2008 GMC Acadia
Complaints about this year name transmission far more often than the other years of this generation — 30% of them, about 4× the usual rate of 6.9%.
Generation 1 of the GMC Acadia, which began in 2007 and ran to 2016. 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 | 858 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 302 |
| Involving a crash | 22 |
| Involving a fire | 13 |
| Recalls | 5 |
| EPA combined | 18.5 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- transmission — 29.7% of this year's complaints, against 6.9% across the other years of this generation (4.3×).
- plate — 10% of this year's complaints, against 0.7% across the other years of this generation (13.7×). Owners wrote it as: plate, wave, wave plate.
- family — 6.2% of this year's complaints, against 2.4% across the other years of this generation (2.6×).
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
- water — 16% of complaints, 5× usual
- wave plate — 9% of complaints, 21× usual
- sunroof — 6% of complaints, 8× usual
What owners wrote
PURCHASED NEW, HAVE HAD THE FOLLOWING PROBLEMS 2011 :WATER PUMP FAILED, AND ENGINE OIL LEAK NEW PUMP AND GASKETS,2012: OIL PRESSURE SENSOR REPLACED, 2013: WAVE PLATE BROKEN SENT METAL THROUGH TRANSMISSION MAJOR TRANSMISSION REPAIR, FRONT AND REAR A/C FAILED AN…
WATER ENTERS THE INTERIOR OF THE VEHICLE AS THE SUNROOF DRAINS CONTINUE TO CLOG UP AND WATER FALLS ON DRIVER AND DRIVER SIDE ELECTRICAL FUSES.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 15V415000 STRUCTURE Fixed free of charge.
- 14V118000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 08V441000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 10V240000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
- 08V410000 VISIBILITY
How this was worked out
Every year of the GMC Acadia 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 2008 GMC Acadia? What happened to yours?
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