What 389 owners told NHTSA about the 2018 GMC Acadia Denali

The contact owns a 2018 GMC Acadia. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle briefly accelerated and decelerated erratically, after which the vehicle inadvertently lost motive power. The contact was able to pull to the shoulder of the roadway, where the vehicle was able to restart, but the failure persisted, and the vehicle was unable to accelerate above 20 MPH. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic, who diagnosed a failure with the transmission. The contact was informed that the transmission needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 120,000.

NHTSA ODI 11595549

SHIFT TO PARK - I originally thought I was turning the car off too quickly. I would put the car in park and hit the button. Then I would get an error message (with Loud beeping) "SHIFT TO PARK." The car will not turn off completely or stop beeping until i turn it back on, and shift into drive and back into park. This last week the problem has escalated and keeps giving me the error message. I have had to leave my car with loud beeping and unlocked. I am driving with a battery charger hoping I will not have to use it. I am shocked this is NOT a recall.

NHTSA ODI 11594951

I have this 2018 Acadia where all of a sudden, at random, the radiator fan runs on high constantly, the AC stops blowing cold air, the thermostat gauge on the dash drops to the C, and the Power Assist is reduced and pops up as a message on the dash as well. Sounds like this may be a common problem among Acadia's. It resets at random and everything appears to be normal for a while. In addition, there are no check engine lights and no codes to check. I have had this happening for over a year and had a dealership service the car but never said mentioned it as a problem. So now that it's out of warranty my and has more frequent occurrences now I''m more aware but now it's out of warranty. It comes up on an Acadia Forum as a common issue. [XXX] INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

NHTSA ODI 11584108

I am communicating concerns about my 2018 GMC Acadia. I continue to have problems with the Park/shift to park. I have had this problem consistently escalating this year. It was occurring 2 or 3 times per month, now it is occurring weekly. I cannot turn off the vehicle when placed in park. I went to the dealer (FC Kerbeck) in New Jersey, where I was told I had to pay for this problem $515. This seems to be a manufacturer flaw. I think this is a recall part. This is not my responsibility, I did not do anything to my vehicle for this consistent problem. This “shift to park” is dangerous, as it can lock you in your vehicle.

NHTSA ODI 11553126

Vehicle shifts hard from 1st and while driving when getting up to speed from 2nd gear and 3rd, etc. Happens every time it's driven.

NHTSA ODI 11549436

Power steering reduces and the temperature gage wont work and the fan is extremely loud so it decreases the steering and increases the fan so it can cool down the engine. Others have submitted a recall form for this same problem

NHTSA ODI 11549311

After being driving vehicle will not shift into park. When shifter is moved into park position vehicle is not recognizing this and will continue to move. Gear shifter has to be wiggled around for vehicle to finally get into park or at all. Safety concerns - if vehicle is not in park mode vehicle can roll away or continue to move causing damage or injury to persons or property. Online research indicates this is a nationwide problem and there are several lawsuits against gmc concerning this issue. All instances seem to be associated with the Acadia.

NHTSA ODI 11535956

Numerous occurences especially recently of shift vehicle to park when vehicle has been parked, turned off and already shifted into park position. Several occurrences where almost every time within 24 hours I use my cruise control and air conditioner at the same time my check engine light will come on as well as the stability trac indicator which then causes my air conditioner not to work and inability to start the vehicle due to having a check engine light on.

NHTSA ODI 11534045

The contact owns a 2018 GMC Acadia. The contact stated that while parking the vehicle, the transmission was shifted into park(P) however, the "Shift to Park" message was displayed after the contact pressed the Auto Start/Stop button. The contact had to depress the brake pedal while pushing the Auto Start/Stop button to turn the vehicle back on and then shift the transmission from drive(D) to Park(P) approximately 3-4 times before the failure was corrected. The dealer was made aware of the failure; however, the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The contact stated that the dealer had previously replaced the gear shift assembly; however, the failure recurred. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 47,211.

NHTSA ODI 11525464

unknown

NHTSA ODI 11516606

We own a 2018 GMC Acadia Denali. Upon shifting the vehicle into park, we cannot turn off the engine. The vehicle gives us a "Shift to Park" message on the instrument panel. As a result, we are unable to shut off our engine and, to avoid the battery running out, are forced to attempt to move the shift lever in and out of "Park" to get the car to detect that the shift lever is in fact in ‘Park.’”

NHTSA ODI 11516296

I shift the car into park but the vehicle tells me the car is not in park and won't shut off. GM charged me $656.00 to replace the switch and harness.

NHTSA ODI 11514210

Erroneous error code on heads up that car not in park. Appears to be in park, error code can be reset by activation/deactivation of trigger switch on shift lever. Provides unclear message if car is or is not in park, vagueness makes me question vehicle park status overall. Issue was very intermittent in 2022, frequency of erroneous error code increasing now happens 1 out of 5 times when shifting to park.

NHTSA ODI 11510561

2018 Acadia will display “Shift to park” warning along with an audible warning when the vehicle is shut off. This happens even though the PRNDL display is in the “Park” position each time. If I try to exit the vehicle, the audible warning continues (apparently indefinitely). This began at an odometer of about 59,200. Initially, the situation could be corrected by restarting the car and shifting in and out of Park or depressing the shift knob several times. Within a couple of hundred miles, it became consistent and eventually could not be corrected as described above. Unfortunately, this is not covered under warranty. I began driving for a few months without the shift knob, simply depressing the plunger on the shift rod coming up from the transmission. Doing this, the warning rarely occurs and, if it does, it’s easily corrected with one or two presses of the plunger. Some modifications of the shift knob have allowed the knob to be used with results similar to driving without the knob. I hope there will be a software update (deployed over OnStar) to use the PRNDL information and eliminate this failed system.

NHTSA ODI 11510064

The contact owns a 2018 GMC Acadia. The contact stated that intermittently when the gear was shifted into park(P) and the vehicle was turned off, the "shift into park(P)" message was displayed. The contact stated that she was unable to lock the vehicle and that the interior lights remained on. The vehicle was not yet taken to an independent mechanic or local dealer for diagnosis or repairs. The contact was made aware of NHTSA Campaign Number: 17V516000 (Power Train); however, the VIN was not included in the recall. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 46,000.

NHTSA ODI 11505827

Shift to park issue. Vehicle appears to be in park but message appears. You have to continuously wiggle shifter and shut car off and off until it registers it is in park. I have no way of knowing if vehicle is truly in park or not. For safety reasons I cannot park in an incline due to concerns the vehicle will roll backwards. Several TBS bulletins have been issued by GMC on this known issue and they deny any responsibility of fixing the situation with a recall. The NHTSA needs to step in and investigate and require GMC to remedy this dangerous defect

NHTSA ODI 11504362

CAR DOES NOT GO INTO PARK AND WILL NOT SHUT OFF. says shift to park when this happens the car does not shut off correctly and must be restarted and jiggle shifter to turn off. this seems to be a well known problem and is on many years of Acadia

NHTSA ODI 11502817

When I put the car in park, I get the message "Shift to Park". It does not do it every time but it is happening more and more. I have to wiggle the gearshift or restart the car and shift to neutral to try it again. I am wondering about the safety issue and will the vehicle roll if I am not able to get the message to go away? I have researched this and it is happening on a lot of vehicles.

NHTSA ODI 11502327

The contact owns a 2018 GMC Acadia. The contact stated that on three separate occasions while driving at undisclosed speeds, the gears inadvertently shifted from second gear to third gear and then to neutral. No warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer on three separate occasions where the failure could not be duplicated. The vehicle was then taken back a fourth time where it was diagnosed and determined that the transmission needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 87,000.

NHTSA ODI 11498508

The contact owns a 2018 GMC Acadia. The contact stated that while turning off the vehicle, the place shift lever into park message was displayed. The contact had to restart the vehicle several times and move the shifter into the park position for it to disengage. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer who informed the contact about the button on the gear shifter that may be used to reset the system. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The contact stated that the failure persisted. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 8,400.

NHTSA ODI 11480508

When I place the gear in park and shut car off, the display states to shift car to park. A loud continuous beep ensues and I would have to start and turn car off several times. The car does not lock nor stop on its own.

NHTSA ODI 11480674

I purchased vehicle in 2018 and by 2019 it started showing a message that said error Shift need to park but I was parked and gear in parking mode .I reported to dealer but said they couldn't help me since my warranty was over due to my job I drive alot so I was over the mileage. So they itbwouldnt be covered since then it goes off and on same message and now I can't get off car until it goes off because I'm afraid to let go of brake if the parking gear don't work. I reported to dealer in time to get assistance but they just brushed it off blamed me for the mileage Maybe causing it but I see here I'm not the only one complaining about message "Shift".

NHTSA ODI 11479976

When I park my 2018 GMC Acadia, my infotainment screen states the following warning: "SWIFT TO PARK", but I have already put my car in PARK. This warning started appearing around 28,000 miles; my currect mileage on my Acadia is 28,379 miles. I have checked if there are any recalls on this issue, but found none, but this issue started appearing in the 2017 models

NHTSA ODI 11475281

Car won’t go into park though I’ve shifted to park. Car starts beeping and displays “SHIFT TO PARK!” even though the vehicle is shut off and gear shifter is in park position. I took to dealership, they stated, “gmc NEEDS to recall this, we have to repair every single GMC Acadia we sell with unfortunately the same defective parts” it’s a $500 fix. I just use my parking break everytime I park now.

NHTSA ODI 11474834

The GMC Acadia displays a "shift to park" error. The truck is in park (or appears to be) and the truck says it is not and will not allow it to be turned off. This is a common error with the truck and GMC is refusing to take responsibility and this can cause a fatal error if the truck is not in park and rolls away.

NHTSA ODI 11474423