONTH. THIS LAST WEEK MY LADY AND I COMING HOME FROM OUR DATE NIGHT, LUCKILY THATS WEDNESDAY(HUMP DAY) FOR US, SO FREEWAYS AT 12:30-1AM IN SAN DIEGO HOLD FEW TRAFFIC.I SAY LUCKILY BECAUSE GOING ABOUT 70-75 MPH THE CAR SUDDENLY FELT LIKE WHAT SLAMMING INTO A WALL HEAD ON AT 75 MPH MUST FEEL LIKE. JERKING US FORWARD, UNINJURED DUE TO SEATBELTS, THANK GOD. THE SCARIEST THING HOWEVER WAS THE FACT THAT IN THE FAR RIGHT LANE AT THAT SPEED AFTER THE JOLT CAUSED THE VEHICLE TO NEUTRALIZE AND ANY ACCELARATION THAT WOULD OCCUR WOULD INSTANTLY GIVE A LESS INTENSE JOLT BUT RAPIDLY SLOWED THE VEHICLE DOWN MAKING IT EXTREMELY DIFFICULT AND DRASTICALLY INCREASING OUR LEVELS OF DANGER OF SOMETHING WORSE ,AS I MADE MY WAY OVER TO FAR LEFT SIDE OF FREEWAY. REACHING SAFETY I EXAMINED VEHICLE FOUND NOTHING VISUALLY WRONG. AFTER LETTING CAR COOL AND LETTING WARM TO NORMAL OP.TEMP I PUT VEHICLE IN SPORT MODE EXITED FREEWAY AND TOOK CITY STREETS HOME ONLY USING D2,NO PROBLEMS OCCURRED. TODAY REPEATED THE MAINTENANCE AS BEFORE. RUNS OKAY BUT I'M NERVOUS
'TAMARA RECALL' BEFORE TAKING OFF THE CAR HAD TROUBLE GOING INTO GEAR. ONCE THE CAR WAS IN MOTION IT BEGAN TO HAVE A HARD SHIFT THEN ONCE I GAINED SPEED OF 45 ON THE HIGHWAY IT WOULDN'T ACCELERATE ANY MORE IT ACTUALLY STARTED TO SLOW DOWN SO I PULLED OFF THE ROAD I PUT THE CAR IN PARK AND HEARD A FAST CLICKING NOISE TURNED THE CAR OFF TURNED IT BACK ON TRIED PUT IT IN GEAR AND IT WOULDN'T MOVE
LOSS OF TRANSMISSION AT ONLY 105,000 MILES.
AIR BAG WARNING LIGHT IS ON.D5 LIGHT FLASHING ON TRANSMISSION
TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 2003 ACURA TL. WHILE DRIVING VARIOUS SPEEDS AND DEPRESSING THE ACCELERATOR PEDAL, THE VEHICLE MADE A WHINING NOISE COMING FROM THE TRANSMISSION. THE VEHICLE WAS NOT DIAGNOSED OR REPAIRED. THE VIN WAS NOT INCLUDED IN NHTSA CAMPAIGN NUMBER: 04V176000 (POWER TRAIN). THE MANUFACTURER WAS MADE AWARE OF THE FAILURE. THE APPROXIMATE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS 87,000.
MY CHECK ENGINE LIGHT CAME ON. I TOOK 2003 ACURA TL TO (2) LOCAL AUTO PARTS STORE (ADVANCE AUTO PARTS AND AUTOZONE) TO HAVE IT SCANNED USING THE DIAGNOSTIC TOOLS PROVIDED BY TECHNICIANS ON SITE. WAS GIVEN AN EXACT RECALL DIAGNOSTIC ERROR CODE (A/T. WHEN I CALL THE RECALL CENTER THEY SAID THAT THIS REPAIR HAD ALREADY BEEN DONE IN 2005. THIS OBVIOUSLY COULD NOT HAVE BEEN DONE PROPERLY. I CALLED AGAIN WHEN I STARTED HAVING OTHER PROBLEMS WITH MY CAR INCLUDING HESISTATION DURING ACCELARATION . THIS TIME I WAS TOLD THAT MY VEHICLE'S "BATCH" NUMBER WAS NOT AFFECTED BY THE RECALL. I CALLED MY LOCAL ACURA DEALER (LEITH ACURA IN CARY,NC) TO GET AN ESTIMATE OF THE REPAIRS WHICH WAS MORE THAN THE VALUE OF THE CAR WHICH DID NOT INCLUDE THE "OFFICIAL DIAGNOSTIC TEST" WHICH WAS $131.00 ALONE. THEN WAS TOLD I WOULD HAVE TO PAY FOR THE TEST EVEN THOUGH I ALREADY HAD 2 SCAN REPORTS FROM MY LOCAL RETAIL STORE B/C THE STORE ONLY SCANS ONLY GAVE A "GENERAL" SCAN AND THAT THEIR SCAN WAS MORE SPECIFIC. I ASKED HOW CAN IT BE MORE SPECIFIC WHEN IT SHOWS THE EXACT RECALL DESCRIPTION. I WAS THEN TOLD THAT IF THAT WAS THE CASE THEN I WOULD BE REIMBURSED. .
THIS CAR HAS ALWAYS HADD SCHEDULED MAINTENANCE AND RECALLS PERFORMED ASAP. TRANSMISSION WAS SHIFTING ERRATICALLY SO IT WAS TAKEN TO TRANSMISSION PLACE BEFORE DUE AND IT WAS FLUSHED AND INSPECTED. IT STILL SHIFTS INCORRECLY BUT INTERMITTENTLY. I DECIDED TO DO SOME RESEARCH AND FOUND NUMEROUS SAFETY ISSUES WITH THE TRANSMISSION. I BOUGHT THIS BECAUSE IT WAS RATED AS SUCH A SAFE CAR FOR MY TEENAGER. I AM BEGINNING TO RETHINK MY ORIGINAL DECISION. ALL THE SCARY RESULTS OF THIS SYMPTOM HAVE HAPPENED AFTER THE PURCHASE. WE HAVE HAD IT SINCE SEPT 2014.
TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 2003 ACURA TL. WHEN THE CONTACT PLACED THE GEAR SELECTOR FROM REVERSE TO THE DRIVE POSITION, THE VEHICLE WOULD NOT SHIFT INTO GEAR. THE VEHICLE HESITATED AND THEN FINALLY WENT INTO GEAR. THE VEHICLE WAS SLUGGISH AND ROUGH AS IF IT WERE SHIFTING INTO THE NEUTRAL GEAR. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO A LOCAL MECHANIC WHERE IT COULD NOT BE DIAGNOSED. THE FAILURE RECURRED. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO A DEALER, BUT THE VEHICLE WAS NOT REPAIRED. THE MANUFACTURER WAS MADE AWARE OF THE FAILURE. THE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS UNKNOWN.
Showing 1–20 of 50 complaints
Complaints are unverified consumer reports submitted to NHTSA. A high complaint count may reflect vehicle popularity, not defect severity. Data sourced from NHTSA public records.
Data synced from NHTSA on Apr 25, 2026