Owners have filed 200 complaints on the Buick Encore GX, covering 2020–2025. The system named most often is Power Train (44 reports). Worst years by volume: 2020, 2021, 2022; cleanest: 2025, 2023, 2024. 7 reports describe a crash, 1 a fire. On average the car was 2.3 years old when the problem happened.
What breaks on Buick Encore GX
Grouped by the system owners named — percentages are shares of all 200 Encore GX complaints. Open any row for the full reports in owners' own words.
Power Train 44 Read
When I go 63 miles an hour the car starts chugging and my dealership changed the transmission fluid. I drove it home today and it still chugging. They called me and said they took a 2026 Buick encore and did the same thing but will not help me. They told me it’s a daily occurrence in the vehicle. It shouldn’t be…
Sealed transmission found "bone dry" at approximately 13,000 miles. No consumer-accessible dipstick. Complete transmission failure January 2, 2026. Second complete powertrain failure March 14, 2026, nine days after first repair completed. Symptoms on second failure (loss of power, hollow tumbling sound) consistent…
The contact owns a 2024 Buick Encore GX. The contact stated that while driving approximately 60-65 MPH on the interstate, the vehicle was shuddering abnormally while accelerating, and the transmission failed to properly shift into gear. The contact was concerned about safety while driving the vehicle at highway…
Electrical System 37 Read
The contact owns a 2025 Buick Encore GX. The contact stated while driving on several occasions at undisclosed speeds and attempting to depress icons on the infotainment system, the screen froze. The vehicle was taken to a dealer on five occasions where it was diagnosed that the infotainment system needed to be…
I am reporting a defect involving my **2025 Buick Encore GX AWD manufactured by General Motors. Within two days of purchasing the vehicle, the dashboard displayed the warning message “Service Charging System – Vehicle May Stall.” I contacted the dealership on the third day of ownership and was instructed to bring the…
In my car there is an electrical issue with the radio. Sometimes when I’m backing up and using the camera the lane assistance doesn’t work properly which can cause someone to back into things if they are using it. Also another issue it has is when I’m driving the entire radio and dashboard flicks and the screen goes…
Service Brakes 21 Read
The contact owns a 2020 Buick Encore GX. The contact stated that while attempting to stop, the brake pedal was depressed and it traveled to the floorboard causing the brakes to fail to stop the vehicle. The contact mentioned that the vehicle crashed into the rear of another vehicle. A police report was not filed. The…
I was traveling to school when my breaks didn’t work I tried them twice and I crashed into another vehicle. And the month or march I took it into to Buick for break issues and they said everything was fine
Noticed around 7000 miles that the brakes are squealing and grabbing at slow speeds
Engine 20 Read
The issue has happened three times and has been "repaired" three times. While driving, the vehicle starts to shake violently. Then the check engine light comes on and the vehicle shuts off. It has happened on extremely busy roads and almost caused major accidents. It has been a problem with fuel pump and sensor.…
Vehicle was started and started misfiring and then shut off, no check engine lights came on. Tried to restart the car and it continued to misfire but eventually stopped. Car also misfires sometimes after refueling. Car was taken to dealership to be looked at and there were no findings of any issues, they suggested it…
The contact owned a 2023 Buick Encore. The contact stated that while the vehicle was in park and shifting into the Drive position, the accelerator pedal was lightly depressed when the vehicle violently accelerated forward. No warning light illuminated. The vehicle struck several trees and crashed into an unknown…
Steering 10 Read
2/3/2021 I was driving with my daughter today. She was driving and we were approaching a left hand turn at an intersection. We had a green light and I could see that her foot was on the brake. She started the turn with her foot still on the brake. The vehicle accelerated while her foot was on the brake and the…
The contact leased a 2024 Buick Encore. The contact stated that while driving 70 MPH, the steering wheel was pulling to the left and to the right. The contact was able to remain in the middle lane. The contact had to use both hands while driving the vehicle. There were no warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was…
I was driving and randomly my new 2023 Buick Encore GX and two error messages popped up and my brakes started being less responsive. The two error messages that popped up was "Service ESC" and "Service Power Steering". I will be calling the service department tomorrow to get it checked to make sure nothing is wrong.…
Engine And Engine Cooling 8 Read
The contact owns a 2022 Buick Encore GX. The contact stated while driving approximately 20 MPH and depressing the accelerator pedal, the vehicle failed to exceed 35 MPH and made an abnormal loud sound that became louder as the contact continued driving. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, where it was test-driven,…
The contact owns a 2022 Buick Encore GX. The contact stated that while driving approximately 70 MPH, the vehicle stalled. The contact stated that the power steering and brakes were difficult to operate. The contact coasted to the side of the road and attempted to restart the vehicle. There were several unknown warning…
The contact owns a 2021 Buick Encore GX. The contact stated while driving approximately 60 MPH, the check engine warning light illuminated with the “Engine Power Reduced message displayed. The contact stated that the vehicle lost motive power and the vehicle failed to exceed 25 MPH with the accelerator pedal…
Vehicle Speed Control 4 Read
The contact owns a 2023 Buick Encore GX. The contact stated while depressing the accelerator pedal, the vehicle failed to immediately accelerate. On several occasions while depressing the accelerator pedal, the vehicle abruptly accelerated. The cause of the failure was not yet determined. The contact stated that the…
Due to defective LIN BUS 2 failure to read mass air flow sensor, vehicle suddenly goes into limp mode. This speed control issue is documented in GM Technical Service Bulletins (TSBs) #22-NA-008 and PIP5934, 2022
I was driving home approx 6:00 pm as I was starting on l75 my buick 2020gx with less than 300 miles started to speed up to a very fast my brakes did not slow me down the car kept speeding up I was very scared when the car kept going faster now I am scared to drive it there was almost a crash trying to slow down
Fuel/propulsion System 4 Read
The evaporative emissions purge pump or an ECM calibration fault code P0521
Purchased my 2022 Buick Encore GX from Alexander Buick, Oxnard CA. On July 14th, 2022. On August 4th, 2022 (3 weeks and 273 miles later) was driving in the fast lane of major freeway 101 in Southern Ca.. Without any warning the car died. How I made it across two lanes to my right to get off the freeway without a…
We where lucky compared to the other lady who wrote in this problem area. We where parked in a parking lot, ran in store to get item, left car running for wife to listen to radio and stay warm. As I got in, we spoke and was ready to pull out of the parking space and the car went weird. The car hesitated a little but…
Encore GX 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Air Bags,seat Belts | — | 1 | |
| 2024 | Back Over Prevention | — | — | |
| 2023 | Electrical System | — | — | |
| 2022 | Electrical System | — | — | |
| 2021 | Electrical System,engine | 2 | — | |
| 2020 | Air Bags | 5 | — |
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 | 146 |
| Average complaints per series | 1.4 |
| Worst single series | 7 complaints |
| Average age at failure | 2.3 years |
A model average of 1.4 hides a worst series at 7. 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
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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 Encore GX?
By complaint volume, 2020, 2021, 2022 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 Encore GX years are the cleanest?
2025, 2023, 2024 have the fewest complaints on file. For recent years that can simply mean the cars are young.
How many complaints does the Buick Encore GX have?
200 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, covering 2020–2025. Of those, 7 describe a crash and 1 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.