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NHTSA defect investigation · Recall Query

Honda and Acura recall query RQ24013

Engine failure. NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation opened this recall query about the engine on 20 model years (2015–2020). Opened Nov 8, 2024, closed Aug 20, 2025 after 9 months without a recall. closed

What NHTSA says

Source: Office of Defects Investigation, as filed

On November 8, 2024, the Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) opened Recall Query RQ24013 to assess the scope of Honda recall 23V-751 after receiving complaints that alleged connecting rod bearing failures in vehicles that were not within the scope of recall 23V-751. In November 2023, Honda recalled 248,999 various Model Year (MY)2016–2020 Honda and Acura vehicles equipped with the 3.5L V6 engine. Honda recalled these vehicles due to a crankshaft manufacturing defect that caused premature connecting rod bearing wear and engine seizure. While the out-of-scope failures involved in these complaints appear to have a very similar failure mechanism as the recalled engines, a thorough analysis of all available data from Honda has not indicated that the same manufacturing defect exists in the out-of-scope engines as the engines recalled by 23V-751. Based on this analysis ODI has determined that Honda has properly defined the scope of recall 23V-751. Consequently, ODI will close this RQ investigation.  NHTSA will continue to investigate these complaints of engine failure as part of a new Preliminary Evaluation Investigation (PE25008). The Agency reserves the right to take additional action if warranted by new circumstances.

Stage Recall Query — NHTSA works to complete one within eight months Opened Nov 8, 2024 Closed Aug 20, 2025 Manufacturer Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) Components Engine

A Recall Query is a look at a recall that already exists — whether its remedy works, whether it reached every vehicle it should have, whether the manufacturer met its obligations. The summary is the agency’s own text from its investigation file, unedited; the resumes carrying the full reasoning are linked below.

The paperwork NHTSA filed

Source: every document on this action, at nhtsa.gov
DocumentCodeFiledAt NHTSA
Opening resumeINOA2024PDF
Closing resumeINCLA2024PDF
Information request to the manufacturerINIM20242 files 12
Manufacturer's response — dataINRD202436 files 123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233343536

40 of 86 documents shown; the rest are under this number at nhtsa.gov.

These are NHTSA’s own files, served from the agency’s site — the resumes are what ODI wrote when it opened and closed the action, and the rest is the correspondence behind them, including what the manufacturer sent when the agency asked. They are linked, not copied: where a document names the people who wrote in, that redaction is the agency’s to make and its copy is the one you should read.

What owners had already reported

Source: complaints on file the day it opened

When NHTSA opened this on Nov 8, 2024, owners had filed 8,628 complaints with the agency about the model years above, of which 1,694 named the engine NHTSA went on to investigate. Owner complaints are the agency’s main early signal: ODI screens them, and a Preliminary Evaluation is usually where a pattern in them ends up.

This is what the complaint file held on that date, not a claim about which reports prompted the investigation — NHTSA’s complaint records carry no investigation number, so nobody can make that link from the data alone. The opening resume linked above names the reports ODI itself cited. Complaint records on this site begin with 2016.

What this means for an owner

Source: and what happens next

An investigation is not a finding that a defect exists, and it puts no duty on anyone. NHTSA opens a Preliminary Evaluation when complaints and other reports suggest a condition worth asking the manufacturer about; it upgrades to an Engineering Analysis when the answers warrant testing; it closes either when it recommends a recall, when the manufacturer recalls on its own, or when no defect trend is found. The agency’s own goals are about four months for a petition, eight for a Preliminary Evaluation or a Recall Query and eighteen for an Engineering Analysis; many run longer.

This one is closed. A recall query ends with NHTSA’s finding on the recall it examined — the remedy stands, is widened, or a new campaign follows; the file names the recall it concerned and NHTSA’s closing resume carries the reasoning.

Model years it names

Source: as NHTSA filed them

Also named on model years this site has no page for: 2015 Honda Pilot.

A vehicle page’s investigation list carries the same action; a name here is the scope NHTSA opened, not a list of affected VINs.

Common questions

Source: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation

Is RQ24013 a recall?

No. A recall query is NHTSA asking questions, not a recall. A safety recall carries an NHTSA campaign number and a duty to repair for free; this one closed without one. Whether one particular vehicle has an open recall is a VIN question at nhtsa.gov/recalls.

Is RQ24013 still open?

No. It closed on Aug 20, 2025 without a recall.

Which vehicles does RQ24013 cover?

NHTSA opened it on 20 model years: 2020 Acura MDX, 2019 Acura MDX, 2018 Acura MDX, 2017 Acura MDX, 2016 Acura MDX, 2020 Acura TLX and more. That is the scope of the inquiry, not a list of affected vehicles; a recall, if one follows, defines its own population by VIN.