2018 GMC Acadia UNKNOWN OR OTHER
Owner-reported problems and safety issues filed with NHTSA. Review common failures, severity levels, and complaint trends over time.
Complaint Timeline
Chronological view of owner reports
4 years ago I would get a shift to park error. This meant my vehicle did not recognize that it was in park. This meant that my vehicle would not lock, turn off the radio or headlights. My husband tried to fix it, but it turned out to be a part that only a dealership could obtain. So $500 later my vehicle was fixed. This was a KNOWN problem affecting multiple vehicles/years. Fast forward to the third week of February this year. I again am getting this same error. Took it to the dealership and there is a switch along with a transmission control harness and jumper harness that needed replaced. These parts have to do with the original shifter that was replaced 4 years ago, but of course not covered. So now $668 dollars later my vehicle is fixed. This is another KNOWN issue and my repair paper says “replace per bulletin #19-NA-206. Now I am pissed. I want to know why these are not a recall. Both times were a HUGE SAFETY ISSUE. I could not lock my car for Pete’s sake. If my car was stolen, what is the first question my insurance company is asking? It would be “ WAS IT LOCKED?” Not to mention MY PERSONAL SAFETY. Anyone could get into my vehicle and wait for me or me and my grandchildren to get in the car. Does human trafficking ring any bells???? What is it that needs to be done to make this a damn recall?
We purchased this vehicle New in 2018. Gear Shift Problem. The vehicle displays a persistent “Shift to Park” warning on the dashboard. This usually occurs even when the gear selector is in the “Park” position and I have difficulty in Turning Off the Vehicle. The ignition remains active despite the gear selector being in “Park.” We have to go through all the gears - Drive - Neutral then Park then try to turn it off over and over. May take 5 or 6 tries before I can leave the car safely. Unintended Vehicle Movement: We believe the car is safely in the “Park” position and have exited the car and then it rolled. We have to jump back in and try to turn it off. I'm [XXX] and husband [XXX] and this is causing us injuries. It rolled one time and hit the Handicap Parking Sign in my parking space. It just missed hitting another car in a parking lot when it rolled about 3 times now. Called around to get it fixed but everyone says "it's been a problem for years and GMC has NO fix for it." Only temporary fix is to install new gear shifter or full transmission replacement, which owner has to pay for $700 to $3000 repair! We don't have 30,000 miles as of yet. We are low income, on Social Security and this should be a Recall since there are many complaints online for years. Praying we do not have a collision or terrible injuries. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
Car does not recognize it is in park and has rolled into my garage door even though the shifter has been placed in the park position. Also it continues to alarm to "Shift to Park" and has caused 2 dead batteries.
Leaving work on [XXX], my vehicle started sounding like a loud truck and it started to smoke. I immediately pull over because something smell like it was burning. That's when I call my insurance company to assist me. So, I had it tow to the nearest Mechanic Shop. It was a scary movement for me being along at night. I'm very upset about this had happen to my GMC 2018 Acadia, the Cadillac Converter left is defect. It is not drivable. It's at the shop for least a month. The Mechanic Shop have not received the parts because GMC has a back order. This is to long being without transportation. This is unfair where I continue to pay the monthly bill. Please, I asking to investigate on this matter. I called the Pep Boy Mechanic Shop today and the manager said it still on BACK ORDER. What happen to GMC products? Hope to hear from someone soon! Thanks [XXX] [XXX] INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
The vehicle will not shift into park. This is a common problem with this vehicle, many lawsuits. When you walk away one has concerns that the vehicle is actually in park or not.
When I put my car in Park and go to shut it down, it is not recognizing that it is in park, and will not shut down. I have to spend 30 plus minutes messing with the shifter to try to get it to recognize it is in park when it is indeed in park. I have to start and stop my car a number of times to do so. There have been a number of complaints for this over the years and NOTHING has been done with this. This can be a costly repair as I have seen results in a new transmission.
The vehicle would intermittently display a "Shift to Park" message and sound alert chiming when moving shifter to park position. The car could not be parked until the chiming and message were dismissed by jiggling the shifter, sometimes after a prolonged battery-draining attempt to end the condition.
Vehicle does not shut off when shift to park. Must put vehicle in gear then shift to park numerous times in order to get the vehicle shut off. Vehicle will not start. Requires numerous attempts applying brake to start
After shifting to park a message comes in screen that is telling me to shift to park I have put it in park so then I have to restart vehicle and move gear shifter back into park sometimes it works on 1st try then sometimes takes extra try’s to get it to clear
When putting my car in park and turn the car off. the car dashboard says to shift the car in park and beeps. I repeatedly turn the car on and off until the car reads it as being in park. or the car will not turn off completely, it will continue to beep, and it will not lock the doors. I have called a GMC dealer about this issue. There is no warning message except to put the parked car in park!
When turning off engine it displays "shift to park" and won't shut off. This has been ongoing since I purchased vehicle but is much worse now
When placing the car into park, dash indicated that the car was not in park. So, emergency brake had be utilized until the problem was determined by a GMC dealer rep. When asked, the rep did stated that this problem was happening with these vehicles. Safety of driver or others was definitely put at risk, car could have rolled out of my driveway or if parked elsewhere. Definitely felt unsafe operating this vehicle. This was happening on a regular basis prior to scheduling an appointment, approximately 2 weeks. Appointment was made at dealer and it was determined that floor shifter had to be replaced. Failure to be able to get the car in park indicated as above. This should be a recall and not a financial responsibility of owner.
When I put the vehicle in park and then turn off the engine, a warning comes on the dashboard saying “shift to park” and the electronics will not turn off or the lights and I cannot lock my doors. I cannot leave my vehicle until it goes off. Sometimes it is only a few seconds and can go up to a few minutes. I noticed this problem when I bought the vehicle in 2020 and is a recurring problem and is becoming unbearable that want to trade this vehicle in because I do not want to deal with it.
Shift to park and unlocked shifter knob, the shifter knob is capable of shifting from drive to neutral without pressing the unlock switch on the shifter while driving. Vehicle says shift to park when parking vehicle, car will not shut off or lock when code is up.
Stabilitrak Warning keeps showing up on dashboard as I turn my vehicle certain down certain roads, round abouts etc like my car shifts or makes it hard to control going around/through certain road conditions.
The gear system fails to recognize when the car is in park. I have had the gear box replaced once on this car, and it is failing again. The car has 92000 miles. The problem is that I cannot shut the car off completely or lock it because the system does not recognize that the car is in park. My dealer told me last time that the problem is caused by a faulty sensor. Now it's happening again. This is a major issue and GMC needs to correct it. Thankfully I bought an extended warranty so they will have to fix it again, but this is absurd. No other car I've had has ever had this issue.
Water is leaking down back window from 3rd break light. Seal is bad/crushed was never put in right
When I put the vehicle in park to exit the vehicle I get an alert on the dash that says to put the vehicle in park. The vehicle is in fact parked but I can't shut it off or lock it. I have searched and found that there was a class action lawsuit but no recall. The dealership keeps telling me that there isn't a fix for the problem.
My 2018 GMC Acadia does not detect that it is in park. The vehicle does not shut off even though I put it in park. I have to wiggle the shifter and play around with it until it detects that it is in park. The dealer is aware of this issue and I did have the entire shifter replaced. This happened the first time at around 30k miles. It has been a little over a year and it is happening again. The fix only seams to be temporary. I am afraid that the car will not detect is in park and keep rolling. This could be a serious issue. GMC is aware of the issue and they have no fix for it. There are already various lawsuits and complaints about this shift to park issue.
when the car is in park it thinks its still in gear and there is an alarm that says "SHIFT TO PARK". Car cant be turned off. It rolls. its unsafe. It was repaired once for this in 2019. It came back 2 weeks ago. Dealer wont honor correcting the repair.
When the vehicle is in park, and I attempt to turn vehicle off, I get a messege saying to put vehicle in park. Vehicle will not turn off.
I'm getting the "Shift to Park" message when my vehicle is already in the Park position. This issue first started happening in 2019 and I took it to my local GMC service center to be looked at since it was still under warranty. It started happening again about 2 weeks ago. My extended warranty and powertrain has expired, so I'm concerned that the same dealership will charge me for this repair when I take it this week. If this is a known issue with this vehicle, as evidenced by the scores of complaints related to this issue, why isn't there a recall on this vehicle?
MY 2018 GMC ACADIA WAS BOUGHT USED. IT HAS AN ISSUE WITH THE SHIFTER REGARDING "SHIFT TO PARK". WHEN THE VEHICLE IS PLACED IN PARK THE SENSORS OR COMPUTER DOES NOT RECOGNIZE IT AND YOU HAVE TO SHIFT IN AND OUT OF PARK TO GET IT RECOGNIZED. I CALLED MY LOCAL GMC DEALER IN TENNESSEE AND THEY SAID IT WAS NOT UNDER RECALL AND MY VEHICLE IS NOT UNDER WARRANTY. THEY WANTED 400.00 TO FIX THE PROBLEM OR ISSUE. UPON AN INTERNET SEARCH I LEARNED THAT THIS IS A COMMON PROBLEM WITH THIS MODEL. I FEEL AS A CONSUMER THAT GMC SHOULD GENERATE A RECALL ON THIS ISSUE REGARDING "SHIFT TO PARK". THANK YOU
SHIFT TO PARK WARNING IS COMING ON, I AM NOT ABLE TO TURN THE CAR OFF. THE CAR IS ROLLING EITHER FORWARD OR BACKWARD WHILE IN THE PARKED POSITION. I HAVE TO TURN THE CAR ON AND OFF MANY TIMES PLUS PUT IT IN FORWARD, REVERSE, NEUTRAL AND MOST OF THE TIME THAT STILL DOES NOT FIX THE PROBLEM. THE CAR WILL NOT TURN OFF, AND IT IS ROLLING FORWARD OR BACKWARD WHILE IT IS PARKED.
I WAS GETTING A SHIFT TO PARK ERROR MESSAGE WHEN PUTTING MY ACADIA IN PARK. I HAD IT REPAIRED ON 08/18/2018. THE SAME PROBLEM CAME UP AGAIN AND WAS REPAIRED TODAY 10/19/2020. THIS IS A SAFETY ISSUE AND VERY FRUSTRATING. MY WARRANTY EXPIRES ON 12/14/2020 AND BECAUSE THERE ARE SO MANY COMPLAINTS ON THE GM AUTHORITY WEBSITE THIS SHOULD BE A RECALL SO MYSELF AND OTHERS ARE NOT STUCK WITH PAYING FOR SOMETHING THAT IS NO LONGER UNDER WARRANTY. THIS HAPPENS WHEN A VEHICLE IS PUT INTO PARK AND THEN THIS SHIFT TO PARK ERROR MESSAGE COMES UP. SOMETIMES YOU CANNOT EVEN SHUT THE VEHICLE OFF. BOTH REPAIRS INVOLVED REPLACING THE SHIFTER ASSEMBLY. THIS IS A GM PROBLEM AND SHOULD THEY SHOULD ISSUE A RECALL.
Trend Over Time
Complaints by year
Other Issues
Common problems reported
Quick Summary
The 2018 GMC Acadia has 80 UNKNOWN OR OTHER complaints on file. Review the timeline above for detailed owner experiences.