2005 Acura RL problems & reliability
125 owner complaints filed with NHTSA for the 2005 Acura RL, alongside 11 safety recall campaigns. Last verified Aug 7, 2026. Complaints are unverified reports submitted by owners to the federal Office of Defects Investigation.
Each complaint is counted once (by NHTSA case number), even when it names several vehicles.
2 complaints report injuries (2 injured).
Federal crash records (FARS 2020–2023): 2005 Acura RL vehicles were involved in 11 fatal crashes with 5 occupant deaths. Involvement counts are not adjusted for how many are on the road and do not imply fault or a vehicle defect.
Most reported problems
| Component | Complaints | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Exterior Lighting | 49 | 39% |
| Air Bags | 36 | 29% |
| Electrical System | 18 | 14% |
| Service Brakes, Hydraulic | 7 | 6% |
| Structure | 7 | 6% |
| Unknown OR Other | 5 | 4% |
| Vehicle Speed Control | 4 | 3% |
| Equipment | 3 | 2% |
| Power Train | 3 | 2% |
| Suspension | 3 | 2% |
Component groups as classified by NHTSA. A complaint can name more than one component, so shares may sum to more than 100%.
Common symptoms owners describe
Keyword analysis of complaint narratives; one complaint can describe several symptoms.
Mileage when problems occurred
Half of the failures with a reported odometer reading occurred by 75,000 miles (middle 50% between 50,000 and 128,750 miles), based on 74 complaints that included mileage.
Complaints by incident year
What owners report
“I bought the car there was no airbag light on it I was driving down my road and it just randomly turned on been on ever since. Sunnyside Acura Told me that the frontal driver side airbag was replaced in 2016, Then they told me that it would not be under recall because they pretty much said they had already fixed it…”
Air Bags · filed Apr 26, 2025
“Small electric fire in driver side door panel melted all the way through outside door handle . After this happened to me I looked through forums and this seems to be a common issue with this car and there has been no recall for this issue . Very unsafe”
Electrical System · filed Aug 29, 2021
“My vehicle's dashboard glove box is defective. I believe this happens to many vehicles which no one bothers to report. My glove box, when it's hot or the sun is out, the external leather or material that it is made of, softens and deteriorated like it's melted plastic. Any contact the leather has with anything, the…”
Structure · filed Jun 4, 2020
Verbatim excerpts from complaints filed with NHTSA. Reports are not independently verified.
Federal defect investigations
- Air Bag Inflator Rupture
Engineering Analysis EA15001 · opened Feb 24, 2015 · open · led to recall 22V945
- Air Bag Inflator Rupture
Preliminary Evaluation PE14016 · opened Jun 11, 2014 · closed Mar 2, 2015 · led to recall 15V226000
- Vehicle Stability Assist Malfunction
Engineering Analysis EA13002 · opened Feb 21, 2013 · closed Mar 29, 2013 · led to recall 13V092000
Technical service bulletins
132 manufacturer communications (TSBs, service campaigns, warranty extensions) are on file with NHTSA for the 2005 Acura RL. The 10 most recent:
Service Bulletin - Warranty Extension: Customer Support Program For Front Passenger's Airbag Inflator.
B18-023 · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions · issued Jun 30, 2026
Service Bulletin - Warranty Extension: Customer Support Program For Driver's Airbag Inflator for 2013-14 ILX Hybrid and Other Listed Years and Models.
B18-020 · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions · issued Feb 28, 2026
Service News - The navigation clock and date are incorrect. This is due to a limited GPS receiver capacity resulting in rollover of internal chip memory. The rollover occurred on January 1, 2022 at 12:00AM local time
B23040A · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions · issued May 17, 2023
Service bulletin - This bulletin is a notification of a class action settlement relating to airbag inflators. American Honda is offering a Customer Support Program (Warranty Extension) to cover any manufacturing defects…
B18-020 · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions · issued Apr 8, 2022
Service Bulletin - This bulletin is a notification of a class action settlement relating to airbag inflators. American Honda is offering a Customer Support Program (Warranty Extension) to cover any manufacturing defects…
B18-020 · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions · issued Mar 1, 2022
ServiceNews Article - The clock shows the incorrect time. This issue is due to a limited GPS receiver capacity resulting in "rollover" of the internal chip memory; the "rollover" will occur on January 1, 2022, at…
B21120A · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions · issued Jan 25, 2022
Service Bulletin - This bulletin is a notification of a class action settlement relating to airbag inflators. American Honda is offering a Customer Support Program (Warranty Extension) to cover any manufacturing defects…
B20-010 · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions · issued Mar 10, 2020
Service Bulletin - This bulletin is a notification of a class action settlement relating to airbag inflators. American Honda is offering a Customer Support Program (Warranty Extension) to cover any manufacturing defects…
B20-006 · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions · issued Mar 10, 2020
Service Bulletin - This bulletin is a notification of a class action settlement relating to airbag inflators. American Honda is offering a Customer Support Program (Warranty Extension) to cover any manufacturing defects…
B18-020 · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions · issued Dec 11, 2019
Service bulletin - This bulletin is a notification of a class action settlement relating to airbag inflators. American Honda is offering a Customer Support Program (Warranty Extension) to cover any manufacturing defects…
B18-025 · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions · issued Jun 7, 2018
TSBs are repair guidance manufacturers send to dealers — they are not recalls and repairs are not automatically free. Full documents are available on NHTSA’s site.
Safety recalls
The 2005 Acura RL has 11 NHTSA recall campaigns — recall repairs are free at franchised dealers regardless of the vehicle’s age.
Check whether your specific vehicle is affected
Recall campaigns often cover only certain VIN ranges. Enter your VIN on the official NHTSA site to confirm whether your vehicle is included and whether the repair is still open.
Check VIN on NHTSA →Buying a used 2005 Acura RL?
- · Decode the seller’s VIN with our free VIN decoder to confirm the exact year, engine and trim.
- · Check for unrepaired recalls by VIN on NHTSA’s official lookup — recall repairs are free.
- · Owners most often reported problems around 75,000 miles — budget accordingly if the car is approaching that mileage.