2011 Buick Lacrosse
This year drew an ordinary 169 complaints for a Buick Lacrosse — the model's median is 189. What they were about is the unusual part: 16.6% of them mention windshield, against 4% across the model's other years.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 169 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 189 |
| Involving a crash | 15 |
| Involving a fire | 1 |
| Recalls | 4 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 20 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- windshield — 16.6% of this year's complaints, against 4% across the model's other years (4.1×). Owners wrote it as: windshield, visibility, defrost, defroster.
- reduced — 10.1% of this year's complaints, against 3.7% across the model's other years (2.7×). Owners wrote it as: reduced, engine power, car off, stabilitrak.
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
LOSS OF ENGINE POWER WHILE DRIVING ON HIGHWAY AT 75 MPH, DROPPED SUDDENLY TO 30 MPH. HAD TO PULL ONTO SHOULDER FROM PASSING LANE, ALMOST REAR ENDED BY TRACTOR TRAILER DUE TO SUDDEN POWER LOSS, COULD NOT ACCELERATE. STABILITRAK LIGHT TURNED ON STATING ENGINE PO…
DEFROST SYSTEM NOT WORKING PROPERLY, FRONT WINDSHIELD DEFROST SYSTEM FAILS TO CLEAR WINDOW, AND VISIBILITY IS AN ISSUE. HVAC SYSTEM DOESN'T COOL PROPERLY, COMPRESSOR COMES ON, HOWEVER [VIN] ONLY LOWERS TO A CERTAIN [VIN]. [VIN] COOLS BETTER WHILE VEHICLE IS IN…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 20V764000 SUSPENSION Fixed free of charge.
- 21V00F000 SUSPENSION Fixed free of charge.
- 14V447000 SEATS Fixed free of charge.
- 11V149000 VISIBILITY Fixed free of charge.
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 2011 Buick Lacrosse? What happened to yours?
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