As GM Authority has been studiously following for some time now, several General Motors products have been hit with lawsuits regarding a defective Shift to Park message that prevents affected vehicles from safely shutting off. Now, one such lawsuit concerning a GMC Acadia in Connecticut has been dismissed.
According to a report from CarComplaints, this particular lawsuit was denied an appeal after the lower court dismissed the case. It was decided that the plaintiff had failed to state a claim for breach of express warranty because the warranty’s “repair” provisions do not correlate with the scope of Connecticut’s express warranties laws. As such, the district court judge dismissed the lawsuit by ruling that the plaintiff lacked “contractual privity” with The General.
It’s worth noting that the appeals court agreed with the ruling, acknowledging that Connecticut law requires privity to establish a breach of warranty claim.
The plaintiff claims that she brought her affected GMC Acadia unit to the dealership, where certified GM technicians allegedly confirmed that the vehicle had the Shift to Park problem. However, the plaintiff was allegedly told that no fix was available at that time, but that General Motors was working on a solution.
The plaintiff also claims that she initially stopping driving her Acadia, but eventually resumed driving despite the issue. When the Shift to park problem occurred, she claims to have continuously wiggled the shifter and repeatedly shifted to other gear positions and back in order to get the Acadia to recognize that it was in Park.
As background on these Shift to Park lawsuits, select 2017 Acadia and 2018 Acadia units may 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 into Park, thus not allowing the driver to safely turn the vehicle off.
Many legal cases also claim that GMC dealerships are aware of the Shift to Park problem, but have no clue on how to repair the affected vehicles.
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Comments
This is hardly an Acadia specific issue from that time period. I had a 2016 Malibu, 2018 Acadia and a 2018 Volt from that time period that all had similar shifter mechanisms. Every single one of them had the exact same “Shift to Park” message at some point or another due to the shifter being faulty. I’m surprised that GM hasn’t had to issue a recall for every vehicle from that time period that used that shifter.
“This is hardly an Acadia specific issue from that time period. I had a 2016 Malibu, 2018 Acadia and a 2018 Volt from that time period that all had similar shifter mechanisms.”
Yep, our 2019 Malibu had the same thing (twice)…plus a couple of other well known issues in the three years we owned it. We dumped it when the warranty ran out.
Be interesting to know the extent of the problem.
There are several fixes on the web to by pass this. The body control module is just not sensing the voltage from the shifter.
We had one and the replaced the shifter. We later got a 21 Denali and the push buttons are not having this issue.
My 2018 equinox has been parked on my driveway for two weeks due to park assist showing up & then shift to park after it’s already been in park. Doesn’t allow you to turn off since it doesn’t recognize it’s already in park. Won’t shift out of park two weeks later. No recalls that I’ve seen after hours nights days weeks of searching for solution. Bought it 2 years ago & now the value is upside down. Can’t even drive it to any dealer to sell or trade. Meanwhile I’m stuck spending $100 a day to & from work daily. Another $100 on delivery of food since vehicle is not operable & then another couple hundreds on delivery of groceries & fees. Who’s going to reimburse for unforeseen circumstances. I’ve owned Chevy all my life & sadly my 330,000 mile 2011 Silverado with an actual key to ignition, never gave me an issue. I just need a solution for this.
Please tell me where to find this golden information.
My 2019 blazer has same problem.
Keep up the good work, Mary .
So sad that handy consumers know how to fix this but GM refuses. Bending the metal trigger on the switch usually solves it and if necessary there is an in-line wire harness that can be used (needed on mom’s 2016 Malibu). My 2022 Trailblazer just started having the issue so I’m just waiting for a warm day to fix it. The GM warranty is becoming useless.
Same thing on my 2018 Traverse. And don’t get me going on the nine speed transmission. Can’t wait to fork over $55K for my next Traverse for all of this quality. Hey GM, spend a little more money on engineering and less on the UAW. I know how that works. You make them rich, and they make you rich. It’s past time both of you realize that we, the customers, are sick and tired of footing the bills for that and for marginal products. My Traverses have been mostly wonderful. But mostly isn’t good enough!
UAW accounts for 10 to 15% of sticker. I’ll do the math for you … that leaves 85 to 90% for “other”.
As I said, they scratch each others backs. I had them share the blame.
9-spd tranny assembled in Mexico.
0% share for UAW.
Keep trying …
“”the plaintiff was allegedly told that no fix was available at that time, but that General Motors was working on a solution””
So if the “shift to park issue” occurred during the original 3/36,000 warranty, is the plaintiff SOL if there is no solution???
No they put in a new shifter.
We had the same shift to park issue in our 2017 Acadia Denali. We took it to GMC dealer and they repaired it, no cost to us.
My 2019 Acadia Denali had the problem. It was fixed under warranty in 2021. Problem came back early this year and cost e $855 to fix with no recourse from the General. I am a GM retiree and felt a loyalty to the General to keep buying GM. Plan to buy a new vehicle this fall and it won’t be GM if no recourse is seen from GM on this issue. It’s very disappointing that there are several “fixes” by YouTube mechanics for the problem yet officially sanctioned GM fixes authorized to dealers seem to just replace a poor design with the same poor designed parts.