NHTSA Complaint #11564499 — 2018 ACURA MDX

Fire under the hood of my 2018 MDX - caused by weak battery and overloaded starter. My car was parked in the garage right under my daughter’s bedroom. I pressed the "Start" button on the car and the dashboard started to flash on and off quickly and I heard clicking sounds and other swooshing noises. The car did NOT start but it seemed to keep trying over and over again. I pressed the start/off button repeatedly but the car did not shut off. My wife came out and asked what I was doing and she smelled and saw smoke coming from under my hood. She ran into the house and called 911. I popped the hood and got out of the car. At this point, there was more smoke and a VERY strong burning electrical odor. The car continued to try to start and the only thing I could think of was to disconnect the battery. Just as I disconnected the battery, The fire department showed up and the smoke started to slowly subside since the car was no longer trying to start. I called AAA and had the car towed to the local Acura dealership that I just had it serviced at. Upon their evaluation, it was determined that the battery was not completely dead, but not strong enough to engage the starter. Therefore, the car continued to try to start and overloaded the starter, burning it out. I strongly feel that this is a catastrophic failure for Acura and completely unacceptable for a vehicle with all kinds of safeguards. It should not have caught on fire from a weak battery in the garage/under my daughter’s bedroom – The whole car and house could have burned down. After several weeks of discussions with the dealership and Acura customer care, it was determined they would split the cost of ~ $2000 for repairs. I felt I had no choice but to pay it and get my car back with a new starter and battery. I asked the dealership to give me the starter - I do have it - I also noticed the replacement starter is a new model - Thank you [XXX] INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)