2025 Acura MDX

The numbers

Complaints

72

Received Aug 2025 to Oct 2026

Last 3 months

30

About 17.6 expected from this vehicle's own history

Compared with other vehicles

29×

How much more often this vehicle's complaints from the last 24 months are about this problem than other vehicles' complaints are

Estimated recall chance

19%

Model's estimate that a recall covering this problem follows within 24 months (rank 4 of 37,834 vehicle-problem pairs)

Reported in these complaints: 0 crashes, 0 fires, 0 injuries, 0 deaths. An AI check found 61 of the 72 recent complaints are about this problem on this vehicle.

What owners report

There are 72 complaints about the 2025 MDX for this theme, received from August 2025 to October 2026. Half of them

(36) came in July–October 2026, including 14 in August 2026 alone. The complaints describe nearly the same failure every time. At a red light or stop sign, Auto Idle Stop shuts the engine off as designed. When the driver releases the brake, the engine does not restart, and the vehicle is stuck in a live traffic lane until the driver shifts to Park and restarts it by hand. That manual restart sometimes takes several tries or up to about 10 minutes. Few of these complaints describe a true stall while moving: the problem is a failure to restart from an idle stop. The owners are independent and spread across many dealers. Several report that dealers replaced the starter, the battery or both and the problem came back, which points to a cause beyond a single bad part. Other MDX model years also have complaints on this theme: 45 for 2020 (21 recent, signal active), 24 for 2016 (9 recent, active), 19 for 2019 and 8 each for 2007 and 2017. The 2025 count and its peak PRR of 29.5 are the highest of any model year. Most of the older years fall under fuel-pump recall 23V858000. What failure their owners describe has not been checked here, and owners of the 2025 model say the federal investigation covers the 2016–2025 MDX. The same theme is also surging on the 2024–2026 Honda Odyssey and the 2025 Honda Ridgeline, which suggests a problem in a system Honda uses across several models. No crashes, injuries or fires have been reported. None of the three recalls on the 2025 MDX covers this problem.

How it fails

Auto Idle Stop shuts the engine off at a stop. When the brake is released, the engine fails to restart. The dash may show 'To start engine: Brake + Push', 'RESTART ENGINE', 'Idle Stop Function: Press Brake to Restart' or transmission warnings. Some owners say the vehicle shifts itself out of Drive or into Park. A manual restart often fails at first, and some owners only succeed after setting the parking brake or opening and closing the door. The failure comes back again and again on the same vehicles, often several times a week. Some owners notice slow cranking beforehand. Reported mileages run from under 10,000 to about 27,500 miles. Replacing the starter or battery has not stopped it for several owners, including one on a third starter and one with two batteries and a starter replaced.

Safety risk

The vehicle is left without power in an active traffic lane or intersection, often at the moment the light turns green. That creates a risk of being rear-ended or hit by cross traffic. Owners describe being stuck for up to about 10 minutes, one calling police for help with an infant on board and one at an expressway off-ramp. No crashes or injuries have been reported so far. Some owners say they avoid the failure by switching Auto Idle Stop off every time they start the vehicle. One owner says there is no way to turn the system off.

Findings and the complaints behind them

1. Many independent owners describe the same sequence: Auto Idle Stop shuts the engine off at a light or stop sign, and the engine fails to restart when the brake is released, leaving the vehicle stranded in traffic.

   NHTSA complaint numbers: 11773609, 11771386, 11770899, 11767472, 11764819, 11763310, 11762658, 11761810, 11759837, 11758463, 11757065, 11756817, 11755686, 11754284, 11747083, 11746622, 11745473, 11739504, 11737684, 11736850, 11735584, 11734545

2. Replacing the starter or battery does not reliably fix it. Owners report the failure returning after dealer starter replacements (two starters in one case, a third starter in another), after one or two battery replacements, and after a battery and starter were replaced together.

   NHTSA complaint numbers: 11772712, 11767195, 11760772, 11757405, 11759336, 11762996, 11735602, 11765668

3. One dealer diagnosed a failed starter on bench testing (9.7 A draw, voltage below 7.3 V) and replaced it. The complaint does not make clear whether the owner's later no-restart happened before or after that repair. Other owners report slow or hesitant cranking alongside the failures. This points to the starting circuit or the restart control logic.

   NHTSA complaint numbers: 11771218, 11763829, 11757152, 11739107, 11735372

4. Manual restart is often hard: it takes several attempts, up to about 10 minutes, or tricks such as setting the parking brake or opening the door. Some owners see the vehicle shift to Park or show transmission warnings. Two of these complaints use nearly identical template wording, including the same 10-minute stranding, so they may not be fully independent reports.

   NHTSA complaint numbers: 11747615, 11738526, 11738536, 11757151, 11754100, 11749541, 11760772

5. Several owners say dealers told them the problem is known or seen on many vehicles of this model year. Others say dealers could not reproduce it and would not do anything.

   NHTSA complaint numbers: 11769975, 11764853, 11756581, 11741596, 11750848

6. One owner reports a stall at a stop after highway driving even though a recall software update had been done. It is not stated which recall.

   NHTSA complaint number: 11749909

Recalls checked

• 25V031000Similar problem on another vehicle

  A fuel-injection ECU software error causing engine stall or loss of power. It covers only the 2022–2025 MDX Type S (plus the Pilot and TLX Type S). It does not cover the Auto Idle Stop restart failure on the standard 2025 MDX.

• 23V858000Similar problem on another vehicle

  Fuel pump failure on many Honda and Acura models, including the MDX up to model year 2023, which covers most of the older MDX years with complaints on this theme. It does not include the 2025 MDX and describes a different part.

• 26V332000Looked at, unrelated

  Front passenger seat weight sensor (air bag occupant classification).

• 25V391000Looked at, unrelated

  Brake pedal pivot pin not properly secured.

• 25V032000Looked at, unrelated

  Center touchscreen may go blank, so the rearview camera image does not display.

Open questions

• Is the root cause the starter, the 12V battery and charging control, or the idle-stop restart software in the powertrain control module, given that starter and battery replacements have not fixed it for several owners?
• Owners cite an NHTSA engineering analysis (EA25-004) of Auto Idle Stop no-restart on Honda and Acura vehicles. Does it include the 2025 MDX, and will any remedy cover this model year?
• Do the active complaints on the 2020 and 2016 MDX describe the same idle-stop no-restart, or fuel-pump stalls covered by 23V858000?
• Do the 2024–2026 Odyssey and 2025 Ridgeline surges on this theme share the same failure and parts as the 2025 MDX?
• Can Auto Idle Stop be disabled on every 2025 MDX? One owner reports it cannot be turned off.
• What share of affected vehicles are Type S models, and has the 25V031000 software update changed how often the failure occurs on them?