So Long, My Jerking Acura RDX

Joe Average | 10th May 18

2014 MDX owner here. I think Acura is having trouble matching the transmission behavior to people’s expectations. Some people want cushy buttery smooth shifting, some people want snappy sporty shifts. I don’t know if your RDX has this but our MDX does – there is a button next to the shifter labeled IDS. Just search Google for “MDX IDS” for more info.

It makes two things happen that I can detect: It changes the steering feel and the transmission shift style. I’ve read it also changes the active noise reduction inside the cabin but I’m not sure about that.

There are three modes – comfort, normal and sport. The steering is very easy in comfort and the shifts are more soft. In sport the steering is heavy and the shifts are harder.

Around town I use normal or comfort. On highway trips I prefer the heavier steering of sport. It think it helps the MDX deal with cross winds and buffeting from big trucks better. Feels better planted and solid.

You can make the changes default to whatever you want in the car’s settings (in the little display menus between the tach and speedometer).

Your dealer doesn’t know their product very well if they haven’t been coaching you to try out the different modes to see if you like the way the car drives better.

R.E. | 6th Aug 18

2018 RDX Advance Package

Have the hesitation at low speed primarily when cornering.Had to dealership twice,going back AGAIN
next week. Not happy!!

Bill Malcolm | 10th Sep 18

Read your other article on the subject as well. Amazing that the RDX with the identical engine and transmission as the V-6 Accord of 2013 to 2017 should have an absurd jerky 1-2 shift. That transmission is a six-speed and has been around for a while. It should be refined and have had all the rough edges ironed out years ago, way back in the oughties when it first debuted.

I’m an actual car enthusiast and a mechanical engineer besides. I had never owned a Honda or Acura (Acura is just a division of Honda) when I went and tested the new TLX sedan in all three guises in late 2014 when they came out. Long story short, the four cylinder damn near killed me and the salesmen when its transmission lost drive to the wheels when I was turning back into the dealership (the aforementioned Atlantic Acura above). I was furious. So they said, have a go in this V6, which I knew had a new ZF 9 speed German-designed transmission, different from the 8 speed in the 4 cylinder which Acura was solely responsible for.

So off we went, That thing was herky-jerky shifting the whole test drive. On the highway a constant buffering occurred. Same thing with the SH-AWD version. Subsequent monitoring of Acura forums on the web and other personal experiences of that same dreaded 9 speed ZF on Chryslers, proved that the transmission was an underdeveloped horror. They still shove it in the TLX and MDX, Odysseys to this day, partially tamed down from its original uselessness. The “buffeting” turns out to be when the V6 automatically shuts off 3 cylinders at cruise and causes sympathetic vibrations in the bodywork. I worked that out for myself at the time by goosing it – the engine turns back to 6 cylinders for acceleration and the buffeting went away. You’d think that someone, you know, might have, could have, perhaps maybe might have, been awake enough when they were developing the car to have noticed. Given that it took me all of ten minutes wending my way through suburban streets from the dealer and a minute on the actual four-lane highway to find out. Just saying.

Like I told the dealer, with every example on the lot not even having the door tops meet evenly and orange-peel paint and the useless engineering, the car was the most underdeveloped load of old rope it had been my displeasure to test drive in forty years. It also generally felt leaden and the promise of sports sedan responses resided only in the marketers’ heads. Gave that car a wide berth and kept my old one, a far superior machine.

The trails of despondency on Acurazine webforum about the car have now gone on for four years. Some people never got satisfaction from transmission software “updates”. Some eventually got replacement transmissions from the 2016 redo, and now praise the car, even though it’s still not up to par, just a whole lot less bad. As regards the buffeting, it still goes on. Some people spent thousands on wheels and tires finely balanced, but that wasn’t the basic cause – it was the 6 to three cylinder switch at cruise and by natural variation just worse on some cars than others. Lackadaisical engineering in my personal view. Of course, there were always bright sparks popping up on the forums saying that their car was perfect and that the sufferers were hallucinating, making some people lacking self-confidence feel even worse. And other duller folk who seemed happy with theirs and never noticed anything, wondering what all the fuss was about.

I guess I’m lucky in that I pinned down the dreadfulness on my test drives by being a tuned-in enthusiast, but for the average consumer more attuned to believe that Honda-ness is next to godliness, they just bought the thing and suffered afterwards. The standard response of “your car is operating as designed” is a bad joke – it just means it was lousy design, no ifs or buts about it.

So to find here that the old six speed transmission in your RDX was (is) jerky is not comforting news. I recently drove the new Accord with its 10 speed designed by Honda, and not any relation to the rotten 9 speed in current V6 TLX, MDX, Pilot Elites and some Odysseys. It does seem sorted and unobtrusive, but then they’d have to have been blind, deaf and dumb not to realize they HAD to get it right this time. Too bad about the intrusive tire whir and roar on the new Accord. Maybe one day they’ll get it right, but I’m not holding my breath. As I told the salesman, if your new wowee car is noisier than my top of the line but ten year old Subaru Legacy GT, what do you expect me to do? Hand over near $40K and say thankyou?

I guess it’s worthwhile to reiterate – fully test drive your car choice and don’t purchase it as if it were some white-good appliance expecting everything bad has been scienced out by modern “technology”. And don’t rationalize the shortcomings you find. It’ll be you kicking yourself a few weeks later when that dread feeling of “What have I done?” comes over you if you decide to ignore what you had already noticed. Always give yourself two test drives, and insist on the second one that you drive it from cold by yourself. No warming it up behind the scenes before you get in – that covers a possible multitude of sins.

The latest CR-V has a mighty-mouse turbo engine which has the apparent habit of diluting its engine oil with gasoline, so avoid that for the time being. The oil dipstick starts to indicate more oil over time! More, not less. China made Honda recall them, but the excuse I get here is that it’s because the engines are Chinese made – sure, but it’s identical to the ones made in Ohio; what, are they going to make it out of cardboard and plastic or something over there? All iPhones are made in China. The CR-V engine problem is one of those things that doesn’t affect daily driving to begin with and only noticeable by gas smell and dipstick, so if you meet owners who haven’t encountered the problem yet personally, well it’s unfortunately probably just a matter of time, sad to say. If people do complain, for your pains Honda will make you jump through the hoops of an oil test to see if the oil level rises. This is a polite way of telling you to get lost, in my humble opinion, but probably works for 80% of customers. Nobody knows the long term effect on engine lubrication by gasoline dilution of the oil yet because the engine is relatively new on the market and is in all models of Civic as well.

You can guess what I think about the upcoming autonomous self-driving cars. Wouldn’t trust ’em even after a thorough prod with a ten-foot barge pole. If well-known car makers make duds and then excuse themselves from responsibility saying they’re all like that ma’am/sir, I’d rather not discover their brain fade moments on the highway at an inopportune moment.

Victor lduh | 1st Feb 19

I had the same problem that you described with my 2017 MDX, the dealership also told the same thing they told you. I always knew the dealerships was aware the problems but has a generic answer for everyone. My MDX was a lease with the intention to own. I added things like tow hitch, cross bars, vertical bars and side molding unto my car. I really intended to keep the car after lease. I loved the looks, the seat configuration, and the head lights. I couldn’t stand the shift and the infotainment center. Those two items made me sad anytime l get in the car. I tried to love my car but l couldn’t move past just liking it. It was a hassle turning on the heat, getting the right radio station, switching from radio to music on my iPod. A luxurious car was suppose to make things easier to navigate. I went over to pick up a family friend for the weekend. Family friend got in the car and as soon as l moved the car towards a service road, he noticed that the car was jerky. Last week, l drive to a Toyota dealership and traded it in for a Camry. I have been happy ever since. The driving dynamics to the Acura is night and day. Before l forget, it also uses a regular gas. No more Honda/Acura for me

John doe | 12th Mar 19

Drama queens, just drive the car and stop thinking about it so much. Honda makes great cars and transmission. I don’t understand what people expect, my sister drives a Porsche cayenne sub. She turns the AC and it makes a little sound of air moving through the vents. She complains because apparently moving air should make a sound. I heard it and it was nothing. I recommend you all get an old 90s beater and drive it around for a month and then you will get a better perspective.

MARTHA | 10th Jun 19

I am experiencing this same problem too! It started this weekend, and I got my 2016 RDX, used with 75K miles, just in January. My husband noticed the problem in the morning on our way to church, and then this morning I noticed it when I was driving to work. My car also makes a squeaky/screeching noise when breaking.

Wlamo | 19th Aug 19

I have been an Acura owner since New 2004 MDX, never had a problem with SUV, because of that I purchase a New 2008 TL no problem either. Both vehicle are still used by my family . In 2018 I purchase New 2018 RDX this vehicle is making me very nervous the last couple of week I have experiences the jerking and bucking motion with the acceleration . On 8/13/2019 I immediately drove it to the dealership to address jerking and bucking issues. after the service mechanic tightened some loose apart of the vehicle other then that they did not find any thing work with it . But Sunday 8/18/2019 the vehicle had serial of jerking and bucking motions while accelerating. I have appointment with dealership on 8/21/2019. I wish I found this website before purchasing , because I do not like car troubles while still make payment. I only have 19,000 miles on this vehicle

James W | 20th Sep 19

Hi Julie, I’ve had my 2015 RDX for 2.5 years and just started experiencing this jerky shifting problem. What no one else has mentioned is that it goes away after the car is shut off and restarted. It doesn’t happen ALL THE TIME, which is probably why the dealers can’t replicate the problem easily. Something on the engine \ transmission must reset when it is restarted. I’m going to give it a bit more time and try some of the ideas on this thread before taking it to the dealer. I will post an update if anything changes.

Bob c | 24th Oct 19

This post makes me think I am not crazy…!2017 Rdx owner same exact thing is happening. Took it to the dealer twice. They said they were unable to reproduce the problem and no faulty codes were coming up. Something seems electronic because at times it is completely normal and then other times it hesitates from 1st to second .

Joseph | 31st Dec 19

I read most of jerking comments about 2016 rdx but no one has mentioned resetting transmission because it changes the computer according to your driving habits. Mine started to shift a little funny at 40,000 and I reset and it seemed to work. Need a few more days driving to be sure. Only difference is I live in Fl. So not very cold here. Also I really love the advance package. Traded my 2003 Olds Bravada for this and I have no other problems so far. Knock on wood.

Jose Castellon | 18th Jan 21

Most unfortunate the continued questionable behaviors with Acura vehicles. May I share with you one more instance on a transmission issue I experienced. In December of 2019, I purchased a certified preowned RDX. I believe it is the basic of all the available RDX models. Within 2 weeks I began to notice what Acura Cerritos dealership refers to as “jerky motion in the transmission”. It is important to ask the dealership on the terminology they use to better communicate with them. My initial attempts bringing it into the dealer where met with “the technician cannot reproduce the behavior you are experiencing”. I’m paraphrasing. So I had to take it upon myself to provide evidence of the jerky motion by video taping the behavior whenever it would occur. I would focus the camera strictly on the dashboard so it would show the speed and rpm. That would allow me to focus on the road. While video taping I would narrate the problem to compliment the video. I would make comments about the environment of the road and traffic conditions and whether I was on the highway or streets. I also realized that the occurrence changes between the engine being on vs off then on again. Once you pull over and turn off the car then restart, the jerkiness would go away until the next occurrence would present itself. The key to reproducing the behavior at the dealership is to NOT turn off the vehicle once you get there. You have to tell the attendants outside to NOT TURN OFF THE VEHICLE UNTIL THE SERVICE MANAGER SEES THE CAR”! It was only then that the service manager was able to obtain an error code from the computer. In my case is was the 3 gear solenoid or pressure switch as some call it. I had also discovered in the glove compartment a service invoice were the original owner was also experiencing this strange jerky motion in the transmission but it was met with “technician cannot reproduce problem”. I realized very quickly that learning Acura lingo is extremely important so the service manager can enter your description correctly so the technician has a better sense of what to look for. This may be easier said than done. The jerky gear shifting hasn’t occurred since the repair, but I also feel that the expectation of the gear shifting from a so called luxury vehicle should be smooth and not constantly feel the shift from one gear to the next. I also noticed that the gear shifting from a stopped position varies from a slow acceleration to a fast acceleration. When I accelerate slowly from a traffic light, I tend to feel the change in gear with a slight forward lean of the body from one gear to the next. On the other hand, if I accelerate quickly from a traffic light, the gear shifting is quick and without any sensation of my body leaning forward. I believe that I am hyper-focused now that I have encountered this problem with the RDX. I don’t expect that Honda USA will have any roadmap to improve upon older RDX models and will only improve on the newer models they release. Thank you for your time and allowing me an opportunity to share my experience. I don’t expect to get another Acura any time soon.