2001 Acura CL problems
Owners have filed 317 complaints about the 2001 Acura CL with NHTSA. Power train accounts for 67.2% of them — far more than any other system, ahead of air bags at 10.1%.
Complaints317
Crashes23
Fires2
Injuries13
Deaths3
What owners report breaking
Power train 67.2% · 213
Air bags 10.1% · 32
Visibility 4.1% · 13
Electrical system 2.8% · 9
Service brakes, hydraulic 2.8% · 9
Vehicle speed control 2.5% · 8
Suspension 1.6% · 5
Engine and engine cooling 1.3% · 4
Severity
Of those complaints, 23 describe a crash, 2 describe a fire, 13 report an injury and 3 report a death.
Reading the numbers
Filings have fallen off, 7 in the last three years against 24 in the three before. That is normal as a generation leaves the road.
The median odometer reading at the time of complaint was 65,000 miles.
In owners' own words
Transmission failed two times and was replaced. The third time while the consumer was driving on the highway transmission failed, consumer lost control of the vehicle and hit a cement divider damaging the vehicle. The brakes and rotors have been replaces several times. The brake failure caused pulsation in the front end. The air bag casing popped out twice and the air bag has been replaced twice. *Yh *nlm Power train
Purchased 2001 acural 3.2Cl s-type with 32k miles. At 38k miles, car began to slip in 3rd gear. Transmission would completely disengage in 3rd, and I would have to shift it to adjacent gear to re-engage transmission. Over the course of the next week, slipping became increasingly more frequent. I have read many similar such complaints, and I am seriously concerned about the reliability of the CL transmission. Power train · reported at 38,000 miles
Transmission failure. Gears began to "slip", particularly between 2nd and 3rd, seemingly during upshifts and downshifts. The transmission felt as if it was searching for the right gear, and as it was engaging it, would slip. The engine would then rev freely. After completely letting it rev down to idle, gear would reengage some of the time. Other times had to stop and restart the car to get moving again. Power train
Verbatim from NHTSA filings. Complaints are unverified owner reports.
Safety recalls
Checking NHTSA for open recalls…