Car was banging into second gear periodically since the day we got it as a CPO about two years ago. The dealer said it was normal. Fast forward to last week when all of a sudden the car was bucking and slamming into gears and stalling out at lights. Found out this is a common problem with these transmissions. We brought it to the dealer and they said that the car needed a transmission and it was out of warranty. GM corporate did nothing to help with the cost and now I'm on the hook for a $5,500 bill. Plus I have to find a rental car to wait for the back ordered transmission to arrive because of the strike. Never again GM!

Update from Nov 6, 2019: GM reached out and took amazing car of me. I have to say that Chevrolet of Milford and Emily from GM have been a pleasure to deal with.

My vehicle has been displaying a lag in the shifting of the transmission for some time now; over several months only to get worse with time. Sometimes when coming to a stop, and then accelerating a large clunk in the tranny would be experienced. I took it in for maintenance on my non-working navigation / radio console (a different complaint) to have them check it out. Note: there was NO light indicator warning being displayed so they were hesitant of "checking it" but agreed to do so at cost to me for the diagnosis.

They drained my tranny to find "significant amount of shavings" in my tranny fluid which appears to mean something is going out. I have made an appointment to have it overhauled or replaced for this coming Monday so we will see what the outcome will be. My current mileage at replacement will be at 64K miles, as I previously entered 55K when the problem was first noticed or started experiencing problems. I have never towed anything with this vehicle either.

This is a problem that most Acadia and Chevy Traverse owners have experienced since the late 2000s. GM is fully aware. Our Acadia has had this problem since the day we bought it. As it has been said by others, it seems the transmission cannot pick the right gear, loses power than a big thump. This will almost definitely be our last American branded vehicle. The whole buy American thing is a bunch of BS. These companies are taking us for granted.

I've owned several Toyotas and BMWs. Every manufacturer has their problems, but to buy an SUV and weeks after you've bought it, you're driving people around and you hear a loud thump coming from the transmission every time you turn right at low speeds, is downright embarrassing.

I am amazed that GM has gone this long without fixing this issue, knowing fully well it's a fault TORQUE CONVERTER. Any Acadia/Traverse owner will tell you. Right as the powertrain warranty expires they're left with a $2,500-$3,000 torque converter replacement bill. How there are no class action lawsuits vs GM on this, is beyond me.

Considering it's a random issue, it is hard for the dealer to detect exact problem, but it still clunks when accelerating after slowing down, as if the transmission can't down shift properly. It bangs into whatever gear is not needed, for example; it feels like trailer lag, or as if transmission slips until it catches a gear and then BANG, HARD HIT CLUNK!!!! Took it to 3 different dealers, only one admitted the problem, but even they don't know how to fix it. They said could be sensor, bla bla bla or mechanical, bla bla bla, or better yet, one said oh, it's normal because his 1997 Chevy did same thing, as if it's a Chevy issue. Whatever!!!! I'm no dummy, I'm very well educated mechanic myself. Warranty are great IF they fix the problem.