NHTSA Complaint #11243032 — 2016 ACURA MDX

AT 80,000 MILES CAR STARTED MAKING A NOISE SOUNDING LIKE METAL SPINNING ON METAL. TRANSMISSION SYSTEM PROBLEM LIGHT CAME ON. RPMS WENT REALLY HIGH WHEN I TOOK MY FOOT OFF THE GAS THE RPMS WENT REALLY LOW. THIS ALL HAPPENED WHILE I WAS ON THE HIGHWAY. PULLED OVER, SHUT CAR OFF, RESTARTED CAR, WARNING LIGHT WENT AWAY RPMS WERE FINE BUT THE NOISE WAS STILL THERE. TOOK CAR IN FOR SERVICE THEY COULDN'T FIND ANY PROBLEM HAD TRANSMISSION FLUID REPLACED AND THE NOISE WENT AWAY HOWEVER OCCASIONALLY THE TRANSMISSION SYSTEM PROBLEM WOULD OCCUR. SO I SHUT OFF THE CAR RESTART AND THE PROBLEM GOES AWAY. SEEMS THE TRANSMISSION PROBLEM HAPPENS WHEN I'M ON THE HIGHWAY AND GOING UP HILL BETWEEN 60 AND 70 MILES AN HOUR WHEN THE RPMS GO SLIGHTLY ABOVE TWO. IT DOES NOT SEEM TO HAPPEN ON LEVEL GROUND. I DO MOSTLY CITY DRIVING AND PUT ANOTHER 50,000 MILES ON SINCE THE FIRST TIME THE PROBLEM HAPPENED. TOOK CAR IN FOR SERVICE WHILE THE LIGHT WAS ON, DIAGNOSTIC SHOWS TORQUE CONVERTER PROBLEM. THEY TELL ME I NEED A NEW TRANSMISSION. APPARENTLY 2016 MODELS YOU CANNOT REBUILD BECAUSE THERE ARE NO PARTS AVAILABLE. STILL DRIVING CAR TODAY WITH NO PROBLEM DOING CITY DRIVING BUT I ALWAYS PANIC WHEN I HAVE TO GET ON THE HIGHWAY. APPARENTLY I'VE GONE 60,000 MILES MORE WITH A TRANSMISSION THAT CANNOT GO ON A HIGHWAY UPHILL. JUST RECENTLY MY CAR IS BEEN GOING INTO NEUTRAL BY ITSELF AND IT STALLS OCCASIONALLY. THIS HAPPENS WHILE I'M DRIVING. I FEEL VERY UNSAFE BUT I DON'T HAVE THE MONEY TO REPLACE MY TRANSMISSION. I WISH THE TORQUE CONVERTER COULD BE REPLACED BUT THERE ARE NO PARTS AVAILABLE. I BELIEVE ACURA IS NOT ADMITTING TO A PROBLEM