klepZ OwnerReports
GMC / Acadia / 2018

2018 GMC Acadia problems

Owners have filed 529 complaints about the 2018 GMC Acadia with NHTSA. Power train accounts for 30.8% of them — the clear leader, ahead of electrical system at 20.4%. A further 21.9% were filed without a specific system named.

Complaints529
Crashes19
Fires2
Injuries32
Deaths0

What owners report breaking

Power train 30.8% · 163
Unknown or other 21.9% · 116
Electrical system 20.4% · 108
Engine 6.0% · 32
Steering 4.5% · 24
Service brakes 4.0% · 21
Electronic stability control (ESC) 2.3% · 12
Fuel/propulsion system 1.3% · 7
Severity

Of those complaints, 19 describe a crash, 2 describe a fire and 32 report an injury.

Reading the numbers

Across the 16 model years of the GMC Acadia in this data, 2018 sits 6th by complaint volume. 2008 draws the most.

Filings are rising — 202 in the last three years against 119 in the three before. For a vehicle this age that usually points to a wear-related failure owners are hitting now.

The median odometer reading at the time of complaint was 32,000 miles.

In owners' own words

Car won’t go into park though I’ve shifted to park. Car starts beeping and displays “SHIFT TO PARK!” even though the vehicle is shut off and gear shifter is in park position. I took to dealership, they stated, “gmc NEEDS to recall this, we have to repair every single GMC Acadia we sell with unfortunately the same defective parts” it’s a $500 fix. I just use my parking break everytime I park now. Power train
Whenever the vehicle was put in park and I attempted to shut it off, it would give me the shift to park error code and would not let me cut the car off completely. It would happen just about every time I drove it. I just got it out of the shop for the third time and was told this time they replaced the assembly. So far it has not happened again but it has only been a week. It started back in january 2020. Power train · reported at 22,000 miles
When the vehicle is shifted into park and the ignition is turned off, an error message is shown saying "shift vehicle into park". Usually pushing the shift knob forward and releasing it will make the error message disappear but there have been times that the vehicle had to be turned on and off multiple times as well as shifting from drive to park multiple times to make it go away and turn the vehicle off. Power train · reported at 24,200 miles

Verbatim from NHTSA filings. Complaints are unverified owner reports.

Safety recalls

Checking NHTSA for open recalls…

Other GMC Acadia years

2015 310 complaints · 35.2% air bags 2016 280 complaints · 46.4% air bags 2017 954 complaints · 24.6% power train 2019 539 complaints · 28.4% power train 2020 160 complaints · 16.9% electrical system 2021 215 complaints · 17.2% electrical system

Compare all 16 model years →