2002 Acura TL 3.2 TLS from North America - Comments

Try the hondatransmissionsettlement.com website. If you enter your VIN it should tell you if you qualify or not. It can also give you information on what the settlement entails.

It appears my VIN does not fall into the class action category in regards to the transmission recall. I am stuck with a car that does not work. I called Acura and they told me it's out of warranty. Thanks Acura.

My late 03 TL is also not covered in the extended warranty.

61k miles and Trans went out with slipping on the 2 to 3 upshift and when going to rev.

Took it to the dealer - they verified it's not covered under warranty, but made a call to Acura corporate and they agreed to goodwill me a trans for free. I also received a new TSX to drive in the meantime.

The 2002 Acura TLS will be our last Honda/Acura purchase. After being a loyal Honda & Acura family for the past 20 years, we are so disappointed with the transmission slipping. The dealership has not been able to determine what is wrong and has done nothing, even after the mechanic test drove the car and said it was slipping into the automatic third gear. I took it to AAMCO and they determined the transmission to be faulty. I just spent over $3,500 for a new (rebuilt) transmission. Since I have only 55,000 miles on the car, I hope this one will last. The transmission was previously replaced at 18,000 miles under the manufacturers warranty.

Hi I have a 1999 3.2 Tl that I bought from my brother in jan. 2004 with 91000 miles. the actuator has not worked since I got the car from him. was there ever a recall on them? and would I qualify? lately I have been having problems. my car is slipping uphills when it goes from 2nd to third gear. I did not know about any transmission recalls or class action lawsuits. I now have 135000 miles on my car. will I be covered for a new transmission? any advice would be very helpful. thanks.

I have a 2001 TL. Transmission was replaced at 55,000 miles. Now at 124,000, need another transmission. The dealer says it will pay for the transmission and only charge me for labor ($1100). Is this the best I can expect?

I am so glad that I just happened upon this website because I was going to buy a 2002 Acura 3.2TL s-type; and you all have shown me the light. Good lookin out, I'm going to call the bank and cancel the check to the dealership immediately. OMG you guys have absolutely no idea how glad I am that I found this website. Thank U Thank U Thank U For real!!!

To the person two posts ahead (transmission broke again at 124k miles)...sounds like your car has too many miles to fall under the court settlement warranty of 109k miles. That stinks. But if the guy is willing to fix it for $1100 you might take him up on the offer and then drive it for about 5k-10k miles more and trade it in. I don't think I could sell it to someone knowing what I know about these transmissions - but I sure could sell it back to the dealer.

To the person who posted above this (going to call the bank to cancel the check)...good idea, cancel away. I love the way this car looks, drive and feels, but in hind sight I wouldn't buy it again. I feel perfectly safe in this car, but I have this deep feeling that once the extended warranty runs out it's going to cost me some money.

Does anyone else wonder that as these cars age and more and more are off the market that the cost of replacing the transmission will go up? There will be fewer of these transmissions available as Acura stops making them... supply and demand. As these cars continue to depreciate (as all cars do over time) do I want to be saddled with a potentially high cost repair?

Even though my 99 TL left me and my family stranded in Houston, I thank God that we weren't stranded on a desolate highway in the middle of the night. My TL has been in the garage for 6mos with the same problem everyone else has had. I bought the car with 86,000 miles on it. Acura replaced the first transmission @ 119,000 with an additional $1000. The car now has 192,000. I presumed that Acura had corrected the problem when they replaced it. But they replaced it with the same crap. I have preached Honda and I being shafted. I have owned a Civic, I still have my accord with 215,000+ miles on it, I have persuaded numerous people to buy into Honda products. How embarrasing. There are too many other cars that are just as reliable as this garbage.

What I really want to know is what are our options? Who has found an inexpesive place to replace the transmission? Where can I find rebuilt 99 transmissions? I refuse to pay $4500 to fix this car.

Wow, it made it to 192k? Many of the American cars that people preach about would be dead by that mileage. Yeah, maybe their transmission would not go, but sure as heck they would not be worth anything to repair.

I have a 2000 TL, and am the original owner of it. The car has 116,000 miles on it, and had no major issues until a couple of weeks ago when the transmission started to act up with similar problems that I just read on this blog, like jerky upshifting from the 2nd to the third and gear slipping with high engine reving, etc. The car became a serious safety hazard with abrupt down shifting almost to a dead stop from let's say 40 mph. Talk about sweating!!

I took the car in to the dealer, and they mentioned no chronic or design issues with these transmissions. I just thought at 116K miles, this could happen. The car is in the Acura shop to be worked on the next few days. My cost for the transmission is $2600 plus tax. Now I know there have been folks who got their transmission fixed for cars with > 100K miles for free or just paying for labor (~ $1000). I will see what I can do talking to the service manager tomorrow (Mon), but I am not sure if I want to keep the car. I am having other stuff done like timing belt, brakes, 105K tune-up, etc at the total cost of close to $5K!!!

Wondering if this is the right decision, but as-is the car may not be worth anything.

I would sell it as is for 2 or 3 grand and disclose its issues in my opinion. Its 7 years old. If you fix it you will probably be netting about the same amount. I sold mine over safety only. It ran great, but had the trans done and I disclosed it honestly as Car Fax had it all reported anyway. I feel I am coming out ahead now having domestics. The repair costs are over with. You learn.. hopefully you will have better luck on the next vehicle.

I've thought about this a lot just in case I'm put in the situation. But if my 01 TL had the transmission fail after warranty coverage had expired I'd either sell it as is, like the person ahead suggested, or I'd fix it and drive it for 10,000 miles or so as I shopped for a new car. (The new trans should be good for 10,000 miles, right?) You can use kbb. com (Kelly Blue Book)or Edmunds.com to determine what your car would trade for with a fixed transmission. And you know what it would cost to fix it. So get a calculator and crunch some numbers and decide what you think is best. But I think you are correct to get a different car - this one is a possible danger and a definite money pit. Good luck.

Hello All-

Upon reading most of these comments, I am in poor spirits. My boyfriend has a 2000 Acura 3.2TL and last week, it began to have the same transmission symptoms listed by hundreds of people before me. I have a few questions that weren't explicitly answered in the posts before me.

- So there was a settlement in a class-action suit against Acura, right? What were the stipulations for people who want to get their transmissions replaced? For instance, my boyfriend's car has more than 100k miles on it, but may have less than 109 on it... would it still be covered under the extended warranty?

- My boyfriend's parents bought the Acura secondhand from a relative; since they are the second owners, is the warranty null and void?

- If he ends up getting it fixed, what should he expect in terms of cost for all scenarios, i.e., if he has to get it wholly replaced (it isn't covered by the extended warranty) or if the dealership he goes to just charges him labor?

Any other tips would be helpful, please contact me at abclemens@gmail.com. It's very difficult for him because he's away from home now (he's in Yorktown, VA on an internship) and doesn't really know what to do, especially since he works all day and can't get into a dealership to get the car examined. Plus, he'll have to drive it home at the end of the summer, and home is Detroit, MI.

Hi All.

I am an original owner of 3.2TL. I received a recall letter (summer 2004) about the faulty transmission. I brought the car to the dealer to have the transmission diagnosed. The dealer did not find any issue with the trans. They then installed the OIL JET into my car. Now my trans is on its way out, so I brought it back to the dealer, and they said that my car is out of warranty (134K miles), therefore I have to pay out of my pocket to have it fixed. The cost is $4500 + labor + tax. I think this is ridiculous. I never knew any company would put warranty on a faulty product.

I think we should all gang up and make our voices heard loud and clear on this matter. I am thinking of gathering more information on this issue and send them to Acura Manufacture. If that does not work, I will then get the media involved. My email address is locbe2002@yahoo.com.