2015 Acura ILX Problems: 5 Known Issues

On the 2013-2015 Acura ILX, 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.

On the 2013-2016 Acura ILX, 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.

On the 2013-2022 Acura ILX, 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.

On the 2013-2015 Acura ILX 2.4L K24Z7 I4, 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.

On the 2014-2019 Acura ILX, 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.