2017 GMC Acadia Electrical System
Owner-reported problems and safety issues filed with NHTSA. Review common failures, severity levels, and complaint trends over time.
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Vehicle will not shut off, keep showing shift to Park, even when vehicle is in park with parking brake engaged. This has been a common occurrence and I see where people discuss a recall, but one is not available for my VIN.
WHEN I STOP AND PUT ME CAR IN PARK IT USUALLY GIVES A WARNING SHIFT INTO PARK
WHEN I PUT MY CAR IN PARK I WILL GET A "SHIFT TO PARK" NOTIICATION AND WILL HAVE TO MOVE MY CAR MULTIPLE TIMES TO GET IT TO REGISTER. THERE IS A RECALL FOR THIS EXACT PROBLEM ON OTHER 2017 GMC ACADIA BUT DOES NOT FALL UNDER MY VIN #
My vehicle won’t shift into park
When placed in park a message appears to Shift To Park and the vehicle electrical system stays energized.
The car is in park & ignition button has been hit to turn vehicle off. When engine is turned off all interior, exterior, dash, & ignition switch lights remain on with a notification on the dashboard stating to "shift to park". The doors can not be locked when this message is on the screen. It can take anywhere from 30 seconds to 15 minutes for the lights & dash to go out, allowing you to exit & lock the car. If you exit the car while the message still appears on the dash, not only are the lights on & unable to lock the car, but if someone where to get into the car, without the key fob, they can start the car & drive off. My husband & I were in a shopping center parking lot in July 2025 where the "shift to park" error came on. We sat in the car, 110 degrees outside, for 10 minutes waiting for the car to shut down. Finally we had to exit the car because we could no longer take the heat. My husband went back to the car, 5 minutes late, while I was in the store to see if the car had finally shut down. To his surprise the lights and dash where still on. He noticed the start button light was also still on & thought if he hit the button the lights would shut off, but no, the car actually started & again he did not have the key fob with him. This is a serious issue & needs to be addressed & I do not feel that I should be paying for this repair. My husband unexpectantly passed away in Sept 2025 & now I am left to deal with this on my own. I have to get this issue fixed as I can not take the chance someone will take my car someday nor do I want to continue to sit in my car for 10-20 minutes waiting for it to shut down. The dealership I took it to diagnosed it as due to a faulty switch in the shifter which means its poor workmanship & not related to owner usage. Please add this to the recall list so that I can get it fixed quickly or if I have to get it fixed prior to being approved by you I can at least recoup my money. Thank you
Backup camera often does not have a clear picture. Very grainy and static.
Shift to park appears when vehicle is already in park and the vehicle will not turn off.
The contact owns a 2017 GMC Acadia. The contact stated that after shifting to the park position and attempting to turn the vehicle off, the engine shut off but the headlights and dashboard lights remained illuminated. Also, on multiple occasions, the battery had drained and the vehicle had to be jump-started. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer who diagnosed that the floor shifter harness was faulty and needed to be replaced. The floor shifter harness was replaced and the failure was remedied, but approximately two years later the failure reoccurred. The vehicle was taken back to the local dealer. The contact was informed of the manufacturer's TSB to repair the failure and a new and improved floor shifter harness was installed which corrected the failure. The contact indicated that the manufacturer was aware of the faulty harness but no assistance was offered. The failure mileage was 45,000.
Shift to park error message when vehicle is in park and engine will not shut off. NOT RECOGNIZING MICROSWITCH IN THE CONSOLE. NEEDS A RECALL.
Shift To Park. Vehicle does not turn off completely after pressing the stop button, while parked. The car horn alarms you the vehicle is not shut down. The vehicle will not allow you to lock the doors with the remote control.
My sound no longer works, the radio is constantly going out now I have no sound, no blinker clicks, no emergency notification warnings, no door chime, nothing.
Ppark to shift code
Vehicle shut down while driving and start showing shift to park message had it check and issue keep having shift to park message
The contact owns a 2017 GMC Acadia. The contact stated while driving at various speeds, the radio independently switched to different settings. Due to the failure, the speedometer was no longer be visible. The contact stated that the failure caused the driver to be distracted while driving. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and referred the contact to the NHTSA Hotline for assistance. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 95,000.
Shift to park message appears and unable to lock doors.
Shift to park issue, car wont recognize its in park and wont turn off unless you shake the gear shifter around to get it to realize its in park. Parking break issue as well, "service parking break" error popped up on my screen now I can no longer turn it on.
The "shift into park" when car is in park. U have to click the gear shifter several times for ut to turn off. Sometimes even having to put the car back into gear putting it back into park and the error will come up again. By clicking the gear shifter will shut it off. Sometimes this could take 2 minutes playing around with it sometimes 10 minutes sometimes it doesn't do it at all. I finally replaced the entire gear shifter mechanism by taking the center council apart. Labor price was unreal. Part price wasn't bad.
Shift to part to turn off vehicle but vehicle does not recognize shift to park and repeatedly requires turning the car back on to try to maneuver gear shift until it finally recognizes it is in park and can be turned off. I have had to restart my care 10-20 times before it finally recognizes it is in park and will turn off and unlock the doors. This is a repeated issue that has been going on for at least 6 months but happened again today requiring 17 restarts.
Shift to park comes on intermittently while in park and turning off engine. Unable to completely shut car off as it does not recognize it is in park. Battery will drain and car may roll.
The 2017 GMC Acadia has a known problem when shifting to park. The computer system does not acknowledge the vehicle is in park. It requires numerous ways to get the vehicle to acknowledge it is in park and shut off: 1) Turn the motor on and off and shift from drive to park continuously until acknowledged in park and shuts off (waste of time, gas, and effect on the starter and ignition) 2) Bang down on the console shift knob 3) Pray This is a known problem with Acadia 2017 and 2018. Why has this issue not been addressed for a forced recall by GMC. If you take it to the dealer to fix it is very expensive and their original problem. this is a safety issue shifting from drive to park continuously when stopped. This is not good to have to do especially for senior citizens who might inadvertently drive forward or in reverse when simply trying to stop.
Vehicle is a 2017 Acadia Denali with ~39,000 miles. The problem started without any symptoms or warnings in October 2021. The dash gives a "Shift to Park" message when the shift is moved to the Park position and the driver attempts (to turn all systems off so as) to park and exit the vehicle. When the Off button is pushed, the "Shift to Park" message displays. The engine does turn off, but the lighting, radio, etc. stay on. When opening the door, the vehicle emits tone(s) suggesting the driver is trying to leave the vehicle while it's running and/or has left electrical systems on. Driver is actually attempting to simply turn everything off and park the vehicle. The fact that all the lighting and radio stay on runs down the battery, potentially leaving the driver stranded.
Shift to park light came on when I parked. As I parked, the break pad locked and I could not release it. The shifter locked and I could not release it. It Would not let me turn vehicle off. I had to experiment on how to get error message to stop and breaks to unlock so I did result to jiggling the shifter And put car in reverse then in drive and park again and trying to turn off (after doing this atleast 4 times) eventually it unlocked and let me turn car off without getting this error message. This happened 2 years prior and I had my 1 yr old in car with me panicking bc I couldn’t drive my car for a bit until the mechanism decided to start working again. This time I knew how to fix it better bc it had happened 2 yrs prior so I knew to wiggle the shifter and try to put it back in drive etc to eventually get car to shut off. There’s records of this shift to park being fixed in 2019 and again in 2021. I should not be responsible for paying ANYTHING for these issues. It is a GMC malfunction. Although mechanical it is a safety concern of mine too!
WHEN THE CAR IS SHIFTED INTO PARK, THE DASHBOARD SHOWS A WARNING THAT THE CAR IS NOT IN PARK. IF I LEAVE THE CAR LIKE THAT, ALL THE ELECTRICAL STUFF STAYS ON. MY HUSBAND WAS AT A GAS STATION, AND PUMPING GAS IS NOT SAFE WITH THE CAR NOT SHUTTING OFF. ALSO I AM CONCERNED IF THE VEHICLE WILL BE ABLE TO ROLL. MY NIECE ALSO HAS AN ACADIA, AND 3 YOUNG SONS ALL STILL IN CAR SEATS, SO SHE HAS TO USE THE 3RD ROW SEAT, SO GETTING HER SONS OUT OF A VEHICLE IS NOT A QUICK CHORE. IF THE CAR WILL NOT SHUT OFF AND GO INTO PARK AND CAN ROLL, IT WOULD BE A DISASTER IF HER CHILDREN WERE STILL IN THE VEHICLE STILL STRAPPED INTO THEIR SEATS.
IT SAYS TO PUT IN PARK WHEN THE VEHICLE IS IN PARK MODE AND THE ENGINE WON'T TURN OFF
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Quick Summary
The 2017 GMC Acadia has 74 Electrical System complaints on file. 1 crashes have been reported. Review the timeline above for detailed owner experiences.