2017 GMC Acadia
Complaints about this year name shift park far more often than the other years of this generation — 39% of them, about 38× the usual rate of 1%.
First year of a new generation. The GMC Acadia was redesigned for 2017. A first year carries problems nobody has found yet, and they are found by the people who buy it — which is worth knowing before you become one of them.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 1,340 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 302 |
| Involving a crash | 19 |
| Involving a fire | 4 |
| Recalls | 4 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 4/5 |
| EPA combined | 22 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- shift park — 39.4% of this year's complaints, against 1% across the other years of this generation (38.2×).
- turn off — 26.9% of this year's complaints, against 5.8% across the other years of this generation (4.7×). Owners wrote it as: turn off, off vehicle, park turn, off car.
- shifter — 19.3% of this year's complaints, against 4.7% across the other years of this generation (4.1×). Owners wrote it as: shifter, park position, assembly, gear shifter.
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
- turn off — 19% of complaints, 7× usual
- shifter — 13% of complaints, 15× usual
- park message — 8% of complaints, 20× usual
What owners wrote
Transmission gear shifter displays shift to park error message, so that I can't turn off the vehicle. Vehicle stays active when you try to get out and won't lock.
WHEN THE SHIFTER IS PLACED INTO PARK THE SCREEN SHOWS "PLACE SHIFTER INTO PARK" THE RADIO STILL WORKS, SCREEN WILL NOT TURN OFF, AND THE CAR CANNOT BE LOCKED MAKING IT UNSAFE, EASY TO GET INTO OR STOLEN.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 17V516000 POWER TRAIN Fixed free of charge.
- 18V358000 FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE Fixed free of charge.
- 16V802000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC Fixed free of charge.
- 23V334000 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 2017 GMC Acadia? What happened to yours?
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