Owners filed 2,423 complaints about the 2015–2025 GMC Acadia with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the 42nd-most of any vehicle in our Car Problem Index. The 2017 model year drew the most (702), and the single most-reported problem area is transmission / powertrain, named in 27% of complaints.
Key findings
- Worst model year: 2017, with 702 complaints, led by transmission / powertrain (235).
- Spike years: 2015 (1.6× the typical year), 2016 (1.6× the typical year), 2017 (4.7× the typical year), 2018 (2.6× the typical year), 2019 (2.6× the typical year).
- Earliest-failing area: fuel system complaints came at a median of 28k mi on the odometer.
- Fire and crash reports: 12 complaints mention a fire and 56 mention a crash; owners reported 64 injuries.
GMC Acadia complaints by model year
| Model year | Complaints | Top problem areas | Median mileage | Crashes | Fires |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 243 | Air bags (108), Steering (31), Electrical system (28) | 50k mi | 5 | 3 |
| 2016 | 236 | Air bags (130), Steering (26), Electrical system (25) | 50k mi | 8 | 2 |
| 2017 | 702 | Transmission / powertrain (235), Electrical system (193), Air bags (76) | 33k mi | 10 | 2 |
| 2018 | 394 | Transmission / powertrain (163), Electrical system (108), Engine (33) | 32k mi | 8 | 1 |
| 2019 | 386 | Transmission / powertrain (154), Electrical system (105), Engine (53) | 40k mi | 5 | 2 |
| 2020 | 100 | Electrical system (27), Engine (26), Transmission / powertrain (21) | 10k mi | 4 | 0 |
| 2021 | 149 | Electrical system (38), Engine (29), Fuel system (24) | 28k mi | 7 | 0 |
| 2022 | 49 | Electrical system (15), Engine (14), Fuel system (8) | 28k mi | 3 | 1 |
| 2023 | 43 | Engine (12), Transmission / powertrain (12), Electrical system (9) | 25k mi | 3 | 1 |
| 2024 | 58 | Brakes (23), Automatic emergency braking / collision warning (10), Engine (9) | 7k mi | 2 | 0 |
| 2025 | 63 | Brakes (38), Automatic emergency braking / collision warning (21), Engine (5) | 3k mi | 1 | 0 |
Newer model years have had less time on the road, so their counts are lower partly because owners have had fewer years to report problems.
Most-reported GMC Acadia problems, and what they cost to fix
| Problem area | Complaints | Share | Median mileage | Repair estimate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Transmission / powertrain | 656 | 27% | 37k mi | Transmission repair cost |
| Electrical system | 560 | 23% | 35k mi | Alternator / electrical repair cost |
| Air bags | 335 | 14% | 71k mi | — |
| Engine | 273 | 11% | 35k mi | Engine repair cost |
| Steering | 192 | 8% | 51k mi | Power steering repair cost |
| Brakes | 169 | 7% | 29k mi | Brake repair cost |
| Fuel system | 76 | 3% | 28k mi | Fuel pump repair cost |
| Automatic emergency braking / collision warning | 71 | 3% | 29k mi | — |
One complaint can name several problem areas, so shares add up to more than 100%.
What this data can and can't tell you
These are unverified reports that owners submitted to NHTSA, counted by model year. They are not defect findings, and they aren't adjusted for sales: a best-selling vehicle collects more complaints simply because more of them are on the road. Use the counts to compare model years of the same vehicle and to see which systems owners complain about most, not to compare how reliable two different models are. See the full methodology.
Other GMC models in the index
- GMC Sierra 1500 (4,913)
- GMC Yukon (2,040)
Source: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation, consumer complaint files (nhtsa.gov), model years 2015–2025, retrieved 2026-09-23. Free to cite with a link to this page.