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What 300 owners told NHTSA about the 2012 GMC Acadia Limited

These are the actual owner complaints behind this car’s reliability verdict, filed with the federal government, unedited. They’re unverified reports, not confirmed defects: read them as leads for your pre-purchase inspection, not a diagnosis.

All (300)Crash / fire / injury (24)Steering (46)Body & structure (43)Transmission & drivetrain (43)Electrical system (41)Engine (36)Airbags (34)Fuel system (25)Lights (21)Visibility & wipers (12)Speed control (10)

2 of 300 complaints match · Speed control · crash/fire/injury only · clear filters

Sep 5, 2021Transmission & drivetrainSpeed controlEngineCrash

Was waiting on dealership to catch up to bring in for a transmission problem. I know it is transmission related due to not wanting to shift properly and the fact my friend has same make and model only about 100000 more miles than mine does was doing same symptoms and she took to 3 or 4 mechanics and all said nothing wrong..no codes show up...needless to say after about 2 months it stalled out on her on interstate with speed limit 75 and she barely moving. I myself was at a sharp curve in turn lane waiting on traffic and when I braked to stop it made horrible sound and felt like brake was pushed through floorboard. When I was clear to go i push accelerator down to the floor and am barely inching along and am now stuck in the road in a 90 curve where its hard to see traffic coming. This was very scary and traumatic having this happen. I'm just glad it was only myself and the other drivers were being observant and paying attention to the road. This has happened a lot compared to research on blogs car complaints websites. The common problem is it doesn't give a code when diagnostic checked. 99% of cases show they best guess or find something else wrong and you pay 3 or 4 charges until you finally convince them its the transmission and then you're out 5000. Not counting the average 4500 you've already pd due to not listening to the driver of their vehicle and causing unnecessary charges and leaving you without a vehicle too long that isn't necessary.

NHTSA ODI 11431779

Mar 27, 2017AirbagsSpeed controlBrakesCrash

TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 2012 GMC ACADIA. WHILE ATTEMPTING TO PARK THE VEHICLE, IT ACCELERATED UNEXPECTEDLY THROUGH A GARAGE DOOR. THE BRAKE PEDAL WAS DEPRESSED, BUT THE VEHICLE FAILED TO STOP. THE AIR BAGS DID NOT DEPLOY. THERE WERE NO INJURIES. THE VEHICLE WAS TOWED TO THE DEALER AND THE DIAGNOSTIC RESULTS WERE NOT DISCLOSED. THE VEHICLE WAS NOT REPAIRED. THE MANUFACTURER WAS NOT NOTIFIED OF THE FAILURE. THE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS APPROXIMATELY 36,000. *AS

NHTSA ODI 10968620

Working with the data? Download all 300 complaints as CSV · fetched from NHTSA July 26, 2026

How to use these: a complaint is one owner’s report, filed voluntarily and published unverified. Patterns matter more than any single story. If several owners describe the same failure at similar mileage, put that system at the top of your pre-purchase inspection list. Back to the full 2012 GMC Acadia Limited verdict →