2013 GMC Acadia problems, complaints & recalls

2013 GMC Acadia recalls (3)

• Recall 21V246000Apr 8, 2021108 vehicles
  AIR BAGS:CRITICAL FASTENERS

  General Motors, LLC (GM) is recalling certain 2010-2015, 2017 Buick Enclave, 2010-2019 Chevrolet Traverse, and 2011-2016 GMC Acadia vehicles. The side curtain air bags may not be properly attached.

  Risk: Unsecured side curtain air bags may not perform as intended, increasing the risk of injury.

  Remedy: GM will notify owners, and dealers will inspect and, if necessary, realign or replace the weld nuts, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed on May 24, 2021. Owners may contact Buick customer service at 1-800-521-7300, Chevrolet customer service at 1-800-222-1020, and GMC customer service at 1-800-462-8782. GM's number for this recall is N202321200.

• Recall 14V266000May 20, 20141,339,355 vehicles
  SEAT BELTS

  General Motors is recalling certain model year 2009-2014 Buick Enclave vehicles manufactured April 14, 2008, through May 14, 2014, Chevrolet Traverse vehicles manufactured June 6, 2008, through May 14, 2014, and GMC Acadia vehicles manufactured April 9, 2008, through May 14, 2014, and 2009-2010 Saturn Outlook vehicles manufactured April 14, 2008, through March 18, 2010. In the affected vehicles, the flexible steel cable that connects the seatbelt to the front outboard seating positions may fatigue and separate over time.

  Risk: If the steel cable becomes fatigued and separates, the seatbelt may not properly restrain the seat occupant increasing the risk of an injury in a crash.

  Remedy: General Motors will notify owners, and dealers will inspect and, if necessary, repair and replace the lap pretensioner, free of charge. Parts are not currently available. An interim notice will be mailed to owners in July 2014. A second notice will be mailed to owners once parts become available. The recall for the 2009-2010 model years began on July 11, 2014. The interim letter for the 2011-2014 model years were distributed on July 11, 2014. Owners may contact General Motors at 1-800-222-1020 (Chevrolet), 1-800-521-7300 (Buick), 1-800-462-8782 (GMC), 1-800-553-6000 (Saturn). General Motors recall number for this campaign is 14187.

• Recall 14V118000Mar 17, 20141,176,407 vehicles
  AIR BAGS:SIDE/WINDOW

  General Motors LLC (GM) is recalling certain model year 2008-2013 Buick Enclave and GMC Acadia and 2009-2013 Chevrolet Traverse and 2008-2010 Saturn Outlook vehicles. In the affected vehicles, increased resistance in the driver and passenger seat mounted side impact air bag (SIAB) wiring harnesses may result in the SIAB and seat belt pretensioners not deploying in the event of a crash.

  Risk: Failure of the side impact air bags and seat belt pretensioners to deploy in a crash increase the risk of injury to the driver and front seat occupant.

  Remedy: GM will notify owners, and dealers will replace the affected harness connections with soldered connections, free of charge. The recall began on June 16, 2014. Buick owners may contact the owner center at 1-800-521-7300, Chevrolet owners at 1-866-694-6546, Saturn at 1-800-553-6000, and GMC owners at 1-866-996-9463. GM's number for this recall is 14030. Note: Vehicles repaired as part of Customer Satisfaction Campaign 10085 and special coverage 10335 have already had the subject condition repaired and therefore are not included in the safety recall.

NHTSA defect investigations

• EA20002Opened Aug 31, 2020Closed Aug 30, 2024led to recall 21V245

  Outboard Front Seat Belt Anchor Cable Failure

  On August 31, 2020, the Office of Defects Investigations (ODI) opened Engineering Analysis (EA) EA20002, as an upgrade of Recall Query (RQ) RQ19003. This investigation, related to recall 14V-266, was opened to investigate instances of detachment of the flexible steel seat belt anchor cable attached to the outboard side of the front seats in vehicles manufactured by General Motors (GM). The subject vehicles included model year (MY) 2009 through 2014 GMC Acadia, Buick Enclave, and Chevrolet Traverse SUVs as well as MY 2009 through 2010 Saturn Outlook SUVs. These vehicles were previously repaired…

• RQ19003Opened May 28, 2019Closed Aug 31, 2020

  Seat Belt Anchor Cable Failure

  On May 19, 2014, General Motors LLC (GM) notified the Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) that it would conduct Safety Recall 14V266 to address fatigue and separation of the flexible steel cable that connects the front outboard seat belts to the seat-mounted belt pre-tensioner in 1.4 million model year (MY) 2009-2010 Saturn Outlook, 2009-2014 Buick Enclave, GMC Acadia and Chevrolet Traverse (Lambda Platform) vehicles.The remedy was to inspect for signs of damage and replace pre-tensioner anchor cables as needed. Re-work was conducted to relocate the pre-tensioner anchor cable out of the occu…

Recent 2013 GMC Acadia complaints

Excerpts of the newest owner complaints, lightly cleaned of personal details. Complaints are unverified owner reports.

1. Filed Aug 16, 2026WAOther / Unknown

   Sunroof shattered driving on the interstate. Never saw a rock or anything. I think it shattered due to pressure and temperature changes.

   NHTSA complaint #11757233 · source
2. Filed Jul 30, 2026OHAirbags

   I think my vehicle is apart of this recall: March 17, 2014 NHTSA CAMPAIGN NUMBER: 14V118000 Side Impact Air Bags Wiring Connections Failure of the side impact air bags and seat belt pretensioners to deploy in a crash increase the risk of injury to the driver and front seat occupant.

   NHTSA complaint #11753694 · source
3. Filed Jul 12, 2026INBrakesElectrical SystemFuel, Hybrid & EV Propulsion

   Transmission causes problems in can be on interstate and be switching lanes and it loses power and wont go takes forever to shift out. It will cut out and you can barely get pulled off side of rd in time. Electrical the battery voltage goes crazy up and down causing vehicle to power surge bad or at night time lights will go out for no reason while driving every now and then you can smell something melting or burning also the engine gets so hot but it's right temperature…

   NHTSA complaint #11749833 · source
4. Filed Apr 21, 2026MIOther / Unknown

   The windows stopped working. Only the driver’s window still goes down and if it does go down, it often won’t go back up. If there was an accident and windows were the only escape option, you would probably be trapped in the vehicle. It has not been looked at, because I cannot afford to fix it. I do know other acadia owners that have the exact same problem.

   NHTSA complaint #11732831 · source
5. Filed Apr 13, 2026WVAirbags

   The contact owns a 2013 GMC Acadia. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 14V118000 (Air Bags); and requested to be removed from the recall distribution list. The local dealer was contacted but the manufacturer was not contacted.

   NHTSA complaint #11730835 · source
6. Filed Feb 11, 2026CAOther / UnknownTransmission & Drivetrain

   Dear Sir/Madam, For the 3rd time now, my transmission is being rebuilt. After purchasing it from the dealership and it was still under warranty GMC Bakersfield rebuilt the transmission, then again in 2020 at 119,000 miles it broke down again and All Automatic in Bakersfield rebuilt it for $3500 and now here it is 2026 and only 60.000 miles later again All Automatic is having to rebuilt the transmission again and asking now for another $4950. I was excited to finally hear…

   NHTSA complaint #11717415 · source
7. Filed Jul 10, 2025WVEngine

   I bought a 2013 gmc Acadia with a 3.6l engine and I was driving it home, and the engine locked up on me, and it didn’t throw a code or anything, it just shut off and wouldn’t start back up, and later I find out that it had an oil leak from somewhere and now I have to have the engine replaced, which is 13k dollars, the vehicle is located at walker Chevrolet in nitro wv, I’m a single dad of 5 children and I can’t afford to fix this vehicle at that price, I asked if they could…

   NHTSA complaint #11672571 · source
8. Filed Apr 16, 2025SCTransmission & Drivetrain

   Unknown, The vehicle will begin to jerk or shake when it gets up to about 30 - 40mph then levels out. Sometimes it will repeat the jerking when traveling at speed of 50 - 60mph for a few seconds then levels out. Sometimes the vehicle hesitate on take off from a stopped position.

   NHTSA complaint #11655100 · source

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Source: U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Office of Defects Investigation public data, as of Oct 10, 2026. Complaints are submitted by owners and are not verified by NHTSA or by us; a complaint does not prove a defect exists. View this vehicle on NHTSA.gov Methodology