What 374 owners told NHTSA about the 2019 GMC Acadia Limited

Fire Started in Center Console

NHTSA ODI 11749071

Shortly after purchasing my 2019 GMC Acadia with 52,000 miles on it, my wife parked the vehicle in our driveway and shifted the transmission into Park. When she pressed the push button to shut the vehicle off, the instrument cluster displayed a "Shift to Park" message even though the shifter was already in the Park position. Because the vehicle did not recognize that it was in Park, it would not shut off completely. The radio remained on, and the doors could not be locked. The only way to get the vehicle to shut off was to repeatedly shift from Drive to Park until it finally recognized Park. This occurred multiple times. After researching the problem, I discovered that many other GM owners have experienced the same "Shift to Park" failure. I believe this is a widespread defect that should be investigated because it can prevent a vehicle from shutting off properly, leave electrical accessories powered on, drain the battery, and prevent the vehicle from being secured when parked.

NHTSA ODI 11746961

Problem 1: I got the car 2 years ago, and it keeps telling me to "Shift to Park" even though its in park. That's been happening for the whole time I've had it. It does throw a code for it on the scanner machine. I have to shift it back and forth sometimes 3 times and sometimes 17 times. It just keeps beeping over and over and won't shut off. I am having a mechanic look at it Tuesday but hoping it doesn't cost a lot. But no recalls on my car. Problem 2: For the last 4 months or so it keeps saying steering assist is reduced drive with car. It's being looked at Tuesday as well. I have 109K on my car, and got it at 86K.

NHTSA ODI 11746660

Thermostat in these are all bad and everyone keeps having problems with them. Also forward collision warning and steering stability warning come on. Thermostat needs to have recall. Everyone is having the same problems.

NHTSA ODI 11742603

The contact owns a 2019 GMC Acadia. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, a “Steering Assist is Reduced ” warning message unexpectedly displayed. The contact also stated that the thermostat became inoperable. Additionally, the thermostat information was no longer displayed on the instrument panel. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, where it was diagnosed that the thermostat had failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and referred the contact to the NHTSA Hotline for further assistance. The failure mileage was approximately 48,500.

NHTSA ODI 11738131

This vehicle has an electrical deficiency when trying to park, The console will NOT recognize that the vehicle is in park, causing bell warnings, beeping, and an INABILITY to lock the vehicle, thus draining the battery. We cannot walk away from it, nor ever leave anything of value in it. This is a recurring problem, causing stress, and having to start, shut off, re-start, wiggling the shifter knob, MANY times and HOPE that the electrical system will recognize that the vehicle IS in Park. sometimes this can take 20 minutes, IF it works at all. If not, We have to leave someone IN the vehicle when this happens, in order to do anything! This is a KNOWN problem with this shifter, and there SHOULD be a recall on it!

NHTSA ODI 11733608

Ongoing problem with only solution is a recall notice. Power Steering Assist Reduced -Customer reports Power Steering Assist Reduced message displayed on DIC, A/C is inoperative, Engine Coolant Temperature Sensor inoperative. Recall needed to update Engine Control Module (ECM) with latest calibration.

NHTSA ODI 11731320

The warning steering assist reduced, drive with caution appears. Shift to park appears. Temperature gauge drops to zero. Fan runs on high. A/C & heater don’t not work when this happens. We certainly do not feel safe driving our Acadia like this. Can’t trust that it won’t start on fire.

NHTSA ODI 11730600

When shiftiing to park and turning the car off the message "Action Required Shift to Park". It is difficult to get the message to go away.

NHTSA ODI 11729088

In November 2022, I started getting a dashboard "shift to park" on my 2019 Acadia after I had parked and shut the vehicle off. At the time I took it into service to have it looked at/repaired, they told me there would probably be a recall on this issue,as it seemed to be a frequent problem, and I would get a refund for the repair. That recall never happened, and now my car is once again displaying the same issue. The dealership will not cover the repair, and I will be responsible, as it is out of their 2 year warranty window. I can't just ignore this issue and keep driving, as with the "shift to park" display, there is a constant alarm that doesn't stop unless the park switch recognizes the car is in park, even when it is shut off. I feel this issue needs to be placed under a recall, and I should not have to pay AGAIN for it to be repaired.

NHTSA ODI 11726065

My Acadia keeps an error message of "Shift to Park" this has been happening on and off for about 8 months. Now it goes on every time I try to shut my car off. I have to stop and start it up to 20 times before it shuts off. I am concerned that I may be somewhere and won't be able to turn it off. I know there have been recalls for this and I need this repaired. It's obviously a flaw on GMC and honestly, I should not have to pay for it. At this point, the car is only used close by my home. I don't feel safe using it. Please help. Not only me but all drivers affected. Thank you

NHTSA ODI 11725460

Parts # 84733196 Harness ASM-TRAS CONT WRG and 84955379 SWITCH ASM-TRNS CONT have been replaced three times. This is described by dealer as a faulty PARK SWITCH. When this switch fails the vehicle is unable to be shifted to park. Vehicle needed to be located in a level position, wheels chocked and battery disconnected to safely disable the vehicle. Dealership and General Motors has been made aware of problem won't do anything, other that have me pay for the labor and new part to fix it, AGAIN. There is no warning ,it simple decides to fail to shift to park.

NHTSA ODI 11717242

Vehicle experiences multiple simultaneous failures including “Steering Assist Reduced / Drive With Care” warning, extremely loud cooling fan operation, temperature gauge not functioning, tire pressure monitoring system failure, and widespread electrical issues (windows, mirrors, infotainment delay). Issues occurred together and are consistent with numerous owner reports for 2019 GMC Acadia models. Condition affects steering assist and engine temperature monitoring, creating a potential safety risk.

NHTSA ODI 11716967

Shift to park alert continues to come on when car is already shifted into park. Car will not shut off without pulling car back out of park and shifting back into park. Causing a delay in all electrical attached to power down, potentially draining the battery.

NHTSA ODI 11714233

My park to shift to park warning keeps coming on. It was replaced under warranty once and came on again comes and goes and dealership is not replace it again saying it isn’t tripping a code so it won’t get covered under the parts warranty.

NHTSA ODI 11710294

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

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

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

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

NHTSA ODI 11701044

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

NHTSA ODI 11701100

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

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

AFTER PUTTING CAR IN PARK AND TURNING ENGINE OFF, SHIFT TO PARK WILL APPEAR ON DASH- CAR ALREADY IN PARK .

NHTSA ODI 11685874

Whenever parking the car and trying to stop (shut off) the engine it will randomly say “shift to park” and I cannot shut the vehicle off.

NHTSA ODI 11683930