2014 Acura Rdx

Like many other Acura RDX 2014 owners, I have also experienced the dimming of headlights to the point where it is unsafe to drive in the evening or during severe weather conditions. After replacing the bulbs twice and cleaning the lenses, I took it to an Acura dealership. They checked the wiring and confirmed there were no issues, and said that the headlight assemblies are failing and need to be replaced. After searching the issue, I see it is common so I don't understand why this has not yet been recalled. It is a known issue that this car is unsafe to drive at night, endangering people in the vehicle, other drivers, and pedestrians. The alternative is to turn on high beams and blind oncoming drivers, which is just as dangerous. Acura is aware of this issue and confirmed no active recalls. I am passionate that this should be a recall - how is Acura okay with having cars on the road that are actively dangerous to drive at certain hours of the day? It's a defective vehicle and should be recalled. Get these off the road.

I recently purchased this vehicle and had nit driven it at night. On 07/20/22 at approximately 930pm I had to pick my son up at a friends home. We live in Florida and thunderstorms are routine here. While driving I noticed my visibility of the road was not clear. I pulled over during the storm and visually checked that my headlamps were on. They were except that the lighting was dim. I proceeded to pick up my son and discovered that on a dark road I could not see 5 feet in front of me. I continued my trip and witnessed a dog run across the front of my vehicle. I swerved and applied my brakes. I did not see this animal until it was right on top of me. I turned on my high beams and completed my trip with them on knowing that Law Enforcement could have easily cited me for it. The next day I purchased the two best and brightest bulbs I could find and had them installed in the car. This did not change anything. The headlights are still dim. I have read on message boards that this is a known problem with this vehicle. Have any accidents been reported citing dim headlights? Why has the manufacturer not issued a recall? I have not driven at night since the incident and would like some input from you.

I recently purchased a 14 Acura RDX about a month ago not realizing it would almost cost a possible fatality due to its poorly designed headlight. It was day time when I purchased the vehicle so I was not aware I would only be able to see approx 3-4 feet out at night using my low beams. That issue almost got me in a very horrible situation. A few nights ago I was leaving my nieces 5 year old bday party in a residential area that does not have street lighting, it was then that I turned my low beams on for the first time. I thought something was wrong with them because I could barely see. It was a clear night without rain but I was still unable to see anything further than approx 4ft in front of my vehicle (I cant imagine how dangerous it is when raining). As I started to accelerate to the speed limit I was approaching what looked a shadow of parked cars on the left side of the street. Just as I was approaching those cars to pass, a man walked onto the street from in between the cars, Im assuming to cross the street to get to a house. I did not see him and he did not see me until he was feet away from the corner of my car. I slammed on my breaks and he jumped out of the way in impeccable timing. Luckily, I was not going too fast since it was a residential area however, had he not seen me in that exact matter of time, he could have got seriously injured or killed. This was the first time I ever had to use my headlights, had I known how bad the lighting would be, I would never have drove that vehicle at night nor would I have purchased it. What’s the point in purchasing a vehicle you can only drive in the day and lose your freedom of choice to drive at night. That’s ridiculous. Not to mention, I had my 4 year old daughter with me that night who was also at risk in this situation. We all got very lucky nothing serious happened. So apparently after looking into the issue I discovered this model includes low beam projector lens that fail to function.

The standard driving headlights have become very dim over the past 2 years. Have replaced the bulbs with two different manufactured light bulbs with no discernable brightness change in the headlight. The lights did not illuminate any of the road when driving at night. Very dangerous situation. Had to use high beams to get any road illumination. Replaced the entire lighting assembly as online forums recommended that the issue was a delamination of the projector in the assembly. Newly installed assemblies on both sides remedied the problem.

Low beam headlights have become continually worse in the past four years. The bulbs are working fine, but the low beam headlights only project light out a few feet from the front of the car. The car is unsafe and undriveable at night using only the low beam headlights. The high beam headlights are fine, but driving with the high beam lights on at all times is also a safety hazard. The dealer told it is problem with the reflectors, not the bulbs. The dealer was familiar with the issue, but called the working of the low beam headlights as presented as "normal" for this year and model. It is NOT normal and is unsafe. This seems to be a common problem on the 2014-2015 model RDX, but Acura refuses to admit this is any kind of manufacturer's problem. The dealer, Acura of Bellevue (Washington) also did not want to offer a repair , even at my cost, but rather referred me to a third party company to seek repairs. Why would a dealer decline to offer a solution? This car should be recalled and the manufacturer should pay for repairs to make it safe.

Headlamp assemblies have failed due to apparent manufacturer defect. The defects are so significant that the vehicle becomes unsafe to drive at night, and even brand new bulb replacements have no effect. The entire headlamp assemblies are defective and must be replaced. These are known issues, and the predominent complaints listed not only on replacement part websites on the internet, but in NHTSA's own website for this vehicle - even more then the recalled airbags, are all specifically for this exact same issue being suffered by numerous complainants, but for some reason NHTSA has failed to recognize and enforce a recall on it. Acura/Honda has not even issued a service bulletin on it to allow its dealers to repair it, despite it being a known issue, and Honda Financial Services even deceitfully denies warranty claims, even lying about contract terms to avoid coverage. This is a serious safety issue affecting scores of owners of this vehicle, including the 2013, 2014, and 2015 model years, as reflected on the internet and in complaints. Owners may not even realize they are driving with a defective headlight until they get into or cause an accident. This needs to be flagged as an urgent RECALL requirement.

See attached letter for details. Incident date below reflects the VIN I currently own, when testing identified the safety-related defect. Accident details from previous same model. The same headlamps were the subject of the July 14, 2014 NHTSA Acura ILX Electrical & Lights Recall: 14V323000 on the 2013-2014 Acura ILX model. Yet, Acura continued to use these headlamps and failed to rectify the defect across its model lineup. Instead, the inherently faulty engineering, material, and manufacturing was destined to slowly degrade the reflective surface of the projector cup and lens under the heat output of the low beam halogen bulb that was, by Acura design, the automatic daytime running lights that remain on whenever the engine is running.

Vehicle is 2014 with 130K miles. We noticed that the headlights are getting dimmer to the point where it is unsafe to drive at night. The internal low beam reflector lens is fogged up preventing the headlight to light the road adequately. Called Acura dealer in Greenville SC and spoke to the service manager on 2/4/2022. He told me the heat from the headlamp is intense and the coating is starting to de-laminate causing the headlights to dim. He said Acura is aware of the problem but no recalls have been issued. He told me that Acura would not cover the repair and it would cost $2400 to replace both headlight assemblies. Many people have reported this problem but no recall has been issued....yet. This vehicle is unsafe to drive at night. I will be replacing the headlights at my own expense and keeping the headlight assemblies for further inspection if required. Dimming headlights is a slow process and we really started noticing it about a year ago.