2012 GMC Acadia
This year drew an ordinary 302 complaints for a GMC Acadia — the model's median is 333. What they were about is the unusual part: 15.9% of them mention liftgate, against 5.3% across the other years of this generation.
Generation 1 of the GMC Acadia, which began in 2007 and ran to 2016. Everything below compares this year against the others in that generation, not against a different car wearing the same name.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 302 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 333 |
| Involving a crash | 8 |
| Involving a fire | 2 |
| Recalls | 5 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 19 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- liftgate — 15.9% of this year's complaints, against 5.3% across the other years of this generation (3×). Owners wrote it as: liftgate, fell, vehicle parked, closed.
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
LIFTGATE STRUTS DID FAIL AND THE LIFTGATE FELL DOWN UNCONTROLLABLY. IT HAPPENED EXACTLY AS MENTIONED IN NHTSA CAMPAIGN NUMBER 15V415000 BUT THE DEALERSHIP SAID MY VEHICLE WAS NOT ON THE RECALL LIST SO THERE WAS NOTHING THEY COULD DO ABOUT THE ISSUE UNDER WARRA…
THE LIFTGATE DID NOT OPEN INITIALLY, BUT LATER SLAMMED DOWN WITHOUT WARNING. THE CONTACT STATED THAT THE LIFTGATE FELL DOWN ON THE DRIVER AND KNOCKED HIM TO THE GROUND. IT WAS UNKNOWN IF THE DRIVER WAS INJURED. THE DEALER AND [VIN] WERE NOT CONTACTED. THE VEHI…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 14V266000 SEAT BELTS Fixed free of charge.
- 15V415000 STRUCTURE Fixed free of charge.
- 14V118000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 12V151000 VISIBILITY Fixed free of charge.
- 21V246000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the GMC Acadia 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 2012 GMC Acadia? What happened to yours?
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