Acura fans saddened by 2015 TLX transmission recall

A lot of comments are burning my eyes as I highly recognize my experience with this ZF 9 speed AT while reading through them. I bought a 2015 TLX V6 SH-AWD and I am very dissatisfied with the way the available engine power is rendered in an utterly wrong manner by the transmission.

I won't enumerate all the transmission related problems to save some ink, but so far after having a road test followed by a software update it did not change anything. The car still hesitates, still has serious lack of kick down, still emulates close ratio downshifts in a very rubbish manner, does not respond half of the time when calling a down shift from the paddle shifter (sometimes it takes 3-4 instructions back to back to actually have the transmission to downshift), has catastrophic lag even in Sport+ mode (most of the time feels utterly unresponsive to the driver instructions or too busy managing torque to lock the dog clutch or simply changing gear when not supposed to, etc.) and finally this transmission makes the car "plunge" or "propelled" forward as a result of a successfully computer downshift instruction. This is a very weird feeling and hard to explain, but when downshifting with a manual gearbox (and pretty much every respectable automatic) you feel the engine braking the car as a result of compression. Instead with this ZF unit, when you downshift it knocks and "goes" or "pushes" forward in a clunky manner, completely doing the contrary to what it should be doing, i.e. braking the car. I have been surprised in curves a couple of times and it felt very dangerous.

The local dealer has been fair with me, they acknowledge the frustration coming from the ZF equipped models, and they asked for feedback. I have already written a letter to Acura Canada and I am waiting for explanations together with an hopefully quick and permanent resolution to this issue. I don't know how they will come out with a solution to such a fundamental problem, and I doubt they will be able to solve a dog clutch design-related problem with a software update, but I have high hopes they will come out with a creative solution before they get burnt because of such a bad transmission choice, now extending the problem with the 2016 MDX.

We are experiencing the same problems with our 2015 TLX Tech package. First time Acura owner and most likely last. Just picked up from the dealer only have 400 miles on it and they said that they are getting a lot of complaints but to keep driving it as it may need to just be broken in....Will be sending a letter to Acura tomorrow, very disappointed, glad it is a lease and will diffidently be turning this in early if possible.

4700 miles on my 2015 TLX with adv. pack. took it in for software update, and tranny recall. Well right there in the service bay area, engine off, no emergency brake on, we could push it forward. I always use my E brake therefore never tested this prior to my service date. Nor do I recall any forward movement w/o the E brake. Now they've had the car for one week, the transmission never left Ohio, simply because the tech folks did not know the correct procedure, they were never told, to initiate an approval of recall,(test docs, etc.). So lets add another week or so just for transportation, then a min. of 3 days for removing, installing, testing, etc. My other concerns are on the way to fixing this, other gremlins will appear. After all, the whole engine is dropped down, drive shafts removed, never mind disconnecting/connecting electronic modules, wire harness, rebooting, etc. So this is my worst nightmare, I can only hope that a month from now, I will be praising the technicians, the dealer and Acura.
My motto: "prepare for the worst, hope for the best".
I've started a process with Acura, have a case no. and will be chatting with them once the process goes into second gear.
Wish me luck, I will need it.

Bought a 2016 MDX last month. The 9 speed transmission has been fantastic. Shifts are smooth. Drives like a dream. Only issue is the slow downshift due to the use of dog gears on one of the planetary gear sets. The other gear sets use the standard friction disk clutches. I am a huge fan of this transmission. The extra time to downshift while the computer sychronizes the dog gear shifts is not a big deal and is only on one of the shifts ( I think 4th to 5th).

I just returned two days ago with my TLX, the new transmission was installed. So far It seems that everything is in working order. The shits, auto or with paddles seem smooth and transparent in a sense. The dealership did a good job of keeping me abreast of time lines. Of course I was proactive and not waiting for them., I let them know I was involved. So after 150 miles with this new trannny, it seems that it's going well. The car was not scratched, it was cleaned and ready when I returned the loaner TLX. I have the optional 19" rims/tires and the loaner had the stock 18". and I'm impressed how my cars tracking is improved without the ride being jarring or too firm way. The mechanic who drove it for about 40 miles of (transmission) testing confirmed my opinion on the tired/rim combination.

I like this car and I hope that as time goes by it will prove to be a good decision on my part. As I like to say, "I hope the joy last longer than the car payment".

Kudos to Acura for owning up to this issue and standing by it's customer with no hesitation or BS problems.
I'm David

I am very disappointed in Acura and Honda in general. Acura has been slipping their reliability record down big time. tranny recalls, chipping noises from the engine, fit and finish problems etc... I am a True Honda fan and want to love both Acura and Honda but I keep coming to the same conclusion that Honda and Acura of today have changed. they're not a proud Japanese reliable engineering driven company that put shame on the faces of the top dogs 4x the price. they're all made in USA nowadays with a reliability record of average just like any American car. Acura/Honda isn't a true Japanese brand anymore as much as Lexus is today. Lexus vehicles are all (except RX350) are made in Japan and have excellent reliability track. furthermore, Lexus has proper line of trucks, sports cars (RWD and not just a bullshit fwd biased AWD system). just so dissapointed. every choice honda and acura have been making are wrong. why would they put such an unreliable outside engineered tranny brand such as ZF into their cars. A tranny that's shared between Jeeps and Landrovers? that's an insult to honda's engineering and self sufficiency. that 8 speed dual clutch with torque converted is both more capable, faster, and more reliable than the shitty zf. why are honda and acura so dumb. I hate them now.

I Have owned or leased five Acuras in my lifetime. My latest is the TLX V6 w/9 Speed transmission. In my opinion the TLX Transmission is a catastrophe waiting to happen. I leased mine in mid-Sept 2014 and have had it into the shop 4 times. One time was for the well-known "park" recall. Each time I brought it in I complained about the harsh shifting 1st to 2nd and 2nd to 3rd gear. They couldn't correct the problem and said it was a "quirk" of the transmission. I have also experienced the transmission shifting back and forth as if searching for the right gear causing the car to accelerate unexpectedly. This is especially annoying when going down hill where the car shifts into a different gear causing the car to suddenly accelerate. I've had two near accidents because of this. I am taking it back to the dealer again on June 29th. Hopefully they will have an answer for these problems. If not I am finished with Acura.

I bought a 2015 TLX 9 speed in Aug, 2015. Everything was fine for first 4 weeks, then a problem started. When shifting up (somewhere between 40-50 mph), right when the shift happens, I hear a whining that almost sounds like a belt. It would only happen when the car was cold. No transmission shifting issues... yet. I ignored the problem for a few weeks because I know the drill: I take it in for service, they claim they cannot reproduce problem, I go home pissed off. I figured I would wait to see if it got worse. It has. Now the noise happens all the time when upshifting or downshifting and the noise has gotten more intense. It almost sounds like when you have a filled balloon and you pinch the end while letting air out slowly. That kind of screeching/screaming noise.

As I was driving to work this morning getting more pissed about this, I made a right hand turn into oncoming traffic. The TLX downshifted as I slowed, and then I hit the gas - nothing. I pumped the gas, floored it, pumped more - nothing. I have read people saying it was like being in neutral but that isn't true. When in neutral the RPMs increase. In this situation it was like the gas petal was deactivated. Eventually (4 seconds?) it slowly reengaged and seemed fine. I was on the highway for 10 min and the car was surely plenty warmed up. I got off, made another right turn and same thing - nothing. This seems like a huge safety issue.

I just called Acura and told them about the problem. Service guy acted like he had "never" heard of such a thing. I told him I find that odd since it is all over the internet and there is a class action suit in CA. He scoffed and said "the internet? I can prove little green men are real if I read the internet." I take the car in for service soon, but I am not getting a warm feeling about this.

I have a 2015 TLX AWD and I pretty much have all the problems listed above and more including and just recently the engine shutting off two days in a row as I sat at a light in stop n go traffic. An Edison bulb appeared on the dash along with the instructions SHIFT TO PARK for a quick 2 secs and then disappeared. Only the engine shut off. Everything else was still on. I shifted to park and restarted the car pushing the on/off button and it started without a problem. The first time a big truck almost rear ended me. The second time a tired motorist trying to get home at 7:30p.m. just honked. Of course the techs can find nothing wrong with the car. I haven't been notified of any recall or updates by Acura either. I am very disappointed. I find the car unsafe in the traffic I drive in and I am unwilling to go anywhere far with the car. One of the other most unsafe experiences is making a right turn into heavy oncoming traffic where the car stopped midway into the turn and the rpms just went up but the car won't move. I immediately threw the stick into neutral and then back into drive and off I went quickly. My car is sitting in Santa Monica Acura and it is doubtful anything will be done.

Greetings folks...

SAD INDEED for this to happen to such a long time (certainly up until now) reputable company.
But, I suspect that Consumers Reports are aware of this regarding the Honda brand since according to the latest 740k customer review - Honda went down several ranks in overall quality and reliability - Acura is well below them now.

( remove the "-dot-" and replace with a mere period )
Ref.: www-dot-comsumerreports-dot-org/cars/how-car-brands-compare-for-reliability/
( PLAY THE VIDEO (notice the Chrysler comments) - note the chart )

David's comment:

"I told him I find that odd since it is all over the internet and there is a class action suit in CA."

Thanks David! THIS may explain why I just happened to see a 2015 TLX V6 SH-AWD with the technology and Advanced packages, new on the lot with a mere 248 miles on it with a big $7,000 off painted with large numbers on the windshield. I test drove it and it drove like a dream - but, now the approx. $40k question (that's 38+k plus tax) is how much longer before ANY of the following previous comments begin to happen?!!?

Damn!! I had really thought I had found the car to replace my 95' Accord with 177,000+ miles on it - with a REAL automatic transmission. Well...... maybe not. SAD!! At this rate, the Xitronic (Jatco) tranny that they're putting in the Nissan's for God sake is potentially more reliable than this. Even the Honda Accords with their CVT's don't seem to be having anywhere near this number of issues. It IS true that I haven't seen any comments since the end of September of 2015 - but it makes one wonder how many are having this issue that haven't found this Web site...

I don't think I want to gamble with $40k. If any of the Acura engineers are reading this - you can understand how I as a 'potential' first time Acura customer would feel. Turning the issue around - how would you feel? I find it VERY difficult to believe all these customers are 'imagining' this. What I am watching VERY CLOSELY is how Acura responds to these concerns...

hi,

going out to dinner I noticed that my VSA light was on pulled over try to reset and shut the car off the light remained on. got back from Dinner went to back into driveway their was no reverse in the car. the dash keep saying check transmission could not find the stick. thank you for your response....Ed

Purchased a used 2015 tlx adv package...I really like the vehicle but at times I do feel a jerk when the transmission shifts from 2nd to 3rd gear.