Home · 2019 GMC Acadia Denali · Complaints

What 374 owners told NHTSA about the 2019 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 (374)Crash / fire / injury (8)Transmission & drivetrain (150)Electrical system (103)Engine (47)Steering (30)Brakes (16)Lights (10)Driver assistance (6)Lane Departure (6)Engine & cooling (5)Suspension (5)

Newest first · 374 complaints · page 9 of 15

May 20, 2024Electrical system

Shift to park will not work. Sometime after 20 try’s it may work once but I have to disconnect the battery to turn off the car. I’m beside myself and cannot keep doing this. This is a real safety problem. I have children in my car and Gm says there is no recall and I am expected to pay 800.00 and then it is not guaranteed.

NHTSA ODI 11589765

May 15, 2024Engine

The contact owns a 2019 GMC Acadia. The contact stated while driving at undisclosed speeds, the "Steering Assist - Reduce Speeds" message was displayed, and there was a loud roaring sound coming from the engine. The contact stated that the check engine warning light was illuminated. The failure recurred while the heat was turned off in the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic where it was diagnosed with a faulty temperature gauge. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 80,000.

NHTSA ODI 11588877

May 14, 2024Electrical system

When I put my car in park and try to turn it off, the dash shows an error message "SHIFT TO PARK". The car will either not turn off the ignition or allow me to leave the vehicle or lock/unlock the doors. It alarms incessently--even when trying to move the shifter around. Takes several times of restarting and shifting to get it to clear so I can put it into park and exit the vehicle. Local dealer is charging me over $2000 to repair the transmission control shifter assembly; BCM low signal; in-line shifter wire harness jumper--exactly one month after my warranty expired. It's a KNOWN Acadia (and other GM vehicle) issue--per several bulletins--NA-19-206 as an example.

NHTSA ODI 11588631

May 10, 2024Electrical system

When I park my car and go to turn it off, it says "Shift to park". The dash indicates that it is in park and it will not allow me to turn the ignition off or lock the doors.

NHTSA ODI 11588125

May 7, 2024Transmission & drivetrainBackup camera & sensors

Vehicle placed in the park position on several occasions, but indication from monitoring system shows not in park position, vehicle rocks back and forward when foot taken off brake pedal. indicator requiring me to remove shifter from park and place back in park several times before indicator acknowledge vehicle in park. Transmission jerks and stalls when initial drive train mobolized and leaking fluid from transmission. Dealer never acknowledge issue after several visits, was told at last visit after over two years of complaining that seal was bad in transmission. Approximate dates of incident is over a 2 year span.

NHTSA ODI 11587473

May 3, 2024

I would put my car in park but it would not let me turn the engine off, I would put it back in drive and then park again but it wouldn’t let me turn the engine off. I displayed a message that I needed to put the car in park. I repeated the process and then later it would let me turn the engine off. This happened several times. I took it to my car dealer and they fixed the problem but I had to pay for the repair. They said if there was a recall, they would refund my money. I saw where this same problem was a recall for my vehicle up to 2018. My car is a 2019.

NHTSA ODI 11586712

Apr 30, 2024Transmission & drivetrain

Purchased a 2019 arcadia 1st owner the transmission crashed at 30461 miles. the transmission started slipping,parked it and took it to the shop. there were no warning lamps... the Chevrolet dealer diagnosed the issue,metal flakes all in the sample of transmission fluid ( replacement required) I have reached out to GM customer service and now waiting for a reply but there is a recall on the year and model of my vehicle. My VIN# is not included,the recall is vin specific but i am having the same transmission issues as other owners in the recall. the vehicle is available for inspection

NHTSA ODI 11586080

Apr 30, 2024Transmission & drivetrainCrash

The contact owns a 2019 GMC Acadia. The contact stated that while the vehicle was in park with the engine running, the vehicle suddenly rolled away. As a result of the failure, the vehicle crashed into another parked vehicle. The air bags did not deploy. No warning lights were illuminated. A police report was not filed. There were no injuries reported. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, who determined that the vehicle was operating as intended. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 42,000.

NHTSA ODI 11586202

Apr 29, 2024Electrical system

My car is saying it’s not in park when it is in park.

NHTSA ODI 11585768

Apr 15, 2024Transmission & drivetrainElectrical system

Car will read error code for driver assist is reduced. Which then will shut down AC and thermostat will be locked at cold. This is a known issue with gmc if you look at the forums. Should be looked into. [XXX] INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

NHTSA ODI 11583114

Apr 13, 2024Electrical system

My vehicle just hit 39K miles, it has all of a sudden started giving me a Shift Into Park warning. The sensor is not registering that its in park and will not let you turn car off. There is a recall on the 2017-2018 vehicles for this issue and but many report an issue with the 2019, when I called GMC they would not fix. How to we go about having this included in the recalls?

NHTSA ODI 11582777

Apr 8, 2024Transmission & drivetrain

The contact owns a 2019 GMC Acadia. The contact stated that upon parking the vehicle and attempting to shift the vehicle into park(P), the "Please Shift into Park” message was displayed. After restarting the vehicle, the vehicle returned to normal functionality, but the failure became a regular occurrence. The Not-in-Park warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, who diagnosed a failure with the transmission control module. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure but provided no assistance. The failure mileage was 11,000.

NHTSA ODI 11581788

Mar 28, 2024Lane DepartureBackup camera & sensorsCrash

Unnecessary safety feature sounds and alerts distract driver's normal driving and viewing habits. Any which could be turned off, have been. Every time the car is started, there is a message that these warnings have been turned off. The message never goes away and stays on the entire drive time unless manually turned off.] These type of messages need to turn off after a short delay.

NHTSA ODI 11579859

Mar 21, 2024Transmission & drivetrainElectrical system

it ask to shift to park while already in the park position

NHTSA ODI 11578696

Mar 21, 2024Electrical system

After raining door locks on every door will not work. Won't lock or unlock, manually or by using the key fob. Something seems to be getting damp and shorting out . After a day or 2 the locks will work just fine when everything dries out.Seems to be a safety issue if I can't exit the vehicle. The rear hatch is the only door that works when this happens. What is the problem and the solution? This happens every time it rains. Had it to the dealer and they couldn't find the problem.

NHTSA ODI 11578698

Mar 21, 2024

Shift to park issue. Car will not go into park. Car will not shut off. Sometimes shifting back and forth or jiggling the shifter will work. Dealer replaced shifter assembly at a cost to me of $777. This was done last week. So far so good, but GMC knew about this problem for quite a while.

NHTSA ODI 11578700

Feb 29, 2024Transmission & drivetrain

Shift to park malfunction. When I put car in park, “shift to park” lights up and beeps. I have to wiggle the gear shift up a bit to get it to go off. Takes several minutes at times. This started about 4 days ago. I have an appointment at the dealership tomorrow. 68,300 miles on my vehicle. When I researched, several others complained about the Acadia’s shift to park malfunction.

NHTSA ODI 11574610

Feb 29, 2024Transmission & drivetrain

Transmission flares going into and out of second gear cause to vehicle to feel as if its about stall out. Especially on hills. I had a vehicle almost run in to the back of me because of the decrease in acceleration.

NHTSA ODI 11574737

Feb 26, 2024Transmission & drivetrainEngine

In August 2021, I placed my vehicle in park and pressed the vehicle on/off button and received a message on the dashboard that stated "Shift to Park", even though the vehicle was in the off position. I was unable to turn my vehicle completely off (remained in auxiliary mode) and unable to lock the vehicle. I took my vehicle to a Chevrolet dealer who notated the issue was inspected and verified with a repair procedure under TSB 19-NA-206. The service record reads "This condition is caused by the park switch in the transmission control not pulling BCM signal low to electronically show part position. Removed and reinstalled transmission control, installed new shifter harness and added wire harness jumper". In February 2024, the repairs completed by the dealer failed again, and this time the entire shifter (transmission control) needed to be replaced. The TSB that GM has put forth does not "fix" the issue, just puts a temporary band-aid on the problem until the vehicle is out of warranty and the customer is forced to pay for the repairs themselves. Without the vehicle registering it is park, the vehicle stays active and the customer is unable to lock or secure the vehicle, putting the safety of the customer at risk. It is also unknown if the vehicle is actually in park, putting those around the vehicle in danger of getting run over.

NHTSA ODI 11574016

Feb 15, 2024Engine

Engine consuming extra oil due to failed piston ring. Also, may be the cause of a coolant failure code. Burning through excessive oil and check engine light came on. Also, prior to these warnings, I've felt hesitation when accelerating and when the car changes gears. I was told by a shop that I need a new engine. This causes a dangerous situation because the car could just stop working while driving or in traffic.

NHTSA ODI 11572045

Feb 12, 2024Backup camera & sensors

I owned a 2019 GMC Acadia Denali with surround vision system (rear camera). In December 2023, my rear camera went out and almost caused me to hit someone while backing up. I don't totally depend on the rear camera when backing, but this time when I turned around to look if anything was behind me I didn't see no one. I took my vehicle to the dealer to get it checked out and to repair it. They found that the vision process module was bad. The technician found that the vpm had internal malfunction and corrosion due to water intrusion damaging vpm completely. found code B101D for internal failure and not responding to any programming or commands. Replaced vision processing module at a cost of $1348.90. I wrote to GM explaining the problem and request reimbursement. As of today, no response from GM. Thanks [XXX] INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

NHTSA ODI 11571360

Feb 8, 2024Engine

My 2019 GMC Acacia SLT would not go into park to allow me to shut off my vehicle. It ran for over an hour before it finally went into park. This was dangerous as I had a young child to pick up in a busy part of town and I had to leave it running to try to get help. With a 3 year old child this was crazy. This is not the first time it has done this. My car had a recall and whomever fixed it didn’t do it. I feel this needs to be fixed properly now.

NHTSA ODI 11570744

Feb 6, 2024Transmission & drivetrain

I am having trouble with my 2019 GMC Acadia. I keep getting a message that says shift to park. How many I get this repaired at no charge?

NHTSA ODI 11570216

Jan 21, 2024SteeringElectrical system

Shift to Park - car will not turn off after putting in park. Car is still running after several attempts of hitting the power button to turn off. I have had to replace the battery twice in the same year. I have brought this issue to the dealership from the beginning of purchase and was unsuccessful.

NHTSA ODI 11566745

Jan 18, 2024Lights

Headlights are so dim that we will not drive the car at night. Dealer's service manager says that he knows about the problem but "there's nothing I can do to fix it". I see a few similar complaints on this site, but nothing as to who to contact to get the problem solved NOR any action on this on the part of the NHSTA. Where do we go from here?

NHTSA ODI 11566368

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Working with the data? Download all 374 complaints as CSV · fetched from NHTSA July 25, 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 2019 GMC Acadia Denali verdict →