2016 Buick Regal
Complaints about this year name power steering far more often than the model's other years — 15% of them, about 37× the usual rate of 0.4%.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 82 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 19 |
| Recalls | 1 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 24 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- steering — 26.8% of this year's complaints, against 9% across the model's other years (3×).
- caused — 19.5% of this year's complaints, against 6.5% across the model's other years (3×).
- advisor — 7.3% of this year's complaints, against 0% across the model's other years (36.6×).
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
- steering — 27% of complaints, 4× usual
- dash — 12% of complaints, 30× usual
- turning — 12% of complaints, 30× usual
What owners wrote
Driving on the highway and abs, stabltrack and steering lights came on. This is the third time in 2 years that a wheel bearing failed on this vehicle. A magnet ring in the wheel bearing that sensors wheel speed failed and fractured causing a loss of power stee…
while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle lost power steering functionality and the vehicle became difficult to steer. The contact stated that the failure occurred intermittently. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired by an independent mechanic or…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 16V108000 STEERING Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Buick Regal 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 2016 Buick Regal? What happened to yours?
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