Owners have filed 41 complaints on the Buick Reatta, covering 1988–1991. The system named most often is Service Brakes (34 reports). Worst years by volume: 1990, 1989, 1988; cleanest: 1991, 1988, 1989. 5 reports describe a crash. On average the car was 10.2 years old when the problem happened.
What breaks on Buick Reatta
Grouped by the system owners named — percentages are shares of all 41 Reatta complaints. Open any row for the full reports in owners' own words.
Service Brakes 34 Read
Intermitant failures where ABS would either engage or wheels would lock and/or the car would lunge left or right. In 10 months numerous dealerships were never able to diagnose the problems, always said there were no problems with brake system on car
While driving at 45-50 mph the defective braking system caused the brake pedal to be hard, and one wheel locked up, causing an accident
Total brake failure, while traveling on a 4 lane divided highway, a truck towing a ditch witch on a trailer pulled out in front of me, and when I went to apply the brakes the pedal was hard as a rock, no stoppping power at all, I frantically tried to set the parking brake, but it was too late to keep me from hitting…
Structure 3 Read
While driving at 35 mph car suddenly jumped two lanes to left, consumer lost control. Dealer felt that engine cradle bolts a rotted out. There is recall 00V189000/ engine cradle bolts failure on buick, regal 1990. *ak there was damage to right suspension due to a rotted out engine cradle, right drive axle and drive…
The vehicle's frame has prematurely rusted and corroded, causing loss of vehicle control
No summary listed for above vehicle
Exterior Lighting 2 Read
Headlight door flaps failed to open, impairing visibility at night/during inclement weather
Headlights do not operate; while driving, lights suddenly went out; cause unknown; repair efforts made by dealer; drove home with parking lights only. Tt
Tires 1 Read
Goodyear tire blew out, causing accident/injuries
Visibility 1 Read
The metal supporting the sunroof is deteriorating & coming apart, causing the sun roof head lining to drop down
Reatta 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | Service Brakes | — | — | |
| 1990 | Service Brakes | 2 | — | |
| 1989 | Exterior Lighting | 1 | — | |
| 1988 | Service Brakes, Hydraulic | 2 | — |
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 | 29 |
| Average complaints per series | 1.4 |
| Worst single series | 4 complaints |
| Average age at failure | 10.2 years |
A model average of 1.4 hides a worst series at 4. 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
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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 Reatta?
By complaint volume, 1990, 1989, 1988 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 Reatta years are the cleanest?
1991, 1988, 1989 have the fewest complaints on file. For recent years that can simply mean the cars are young.
How many complaints does the Buick Reatta have?
41 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, covering 1988–1991. Of those, 5 describe a crash and 0 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.