2016 Buick Verano
This year drew an ordinary 59 complaints for a Buick Verano — the model's median is 101. What they were about is the unusual part: 15.3% of them mention seat, against 4.7% across the model's other years.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 59 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 101 |
| Involving a crash | 1 |
| Involving a fire | 1 |
| Recalls | 2 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 24 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- seat — 15.3% of this year's complaints, against 4.7% across the model's other years (3.3×).
- motion — 11.9% of this year's complaints, against 3.4% across the model's other years (3.5×). Owners wrote it as: motion, indication, constantly going.
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
AIRBAG SYSTEM SERVICE INDICATION LIGHT COMES ON, THE PASSENGER SIDE AIRBAG GOES ON AND OFF WITHOUT WARNING WHEN A PASSENGER SITS DOWN, CAUSING THE AIRBAGS TO BE TURNED OFF. THIS HAPPENS WHILE THE CAR IS STATIONARY AND IN MOTION.
ADVANCED DIAGNOSTICS ALERTS WHETHER SOMEONE IS SITTING IN THE PASSENGER SEAT OR NOT. SENSOR ALERTS CONSTANTLY WHILE DRIVING. IF THERE IS A PASSENGER SOMETIMES THE AIRBAG LIGHT ISN'T LIT NOTIFYING THE AIRBAG IS ON. THIS HAPPENS WHETHER THE VEHICLE IS IN MOTION…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 16V502000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 16V595000 FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Buick Verano 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 2016 Buick Verano? What happened to yours?
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