What 639 owners told NHTSA about the 2017 GMC Acadia Denali

When vehicle trying to shift vehicle into park error message occurs stating 'shift to park' prior to being able to turn off vehicle. Happens multiple times with same error message even when you believe you have the car in park it's difficult to believe that or take the risk of it not being in park and an accident happening

NHTSA ODI 11454356

side detection modules swollen causing failure, repair $735.97.

NHTSA ODI 11453567

The side detection alarms kept beeping regardless of any location on the road or in my own driveway. Now I have a "service side detection module failure" warning on the dashboard. Estimates on repair have been in the $800 range and after having spoken to many GMC owners, several have had the same problem. Some have made the repairs, others have not due to the cost.

NHTSA ODI 11453706

I don’t know what is going on with it. I have had it in and out of the shop. My car will randomly throw the parking break on and completely lock my car up. There is no reason why it should be on. The dealership thought it could be the systems needing a update but that didn’t fix it. It’s a real big safety issue and needs to be looked into. It just did it to me crossing over rail road tracks and I couldn’t go anywhere until it decided to unlock.

NHTSA ODI 11453308

Warning on dash steering assist reduced ,drive with caution… after researching found there’s a known defect in the thermostat that causes this steering issue,, GM issued a bulletin number..17-NA-158 Dated May-2017.. no recall as of yet but serious issue.. please look into this… [XXX] INFORMATION Redacted PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).

NHTSA ODI 11451767

Transmission gear shifter displays shift to park error message, so that I can't turn off the vehicle. Vehicle stays active when you try to get out and won't lock.

NHTSA ODI 11449824

Shift to park issue; intermittent issue. Shows that car is not in park when gear shifter is in park position. Cannot shut off or lock vehicle while this is displayed. Must constantly put car in gear then in park, attempt to shut off, and retry multiple times.

NHTSA ODI 11448907

Previous complaint of Shift to Park on 06/13/19 VOQ 11219862 at mileage 36270. On 12/5/21, approx miles 62099 same problem with Shift to Park. Was scheduled for service on 12/06/21 at Adams Buick GMC in Richmond, KY and mentioned the problem and previous complaint. Was told that it had been over a year ago but that they could fix it and charge me $152 for part & $315 for labor. It was less that 26000 miles driven since the last issue. After last complaint, the dealer contacted GMC and the part was replaced at no cost under bulletin for concern # 5 145420 and they replaced the transmission control assembly. This is an ongoing problem with GMC and I don't think that every 26000 miles I should have to pay to replace the same part when GMC knows it is a problem by the numerous complaints. In fact while I was getting my vehicle serviced, I spoke to another lady there who had the same problem with her vehicle. Had I not caught the message, I probably would have had to replace my battery or my vehicle could have rolled into the house. There were no warning lamps or messages prior. GMC needs to step up to the plate and issue a recall because they have numerous vehicles with the same problem. My vehicle has undergone this malfunction twice and I find it unacceptable and know that I can't afford to pay $467 every 26000 miles for an issue that GMC is clearly aware of but won't address because no one has been killed by the issue as of this date to my knowledge, but it's going to happen sooner or later if the issue is not addressed properly.

NHTSA ODI 11443058

Vehicle is a 2017 Acadia Denali with ~39,000 miles. The problem started without any symptoms or warnings in October 2021. The dash gives a "Shift to Park" message when the shift is moved to the Park position and the driver attempts (to turn all systems off so as) to park and exit the vehicle. When the Off button is pushed, the "Shift to Park" message displays. The engine does turn off, but the lighting, radio, etc. stay on. When opening the door, the vehicle emits tone(s) suggesting the driver is trying to leave the vehicle while it's running and/or has left electrical systems on. Driver is actually attempting to simply turn everything off and park the vehicle. The fact that all the lighting and radio stay on runs down the battery, potentially leaving the driver stranded.

NHTSA ODI 11443003

235/65R18 all 4 tires worn down after 27,000 miles, suppose to have 60,000 mile tread life. took my Acadia into the dealer for regular oil change and was informed all 4 tires were worn passed the safety margin. He told me there was a service bulletin about the tires but since my warranty had run out there was nothing he could do. He never mentioned the service warranty or that the tires were wearing severly.

NHTSA ODI 11442114

The contact owns a 2017 GMC Acadia. The contact stated that the middle passenger’s seat belt failed to retract. There was no warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer and was diagnosed that the seat belt mechanism needed to be repaired. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified but no further assistance was provided. The failure mileage was approximately 60,000.

NHTSA ODI 11433697

When the placed in park, the vehicle does not recognize and will not shut off as there is a message that the car in not in park, when it is. This happens frequently. I am unsure if, although I've placed in park, the car itself recognizes that. There are times where for several minutes I cannot turn my car off even after shifting in and out of park.

NHTSA ODI 11430743

My 2017 keeps having transmission issues. At the dealership the transmission fluid is burnt. The 2017 GMC Acadia limited has the same issues with the engine as the standard 2017 GMC Acadia

NHTSA ODI 11427571

Shift to park light came on when I parked. As I parked, the break pad locked and I could not release it. The shifter locked and I could not release it. It Would not let me turn vehicle off. I had to experiment on how to get error message to stop and breaks to unlock so I did result to jiggling the shifter And put car in reverse then in drive and park again and trying to turn off (after doing this atleast 4 times) eventually it unlocked and let me turn car off without getting this error message. This happened 2 years prior and I had my 1 yr old in car with me panicking bc I couldn’t drive my car for a bit until the mechanism decided to start working again. This time I knew how to fix it better bc it had happened 2 yrs prior so I knew to wiggle the shifter and try to put it back in drive etc to eventually get car to shut off. There’s records of this shift to park being fixed in 2019 and again in 2021. I should not be responsible for paying ANYTHING for these issues. It is a GMC malfunction. Although mechanical it is a safety concern of mine too!

NHTSA ODI 11423846

Vehicle was purchased used in June 2020 ISSUE #1 After shifting car into park, display will indicate P for PARK , but also says vehicle is not in park. Since you are not sure if it actually in PARK and to eliminate this display, you need to restart the vehicle, go thru the gears again and then back into PARK. This happens several times a week with having to restart and PARK again up to 10 TIMES before the vehicle will register it is in park. I have read there is a Technical Service Bulletin on this issue as well as a case to get GMC to issue a RECALL. This is a serious issue because you are unaware if the vehicle transmission is actually in PARK. Having to restart and continually shift to park is time consuming and quite frankly a nuisance. At this point in time, the only way of correction, other than RESTARTING UP TO TEN TIMES, is to click the gear shift several times after placing in park. This will work 5/10 times. ISSUE #2 - Vehicle does not always detect remote. Have replaced battery in remote 5 times and will last approximately 8-10 weeks. At times, when the vehicle has been driven and is placed into park, the display will read NO REMOTE DETECTED. Have also placed remote into pocket into console and will still receive the same NO REMOTE DETECTED. Although there is never any indication battery is low or dead on remote, this is also the only possible correction we have found. However, we do believe there must be another correction for this issue.

NHTSA ODI 11422122

This vehicle has twice had parts replaced for the "Shift to Park" issue detailed in GM TSB 19-NA-206. The first incident was in April 2019, and it was repaired under warranty at about 24,800 miles. The second incident was this past week at about 50,800 miles, and this repair cost almost $800 to fix. I contacted GM customer support and was told that I could not get any reimbursement because there was no special coverage or recall for this known problem. This is completely unacceptable, since the problem is clearly a defect in parts manufacturing or assembly, and it renders the vehicle completely unusable since it is impossible to turn the car off when the car does not recognize that the shifter is in park. This is a safety issue because the driver needs to be certain whether or not the vehicle is securely parked before leaving the vehicle.

NHTSA ODI 11419395

I have experienced the same problem as a multitude of Acadia owners as is well publicized via the Internet and class action lawsuits, which are now beginning initiation. My dealership tells me they have a lot of customers with the same problem which usually starts when the vehicle has around 15K miles on the odometer. The problem is the Intermittent Shift to Park display on the Information Center. It tells me that the shifter is not in park position when I go to turn the engine off, but it really is in position. When it happens I cannot turn off the automobile without restarting it. Sometimes it will turn itself off after a few seconds without any intervention on my part, sometimes more, sometimes after I jiggle the shift lever, but many times I have to restart the engine one or more times to turn the vehicle off. If the system can't be sure if I'm truly in Park position, how can it be sure that the lever is really engaged which would enable the car to roll away. I have had it back for repair service twice during the bumper to bumper warranty period to resolve the issue based on GMC guidance. That service tends to resolve it for a while but it always comes back again after a period of time. The last time I was told a jumper was installed so I should never get the problem again but it has returned and have had quite a few occurrences over the past two months. There is absolutely no pattern to the problem. What is really frustrating me is that I recently took it back again (after my bumper to bumper warranty was over) and they tell me there is another service bulletin from GMC which says the original shifter cable is too short and they need to install a longer one. Now they want me to pay $375 to install the new cable which is WRONG WRONG WRONG in order to resolve a GMC safety issue which was the result of an original design issue by GMC. I refused as this must be covered by GMC and should be the subject of a government mandated safety recall.

NHTSA ODI 11418445

When you put the car in park it often won’t recognize it and will display a message on the console stating “shift to park”. When it does this you’re not able to turn your car completely off so you just have to continue messing around with the shifter or turning the car back on again by pressing the break until it finally goes off. This happens at least once daily and can take upwards of 5 minutes sometimes to finally recognize the car is in park so you can turn the car off. We’ve tried leaving the car running before when this message is displayed when it’s been parked in our garage thinking it would eventually realize it’s in park and shutoff but after 10 minutes of running it still hadn’t recognized it was in park. We called our dealership about this and they told us that they get a lot of complaints about this issue.

NHTSA ODI 11418388

TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 2017 GMC ACADIA. THE CONTACT STATED THAT THE VEHICLE WAS STOPPED AT A CERTAIN RAILROAD TRACK CROSSING WHEN THE RAILROAD CROSSING STOP SIGNAL WAS ACTIVATED. ONCE THE TRAIN HAD PASSED, THE VEHICLE AUTOMATICALLY APPLIED THE BRAKES INTERMITTENTLY WHILE ATTEMPTING TO DRIVE ACROSS THE TRAIN TRACKS. THE FAILURE HAD OCCURRED ON SEVERAL OCCASIONS. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO OPEEQUON MOTORS LOCATED AT 838 E. MOLER AVE, MARTINSBURG, WV 25404 HOWEVER, THE MECHANIC WAS UNABLE TO DUPLICATE THE FAILURE. THE CAUSE OF THE FAILURE WAS NOT YET DETERMINED. THE MANUFACTURER WAS NOTIFIED OF THE FAILURE. THE APPROXIMATE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS 29,000.

NHTSA ODI 11414423

SHORTLY AFTER I PURCHASED MY ACADIA IN MAY OF 2018, IT STARTED DISPLAYING A SHIFT TO PARK WARNING WHEN I WOULD PUT THE CAR IN PARK. I CONTACTED THE DEALERSHIP AND THEY SAID IT WAS A KNOWN ISSUE AND THEY HAD TO REPLACE THE SHIFT ASSEMBLY. WELL ABOUT 3 WEEKS AGO IT STARTED DOING IT AGAIN. ONLY THIS TIME IT'S WORSE. IT TAKES SEVERAL TRIES AND TRICKS TO GET THE CAR TO RECOGNIZE IT'S IN PARK AND ALLOW ME TO SHUT THE CAR OFF - WHEN THE WARNING POPS UP IT WON'T ALLOW THE CAR TO POWER OFF SO ALL THE ELECTRONICS STAY ON. I CALLED THE DEALERSHIP AND THEY TOLD ME BECAUSE MY EXTENDED WARRANTY EXPIRED AT 79,000 MILES AND THEY HAD ALREADY REPLACED THE SHIFT ASSEMBLY ONCE THAT THERE IS NOTHING THEY CAN DO AND I WILL HAVE TO PAY OUT OF POCKET FOR THIS REPAIR EVEN THOUGH IT'S A WELL DOCUMENTED ISSUE WITH THESE VEHICLES.

NHTSA ODI 11413522

JUST RECENTLY MY VEHICLE IS DISPLAYING TO SHIFT CAR TO PARK WHEN ALREADY IN PARK. WHEN THIS MESSAGE APPEARS CAR WILL NOT TURN OFF. I HAVE TRIED MANY THINGS FROM GOING IN REVERSE OR DRIVE AGAIN AND SHIFT INTO PAR AND NOTHING. TAKES A WHILE !! FEEL LIKE THIS ISN'T SAFE

NHTSA ODI 11408479

LOST THE POWER STEERING ...44050

NHTSA ODI 11408289

PLACED VEHICLE INTO PARK DASH DISPLAYS SHIFT TP PART AND WILL NOT LET SUV TO SHUT OFF AN CAUSES IT TO ROLL

NHTSA ODI 11407398

AFTER PUTTING THE CAR IN PARK AND TURNING IT OFF A 'SHIFT INTO PARK' MESSAGE DISPLAYS ON SCREEN LEAVING THE CAR STILL ON. VERY DANGEROUS WHEN I ALWAYS HAVE MY 3 KIDS WITH ME AT ALL TIMES. WE HAVE TO KEEP MESSING WITH IT UNTIL IT GOES AWAY BEFORE WE CAN SAFELY GET OUT AND FEEL CONFIDENT ITS OK TO LEAVE THE CAR.

NHTSA ODI 11406918

THE VEHICLE GIVES A 'SHIFT TO PARK' WARNING ON DASHBOARD AFTER VEHICLE IGNITION BUTTON. THIS WARNING SHOWS UP EVERY TIME THE VEHICLE IS ACCEPTED TO SHUT OFF. IT TAKES SEVERAL MINUTES AND TRIES TO GET THE MESSAGE TO GO AWAY AND THE VEHICLE TO COMPLETELY SHUT OFF. THE ONLY SUCCESSFUL WAY OF GETTING THE MESSAGE AND VEHICLE TO COMPLETELY SHUT OFF IS BY WIGGLING OR SHAKING THE GEAR SHIFTER UNTIL IT GOES AWAY. I HAVE BEEN STRANDED WITH CHILDREN IN THE VEHICLE FOR CONCERNS THAT THE VEHICLE WILL ROLL WITH THE VEHICLE NOT REGISTERING THAT IT IS IN PARK. AFTER RESEARCHING THE VEHICLE ISSUE FURTHER IT HAS BEEN FOUND THAT OTHER OWNERS WITH THE SAME YEAR AND MODEL HAVE HAD THE SAME SHIFT TO PARK MESSAGE AND HAVE HAD THEIR VEHICLE ROLL ON IT'S OWN. THE VEHICLE HAS GONE TO THE DEALERSHIP TO BE FIXED BUT UNFORTUNATELY BECAUSE MY WARRANTY HAS EXPIRED I AM BEING HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR PAYING TO FIX THIS SAFETY ISSUE.

NHTSA ODI 11406472