2003 Buick Century problems
The 2003 Buick Century has 170 complaints on file with NHTSA. The largest share (29%) concerns lighting. After that come electrical system (14%) and brakes (10%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 170 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Lighting 29% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 6 and 2
- Injuries and deaths
- 2 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 65,000 miles 121 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 | 14 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 18 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 22 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 21 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 17 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 9 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 14 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 2 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 2 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 2 |
| 200k+ miles | 0 |
What the data shows
Among the 121 complaints that report mileage, the typical (median) problem appeared at about 65,000 miles. For lighting specifically, the median reported mileage is about 80,000 miles (41 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 6 complaints mention a crash; 2 complaints mention a fire; 2 injuries reported. Its complaints are less severe on average than those of 82% of model years in our database.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2003 ranks 7th most-complained-about out of 16 model years of the Buick Century with enough data (79 complaints in that window).
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.
Tl*- the contact stated that while driving the 2003 buick century with 50000 failure mileage at 55 MPH and going around a soft left curve the front wheels turned, but the back wheels lost traction. The vehicle went sideways and hit a pole at 55 MPH ,and the contact sustained non-life threatening injuries. The vehicle had extensive damage and could not be repaired.
Dt*: the contact stated while the vehicle was parked, the seat caught on fire. The fire department was contacted and determined the fire was caused due to faulty wiring underneath the seat. The dealership was aware of the problem. There were no warning signals prior to the incident.
2003 buick century under seat bracket injured the child. Consumer states that her daughter cut 90% of her achilles tendon on the bracket. She was shocked to find such a sharp and dangerous equipment in her vehicle. The consumers daughter had to have surgery the same day of the incident.
2003 buick century 4dr - I have had for almost six years and this happened only one time. Thank god. I left walmart on side street, slowed for stop sign ahead, the engine went completely dead, lights and instruments out, I came to sudden stop. Could not restart car, doorlocks had automatically clicked, locking us inside, we could not release or open doors. We were locked inside our car. Luckily I wore cellphone. About ten minutes later, out of the blue, the power came back on all at once, lights came on.
Tl*the contact owns a 2003 buick century. Whenever the contact examined the engine she noticed that the oil level would continually drop after having an oil change. The vehicle was taken to the dealership where the contact was informed that the engine manifold was leaking. The current and failure mileages were 46000.