2013 Buick Lacrosse
This year drew an ordinary 253 complaints for a Buick Lacrosse — the model's median is 169. What they were about is the unusual part: 10.7% of them mention additionally, against 1.6% across the model's other years.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 253 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 169 |
| Involving a crash | 10 |
| Involving a fire | 6 |
| Recalls | 5 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 21 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- additionally — 10.7% of this year's complaints, against 1.6% across the model's other years (6.7×). Owners wrote it as: additionally, failed start, drive belt, engines.
- cover — 15.8% of this year's complaints, against 6% across the model's other years (2.6×). Owners wrote it as: cover, effect, bring, expect.
- restart — 14.2% of this year's complaints, against 4.8% across the model's other years (3×). Owners wrote it as: restart, indicator illuminated, auto stop, engine failed.
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
What owners wrote
MY DRIVE BELT BROKE AT 4244 MILES AND WAS COVERED BY GM. IT BROKE AGAIN AT 58K MILES AND GM IS REFUSING TO COVER STATING NORMAL WEAR AND TEAR. IT IS NOT NORMAL FOR A DRIVE BELT TO HAVE TO BE REPLACED TWICE BEFORE 60K MILES. WAS TOLD REGULAR MAINTENANCE RECOMME…
notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 20V764000 (Suspension) however, the part to do the recall was not yet available. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The dealer was made aware of the re…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 13V097000 POWER TRAIN Fixed free of charge.
- 13V173000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 20V764000 SUSPENSION Fixed free of charge.
- 21V633000 SUSPENSION Fixed free of charge.
- 21V00F000 SUSPENSION Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Buick Lacrosse was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2013 Buick Lacrosse? What happened to yours?
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