Buyer Research

2013 Acura TL — Should You Buy One?

Typical asking price: $9,000–$15,000. There are 2 high-severity known issues you need to know before handing over a check.

Deciding between model years? Compare the 5 Acura TL years we've written up →

Kestrel Take

Forty-five percent of this year's 62 complaints are the steering, and that is the whole story of the 2013 TL. Owners describe the electric power steering giving up at speed on the interstate, on a garage apron, at 45 mph on a two-lane road — the warning appears, the assist goes, and the wheel takes everything they have. Several say switching the car off and on brings it back, which is exactly how an intermittent module behaves before it fails for good. Behind it sits the Takata inflator recall, free but worth confirming. Buy this car only with the steering history in hand: ask an Acura dealer what the VIN shows for steering repairs and whether any extended coverage still applies.

What we checked

Reconciled against public records, 2026-09-25

NHTSA holds 62 owner complaints for the 2013 Acura TL, and 3 recall campaigns.

A big number here usually means a lot of these were sold, not that it is a bad vehicle — popular models collect more complaints for the same rate of trouble. So the total on its own says little. What is worth reading is the shape of it. 45% of them are about one thing — steering. That much concentration is a genuine pattern rather than background noise, and it is the first thing to check on any example you look at.

3 recall campaigns cover this model year. Recalls are repaired free, for any owner, with no time limit on most safety campaigns — but only if someone books it in. Ask the seller to show it was done, or have any dealer check the VIN; it takes them a couple of minutes and costs nothing.

Counts come from the NHTSA complaint and recall database — free, public, and worth checking yourself.

Known Issues for the 2013 Acura TL

Ranked by wallet impact. These are documented, recurring problems — not freak accidents. How we decide that.

Electric power steering failing at speed — the warning, then a wheel you cannot turnHigh — wallet impact

Twenty-eight filings, nearly half the year's record, and they describe the same event: a CHECK POWER STEERING SYSTEM message, then assist disappearing and the wheel going stone heavy. One owner was on the interstate, one at 45 mph on a two-lane highway, one pulling into their own garage at low speed. Mileage is no protection — several of these cars were under 60,000 miles. The telling detail is that shutting the car off and restarting often restores it, so a car that steers perfectly on your test drive can still be carrying the fault. Ask the seller directly whether the steering has ever warned, get stored codes read, and ask an Acura dealer whether this VIN has any extended coverage left on the EPS — owners mention one, and it is worth a phone call rather than a guess.

Repair cost (estimate): $1,200–$2,600 for the EPS control module or steering rack

Source: NHTSA complaints filed under steering (28).

Takata driver's airbag inflator, plus an airbag light that comes back onHigh — wallet impact

Three campaigns cover this car and all three are the driver's frontal inflator, which can burst in a crash and spray metal into the cabin. Most of these 19 complaints come from 2016 and 2017, when owners were notified and then told the parts did not exist yet — some waited months with a red-lettered warning letter on the kitchen table. Separately, two later filings describe the dash reading that the airbag may not deploy when needed, which is a fault code in the SRS system rather than a recall matter and needs a dealer scan. Check every campaign against the VIN, not just the one the seller remembers.

Repair cost: $0 with the recall — verify it was performed; $300–$1,400 if the SRS light is on from a separate fault

Source: NHTSA complaints filed under airbags (19); 3 NHTSA recall campaigns on this model year.

Damp front carpets from the door-jamb wiring boots, and TPMS lights that cry wolfMedium

Four of these six electrical filings are the power steering failure above, filed under a different component by owners who were told it was an electrical fault — so read this cluster as part of the steering story. What is left is worth ten seconds of your time anyway: one tyre-pressure system warning on correctly inflated tyres, and one insurance finding that the rubber boots in the front door jambs had let water into the floor, soaking wiring looms including the airbag harness and setting up corrosion. Press the carpet under both front footwells with your palm and smell the cabin for damp. Wet carpet in a car with airbag wiring running under it is a far bigger problem than it looks.

Repair cost (estimate): $150–$400 for a TPMS sensor; $300–$900 to dry the floor and reseal a leaking door-jamb boot

Source: NHTSA complaints filed under electrics and electronics (6).

Walk-Away Red Flags

✗A CHECK POWER STEERING SYSTEM message that appears and then clears after a restart
✗Steering effort that changes from one parking-lot turn to the next
✗Carpet that feels damp under either front footwell
✗An airbag warning that returns after the dash self-test finishes

Good Signs

✓An EPS control module or steering rack replaced, with the invoice to show it
✓All three airbag campaigns confirmed closed on the NHTSA VIN lookup
✓Dry, tight-smelling carpet in both front footwells and a dry spare-wheel well
✓An Acura dealer confirming what extended coverage, if any, this VIN still carries