Home · 2016 GMC Acadia Denali · Complaints

What 220 owners told NHTSA about the 2016 GMC Acadia Denali

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 (220)Crash / fire / injury (8)Airbags (126)Steering (25)Electrical system (23)Transmission & drivetrain (17)Engine (12)Lane Departure (8)Electronic Stability Control (esc) (5)Brakes (4)Seat belts (4)Visibility & wipers (4)

Newest first · 220 complaints · page 6 of 9

Jul 10, 2023Airbags

Takata recall. The contact owns a 2016 GMC Acadia. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V334000 (Air Bags) however, the part to do the recall repair was unavailable. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue. The contact had not experienced a failure. VIN tool confirms parts not available.

NHTSA ODI 11531277

Jul 7, 2023Airbags

Takata recall. The contact owns a 2016 GMC Acadia. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V334000 (Air Bags); however, the part to do the recall repair was unavailable. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was notified of the issue. The contact had not experienced a failure. VIN tool confirms parts not available.

NHTSA ODI 11530945

Jul 7, 2023Airbags

The airbag has been recalled because it might cause injury or death yet no remedy is available. The company should replace this vehicle if only temporary but until the part can be fixed. They refused to help.

NHTSA ODI 11530979

Jul 4, 2023Airbags

Recall was issued 5/10/2023. No repair is available at this time. Driving this vehicle is a safety risk to my family and myself

NHTSA ODI 11530342

Jun 29, 2023Airbags

Manufacture is not offering any solution or remedy. They’re also not offering replacement transportation. This is not only a safety issue for everyone, but I am very pregnant and my belly is right in the airbag. It’s unacceptable this is not being corrected or replacement transportation offered.

NHTSA ODI 11529644

Jun 28, 2023Airbags

Takata recall. The contact owns a 2016 GMC Acadia. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V334000 (Air Bags) however, the part to do the recall repair was unavailable. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue. The contact had not experienced a failure. VIN tool confirms parts not available.

NHTSA ODI 11529294

Jun 27, 2023Airbags

Takata Recall. The contact owns a 2016 GMC Acadia. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V334000 (Air Bags) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The local dealer was not contacted. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue. The contact had not experienced a failure. VIN tool confirms parts not available.

NHTSA ODI 11529056

Jun 27, 2023Airbags

GMC issued recall #N232404980 Re airbags that are faulty and may rupture releasing metal fragments causing injury or death. My vehicle is part of that recall. Immediately called my dealership after learning of this recall. My dealership states that yes my car is part of the airbag recall but they have no parts available to fix it. I was told by my dealership that no one has these parts yet. No timeline is available. When contacting GMC customer care I was asked to initiate a case or claim. They escalated the claim telling me if I feel unsafe driving my vehicle they are required to provide a rental until these repairs can be made. Weeks have gone by without any movement. My dealership says they need authorization from “someone” at GMC to provide me a loaner vehicle. The recall has been active for well over a month. GMC records their customer care calls and I’ve been told by GMC associates to contact you or the better business bureau. I’ve been told I should not drive my vehicle because of the safety risk. I have to work and take care of my children. I feel GMC is morally obligated to stop stringing their customers along and either fix the faulty vehicle that they sold me or provide a safe method of transportation in the meantime.

NHTSA ODI 11529222

Jun 20, 2023Airbags

Takata recall. The contact owns a 2016 GMC Acadia. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V334000 (Air Bags) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The local dealer was contacted and made aware of the issue. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was not made aware of the issue. The contact had not experienced a failure. VIN tool confirms parts not available.

NHTSA ODI 11527935

Jun 11, 2023Airbags

Delayed in solution to recall. Needs recall remedy ASAP.

NHTSA ODI 11526483

May 29, 2023Airbags

The airbag recall was opened on May 10th. I have not yet heard of any remedy despite the fact that the nhtsa site says that the dealer should be replacing my airbags.

NHTSA ODI 11524262

May 1, 2023Transmission & drivetrainDriver assistance

Transmission- Shift Solenoid EVAP- Purge Valve Forward Collision- goes off when nothing is in front of the vehicle

NHTSA ODI 11519766

Apr 6, 2023Electrical systemSpeed controlLane Departure

Special Coverage Adjustment N172097060 Side Blind Zone Alert Module Water Intrusion was issued for my vehicle. I took it in to get fixed and was told I was past the 6 year extension (May 2022) but under the milage (79,199). They told me the parts are on back order from GMC. This was on 04-03-2023. On 04-05-2023 I was driving my vehicle and the instrument cluster went partially blank. I lost my speedometer , tachometer and most of the other gauges. I had numerous warning lights on. The blinkers stopped working and I had no control of any environmental controls or radio functions. I pulled off the side of the road and shut the vehicle off. I tried to restart it, it started but even more things began to fail electrically. I shut if off again, tried another restart and now it would not start. I tried multiple times and could not get it to start. With the car off and the key out of the ignition, the heater control panel would stay on and the fan was running. I tried a few more times and finally got it to run but still had no instrumentation. I was less than a mile from home and tried to make it back. While driving I had no electrical control of anything and no way to determine my speed. I made it back, but now my vehicle will not start at all. With the key out it still runs the heater controls and fan. This is a dangerous situation not being able to control your vehicle electrical systems and being able to start your vehicle. This needs to be a recall, NOT a manufacture " Special coverage adjustment" that they know is a known issue and dont even have to parts to fix it.

NHTSA ODI 11515743

Mar 11, 2023Transmission & drivetrainElectrical system

The transmission is not changing gears and is shifting hard. Both Passanger side automatic electric windows will not go back up

NHTSA ODI 11511338

Mar 1, 2023Electrical systemLightsLane Departure

Recently the "Service Side Detection System" light came on. Now the blind side monitoring doesn't work. While driving all of lights on the dash, radio, and headlights turned off. I was unable to see the road, my speed, or anything within the vehicle. I did some research and this is a vary common issue with these vehicles and nothing has been done to correct it.

NHTSA ODI 11509773

Jan 13, 2023Transmission & drivetrain

The transmission broke and now has to be fully replaced costing me 5500 my car has 94k miles

NHTSA ODI 11501634

Nov 9, 2022Transmission & drivetrain

Transmition makes jerking motion while driving. During driving the transmition will shutter and make you feel as if the car is going to stop running.

NHTSA ODI 11492917

Oct 2, 2022Electrical systemBody & structure

Passenger side carpeting and foam are soaked from a leakage somewhere. The fuse panel under glove box is soaked and not working correctly. Water is almost making its way into battery under passenger side rear floor. Rust has formed under the shifting console. Car is moldy. No one can tell me what is happening but thousands of complaints online regarding GMC Acadia all have this problem. My vehicle is useless 20,000 in the driveway and cannot drive. Not to mention me and my kids have been driving in mold for who knows how long. GMC needs to fix this issue before they have a class action lawsuit on their hands.

NHTSA ODI 11487537

Sep 7, 2022Steering

Went to get alignment and mechanic said the rack and pinion was faulty because of noise when making turn in vehicle

NHTSA ODI 11483271

Aug 25, 2022Engine

While driving my 2016 GMC Acadia Denali home from work I noticed my speed getting faster so I let off my gas pedal. My engine then abruptly revved to the highest rpm and accelerated ON ITS OWN. My speed increased to almost 100 mph and I am going up a steep incline. I did not have my foot on the pedal and this car accelerated on its own and was only going faster and faster. I tried to brake but it would not slow my car down. I am in rush hour traffic and I feel like this is where I am going to die today. I continued to slam on my brakes to a point that I felt the brakes grinding but ultimately was able to slow the car down enough to get to the side of the road. However, I am unable to fully stop my car. After I was able to slow it down to a slow crawl (even with the engine rpms revving extremely high still), I was fumbling for my phone to call my husband and inadvertently took my foot off the brake and the engine jerked me again and caused my car to take off again with such force my whole body hit my seat back. I then slammed the brakes again and pushed the gear into park with such force to automatically stop the car, which was hard to do because the car was still moving. Once the car was in park, the engine continued to rev at the highest speed and I then turned my car off. I was such an emotional wreck after this I got out of my car and refused to get back in it to this day. This vehicle is possessed. I looked up this same issue with other GMC Acadias and found it has happened to others yet AGAIN GMC does not recall these vehicles. This is the second serious issue I have had with this vehicle and I want GMC to take my car back and I will NEVER own another GMC!

NHTSA ODI 11481240

Jul 28, 2022

Concern: Engine Missfire. Cause: Low compression on #1 cylinder. Remove head and found burnt exhaust valve. Safety: My family was put in harm because due to faulty parts we could have started a fire if we would have continued to drive the vehicle, according to GMC dealership in Ashtabula. Fixed: We got all parts fixed by Chevrolet dealer in Archbold. They confirmed issues presented in Ashtabula and fixed the problem. There was no cause to the issues, only faulty parts. Warning lights: Check Engine light turned on and Check Stablitrak came on during the issue.

NHTSA ODI 11476317

Jun 29, 2022Electrical systemLane Departure

this is a follow up to my last report. My dealer service dept told me my "side detection modules" blew a fuse. When the fuse blew it should have turned them off. It didn't. The modules stayed on 24/7 until all my electrical components went haywire and burned my battery out. After spending $250 on a new battery, I had issues again with the alerts coming on my DIC. After extensive tracing of the electrical issue by my local GMC dealer, he told me the side detection modules staying on 24/7 caused not only my battery to burn out but caused the wires to burn to the rear electrical harness. He stated this is a defect with the modules and this could have caused a fire right under where my three children sit! I now have to wait indefinitely to get the modules that my service dealer ordered because so many people are having this same issue that they are on back order FOREVER! So my service dealer had to turn off the modules after he replaced the fused wires and wire harness and I have to drive with that alert on 24/7. This is a disgrace to GMC that this is a recall for other Acadia years but not my 2016 model! Other GMC Acadia owners need to be alerted to this potential SERIOUS fire hazard!

NHTSA ODI 11471601

Jun 10, 2022Lane Departure

My care received error code stating service side detection system. Took it to a dealer who, after thoroughly checking my entire electrical system told me the fuse to my side detection modules blew and caused those defective modules to then create a continuous back-feeding of power to the rear wire harness causing a complete depletion of my battery, but also caused the wires to completely melt to the wire harness, which in turn rendered my radio useless and caused several other electrical error codes to come up on my DIC. THIS COULD HAVE CAUSED A FIRE! GM knows this is an ongoing issue because there are ZERO modules to date to replace my defective modules. NONE! From what I read from other blogs, a lot of other GMC owners are having the same issues, YET GMC does not feel this is worth a recall! It could be weeks to months to receive the replacement modules and I tend to feel they will still be sub par. I WILL NEVER BUY A GM VEHICLE AGAIN AND I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND IT TO ANYONE IF THEY VALUE THEIR FAMILIES LIVES AND THEIR HARD EARNED MONEY!

NHTSA ODI 11468681

Jun 6, 2022Electrical systemLane Departure

I received an error stating “service side detection system” first. Then I started having issues with every error code coming up, side air bag, the side detection lights staying on at all times while engine is on, and I lost my radio entirely. Without my radio I have back up camera! A dealership told me my wire harness is defective, either a frayed wire, corroded wire, and that it is blowing all my fuses. This is before they have completed my service, at my expense. The electrical system runs my car!! Side detection system issues are a SAFETY ISSUE!! It seems this is not the first GMC has heard of this but their response is nothing! How can this safety issue be allowed to continue with GMC not taking steps to fix it in a recall?

NHTSA ODI 11467844

Apr 25, 2022Steering

Experienced noise when turning at slow speeds and the wheel was difficult to turn at times. Took it in to dealer and was informed that the entire steering system needed to be replaced for $6300.

NHTSA ODI 11462022

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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 2016 GMC Acadia Denali verdict →