2006 Buick Lacrosse
This year drew an ordinary 299 complaints for a Buick Lacrosse — the model's median is 169. What they were about is the unusual part: 28.1% of them mention headlights, against 4.6% across the model's other years.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 299 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 169 |
| Involving a crash | 16 |
| Involving a fire | 7 |
| Recalls | 4 |
| EPA combined | 20.5 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- headlights — 28.1% of this year's complaints, against 4.6% across the model's other years (6.1×). Owners wrote it as: headlights, beam headlights, headlights failed, stated headlights.
- lighting — 27.8% of this year's complaints, against 4.6% across the model's other years (6×). Owners wrote it as: lighting, exterior, exterior lighting, vin included.
- low — 28.8% of this year's complaints, against 6.7% across the model's other years (4.3×). Owners wrote it as: low, beam, low beam, low beams.
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.
What owners wrote
THE LOW BEAM HEADLIGHTS FAILED ON SEVERAL OCCASIONS. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO AN INDEPENDENT MECHANIC MORE THAN ONCE WHERE THE RELAY SWITCH WAS REPLACED FOUR TIMES BUT THE FAILURE RECURRED. IN ADDITION, THE MECHANIC DIAGNOSED THAT THE HEADLAMP DRIVER MODULE FA…
WHILE DRIVING 45 MPH, THE LOW BEAM HEADLIGHTS FAILED TO ILLUMINATE WITHOUT WARNING. THE FAILURE OCCURRED CONSTANTLY. THE VEHICLE WAS NOT DIAGNOSED OR REPAIRED. THE VIN WAS NOT INCLUDED IN NHTSA CAMPAIGN NUMBER: 15V519000 (EXTERIOR LIGHTING). THE [VIN] WAS MADE…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 15V519000 EXTERIOR LIGHTING Fixed free of charge.
- 14V355000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 09E005000 STEERING Fixed free of charge.
- 06V417000 AIR BAGS
How this was worked out
Every year of the Buick Lacrosse 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 2006 Buick Lacrosse? What happened to yours?
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