Buyer Research

2014 Acura TSX — Should You Buy One?

Typical asking price: $10,000–$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 TSX years we've written up →

Kestrel Take

Seven complaints in twelve years. That is not a reliability rating — it is a count of how many people bothered to file on the final, lowest-volume year of a car that sold modestly to begin with, and it means we have very little to check against. What is here is worth knowing: three of the seven are the cold-weather brake pedal that owners reported on every earlier TSX year, and three airbag campaigns need verifying. The steering module that dominates the 2011 to 2013 records has no filings at all on this year, which we would not read as a fix. Buy it on inspection and service history, not on the size of this file.

What we checked

Checked against public records, 2026-09-25

NHTSA holds 7 owner complaints for the 2014 Acura TSX, 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 the brakes (3), the engine (2), electrics and electronics (1). 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 TSX

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

Brakes barely work for the first minutes after a cold startHigh — wallet impact

Three of this year's seven filings are the same event. One owner describes the first pump working normally and the next three to five doing nothing, every morning. Another was on a New York parkway on a very cold day and could not brake because the pedal would not move. Both were told by Acura customer service that it was normal. The same complaint runs through our 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 TSX pages, so this is a characteristic of the car rather than one bad example. Have the vacuum supply to the brake booster and its check valve inspected before you buy.

Repair cost: Not yet priced — a safety matter first, a repair bill second

Source: NHTSA complaints filed under the brakes (3).

Variable timing actuator rattle at start-up on the four-cylinderMedium

One of the two engine filings names the cam phaser at the front of the 2.4-litre engine by part number and says Honda judged the same component defective in the Accord; that is the owner's account of a Honda bulletin and we have not held the bulletin ourselves, so weigh it as one owner's claim. What it sounds like is a second or two of loud metallic chatter when you first turn the key, fading as oil pressure builds. The other engine filing is a grinding noise attributed to a rod bearing. Start the car from stone cold with the hood open and listen.

Repair cost (estimate): $400–$900

Source: NHTSA complaints filed under the engine (2).

Takata passenger airbag inflator, three campaigns including one for bad repairsHigh — wallet impact

18V661 and 19V502 replace the front passenger inflator, which can rupture and send metal into the cabin. 19V378 covers cars where a replacement inflator went in incorrectly at certain dealers during earlier recall work, which means a previously repaired car can still be open. The work is done at no charge by any Acura dealer. With only one airbag complaint on record for this year, the recalls are the evidence here, not the complaint count. Run the VIN on nhtsa.gov and look at what it says today.

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

Source: NHTSA complaints filed under airbags (1); 3 NHTSA recall campaigns on this model year.

Repeated no-start reported from new on one carLow

A single filing, from an owner who bought new and returned to the dealer at least eight times over five years for a car that would not start, with the dealer finding nothing each time until the battery was eventually replaced. One complaint is not a pattern and we are not presenting it as one. It is cheap to rule out on any car of this age: have the charging system and battery load-tested, which most shops do in ten minutes, and ask when the battery was last replaced.

Repair cost (estimate): $0–$300 for a charging system test and a battery

Source: NHTSA complaints filed under electrics and electronics (1).

Walk-Away Red Flags

✗Brake pedal that will not depress for the first few stops on a cold morning
✗A second of loud metallic chatter from the engine at start-up
✗Slow or laboured cranking after the car has sat overnight
✗SRS or passenger airbag indicator lit on the dash
✗Rear brake pads visibly thinner than the fronts through the wheel

Good Signs

✓All three airbag campaigns reading closed on NHTSA's VIN lookup
✓A charging system and battery test printout from a shop
✓Brake fluid flushed within the last three years with a dated receipt
✓Transmission fluid changed at Acura's interval with receipts naming the fluid
✓One owner with continuous dealer service records through the car's life