Owners have filed 2,261 complaints on the Buick Enclave, covering 2008–2026. The system named most often is Air Bags (697 reports). Worst years by volume: 2008, 2014, 2010; cleanest: 2026, 2024, 2022. 81 reports describe a crash, 23 a fire. On average the car was 6.0 years old when the problem happened.
What breaks on Buick Enclave
Grouped by the system owners named — percentages are shares of all 2,261 Enclave complaints. Open any row for the full reports in owners' own words.
Air Bags 697 Read
Tl - the contact owns a 2011 buick enclave. The contact stated while driving at unknown speed, the vehicle crashed into a deer causing the vehicle to catch on fire and the air bags failed to deploy. A police report was filed. The vehicle was destroyed. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure and…
Motor vehicle accident 12/9/2023 in which I was struck from behind by fast moving vehicle, and forced into vehicle directly in front of my vehicle. No driver airbag deployment, nor did my seatbelt lock, as verified by responding officer
On [XXX], 2024, a pickup truck ran a red light at 55+ miles per hour and struck the front left quarter panel of our 2023 Buick Enclave as we were pulling into an intersection. Our car was totaled with the entire front end of the car being severely damaged. The front end of the car, both quarter panels, bumper and…
Steering 379 Read
Son was driving car and the steering locked. Veared off road after turning onto street, went over curb onto sidewalk and hit light pole and concrete bench, stopping inches from a building. Car was totaled
The Buick did a hard turn to the left, without any action of the driver, and went into an uncontrollable counterclockwise spin and hit the concrete divider. Prior to the accident the Buick was traveling in the right south bound lane of US 75 with the traffic flow. There was a light rain and no one was changing lanes…
The contact owns a 2013 buick enclave. The contact stated that the air bag warning light illuminated intermittently. The contact took the vehicle to alpine buick gmc 8120 w tufts ave, denver, co 80123 to have the light turned off however, the warning light remained illuminated. The contact also stated that one day…
Power Train 264 Read
The contact owns a 2020 buick enclave c1. The contact stated that his wife reversed out of the garage however had to straighten the wheels. The contact placed the gear in the drive and without warning, the vehicle accelerated forward crashing into the garage door. No airbags deployed. Medical attention was contacted.…
On the morning of October 25, 2021 at approximately 7:05 am, I was fixing to leave to go to work. The carport light was on, so I open the door to my car, slid into the driver’s seat, started the car up and the lights came on. As I was starting to get out of the car to go turn the carport lights off, I realized the car…
-A few weeks prior to accident, while driving down a 65mph highway in TX, vehicle side mirrors were folding inward. Continued to fold inward after hit button to open them multiple times. Even did this after pulled off highway and stopped/started vehicle and exiting vehicle and locking to try to create a "reset" of…
Electrical System 208 Read
Onstar keeps running and failed. Nothing works on car without it. Its dead after shutting it off. And no safety features work
The rear liftgate locking mechanism failed to latch causing cargo to exit the vehicle where the car behind this car smashed into the cargo causing an accident. For whatever reason the rear door will not lock at all. The fuse was perfectly fine, appears the actuator is defective. No warning was given because the rear…
The passenger side seat air bag exploded and burned my daughter’s back while she was getting into the car. The car was in park and auto started. My son was sitting in the back seat behind her while this happened. She has 1st and 2nd degree burns and thankfully my son is okay. The car has been sitting in my driveway…
Engine 144 Read
The contact owns a 2014 buick enclave. The contact stated that while driving at approximately 35 mph, there was an abnormal noise coming from the front of the vehicle. The vehicle's pressure increased and caused the contact's ears to hurt. The contact noticed a burning odor coming from the vehicle. The failure…
The contact owns a 2014 buick enclave. The contact stated that when driving the vehicle in the rain, there would be smoke coming from underneath the hood. The contact took the vehicle to the dealer where it was not diagnosed or repaired. The failure recurred. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The…
Alternator failed caught fire, overcharged battery, exploded battery
Structure 114 Read
Waiting in line at sonic driveway started reversing at breakneck speeds - finally stopped afte r jumping a curb and hitting a heavy pickup, air bags did not open malfunction of vehicle several days before the gear shift seemed sticky
Driving the car in the freeway. Car started smoking, stopped on shoulder turned off engine. Smoke got darker and then fire appeared
Anyone behind me could’ve hit the part and caused a wreck. We have told the dealer
Service Brakes 62 Read
My 2022 buick enclave was involved in a minor accident that was a stop and go traffic . THE car is supposed to have anti collision sensors in the front grill but the car did not stop or slow down and no warning lights went off , also from the hood had a buckled bacl along with the front fenders and pushed both fenders…
Cold start, AC unit on, engine at high idle speed. Put car in reverse to back out of the garage. Stepped on the brake pedal and the car kept rolling. Pumped the brake peddle and applied extreme pressure, car did not slow down. Panicked that I would hit a wall, I dropped the car from reverse to drive. Still on high…
The brake issue raised its ugly head again. The vehicle has operated fine since the original incident even with the front-end damage. Yesterday, one week after the original incident it occurred again. Cold start leaving a restaurant turned out of parking lot on to side street. Traffic was stopped at a light and I…
Seat Belts 38 Read
In December 2017 we were involved in a rear end collision so violent the spare tire was knocked out from under the vehicle. Our vehicle, 2014 Buick Enclave VIN [XXX] was struck in the rear. The lap belt held us secure, but the shoulder belt allowed us to be tossed forward. My head hit the left windshield/top post…
We were driving our buick enclave on I 94 expressway near merriman road near detroit metro airport when we hit a construction zone. We slowed down to 15 mph when car behind hit us going full highway speed. There were 4 people in the car. 2 of the people (the driver and passenger behind the driver) did not have the…
The contact owned a 2012 buick enclave. While driving 50 mph, another vehicle crashed into the contact's vehicle. The seat belt failed to restrain the driver who, as a result, sustained broken ribs that required medical attention. The front passenger reclined all the way back, pinning the rear passenger. A police…
Enclave years to avoid — and the clean ones
Complaints per model year. More reports usually means more cars on the road as well as more trouble, so read the crash and fire columns alongside the count.
| Model year | Complaints | Top system | Crashes | Fires |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Power Train,engine,fuel/propulsion System | — | — | |
| 2025 | Electrical System | 1 | — | |
| 2024 | Air Bags,seat Belts | 1 | — | |
| 2023 | Air Bags | 2 | — | |
| 2022 | Back Over Prevention,exterior Lighting | 2 | — | |
| 2021 | Electrical System | — | — | |
| 2020 | Back Over Prevention,forward Collision Avoidance | 2 | — | |
| 2019 | Air Bags | 2 | 1 | |
| 2018 | Air Bags | 5 | — | |
| 2017 | Air Bags | 6 | — | |
| 2016 | Air Bags | 2 | — | |
| 2015 | Air Bags | 7 | — | |
| 2014 | Air Bags | 8 | 3 | |
| 2013 | Air Bags | 2 | — | |
| 2012 | Air Bags | 9 | — | |
| 2011 | Air Bags | 14 | 3 | |
| 2010 | Air Bags | 5 | 1 | |
| 2009 | Air Bags | 2 | 6 | |
| 2008 | Air Bags | 11 | 9 |
The same model year, different builds
Every complaint carries the first 11 characters of the VIN — plant, year, body and engine. That is a production series, and complaints are spread across them very unevenly.
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Distinct production series | 658 |
| Average complaints per series | 3.4 |
| Worst single series | 26 complaints |
| Average age at failure | 6.0 years |
A model average of 3.4 hides a worst series at 26. Enter a VIN above to see the numbers for that exact build instead of the model as a whole.
Owners reported these. Find out if yours is one of them.
- Complaints matched to the exact production run, not just the model
- What the car is worth given what tends to fail on it
- The original window sticker and factory options
- Full research report as a PDF for the pre-purchase inspection
- No ads, on every page
- No ads, no tracking — and much more
How we count
Every figure here comes from complaints owners filed with NHTSA — 1,100,006 of them, covering 1,982 models built between 1981 and 2026.
A complaint is an unverified report: someone wrote down what happened to their car. It is not a confirmed defect and not a recall. What makes the volume useful is the pattern — when thousands of owners of the same build describe the same failure, that is a signal no marketing brochure will give you.
Two things we do that the source does not. First, we compute the age of the car at the moment of failure from the incident date and the model year. Second, we group complaints by the first 11 characters of the VIN — the production series — so a bad plant run does not disappear into a model-wide average.
Frequently asked questions
What are the worst years for the Enclave?
By complaint volume, 2008, 2014, 2010 drew the most owner reports. Bear in mind that popular years put more cars on the road, so check the crash and fire columns too.
Which Enclave years are the cleanest?
2026, 2024, 2022 have the fewest complaints on file. For recent years that can simply mean the cars are young.
How many complaints does the Buick Enclave have?
2,261 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, covering 2008–2026. Of those, 81 describe a crash and 23 a fire.
Are these complaints verified?
No. They are unverified reports from owners. NHTSA publishes them as filed and investigates only a fraction. The value is in the pattern, not in any single report.
Can I check complaints for one specific car?
Yes — enter its VIN above. We match the first 11 characters, which identify the plant, year, body and engine, so you get complaints on that exact production series rather than the whole model.