2011 Buick Enclave
Complaints about this year name rolls far more often than the other years of this generation — 7% of them, about 18× the usual rate of 0.4%.
Generation 1 of the Buick Enclave, which began in 2008 and ran to 2017. Everything below compares this year against the others in that generation, not against a different car wearing the same name.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 211 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 64 |
| Involving a crash | 14 |
| Involving a fire | 3 |
| Recalls | 6 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 18.5 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- incline — 16.1% of this year's complaints, against 6.4% across the other years of this generation (2.5×). Owners wrote it as: incline, rolls, rolling, backwards.
- liftgate — 9% of this year's complaints, against 1.7% across the other years of this generation (5.3×). Owners wrote it as: liftgate, structure, closes, require.
- hill — 8.5% of this year's complaints, against 2.1% across the other years of this generation (4.2×). Owners wrote it as: hill, very hard, quick, hills.
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
Also unusual this year
- leaking — 10% of complaints, 5× usual
- incline — 7% of complaints, 10× usual
- rack — 8% of complaints, 5× usual
What owners wrote
POWER STEERING AND RACK IS LEAKING. I SEE THAT THERE ARE HUNDREDS OF COMPLAINTS ON THIS ISSUE. ESTIMATE FOR REPAIR IS $1400. THE STEERING IS VERY HARD AND VERY UNSAFE. THERE ARE 3 KIDS UNDER 10 IN THIS FAMILY. GM IS PUTTING THEM AT RISK.
LOUD WHINING NOISE AND LEAKING FROM RACK/PINION PUMP. HEWLETT CHEVY/BUICK DEALERSHIP ACKNOWLEDGES PUMP IS COVERED UNDER SPECIAL COVERAGE ADJUSTMENT BUT WON'T PERFORM REPAIR UNTIL PUMP AND RACK ACTUALLY GO OUT...PUTTING MY FAMILY IN DANGER.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 21V782000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 21V246000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 14V266000 SEAT BELTS Fixed free of charge.
- 15V415000 STRUCTURE Fixed free of charge.
- 14V118000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 12V151000 VISIBILITY Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Buick Enclave was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2011 Buick Enclave? What happened to yours?
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