2021 Acura ILX problems: recalls, complaints and whether this is a year to avoid

Is 2021 a good year for the Acura ILX?

The spread across this nameplate is wide: the 2013 draws 6 times the complaints of the 2021. On a run like that the model year you buy matters more than the badge, and 2021 sits near the bottom of it.

Older years have been on the road longer and collect more complaints for that reason alone, and a year that sold in higher volume collects more while being no worse.

This retrieval holds 7 of the nameplate’s model years. 2014, 2020 are absent, which means no records came back for them — not that they were clean. The ranking above is among the years shown.

The 2021 accounts for 5% of every complaint filed against the Acura ILX in this retrieval, which works out to 2.2 complaints per year on the road across the 5 years since it was sold new — the figure to compare against other years, because it removes the advantage a newer car gets simply from having had less time to accumulate reports.

Complaints fell against the preceding year: the 2021 carries 31% of the 2019’s reports. Some of that is age, but a drop this large between consecutive years often marks a fix.

What do owners report on the Acura ILX?

Across every Acura ILX year, not the 2021 alone — NHTSA does not split component totals by model year.

• Air Bags — 53 reports
• Service Brakes — 30 reports
• Fuel System — 23 reports
• Electrical System — 22 reports

Which other Acura ILX years should you compare?

← 2019 Acura ILX · All Acura ILX years

If you are deciding between years, the table above is the short answer and the Acura ILX page carries the full run with the component breakdown. Before money changes hands, run the VIN for open recalls and read the inspection checklist — ten minutes in the seller’s driveway finds most of what matters.