What 374 owners told NHTSA about the 2019 GMC Acadia Limited

Check engine light comes on, temperature gauge stops working, driving assist reduced notification, engine fan runs on high only. Temperature gauge and sensor were replaced 27,000 mi ago when this happened before.

NHTSA ODI 11681413

When the vehicle is put into park and I turn the vehicle off I get an alert on my console saying "Shift to Park". I called GM customer service and was told "harness" had been replaced in 2020. I bought the vehicle in 2021. Last year I had to replace the "harness" and it is doing it is now doing it again.

NHTSA ODI 11680520

When I turn the ignition off it sends me a message that I must shift to park. The car is in park at that time that I get the message. I restart the car and move the shift to reverse or drive and move the car and place in park and that may correct the problem or I may have to do this once, twice even three times before it corrects. The warning bell will continue to ring and the radio continues to play until I can get the situation corrected.

NHTSA ODI 11680266

When put in park it dings for a long time shift to park. I have read that this is an issue there has been recalls but mine is not on recall. However this does this like every other time I use it . I’m worried I will be left stranded with dead battery

NHTSA ODI 11679741

Shift to Park message, and chime remain on after car shift handle is already placed in Park. Car rolls. Ongoing problem/defect well documented/reported among other similar units.

NHTSA ODI 11679378

The contact owns a 2019 GMC Acadia. The contact stated that while parking the vehicle, the gear shifter was shifted into park(P); however, the “Action Required Shift to Park” message was displayed. The contact shifted the gear shifter back and forth and then shifted into park(P) before the proper gear was recognized. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired by an independent mechanic or dealer. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and advised the contact to take the vehicle to the dealer for diagnostic testing. The failure mileage was unknown.

NHTSA ODI 11678862

with the "Shift to Park" function, where the vehicle displayed the message even when it is in park, preventing the me from turning off the ignition

NHTSA ODI 11678421

When putting my vehicle in PARK and pressing the button to shut off my car, a warning appears on the dashboard saying “WARNING: PUT VEHICLE IN PARK.” & it is in park. I have to wiggle the gear shifter in order for the warning to go away and if it won’t go away, then my car won’t turn off. There was a recall on it in 2018 & I need mine fixed. Somehow, my vehicle was not apart of the recall but it needs to be. [XXX] INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

NHTSA ODI 11678111

July 31, 2025 Our 2019 Gmc Acadia would not shut off in a parking lot, I was 45 minutes from home. A message on display says shift to park. This is a safety concern as the vehicle might not be fully secured in park, the vehicle won't shut off and will drain your battery. There is an ongoing class action lawsuit related to this issue, alleging that GM has been aware of the problem for some time but has not provided a satisfactory fix according to Lemon Law Auto Fraud. I called the gm dealer and they quoted me $500 to fix this issue.

NHTSA ODI 11677933

Car gives “shift to park error” around every 5th time I turn it off. I have to turn the car back on and repark it to be able to actually turn off

NHTSA ODI 11678024

Vehicle's "SHIFT TO PARK" warning is often displayed when vehicle shifter is in PARK and then the engine is turned off. Often takes several attempts to correct the problem by restarting and turning off the engine or by manipulating the shift lever while in PARK. These is a current recall for this issue with the same year, make, and model of vehicle. Checking the VIN against the NTSB recall list shows this vehicle is not included in the recall.

NHTSA ODI 11677495

Last week, the coolant gauge , on our 2019 GMC Acadia, was reading below "C".... The "Steering Assist" warning was disabled on the on-screen display and the Air conditioning stopped working. Took the car to a mechanic, who read the codes.... Mechanic stated that all symptoms were based on a defective GM thermostat. The thermostat was "stuck-open" causing the "steering assist" to be disabled as well as the A/C from being disabled as well. It seems GM has updated the part since when the series of Acadia were manufactured. After getting it repaired, at of our pockets, we researched and noticed that thousands of other GM Acadia owners had the same exact 3 symptoms: (1) malfunctioning coolant reading (2) "Steering assist" disabled (3) a defective ("stuck-open") thermostat..... Symptoms were exactly the same for all parties involved. We have owned many vehicles never had a thermostat fail before 65k Miles.... It became a safety issue since the car disables the "steering assist" based on the thermostat being stuck open. Contacted GM corporate which stated unless a recall, there would be no compensation. GM needs to make it right for the thousands of GM owners whose car has the 3.6L engine In short, this is a major issue since the car's steering system is NOT working correctly We would like a recall to be initiated. Thank you.

NHTSA ODI 11677536

Shift to Park Vehicle does not recognize the gear shifter is in the park position. Vehicle does not fully shut down.

NHTSA ODI 11677164

When trying to park car, vehicle will not detect the shifter is in park. If the car does not detect its in park it will not turn off and stays running hampering your exit from the vehicle. This is truly an unsafe condition due to not knowing how to get the car to shut down as well as not knowing if the car will roll if you do get out.

NHTSA ODI 11677049

Shift to park error message consistently displayed forcing repeated restarting of the vehicle so that it finally recognized that the vehicle was in park and would unlock the doors for safe exit from the vehicle. This was a known issue by General Motors and they have 2 class action lawsuits filed n the states of Ohio and Tennessee for this issue with well over 110,000 vehicles affected. General Motors refuses to acknowledge this defect and fails to issue a recall. Their only offer when I took this vehicle to a GM certified dealership was to offer 15% towards the replacement of the shifter assembly. The excuses made were the vehicle was out of warranty as well as over in mileage. I bought this vehicle used from an Acura dealership and accepted delivery of it on [XXX] with approximately 33,417 miles. I started to experience the shift to park error message at 36,013 miles in early May 2025. By the time I was able to receive instructions from GMC customer care and secure repair for this issue the vehicle mileage was approximately 37,000 miles. It is not a pleasant feeling to be trapped inside your vehicle until you can get it to finally recognize that the vehicle truly is in the park mode. With the hundreds of thousands of vehicles on the road with this issue I feel GM should recognize their problem and perform a vehicle recall. This flaw had been installed in numerous GM vehicles manufactured as early as 2017. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

NHTSA ODI 11676508

When vehicle is placed in park, it is still showing a "shift to park" message once car is turned off.

NHTSA ODI 11676388

Since buying my 2019 GMC Acadia multiple times a day my auto shift to park will not allow me to lock my door as normal. It says there is no recall associated with my Vin Number however my particular Year, make and Model has the same issue. Please make this make since.

NHTSA ODI 11674731

I noticed when I put my car in park and turn key off, it’ll ding to warn me to “shift into park” this been becoming a problem recently and it’s been happening more often.

NHTSA ODI 11674605

About a month ago when I shifted my vehicle into park and shut the vehicle off, "Shift to Park" appeared on dash display for which I had to restart the vehicle, shift it into another gear and attempt to shutoff the vehicle again. Occasionally this would work but not all the time. Other times when shifting into other gears did not work I had to restart the vehicle, press the shifter button multiple times and then was able to shut the car off with no "Shift to Park" appearing. On 7/11/25, Arrived to work and had to performed the shifting the vehicle into another gear and was able to shut the vehicle off. When I went to leave for lunch, the car would not start at all, check the GM App and it stated "Critically Low Battery". A co-worker helped jump the battery and I was able to start the vehicle. When I went to leave work for the day, the vehicle would not start again with no notification as to why. My co-worker jumped the battery again and vehicle started now with all the system lights on dash staying on and warnings displayed. 7/12/25 Vehicle struggled to start and all system lights were still on. Later in the day, the vehicle would not start and all overhead, dash, display, taillights would not shut off. We jumped the battery and took the vehicle to our local dealer.

NHTSA ODI 11673324

In March 2025 my 2019 Arcadia with only 44112 miles begin indicating a Shift to Park error message when I parked and shifted into park the error message showed on the instrument panel and the warning alarm sounded and would not stop showing the error message until I restarted the car and shifted from drive to park repeatedly. I couldn’t get out and close the door, and the warning stop, it would continue to sound the warning. The only way to stop the warning message and alarm was to stay in the car and repeatedly start the car shift to drive into park switch it off and if it still showed the error and warning, do it all over again. This could take up to several minutes and many tries. If I had of left the car all the warning would have been sounding indicating it wasn't in park. I didn't know if it was really in park or not and if not, the car could have potentially rolled off causing injury or damage. To try and determine what was the cause of this problem I searched the internet to find a solution, to do a reset or simple fix and discovered that GMC had known about this issue since 2016 and the only solution was an in the shop repair requiring replacement of some parts. The "Shift to Park" error in GMC vehicles is considered a safety issue by many owners and has led to class-action lawsuits. The issue, which prevents vehicles from recognizing when they are in park, can lead to the engine not shutting off, potential for vehicle roll away, and even entrapment inside the vehicle. On April 16, 2025 I had the repair done at Hayward Allen, Cadillac – GMC dealership, 2590 Atlanta Highway, Athens Georgia 30604. The total repair cost was $732.36 (invoice attached). ). I sent a copy of this invoice by email to GMC customer service. After customer service reviewed the amount they call and informed me they could only reimburse me a total of $73.24.

NHTSA ODI 11673038

We receive a shift to park message when we try to turn our 2019 GMC Acadia off. The vehicle is already in park, but an alarm bell keeps going off telling us it is not. The vehicle will not allow us to shut off the vehicle properly and results in battery drain and inability to lock the vehicle. We have noticed there is a class action lawsuit and recalls from previous year's models and the 2019 model manufactured in Ohio, but ours was manufactured in Tennessee. Our year, make, and model isn't listed in the class action lawsuit and/or a recall. This is very frustrating considering the number of similar issues/complaints in regards to this shift to park problem. I feel GMC as the manufacturer should be held liable for a faulty part and they have failed to correct this issue in later models since they were aware of the issue with the 2017-2018 Acadia models built in Tennessee.

NHTSA ODI 11673049

I took my 2019 GMC Acadia in for an inspection and was informed that the toe links were loose and fail inspection. Upon researching this failure, I found that there is a recall for this, but my VIN was no included. I don't understand why not given what I'm seeing from other owners. I quote from the GMC Authority site: [XXX] "GM and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration have issued a recall for certain 2022 model-year Cadillac XT5, Cadillac XT6 and GMC Acadia crossovers over an issue related to the rear toe links. The problem: affected vehicles may have a left-rear suspension toe link with a fastener that was not properly tightened during assembly at the factory. The GMC Acadia is built at the GM Spring Hill plant in Tennessee, but will soon be moved to the GM Lansing Grand River plant to make room for the Cadillac Lyriq. The Cadillac XT5 and XT6 are also built at Spring Hill and will remain there for the foreseeable future." Based on other feedback seen, it appears this should be a recall for my vehicle as well. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

NHTSA ODI 11672827

Shift to park light comes on and car won't shut off

NHTSA ODI 11671608

Shift to park issue. This 2019 Acadia Denali has been serviced twice for a shift to park issue:(It’s a known problem that occurs when Acadia vehicles fail to recognize that the gear shifter is in the park position). The first time was under warranty in 2022 and it has just been serviced again for the same problem. The system is the same as the older GM recall for this problem and the recall should also include this model as well but unfortunately it does not.

NHTSA ODI 11671140

My coolant thermostat went out, causing my AC and steering assist to stop working. I have spoke to multiple other people who have had this same issue with their GMC Acadia and I believe this should be a recall. It’s going to cost me $1200 to have this issue resolved.

NHTSA ODI 11670057