10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
1 / 2
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
22,197 miles

About These NHTSA Complaints:

This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.

So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.

2017 GMC Acadia electrical problems

electrical problem

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2017 GMC Acadia Owner Comments (Page 3 of 8)

« Read the previous 20 complaints

problem #114

Oct 012021

Acadia

  • miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

Vehicle is a 2017 Acadia Denali with ~39,000 miles. The problem started without any symptoms or warnings in October 2021. The dash gives a "Shift to Park" message when the shift is moved to the Park position and the driver attempts (to turn all systems off so as) to park and exit the vehicle. When the Off button is pushed, the "Shift to Park" message displays. The engine does turn off, but the lighting, radio, etc. stay on. When opening the door, the vehicle emits tone(s) suggesting the driver is trying to leave the vehicle while it's running and/or has left electrical systems on. Driver is actually attempting to simply turn everything off and park the vehicle. The fact that all the lighting and radio stay on runs down the battery, potentially leaving the driver stranded.

- Lebanon, OH, USA

problem #113

Jul 022021

Acadia

  • miles
Shift to park light came on when I parked. As I parked, the break pad locked and I could not release it. The shifter locked and I could not release it. It Would not let me turn vehicle off. I had to experiment on how to get error message to stop and breaks to unlock so I did result to jiggling the shifter And put car in reverse then in drive and park again and trying to turn off (after doing this atleast 4 times) eventually it unlocked and let me turn car off without getting this error message. This happened 2 years prior and I had my 1 yr old in car with me panicking bc I couldn-??t drive my car for a bit until the mechanism decided to start working again. This time I knew how to fix it better bc it had happened 2 yrs prior so I knew to wiggle the shifter and try to put it back in drive etc to eventually get car to shut off. There-??s records of this shift to park being fixed in 2019 and again in 2021. I should not be responsible for paying ANYTHING for these issues. It is a GMC malfunction. Although mechanical it is a safety concern of mine too!

- Cedar Hill, TN, USA

problem #112

Jun 242021

Acadia

  • miles
Vehicle was purchased used in June 2020 ISSUE #1 After shifting car into park, display will indicate P for PARK, but also says vehicle is not in park. Since you are not sure if it actually in PARK and to eliminate this display, you need to restart the vehicle, go thru the gears again and then back into PARK. This happens several times a week with having to restart and PARK again up to 10 TIMES before the vehicle will register it is in park. I have read there is a Technical Service Bulletin on this issue as well as a case to get GMC to issue a RECALL. This is a serious issue because you are unaware if the vehicle transmission is actually in PARK. Having to restart and continually shift to park is time consuming and quite frankly a nuisance. At this point in time, the only way of correction, other than RESTARTING UP TO TEN TIMES, is to click the gear shift several times after placing in park. This will work 5/10 times. ISSUE #2 - Vehicle does not always detect remote. Have replaced battery in remote 5 times and will last approximately 8-10 weeks. At times, when the vehicle has been driven and is placed into park, the display will read NO REMOTE DETECTED. Have also placed remote into pocket into console and will still receive the same NO REMOTE DETECTED. Although there is never any indication battery is low or dead on remote, this is also the only possible correction we have found. However, we do believe there must be another correction for this issue.

- Baltimore, MD, USA

problem #111

Jun 012021

Acadia

  • miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

This vehicle has twice had parts replaced for the "Shift to Park" issue detailed in GM TSB 19-NA-206. The first incident was in April 2019, and it was repaired under warranty at about 24,800 miles. The second incident was this past week at about 50,800 miles, and this repair cost almost $800 to fix. I contacted GM customer support and was told that I could not get any reimbursement because there was no special coverage or recall for this known problem. This is completely unacceptable, since the problem is clearly a defect in parts manufacturing or assembly, and it renders the vehicle completely unusable since it is impossible to turn the car off when the car does not recognize that the shifter is in park. This is a safety issue because the driver needs to be certain whether or not the vehicle is securely parked before leaving the vehicle.

- New Hudson, MI, USA

problem #110

Aug 032020

Acadia

  • miles
When you put the car in park it often won-??t recognize it and will display a message on the console stating -??shift to park-??. When it does this you-??re not able to turn your car completely off so you just have to continue messing around with the shifter or turning the car back on again by pressing the break until it finally goes off. This happens at least once daily and can take upwards of 5 minutes sometimes to finally recognize the car is in park so you can turn the car off. We-??ve tried leaving the car running before when this message is displayed when it-??s been parked in our garage thinking it would eventually realize it-??s in park and shutoff but after 10 minutes of running it still hadn-??t recognized it was in park. We called our dealership about this and they told us that they get a lot of complaints about this issue.

- Jenison, MI, USA

problem #109

Apr 122021

Acadia

  • 89,000 miles
Shortly after I purchased my Acadia in may of 2018, it started displaying a shift to park warning when I would put the car in park. I contacted the dealership and they said it was a known issue and they had to replace the shift assembly. Well about 3 weeks ago it started doing it again. Only this time it's worse. It takes several tries and tricks to get the car to recognize it's in park and allow me to shut the car off - when the warning pops up it won't allow the car to power off so all the electronics stay on. I called the dealership and they told me because my extended warranty expired at 79,000 miles and they had already replaced the shift assembly once that there is nothing they can do and I will have to pay out of pocket for this repair even though it's a well documented issue with these vehicles.

- Pana, IL, USA

problem #108

Apr 012021

Acadia

  • 35,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

The vehicle gives a 'shift to park' warning on dashboard after vehicle ignition button. This warning shows up every time the vehicle is accepted to shut off. It takes several minutes and tries to get the message to go away and the vehicle to completely shut off. The only successful way of getting the message and vehicle to completely shut off is by wiggling or shaking the gear shifter until it goes away. I have been stranded with children in the vehicle for concerns that the vehicle will roll with the vehicle not registering that it is in park. After researching the vehicle issue further it has been found that other owners with the same year and model have had the same shift to park message and have had their vehicle roll on it's own. The vehicle has gone to the dealership to be fixed but unfortunately because my warranty has expired I am being held responsible for paying to fix this safety issue.

- Hanscom Afb, MA, USA

problem #107

Mar 082018

Acadia

  • 14,009 miles
It seems that all of these cars have a faulty side detection problem. Please check into it. It is a pain and is sad that it seems to happen to all of them. The side detection problem leads to other kinds of problems with the computers... the light stays on all the time

- Rainsville, AL, USA

problem #106

Mar 082021

Acadia

  • 7,000 miles
When the car is shifted into park, the dashboard shows a warning that the car is not in park. If I leave the car like that, all the electrical stuff stays on. My husband was at a gas station, and pumping gas is not safe with the car not shutting off. Also I am concerned if the vehicle will be able to roll. My niece also has an Acadia, and 3 young sons all still in car seats, so she has to use the 3rd row seat, so getting her sons out of a vehicle is not a quick chore. If the car will not shut off and go into park and can roll, it would be a disaster if her children were still in the vehicle still strapped into their seats.

- Negaunee, MI, USA

problem #105

Jan 022021

Acadia

  • miles
It says to put in park when the vehicle is in park mode and the engine won't turn off

- Grovertown, IN, USA

problem #104

Oct 052020

Acadia

  • 54,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

This issue has happened to me atleast 4 times in the last 8 months. I will go to start my car and it will show 'no remote access ' then completely shut off or drain the battery. I ha w had to have my car towed 3 times and then one time after 45 minutes it just turned on. This is only a 2017 acdua ABS I have only had it a year and a half. It's had leaking heater fluid issues as well.

- Rancho Cucamonga, CA, USA

problem #103

Jan 082021

Acadia 6-cyl

  • 64,000 miles
The contact owns a 2017 GMC Acadia. The contact stated that while placing the vehicle in park, an error message and warning light was displayed on the instrument panel. The contact stated that the message shift to park was displayed while attempting to start or turn off the vehicle. The contact took the vehicle to Buick GMC of Mahwah (386 NJ-17, Mahwah, NJ 07430) where the vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 64,000.

- Oradal, NJ, USA

problem #102

Jan 022021

Acadia

  • 69,000 miles
The issue involved the car failing to recognize it is in park and will not shut off while also rolling. The issue first came up in November of 2018 and GMC replaced the shifter assembly under warranty. It has has reappeared as of October 2020 but there is no recall or other means to fix it and it presents a hazard given the car Transport our 3 year old son.

- Williamsburg, VA, USA

problem #101

Jan 012021

Acadia

  • 34,504 miles
When the vehicle is shifted into park to turn off the engine the sensor shows it is not in park and will not let you turn the engine off.

- Elmira, NY, USA

problem #100

Dec 282020

Acadia

  • 48,900 miles
My 2017 GMC Acadia shut off lost all power for a couple mins at a busy intersection in September 2020. All power restore after several minutes and attempts to restart. I took in to the dealership however they could not duplicate. Now on the 28th of December 2020, the vehicle lost all power again at the same busy intersection! no power at all! could not even turn my hazard lights on to warn traffic that was coming up behind me on the highway! the vehicle remained like this for 10-15 minutes! couldn't even have anyone push it off the road because we couldn't shift it to neutral either. I took it back to the dealership as GM advised and they still could not duplicate. The dealership tried but cannot make sense of why this keeps occurring randomly. I had my small children in the car this time and we are lucky we did not get rear ended! I fear that my family is not safe in this vehicle.

- Walkersville, WV, USA

problem #99

Jul 142020

Acadia

  • 16,000 miles
Vehicle is put into park when stopped in a parking lot or in my garage but the message on the dash indicates it is not in park. This happens intermittently. The power remains on with lights not shutting off. Shifter harness was replaced in July 2020 per bulletin 19-na-206. The problem showed up again 3 months later.

- Mahtomedi, MN, USA

problem #98

Feb 102019

Acadia

  • 35,040 miles
Gear shift would go into park but would not turn off engine, lock doors, turn off lights. Warning light read to "place in park."

- Norco, CA, USA

problem #97

Nov 102020

Acadia

  • 52,000 miles
While driving in the rain on a highway, I experienced the blind side detection warning. The system shut itself down and no longer gave any side detection at all. After contacting GMC, they said there were no recalls on the vehicle. I saw a service bulletin online, N172097060, but they said my vehicle was not included.

- Centre, AL, USA

problem #96

Oct 262020

Acadia

  • 56,000 miles
After shifting to park the vehicle will continuously state "shift to park" and will not allow the driver to turn the vehicle completely off or lock the doors.

- Ada, MI, USA

problem #95

Sep 012020

Acadia

  • 38,000 miles
The 2017 GMC Acadia I own will not recognize when the vehicle is in park. It states to move to park to shut the vehicle off when the vehicle is already in park. This happens when trying to shut off the vehicle but I am unable to because of the "shift to park" warning. I have to push the stick forward and turn the car on and off several times for the message to disappear. Had this fixed by GMC but they refused to cover under powertrain warranty.

- Glenshaw, PA, USA

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