1996 Buick Century problems
The 1996 Buick Century has 110 complaints on file with NHTSA. The largest share (15%) concerns brakes. After that come fuel system (10%) and steering (9%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 110 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Brakes 15% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 7 and 1
- Injuries and deaths
- 10 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 80,000 miles 17 complaints with mileage
Source: NHTSA owner complaints
Where the complaints are
Share of this model year's complaints by the part of the car involved. One complaint can name more than one part, so the shares can add up to more than 100%.
When problems show up
View the numbers
| Mileage | Complaints |
|---|---|
| 0k to 20k miles | 0 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 4 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 0 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 4 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 1 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 1 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 2 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 4 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 1 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 0 |
| 200k+ miles | 0 |
What the data shows
Among the 17 complaints that report mileage, the typical (median) problem appeared at about 80,000 miles.
Safety-related details: 7 complaints mention a crash; 1 complaint mentions a fire; 10 injuries reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 1996 ranks 10th most-complained-about out of 16 model years of the Buick Century with enough data (48 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 1 safety recall campaign.
What owners wrote
A few complaints as filed, shortened and with personal details removed. The first ones are among the most serious reports for this model year; the rest are typical.
While riding about 25 MPH car in front started to put on its brakes. Consumer also attempted to put on the brakes. But, instead, car speeded up and jumped the curve. Car gained even more speed and finally was stopped by hitting a tree, upon impact, air bag didn't diploy. Consumer's foot was broken in the process of trying to put on the brakes. The passenger was also banged up. Passenger side does not have an air bag.
Consumer is requesting information as to how to obtain free vehicle repairs. The consumer was involved in an accident in which the air bag partially deployed and caused injury to the drivers head. The consumer and his wife are on a fixed income. *nlm
1996 buick century. Automatic door locks will lock when the car is in gear and idling. Driver mistakenly got out of car with the car in gear and idling. The automatic door locks immediately locked the driver out of the car. Driver had to bust window to shut the car off before car rolled into building.
While backing into my daughter's attached garage, the gas line ruptured and leaked a lot of gasoline before I shut-off the ignition. I promptly re-started the car and backed it out of the garage, unwittingly risking igniting the gasoline in the process, but still afraid of the gas/fumes in the garage igniting and burning us, the car and the house down! We got a water hose and broom and swept as much of it out of the garage as we could. We were lucky.