2018 GMC Acadia problems
NHTSA has received 536 complaints about the 2018 GMC Acadia, and 28% of them involve drivetrain & axles. Next are electrical system (20%) and engine (7%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 536 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Drivetrain & axles 28% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 19 and 2
- Injuries and deaths
- 32 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 32,000 miles 241 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 | 60 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 95 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 50 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 8 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 12 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 7 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 7 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 1 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 0 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 0 |
| 200k+ miles | 1 |
What the data shows
Of the 241 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 32,000 miles. For drivetrain & axles specifically, the median reported mileage is about 37,000 miles (89 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 19 complaints mention a crash; 2 complaints mention a fire; 32 injuries reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2018 ranks 4th most-complained-about out of 19 model years of the GMC Acadia with enough data (349 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 2 safety recall campaigns.
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 rented a 2018 GMC acadia. While the contact's friend was driving 40 MPH, the engine revved and the vehicle accelerated on its own. The brakes failed to stop the vehicle. As a result, the vehicle drove through a partition and crashed into a brick wall. The air bags deployed. All four occupants in the vehicle were injured and received medical attention. The contact suffered chest pain, another occupant sustained a cut on the head, and the other two occupants suffered fractures.
In motion on the highway 401 north ontario canada, the vehicle erratically increased speed and brakes were noir effective, lost control of the steering wheel which caused a massive accident involving multiple cars and resulted in multiple injuries.
On separate occasions, both parked turned off and running down highway, the dash lights lit up and alarms chimed. Car wouldn't start, no cold A/C. The "service power steering" message displayed. Car didn't turn as well. Couldn't shift. After doing so for a about 2-3 minutes it would go back to normal. The attached photo was while driving down the road you'll notice it doesn't measure any rpm's however the car is moving about 40MPH
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.