Buyer Research

2014 Acura TL — Should You Buy One?

Typical asking price: $10,000–$16,000. 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

The last TL, and the public record on it is tiny — 17 complaints, no crashes, no fires. Read that as a small sample rather than a verdict: the 2013 car carries 28 steering complaints and this one carries two, but it is the same electric power steering hardware and the same three Takata campaigns, so the difference is how many people filed, not a fix Acura made. Treat the steering as the thing to investigate and the airbag recall as the thing to confirm by VIN. A well-kept final-year TL with the recall work closed and a steering history you can see is a lot of car for the money, and the V6 and the build quality were never the weak point.

What we checked

Checked against public records, 2026-09-25

NHTSA holds 17 owner complaints for the 2014 Acura TL, and 3 recall campaigns.

That is too small a record to read a pattern from, so we are not going to pretend otherwise — with numbers this low one owner moves the percentage by a lot. What has been filed is grouped under airbags (8), steering (2), glass, wipers and mirrors (2). Treat those as things to look at, not as the vehicle's known weaknesses. A thin file usually means few of these were sold or few owners filed. It is not evidence the vehicle is trouble-free, and the issues below are our own research rather than a reading of this record.

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 2014 Acura TL

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

Takata driver's airbag inflator — nearly half the record, and parts once took monthsHigh — wallet impact

Eight of the seventeen complaints on this year are the same thing: owners notified of the driver's frontal airbag inflator recall and then left waiting because replacement parts were not available. One waited 96 days, one four months, one was leasing and got offered options that cost them money. That backlog is long over, but it tells you how many of these cars sat unrepaired, and an inflator that can rupture and throw metal at the driver in a crash is not something to take on trust. There are three campaigns against this car, all for the same part; put the VIN into NHTSA's lookup and read all three lines before you agree a price.

Repair cost: $0 with the recall — verify it was performed

Source: NHTSA complaints filed under airbags (8); 3 NHTSA recall campaigns on this model year.

Electric power steering can fail while driving, then work again after the car sitsHigh — wallet impact

Only two owners filed, but both describe a serious failure: one lost assist after half an hour of driving with a flashing red warning and an alarm, drove home normally two hours later, and had it fail again on arrival; the other had the steering freeze at 56,700 miles and says it nearly caused a crash. This is the same EPS system that generates 45 percent of the complaint record on the 2013 TL, so two filings here means fewer people filed, not that the part was changed. An intermittent EPS fault hides well on a short test drive: ask whether the steering has ever warned, have stored codes pulled, and check with an Acura dealer what this VIN shows for steering work.

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

Source: NHTSA complaints filed under steering (2).

Sunroof and rear glass letting go on their ownMedium

Two of the seventeen filings are glass breaking with nothing striking it: a sunroof that went off like a gunshot at 60 mph on a clear freeway with the shade open, and a rear windshield that shattered into the back seats while the car sat with the door being shut. Two filings is not a defect pattern and we are not calling it one — it is simply what this year's record holds, and it is the kind of thing comprehensive insurance usually covers. What you can do at the car is look along the sunroof glass edges and the rear window surround for chips, stress marks or a previous aftermarket replacement with sloppy sealant.

Repair cost (estimate): $400–$1,200 for sunroof or rear glass, often covered by comprehensive insurance

Source: NHTSA complaints filed under glass, wipers and mirrors (2).

Walk-Away Red Flags

✗A red steering warning or alarm that appears after the car has been driven a while
✗Steering that feels heavier on one parking-lot turn than the next
✗Chips or stress cracks at the edges of the sunroof glass
✗A seller who has not checked the VIN against all three airbag campaigns

Good Signs

✓Every airbag campaign showing complete on the NHTSA VIN lookup
✓An EPS module or rack replacement on the service record, with the invoice
✓Acura dealer service history covering the steering and transmission
✓Factory glass with the original date stamps intact all round