As GM Authority has extensively covered in the past, General Motors has dealt with numerous class-action lawsuits over transmission issues regarding the GMC Acadia. Now, the Detroit-based automaker has been hit with another Acadia shifting lawsuit, this time in The Volunteer State, or Tennessee.
According to a report from Car Complaints, the lawsuit alleges that the 2017 Acadia and 2018 Acadia have a condition where a defect of the Shift to Park message causes the crossover to remain running even after the vehicle has been shifted in Park, thus not allowing the driver to safely turn the vehicle off.
The plaintiff claims that in order to successfully shift her GMC Acadia into Park, she had to jiggle the gear shifter from Park to Neutral or Drive, and then put the shifter back into Park. In addition, she claims to have taken her vehicle to the dealer to remedy the issue, but dealer repair orders don’t support this claim.
“The Subject Vehicle never rolled away [and] Ms. Jefferson was always able to start and turn off the Subject Vehicle,” the lawsuit states. “Plaintiff drove the Subject Vehicle regularly between the time when she purchased it in October of 2017 and when she traded in the vehicle in February of 2021. Ms. Jefferson testified that she took her vehicle to the Dealership on or about March of 2019, when the Dealership informed her that her warranty had expired and that she would be required to pay $144 for an inspection. At that time, her vehicle had been driven at least 48,891 miles. She did not have the vehicle inspected or complain about the STP defect to the Dealership or any other dealership after March of 2019.”
As a reminder, General Motors filed to dismiss similar class-action lawsuits back in August 2020, which was partially granted. Judge Jon P. McCalla dismissed claims regarding loss-of-use damages and injunctive relief, but refused to dismiss breach of contract and breach of express warranty claims.
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Comments
Isn’t there some sequence or procedure for emergency shutdown of button-start cars? Three rapid presses? One looong press?
My 17 malibu premier does this every once in awhile. I click the shifter button a few times it goes away. No big deal, still would drive GM Over dodge
Thanks captain obvious
I own a 2018 Acadia Denali and over the years it too takes spells of having to flick the shifter button or wiggle it back and forth. It’s doing it now but as usual will probably stop after awhile. Many times this has happened over the 4 + years…76,000 miles of ownership.
My wife has a 2019. It started doing this about a year ago. I checked it out and there was a recall on it. I called the GM dealership, they ordered the parts in. When they got the parts, I took the vehicle in. Took about 4 hours. Hasn’t had a bit of problem since.
I don’t know if the recall was one that wasn’t distributed or not. It may have been one of those where only vehicles exhibiting the symptoms. I just don’t remember the details on it.
Mine would lock in park
2012 Acadia Denali owner here. My engine blew up around 64,000 miles. Timing chains slipped and the rest is history. I bought this new in 2016 and it never missed the maintenance. 6300.00 for a remanufactured engine.
Still has a check engine light that can’t be cleared.
How did you buy a 2012 new in 2016?
It was a holdover from2012
One thing I don’t understand is if the dealer doesn’t fix the problem, why didn’t they take it to another dealer?
We had a Acadia for a rental a few months ago, that push button transmission was weird to use.
I had a Chrysler 300 as a rental recently. I guess that had to be pretty close to the same thing. I really hated that thing. You were never really sure of the position it was in. Not at all the same positive feeling as a floor or column mounted shift lever.
That’s the technology that raises the price higher than a cats back!
2017 Acadia owner here. Had this shift to park issue fixed twice. Once under warranty at the 2 year mark. Once on my nickel at the 4 year mark. Now at the 6 year mark. So far so good but…
I find it difficult to accept that all of the lawsuits filed for this problem have not benefited owners. And this malady continues to appear.
Bill, just a curious question. My wife has a 2019 that has had the shift mechanism replaced about a year ago. I have since drilled it into her to put the car in N, apply the electronic brake, then put it in Park. I find that this takes all the stress off the shift mechanism when shifting it out of Park. I’m hoping that this eliminates the need to have it fixed again.
How do you park yours?
Mike D, Always have parked on the level, seldom if every use the electric parking brake, don’t ever do anything special. From what YouTube videos I’ve watched on the issue, the problem is with a switch buried in the console that I doubt has much to do with the transmission “bound” up when parking on an incline. Several backyard fixes out there but the crux of the fix is a lot of labor to get the console dismantled to get to this switch. The last word I had from the dealer was my second fix (which was different from the first) finally solved the problem. I hope so. I hope you got the “right” fix.
Yes, mine did it too. A 2017 Denali at 45,000 miles.
There is a tiny switch in the console, on the passenger side that’s very well buried and requires some serious dissembling to access. This switch is quite delicate and apparently prone to failure. Dealer cost to fix runs $400+ and as indicated in this thread, the repair is not permanent.
HOWEVER, with skinny hands, forceps and patience you can wedge a u shaped bent paperclip into the backside of the switch where the wires enter and bypass the switch. This requires , seats removed to access console cover screws, console side panels removed etc, , etc- a job not for the feint of heard.
I just ran across this article in my news feed and I have a 2017 Acadia which has done the same thing twice in the time that I have owned it which is about 7 months! Until seeing this article I didn’t think much of it but her description is totally accurate as to what happens! I will call the dealer on my car come Tuesday…I would like to find a way to contact this person who has the lawsuit filed, I would definitely tell my story!
I’ve had my 2018 Acadia in 3 different times for the stp issue. 1st time dealership replace shift cable not long after back in again & said it was a chip replaced that. Worked for a couple years then just recently back in it goes and this time the dealership tells me “oh well the shift button wasn’t part of the change because it was unavailable & now it is.” Over $300 to fix it. Hopefully it works. Now my touch screen is going crazy. It will disconnect calls, scroll through stations, change my messenger board where I have it set for digital speedometer & so on. Dealership has no idea but let’s try and change the screen. $800 just for the part not including labor which half the dash has to be taken out. I’ve contacted GM about this issue and the rep said she would call back never happened. I’ve always loved Chevy & GM vehicles but this is starting to tick me off.
Again, have you talked with the Service Manager or Service Director (maybe even the Dealer him/her self)? You need to go up the food chain. If you’ve done that, call Chevrolet Customer Assistance or get an appointment with their Factory Rep. Look at the procedure in the Owner’s manual package.
I have done all of this & nobody has an answer for it. Just a guessing game at my expense. I’m not paying $3000 grand for a maybe. I’ve been to the dealership I bought it from & have even spoke with GM customer service while having computer issues. It kept putting her on hold along with her being able to hear it constantly beep as if someone was touching the button.
Get back under the bridge, troll.
Should of bought a Toyota. You wouldn’t be dealing with these expensive issues in the highest quality vehicles on the road.
We need to make an EXAMPLE of these car companies. They make BILLIONS and pass the garbage onto us consumers. Why is this okay?? Remember the 2.4 Ecotec issues the Terrain had? What’s the deal with that? TOTAL silence. It’s cheaper for them to pay off these judges than take ACTION and fix their MISTAKE. And they wonder why Asian brands are steamrolling them in sales. “Huh, must be our consumers fault.”
I bought a 2020 Encore Gx Sport pkg in 4/21. First I had a break issue after months of driving it (the dealership said they couldn’t find an issue until) Buick issued a recall. Then I had a check engine light and a purge pump issue, then I had a check engine light and a transmission chip blown (55 days in the dealership), now I have a shift to park issue that kept trapping me in the car. I took it into the shop, they special ordered a shifter handle and harness…it’s been at the dealership for approximately 4 months. I have to pay up front for the rental from enterprise at over 2 k a month, I have received one reimbursement check. It’s like they are trying to financial devastate me. Ohio Lemon law does more to protect the manufacturers than it does consumers. They give you 1 yr or 18k miles to file the State Lemon law for damages. I have had the vehicle for 2.6 yrs…of which 6 months has been at the dealership I bought it from. It has 13k miles on it. I have kept it serviced as required and clean and garaged. This is stressful and financially damaging to say the least. I thought the purpose of buying a new car was that you not have a multitude of repair issues, loss of use, out of pocket costs associated mechanical issues . I will have PTSD moving forward.
So, why did you wait too long before you started to look into lemon law. That should have been three strikes and they’re out.