2013 GMC Acadia
This year drew an ordinary 273 complaints for a GMC Acadia — the model's median is 333. What they were about is the unusual part: 17.6% of them mention detection, against 6.9% across the other years of this generation.
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 | 273 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 333 |
| Involving a crash | 10 |
| Involving a fire | 16 |
| Recalls | 3 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 18.5 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- detection — 17.6% of this year's complaints, against 6.9% across the other years of this generation (2.5×). Owners wrote it as: detection, side detection, module, detection system.
- wiring — 8.4% of this year's complaints, against 3% across the other years of this generation (2.8×). Owners wrote it as: wiring, harness.
- everything — 6.6% of this year's complaints, against 1.5% across the other years of this generation (4.4×). Owners wrote it as: everything, spend, thinks, about minutes.
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 SIDE BLIND ZONE DETECTION SYSTEM BECAME DEFECTIVE, FROM DEFECTIVE MODULES DAMAGED FROM THE ELEMENTS. THIS CAUSES MANY ELECTRICAL SYSTEMS TO BECOME DISABLED AND EVEN DISABLES THE VEHICLE COMPLETELY. THERE IS A SPECIAL WARRANTY BUT ONLY UP TO 80,000 MILES. M…
THE SERVICE SIDE DETECTION SYSTEM HAS APPEARED IN THE DIC DUE TO WATER INTRUSION IN THE SENSORS. THEY WERE ORIGINALLY REPLACED PER THE TSB16-NA-178 IN APRIL OF 2019. THE ISSUE HAS SINCE RE-OCCURRED 2/18/21 WHILE DRIVING, WHICH JEOPARDIZES MY SAFETY. I ALSO UND…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 14V266000 SEAT BELTS Fixed free of charge.
- 14V118000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 21V246000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
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 2013 GMC Acadia? What happened to yours?
Loading comments…