Consumer Safety Complaints
Search 2,245,377 safety complaints filed by vehicle owners with NHTSA, including 140,173 crashes, 56,794 fires, and 8,580 deaths.
What is a NHTSA consumer complaint?
A consumer complaint is a free-form report filed by a vehicle owner directly to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) describing a safety concern about their vehicle. NHTSA collects these reports through its Vehicle Owner Defect Report (VOQ) system and publishes them publicly. Each complaint includes the affected component, the date and circumstances of the incident, whether the failure caused a crash or fire, and any reported injuries or deaths. The owner's full narrative description is included verbatim, NHTSA does not edit or moderate the descriptions.
The database below contains over 2,245,377 individual complaints. NHTSA's investigators monitor it for clusters of similar reports, when enough owners describe the same failure mode on the same vehicle, NHTSA may open a Preliminary Evaluation that can lead to a recall. Many of the largest recalls in U.S. history, including the Takata airbag recall and the Hyundai/Kia engine fire recalls, started as patterns visible in this complaint database years before they became formal recalls.
How to interpret what you read
A few principles for reading consumer complaints usefully:
- One complaint is anecdote; a hundred similar complaints is data. NHTSA does not investigate the truthfulness of any individual report, that's the job of the Office of Defects Investigation, which looks at the full pattern. When evaluating a vehicle, look for whether multiple owners describe the same chain of events.
- Crash, fire, injury, and death flags are owner-set. They are not verified by NHTSA. They are still useful as a filter, because owners who tick those boxes are typically reporting more serious incidents than those who don't.
- Component categories are NHTSA-assigned, not owner-assigned. NHTSA standardizes the component field so that complaints can be aggregated. The owner narrative often goes into more detail than the component category captures.
- Complaint volume scales with sales volume. A best-selling model will accumulate more raw complaints than a niche model even at the same defect rate. To compare across vehicles, look at complaints per 100,000 units sold, not raw counts.
If you've experienced a defect
File a complaint. NHTSA's investigators rely on this database to detect emerging defects, and useful complaints, specific, concrete, with dates and mileage and clear descriptions of what happened, feed directly into the agency's pattern detection. The form takes about 10 minutes and is at nhtsa.gov/recalls under "Report a Safety Problem." Your complaint becomes part of the same public record that this page is built from. Owners filing detailed VOQs are how recalls get triggered.
Read more from our blog
Showing 28,307 complaints for BUICK
Incident date: Oct 1, 2021
For 6 months the vehicle has had the following problems: 1. Car automatically shutting down(unresolved) 2 steering column, wheel locking up(resolved at this time) 3. Interior and panel lights flashing when car shutting down ( unresolved) 4. When applying pressure to gas pedal engine automatically shuts down (unresolved) 5. Check engine light stays on Vehicle has been taken to dealership shop 6 ti... Read more
Incident date: Oct 1, 2021
For 6 months the vehicle has had the following problems: 1. Car automatically shutting down(unresolved) 2 steering column, wheel locking up(resolved at this time) 3. Interior and panel lights flashing when car shutting down ( unresolved) 4. When applying pressure to gas pedal engine automatically shuts down (unresolved) 5. Check engine light stays on Vehicle has been taken to dealership shop 6 ti... Read more
Incident date: Mar 1, 2022
The horn goes off automatically when the car is started. The fuse must be pulled out to stop it. Dash radio and phone not working properly. Cruise control not working.
Incident date: May 11, 2021
Low beam lights go off intermittently while driving and eventually come back on. This does not affect high beams or any other lights on the vehicle. But causes a serious danger to my needing to drive at night due to my job.
Incident date: Aug 1, 2021
The contact owns a 2014 Buick Encore. The contact stated that twice while her son was driving the vehicle at various speeds, the vehicle lost motive power and stalled. The contact was uncertain if any warning lights had illuminated. After the most recent failure, the vehicle had become inoperable and failed to restart after multiple attempts. The vehicle had been towed to an independent mechanic a... Read more
Incident date: Aug 1, 2021
The contact owns a 2014 Buick Encore. The contact stated that twice while her son was driving the vehicle at various speeds, the vehicle lost motive power and stalled. The contact was uncertain if any warning lights had illuminated. After the most recent failure, the vehicle had become inoperable and failed to restart after multiple attempts. The vehicle had been towed to an independent mechanic a... Read more
Incident date: Aug 1, 2021
The contact owns a 2014 Buick Encore. The contact stated that twice while her son was driving the vehicle at various speeds, the vehicle lost motive power and stalled. The contact was uncertain if any warning lights had illuminated. After the most recent failure, the vehicle had become inoperable and failed to restart after multiple attempts. The vehicle had been towed to an independent mechanic a... Read more
BUICK
RENDEZVOUS
(2003) - AIR BAGS
Mar 15, 2022
Incident date: May 8, 2019
The gas gage has been off since I bought it in September 2018. I run out of gas right before 1/4 of a tank and when I fill it it goes about 1/4 over the full line. The passenger seat side airbag went off closing the door May 2019.
Incident date: Mar 6, 2022
The contact rented a 2021 Buick Encore GX. The contact stated while idled at a stop light, another vehicle driving at approximately 45-50 MPH crashed into the rear of their vehicle. The air bags failed to deploy. The contact sustained bruises and thigh injuries. The front passenger sustained a chest rash from when the seat belt retracted. There was a 9-year-old occupant seated at the rear however ... Read more
Crash
2 injured
Incident date: Nov 12, 2021
The contact owned a 2014 Buick Encore. The contact stated that while in idle traffic going onto the express way when they were suddenly hit in the rear of the vehicle when the seat belts failed to restrain the contact from going forward. The contact stated there was no air bag deployment. The vehicle was towed and deemed totaled. The contact received injuries to their shoulders, neck and chest tha... Read more
Crash
1 injured
Incident date: Nov 12, 2021
The contact owned a 2014 Buick Encore. The contact stated that while in idle traffic going onto the express way when they were suddenly hit in the rear of the vehicle when the seat belts failed to restrain the contact from going forward. The contact stated there was no air bag deployment. The vehicle was towed and deemed totaled. The contact received injuries to their shoulders, neck and chest tha... Read more
Crash
1 injured
Incident date: Mar 1, 2022
Engine coolant leak at engine timing belt cover per repair service. Not available for inspection , already had repaired (see attached invoice). Had to pull over on busy major roadway due to high temperature warning on temperature gauge. Problem confirmed by service center.
Incident date: Mar 4, 2022
On my way home from purchasing the vehicle, the car began to lose power and i noticed black smoke though the rear view mirror. Another driver signaled me down, so I pulled over and realized my car was on fire. The fire was in the engine compartment from what appeared to be the exhaust manifold. Since i was in a residential area, i grabbed a water hose and began to diffuse the fire. The fire depart... Read more
Fire
Incident date: Mar 4, 2022
On my way home from purchasing the vehicle, the car began to lose power and i noticed black smoke though the rear view mirror. Another driver signaled me down, so I pulled over and realized my car was on fire. The fire was in the engine compartment from what appeared to be the exhaust manifold. Since i was in a residential area, i grabbed a water hose and began to diffuse the fire. The fire depart... Read more
Fire
Incident date: Mar 4, 2022
On my way home from purchasing the vehicle, the car began to lose power and i noticed black smoke though the rear view mirror. Another driver signaled me down, so I pulled over and realized my car was on fire. The fire was in the engine compartment from what appeared to be the exhaust manifold. Since i was in a residential area, i grabbed a water hose and began to diffuse the fire. The fire depart... Read more
Fire
Incident date: Mar 10, 2022
OnStar system and WiFi intermittently do not work, was told that this is a known issue when radio is being used, no fix. In my case radio was not being used, so this does not apply. Seat/mirror position memory gradually changes over time. Does not recognize that exit function has been turned off. Signal lights randomly flash (without indicator on dash flashing) when car is at idle & mirrors are ... Read more
Incident date: Oct 15, 2021
For 6 months I have had a shutter in the front part of my car. When I accelerate the car violently shakes. The car was under bumper Bumper warranty when this problem started. I have taken it to my dealer on multiple occasions and they and their engineers cannot determine what is causing the problem. They have had several other enclaves come in with the same issues. They replaced my transmission a... Read more
Incident date: Feb 21, 2022
My rear window of my car is becoming unglued from the top. I talked to the GM dealership nearby, and they told me I needed a new top. There was a memo put out in 2019 stating that this was happening due to not having enough primer from the manufacturer. This is a safety hazard. If my window falls out, it can create a crash and harm any vehicle behind me. If GM knew this part was bad because of a m... Read more
Incident date: Feb 25, 2022
The contact owns a 2015 Buick Encore. The contact stated while driving approximately 10 MPH downhill during inclement weather, the vehicle experienced intermittent brake failure. The contact was unable to stop the vehicle and ran off the roadway to prevent a crash. The vehicle drove over a curb before coming to a stop. There was no injury sustained. The contact stated that the Traction Control war... Read more
Incident date: Feb 25, 2022
The contact owns a 2015 Buick Encore. The contact stated while driving approximately 10 MPH downhill during inclement weather, the vehicle experienced intermittent brake failure. The contact was unable to stop the vehicle and ran off the roadway to prevent a crash. The vehicle drove over a curb before coming to a stop. There was no injury sustained. The contact stated that the Traction Control war... Read more
Incident date: Mar 4, 2022
The contact owns a 2020 Buick Encore GX. The contact stated that while attempting to stop, the brake pedal was depressed and it traveled to the floorboard causing the brakes to fail to stop the vehicle. The contact mentioned that the vehicle crashed into the rear of another vehicle. A police report was not filed. The vehicle was able to be driven to the contact residence however, the brakes failed... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Dec 28, 2021
Engine light came on. There was a problem between the harness and the transmission. It took 6 weeks to rectify the problem.
Incident date: Mar 3, 2022
The contact owns a 2017 Buick Regal. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the brake assists unexpectedly failed, and the brake pedal was firm while depressed. The contact was able to pull over and was awaiting a tow. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired by an independent mechanic or dealer. The vehicle had previously been serviced by an independent mechanic for a va... Read more
Incident date: Jan 2, 2022
The contact owns a 2021 Buick Encore GX. The contact stated that while depressing the brake pedal, there was a delay in braking before the vehicle was able to come to a complete stop. The contact mentioned that there was sensor that caused the vehicle to brake instantly. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where the failure was undetermined. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not n... Read more
BUICK
ENCORE GX
(2021) - FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: DYNAMIC BRAKE SUPPORT/BRAKE ASSIST
Mar 3, 2022
Incident date: Jan 2, 2022
The contact owns a 2021 Buick Encore GX. The contact stated that while depressing the brake pedal, there was a delay in braking before the vehicle was able to come to a complete stop. The contact mentioned that there was sensor that caused the vehicle to brake instantly. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where the failure was undetermined. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not n... Read more
Incident date: Feb 7, 2022
The contact owns a 2022 Buick Enclave. The contact stated while driving 75 MPH, she heard an abnormal loud popping noise coming from the exterior of the vehicle. The contact veered to the side of the road and inspected the vehicle and noticed that the sunroof glass had shattered. The contact stated there was no object that had struck the sunroof nor any other vehicle nearby that could have caused ... Read more
BUICK
ENVISION
(2017) - SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC:FOUNDATION COMPONENTS:HOSES, LINES/PIPING, AND FITTINGS
Feb 28, 2022
Incident date: Nov 19, 2021
The contact owns a 2017 Buick Envision. The contact stated that while his wife was driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle experienced intermittent brake failure with the brake warning light illuminated. The driver was able to slow down, pull into a gas station, and stop the vehicle. The vehicle was then towed to a dealer to be diagnosed. The contact was informed of a brake line failure. The ... Read more
Incident date: Feb 28, 2022
When driving my car down the street today, it abruptly stopped in the middle of the street and and engine locked up. I could not shift gears. I could not put my car in neutral. I was literally stuck in the middle of the street with a vehicle that gave me no warning of malfunctioning. This is the 3rd transmission that I have had in this car. It is a 2021 Buick Enclave with just over 12,000 miles.
Incident date: Feb 18, 2022
The contact owns a 2018 Buick Enclave. The contact stated that while driving approximately 35 MPH, the vehicle suddenly began to drive sluggishly before coming to a stop. The brake warning light had illuminated and the message service ABS system was displayed. The vehicle was towed to the local dealer who diagnosed that the ABS computer had lost its program and needed to be reprogrammed. The vehi... Read more
Incident date: Feb 16, 2022
I live in Oklahoma so it’s hot then cold then hot again then colder the next morning. I had my defroster on while on my way to work and all of a sudden my window just cracks and spreads all across my window. I didn’t have a chip at all and there wasn’t even a vehicle in front of me. Idk if it was because it was real cold and had the defroster on but this still shouldn’t have happened. And ... Read more
Incident date: Feb 14, 2022
What component or system failure or malfunction, and is it available for inspection upon request? AUTO STOP/START-POSSIBLE TRANSMISSION How was your safety or the safety of others put at risk?- The issue is the AutoStop feature and the transmission. When driving, it appears that the gears are not shifting correctly; also, while driving, the RPM has reached a high level of 5 multiple times, which ... Read more
Incident date: Feb 14, 2022
The contact owns a 2012 Buick Enclave. The contact stated while driving in a parking lot at approximately 5 mph and making a right turn, the brake pedal was depressed and the vehicle revved up and accelerated to about 20 mph while the brake pedal as depressed. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. The vehicle ran into a building wall as the engine continued revving. The contact shut... Read more
Crash
1 injured
Incident date: Jan 22, 2022
My car shut off while driving in a busy area. I was going 35 mph where the car just shut off while driving. I received a jump, but that only lasted long enough for me to get 2 lanes over for the car to cut off again. Myself and other drivers were at risk because someone could have ran into me and I had no power and unable to remove key from ignition or even turn the key. Police arrived but said th... Read more
Incident date: Feb 7, 2022
The contact owns a 2017 Buick Lacrosse. The contact stated that while driving at 20 MPH and making a left turn, there was an abnormal noise coming from the front passenger side of the vehicle. The contact mentioned the failure was related to the bushings. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic and then to a dealer where it was informed that the part to repair the vehicle was no longer in... Read more
Incident date: Feb 14, 2022
The contact owns a 2016 Buick Enclave. The contact stated that while accelerating from a complete stop uphill, with his children in the middle rear passenger’s seats, the vehicle stalled. The check engine warning light illuminated. The contact shifted to neutral and allowed the vehicle to roll downhill to the side of the road. The contact turned off the vehicle for 10 minutes. The contact restar... Read more
Incident date: Feb 2, 2022
The contact owns a 2011 Buick Enclave. The contact stated while driving approximately 55 MPH, the check engine warning light illuminated. The contact took the vehicle to an independent mechanic and was informed that the timing chain needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact called and made the local dealer aware of the failure. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The ... Read more
BUICK
RENDEZVOUS
(2003) - FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM
Feb 15, 2022
Incident date: Jan 18, 2021
After filling the fuel tank there is a strong gas odor that is present until the tank is almost empty. When walking around the vehicle or loading/unloading the vehicle, the strong gas odor is always present. This vehicle was at a dealership and they took it to the local personal auction company where i bid on it and bought it along with household items.
Incident date: Feb 7, 2022
The contact owns a 2013 Buick Verano. The contact stated that while driving approximately 70 MPH, an unknown message was displayed on the instrument panel, and the vehicle decelerated to 15 MPH, lost motive power, and stalled. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic who diagnosed that the engine timing chain had failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not yet repaired. An unknow... Read more
Incident date: Jan 13, 2022
1.BOTH OF MY AIRBAGS ARE SHOWING OFF. WHEN A PASSENGER IS PRESENT ON THE FRONT PASSENGER SIDE, THE PASSENGER AIRBAG STILL LIGHTS UP AS OFF. 2. IF THE AIRBAGS DO NOT DEPLOY IN AN ACCIDENT, DUE TO THE SENSOR THIS WILL BE VERY DANGEROUS. 3. VEHICLE HAS BEEN INSPECTED. 4.THE MANIFOLD AND INTAKE DID NOT WORK. THE CAR ONLY HAS 87,000 MILES ON IT. THE DATE OF NUMBER 4 IS 2/10/2022.
Incident date: Jan 13, 2022
1.BOTH OF MY AIRBAGS ARE SHOWING OFF. WHEN A PASSENGER IS PRESENT ON THE FRONT PASSENGER SIDE, THE PASSENGER AIRBAG STILL LIGHTS UP AS OFF. 2. IF THE AIRBAGS DO NOT DEPLOY IN AN ACCIDENT, DUE TO THE SENSOR THIS WILL BE VERY DANGEROUS. 3. VEHICLE HAS BEEN INSPECTED. 4.THE MANIFOLD AND INTAKE DID NOT WORK. THE CAR ONLY HAS 87,000 MILES ON IT. THE DATE OF NUMBER 4 IS 2/10/2022.
Incident date: Feb 4, 2022
Squealing noise when using steering wheel. Even if the car is heated up for over 20 minutes. Steering wheel slow to turn or hard to turn. Happens everyday now. Took to a dealership and they are advising that will cost almost 3K to resolve issue. Will have to send invoice once I pick up vehicle
Incident date: Feb 4, 2022
Squealing noise when using steering wheel. Even if the car is heated up for over 20 minutes. Steering wheel slow to turn or hard to turn. Happens everyday now. Took to a dealership and they are advising that will cost almost 3K to resolve issue. Will have to send invoice once I pick up vehicle
Incident date: Jan 21, 2022
Arked my car started back up power steering malfunctioned. Took to dealer they said gears striped on electronic assist. Front axle needs to be replaced a d there are no parts available unknown when any will be. It has been sitting at the dealer since. Lafontaine of highland mi.
Incident date: Feb 8, 2022
Turned the key in ignition just past click and heard a loud bang in engine under hood. I looked under the car and seen flames. Within 18 minutes the whole car was in totally on fire. The volunteer fire department came and put it out. We did a search on the internet and discovered we are not the only ones to experience this.
Fire
Incident date: Feb 8, 2022
The contact owns a 2011 Buick Lacrosse. The contact stated that while his daughter was driving at 45 MPH with her 10-month-old child in a rear-facing car seat located in the rear driver seat, the rear driver's side toe link detached and she lost control of the vehicle. The vehicle drove off the road and crashed into a ditch. The air bags failed to deploy. The contact's daughter was able to exit th... Read more
Crash
1 injured
Incident date: Jan 2, 2022
My back window glass on convertible too is coming unsealed from the convertible top, if I pay to replace the top this has been reported 6 times already, and will happen again. Pointless to pay $3,000 dollars to have my top replaced. The glass is going to end up coming completely unsealed and fly off and hit someone’s car and cause an accident. My car has low milage and is financed under a reputa... Read more
Incident date: Jan 1, 2006
The contact owns a 2003 Buick LeSabre. The contact stated that their trunk failed to remain in the open position when needed. The contact had not taken the vehicle to the dealer. The vehicle had not been repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the issue. The approximate failure mileage was 60,000.
1 injured
Incident date: Feb 4, 2022
The steering wheel locks up during turning making it difficult to control the vehicle during turn-this presented a major safety risk. The vehicle was taken to a Buick dealer service on two occasions. The dealer was not able to duplicate the issue. On the first occasion an error code of B101E was noted during diagnosis system check. (Service write-up attached) The same issue represented and is cu... Read more
Incident date: Feb 1, 2022
Car been smelling like gas for awhile engine light pop on and off. My car will not start I have replace the fuel pump car still won’t get gas . Replaced battery numerous of times battery keep won’t stay charge . I have a recall on my car I believe the suspension is under recall as well. I also had to replace my windshield wiper motor a few times slapped against my windshield and cracked winds... Read more
Crash