2013-2022 Acura ILX Problems: 12 Known Issues

The ILX Hybrid used the Civic Hybrid's Integrated Motor Assist system - a 1.5L engine with a thin motor-generator between engine and CVT and a lithium-ion IMA battery pack. It sold in tiny numbers for only two model years and was dropped after 2014. The IMA pack degrades: individual cell sticks fall out of balance, capacity drops, the state-of-charge display swings wildly from full to empty, assist and regen are cut, and the IMA warning light and check engine light illuminate. Acura Service Bulletin 12-012 (first issued May 2012, revised June 2015) sets up an IMA Battery Exchange Program for ILX Hybrid (and RLX Sport Hybrid) batteries: any internal failure requiring module disassembly is repaired with a remanufactured module, for in-warranty and out-of-warranty repairs alike, with the normal warranty terms applying. Owners also report a second, separate problem: repeated 12V accessory battery failures and no-crank conditions, which on an IMA car is often a symptom of the hybrid system not charging the 12V properly rather than a bad 12V battery.

The original halogen projector-beam headlight assemblies on the earliest ILX build months do not vent enough heat. When the car sits with the engine running and low beams on for an extended period - idling in a parking lot, warming up, waiting in a pickup line - heat accumulates inside the housing and deforms and melts the internal plastic components. Output degrades, and in the incident that triggered the recall a car left idling with headlights on for several hours caught fire. Acura recalled 14,078 US cars. Coverage is build-date bounded, not model-year bounded: 2013 ILX built 1/16/2012-3/1/2013, 2013 ILX Hybrid built 1/12/2012-2/7/2013, 2014 ILX built 5/2/2013-5/31/2014, 2014 ILX Hybrid built 10/18/2013-2/19/2014.

Owners of the 2016-2022 ILX report that the dual-screen infotainment system lags or freezes. The lower touchscreen, which Acura calls the On Demand Multi-Use Display (ODMD), ignores taps for several seconds or freezes, and on navigation-equipped cars the upper navigation screen can lock up. Acura has published two bulletins that match these symptoms. ServiceNews article B18070B (July 2018) covers 2016-18 ILX models whose ODMD does not respond to touch or freezes. Acura says the cause can be debris lodged in the gap between the touch screen and its bezel. The debris presses on the screen and creates false inputs. Because that gap widens and narrows with cabin temperature, the problem can come and go, especially in cold weather. Service Bulletin 20-013 (March 2020) covers 2019-20 ILX Tech and Tech A-Spec models. On these cars a fault in the navigation software makes the navigation display distort after an hour or more of driving. The distance and time to destination stop updating, the vehicle icon shows the wrong location, and the touchscreen stops responding.

On early ILX built through the 2015 model year, the protective paint coating applied to the driveshafts was improperly manufactured. The coating peels and chips near the dynamic damper, exposing bare steel. In Salt Belt states, road de-icing salt attacks the exposed shaft and corrodes it. Under a high-torque condition the corroded driveshaft can fracture outright: the car becomes immobile, and because a broken halfshaft disconnects the transmission's park pawl from the wheels, the vehicle can roll away while the selector is in Park. This is a first-generation-body issue tied to a specific shaft manufacturing process and does NOT apply to the 2016+ refresh, which has its own, different driveshaft recall.

A separate and often-confused driveshaft defect affecting the FACELIFT ILX only. During assembly, excessive grease was applied to the driveshaft/intermediate shaft splines. The excess grease can prevent the set-ring on the half shaft from fully engaging, so the driveshaft can work its way out in service and separate from the half shaft, causing sudden loss of drive and, as with the corrosion recall, a roll-away risk when parked. Owners frequently conflate this with the 20V770 corrosion campaign - they are different model-year ranges and different root causes, and a 2016+ car is not covered by 20V770.

The 2016-2022 ILX 2.4L with the 8-speed dual-clutch transmission (DCT) exhibits severe shudder, jerking, and hesitation during low-speed driving. The clutch packs engage roughly in stop-and-go traffic, and the transmission frequently hunts between gears on slight inclines, making city driving extremely unpleasant.

The 2013-2015 ILX 2.4L was sold ONLY with a six-speed manual - an unusual configuration for a luxury-badged compact sedan, and it shares its clutch, gearset and transmission with the contemporary Civic Si. Owners report a distinct grinding or growling noise the moment the clutch is released from a complete stop in first gear, absent at all other times. The consensus cause traced on the owner forums is the clutch release/throwout bearing, with the clutch disc springs also implicated. Dealers have historically had no scripted answer for it, and the noise is known to subside for 30,000-40,000 miles and then return, which makes it hard to get documented under warranty. Because this powertrain is manual-only, it is a separate issue from problems on the 2.0L automatic and the later 8-speed DCT.

The Denso-supplied in-tank fuel pump module fitted to the 2016-2020 ILX uses an impeller that was molded with insufficient density and exposed to production solvent drying for too long, which can crack its surface. The impeller absorbs fuel, swells, and interferes with the pump body. The pump then fails to deliver pressure - typically presenting first as a long crank or a hard start, then progressing to an engine stall that can happen at road speed with no warning and no restart. The ILX coverage was expanded twice: an initial campaign covering the 2019 ILX (21V215, itself an expansion of 20V314) was later broadened to cover 2016-2020 ILX under 23V858, all with the 2.4L and 8-speed DCT.

On a range of ILX built from the 2014 model year onward, the plastic fuel tank was manufactured out of specification and can deform. The deformation changes the geometry the level sender float travels through, so the fuel gauge reads higher than the actual fuel remaining. Drivers run the tank dry while the gauge still shows fuel, producing an unexpected engine stall in traffic. Because the symptom is a gauge reading rather than a warning light, owners commonly misdiagnose it as a bad sending unit and replace the sender - which does not fix a deformed tank.

The ILX was swept into the Takata ammonium-nitrate inflator recalls in several successive waves. The driver frontal airbag inflator propellant degrades with long-term exposure to high heat and humidity cycling, which can cause the inflator housing to over-pressurize and rupture during deployment, spraying metal fragments into the cabin. The ILX is unusual in that some cars were recalled MORE THAN ONCE: cars repaired in the first wave received an interim 'like-for-like' Takata replacement inflator that was itself later recalled (19V182), and a further 2013-only campaign (19V500) followed. Both the gasoline ILX and the 2013-2014 ILX Hybrid are covered. Owners who assume a single dealer visit closed the matter frequently still have an open campaign against their VIN.

This recall covers the facelift ILX. Residual plasticizer from the brake reservoir hose contaminates the brake fluid and is absorbed by the secondary cup seal inside the brake master cylinder, causing it to swell and deform; engine heat expands it further. A deformed seal lets fluid bypass internally back into the reservoir, so during slow pedal applications pedal firmness drops and braking effort no longer produces proportional pressure. The result is degraded braking performance with increased stopping distance. This affects the 2016-2020 refreshed car only.

On the 2.4L K24 ILX, the variable timing control (VTC) actuator on the intake camshaft is not fully oil-pressurized at first start. The internal locking pin fails to hold the actuator against the sprocket, so for one to two seconds after a cold start the actuator rattles loudly against its stops - a hard metallic grinding or 'bag of bolts' sound from the front of the engine that disappears once oil pressure builds. It is worst in cold weather, after the car has sat overnight, and with stretched oil-change intervals. This is an all-K24-family pattern documented from roughly 2008 onward across Honda and Acura four-cylinders and it carries into the ILX's 2.4. It does not apply to the 2.0L R20 or the 1.5L hybrid, which use a different valvetrain.