Wheel Rim Problems of Acura TL

The contact owns a 2004 Acura 3. 2tl. The consumer hit a pothole on the front passenger side . The rim broke into pieces and the tire was damaged. The rim needed to be replaced. Updated 11-24-08 updated 11/25/08.

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The contact owns a 2006 Acura Tl. The contact stated that the passenger rear rim was dented, cracked then replaced. The passenger front was dented and replaced. The manufacturer stated that they replace a lot of rims and the failure was a known occurrence. The current mileage was 29,000 and the failure mileage was 20,000. Updated 10/30/07.

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Driver swerved to avoid car tryin g to merge into same lane. Front and rear left tires hit the median curb ( aprrox 6" max hieght). The rims are the standard five spoke mags that come on 2005 Acura Tl. Immediatley after hitting the curb - at a very oblique angle - the rim broke. The spokes of the front rim broke loose form the part of the rim that forms the inside of the tire. All 5 spokes broke in the same place. The sppkes and center of the rim stayed bolted to the lugs. The tire and the rest of the rim came losse from the car and passed ahead of the car. When the front tire broke free from the car several things happened. The car settled down on the spokes of the mag rim, this impact set off the driver side airbags and cracked the brake caliper on the front left. Braking was not effective at this point. The car eventually came to a stop in the right hand lane of road. The car was taken to the Acura dealership ( on a flatbed truck). The woman at the dealership told us that they wanted the car taken to their collsion center so that digital pictures could be taken and forwarded to Acura. Several days later Acura replied that a rim failure like that was normal for hitting the curb and that they were not responsible.

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I have owned this car since April 2004 and have had trouble with front wheel balance since almost new. Every time I have requested dealer service they have diagnosed the problem as a bent rim. My wife drives this car and she has absolutely no recall of hitting any potholes. As a result of these failures I have real concerns about the strength and integrity of the materials used in the wheel design. Three rims have now failed in the 7 months I have owned this car and I'm worried about the safety of this vehicle.

A crack in the alloy wheel rim on the right front of my 2004 Acura was associated with a loss of air pressure and loss of positive tire seal resutilng in the tire separating from the rim. My wife was able to retain control. An inspection by leith Acura found no evidence of a puncture wound to the tire. The sidewall was deformed to the point that the tire was unuseable. Leith Acura and Acura client services refused to replace the rim and tire under the new car warranty. Acura insists that the rim was damaged as the result of a severe impact to the tire (pothole ??) and therefore not covered by the vehicle warranty. My wife reports experiencing no such impact either at the time of the incident or during any period preceding the incident. I assert that the crack was the likely result of a undetected defect in the manufacturing process and/or the particular materials used, and that it was the accentuation of the pre-existing crack associated with the 'impacts' of normal driving that caused the tire to suddenly fail. The dealer asserts that there was observable damage to the rim, but is unable to determine whether such damage resulted in the crack or that the damage was the result of the rim having been weakened by the crack plus the impact of the rim with the road surface when the tire deflated. My unreimbursed cost for a new rim, tire, and alignment was $625. My concern is that this is an equipment problem, perhaps inherent to the use of alloy rims; that Acura is aware of the problem (reports frequent similar occurrences) and that they simply refuse to honor claims for this type of equipment failure under the warranty. As a highway safety researcher I am concerned that this is a potentially serious crash risk problem over and above the problem of manufacturer and dealer integrity in honoring warranty claims.