What 374 owners told NHTSA about the 2019 GMC Acadia Denali

The contact owns a 2019 GMC Acadia. The contact stated that the vehicle failed to shift to park(P) as intended and could not be turned off. The message "Shift to Park" was displayed. The contact was able to turn off the vehicle after shifting to low gear. The local dealer was contacted and confirmed that the VIN was not included in a recall. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was approximately 60,000.

NHTSA ODI 11707772

When I placed the vehicle in park, the dashboard alert/warning would signal "shift to park". This would continue to go off for quite some time, and it continued to get worse and take longer to shut off. Eventually the alarm would not go off I turned the car back on and off, nor if I engaged with the shifter. I could not leave my vehicle in this state, and I was unable to determine if my vehicle was truly in park, which is a huge safety concern to myself and others. This also caused the battery to drain, and could impair being able to start and run the vehicle. This problem has occured on many GMC vehicles, and there have been recalls issued for the other cars. I would like a recall issued for my VIN as well. I spent $800 fixing this issue and GMC will not cover the cost, even though this is a known problem with other Acadia's (even 2019).

NHTSA ODI 11707783

Shift to park caused by a faulty micro switch. Woukd take up to 30 min to get car in park, leading to engine shutdown failures and possibly battery drain I did replace battery before I knew this was causing this. Messages did appear saying this was an issue ,must shift to park but no indication of how to do it. I got this repaired at barkley GMC Dec 29:30

NHTSA ODI 11707854

My Temp control sensor is causing my check engine light to come on. After reviewing the problem, It seems many owners have had this same problem nation wide. I,m simply adding to the complaints by other owners that this should be a recall problem since so many owners are having this same problem. I,ve only had this car for 2 weeks & like the vehicle very much but this is a per the mechanic that may be caused by the sensor being placed too close to the exhaust without better protection from the heat. Please take this into consideration & hopefully come up with an adequate protective cover

NHTSA ODI 11707535

Won't shift into park alert came on. Vehicle wouldn't shift into park. Danger of vehicle roll off? Took to GM dealer who replaced GM part 13545094 transmission controller aka shifter assembly. It is believed this defect was detected and recalled on 2018 GMC Acadia models. My 2019 was made in 2018. In service date 10/04/18.

NHTSA ODI 11705658

Shift to Park Issue - this is a know issue/recall for the 2019 GMC acadia yet it when I enter my VIN number the recall doesn't show up as a problem. YET it took me 10 tries yesterday to try and turn my car off because each time I went to turn it off, I got the message to Shift it to Park. This has been occurring weekly since I purchased the used car in August 2025.

NHTSA ODI 11704308

There are 2 issues im experiencing. The first is the vehicle won't allow me to shut down the engine because it doesnt recognize that its been shifted into "park". Ive already paid close to 800.00 to.have this repaired because my model year is not covered in the recall. Today, it started doing it again. The safety issue is that either I, my wife, or my teenage daughter (depending on who is with the vehicle). Can be left stranded, unless we pop the hood and disconnect the battery. The second issue is that the tire pressure monitor is no longer working. It is sending warnings that our tire pressure is low. When its not. The safety issue is needing to pull to the side of the road to check the tire pressure and also not knowing when the vehicle may actually have a low tire.

NHTSA ODI 11703580

The transmission is shuttering and jerking, had it diagnosed and was told that the torque converter is going out with only 137,000 miles on my 2019 GMC Acadia

NHTSA ODI 11702671

There is a "shift to park" alert that is listed as a recall from 2017-2019 gmc Acadia's. I have this alarm but apparently my vin is not affected. I would like this to be investigated as it seems my vehicle should be included in the recall.

NHTSA ODI 11702409

Vehicle is in park, and the shft sensor does not recognize the shifter is in park. Won't let you turn off rhe car.

NHTSA ODI 11702221

Shift to park error message when in park.

NHTSA ODI 11702369

Check Engine Light came on with message of "Steering Assist is Reduced Drive with Care". This same thing happened to my sister-in-laws 2019 Acadia 2 months earlier. Took it in right away to the dealership to find out it's the thermostat, it's a common/known issue and it isn't covered under my extended warranty and will cost ~$1300. I'm seeing this is a common issue for Acadia's and has not had a recall, don't understand why. It's one thing if this is a easy part to replace, but GM has made it so that most people now need a dealership or auto repair shop to fix it.

NHTSA ODI 11701474

Thermostat stuck open and a steering assist light came on engine temp needle at zero. Check engine light came on, Had to have thermostat and coolant engine temp sensor replaced

NHTSA ODI 11701151

I'm going to have to replace my thermostat and most likely my sensor. It will pop up saying (steering assist is reduced drive with care) my temperature gage on my dash will sometimes will not go up, my heat is acting funny. I've had also when I put it in park saying it's not actually shifted into park.

NHTSA ODI 11701179

The steering assist message comes on and off whenever the weather gets cold in the fall and winter. This causes my air conditioning and/or heater to not work. I have done research and the temperature sensor needs to get replaced because there is a malfunction of the temperature not reading the coolant. Everything is fine with fluids and driving. This happened when I turned on the heater.

NHTSA ODI 11701263

Thermostat fails. Steering assist reduced message comes up on dash. Temperature gauge stops working, air conditioning stops working and engine fans run constantly when vehicle is running. I had the dealership fix and replace under warranty the first time and now it happened again a second time.

NHTSA ODI 11701371

Shift to Park message comes up and vehicle will not turn off. This happens frequently and so far I have been able to get it to shift into park by clicking the lever on the shifter multiple times.

NHTSA ODI 11701373

When in park the car is alerting to “shift to park”.

NHTSA ODI 11701044

I bought a car about 2 months ago and they did not tell me the thermostat was bad and they won’t cover it.

NHTSA ODI 11701096

Thermostat is repeatedly going bad. Throws Steering Assist reduced. Had it replaced twice and it’s bad again.

NHTSA ODI 11701100

SHIFT INTO PARK ALERT AFTER CAR IS IN PARK

NHTSA ODI 11701112

The Shift to Park is not recognizing when my car is in park and continues to ding and won’t let me turn my car off.

NHTSA ODI 11700968

When parking the vehicle the electrical system will put a warning on the dash indicating you are not in park. A message indicates shift to park. The car will not shut off and you cannot lock the vehicle. This happened when I first bought the vehicle and it was under warranty and repaired. It is now happening a second time in 2025.

NHTSA ODI 11700993

I purchased a used 2019 GMC Acadia from Grieco Honda around November 20, 2023. They showed me a CarFax report indicating the vehicle had never been in an accident. Immediately after the purchase, I reported several issues and attempted to return the car under their 30-day warranty. However, the salesperson convinced me not to return it, assuring me that they would address all of the problems. From the beginning, I complained that the car shook violently when driving between 45–60 mph, especially during acceleration. The vehicle took an unusually long time to heat up, and the brakes were loud and squeaky. A few months later, after driving over a large speed bump, the airbag warning light turned on. During my next oil change, I mentioned this issue, along with a problem with the window sensor. They dismissed my concerns and told me to take the car to GMC across the street because they lacked the tools to diagnose it. At GMC Hurd, I was told the diagnostic service would cost 160 and that I would need to leave the vehicle for the day. At the time, I couldn’t leave the car because I needed it to pick up my children. Now, in November 2025, my inspection is due. I brought the car back to GMC, and they informed me that the vehicle had been in a major accident prior to my ownership. They discovered that the airbags had previously deployed and were stuffed back into the driver’s seat and sewn shut. I have never been in an accident with this car. I reported this to Grieco since they were the ones who inspected the vehicle in November 2023 and passed it. I believe they managed to get the car through inspection without properly or thoroughly examining it before selling it to me. They have dismissed my concerns and told me there is nothing they can do. This is outrageous, as the airbags would not have deployed in an emergency, putting my safety at serious risk.

NHTSA ODI 11700871

When DRIVING the center console screen begins to glitch. It will begin to move around and try to connect to the internet, begin to track navigation, connect to my phone and make calls, or it will just started moving back and forth from the different screens. It also makes sounds while it is glitching. It's incredibly distracting when I am trying to drive. There are a number of online forums that have identified the problem in their same year, make, and model of vehicle. There were no warnings or messages prior to the problem. It presented itself about a year ago and I have just been resetting the battery as a temporary solution.

NHTSA ODI 11700541