2012 Buick ENCLAVE - Ratings, Complaints and Recalls

The 2012 Buick Enclave SUV FWD has an impressive overall safety rating of 5 out of 5, indicating excellent safety features and crash test performance. It scored well in various crash tests, with ratings of 4 and 5 in front crash tests, and all 5s in side crash and side barrier tests. The car also received a 4 out of 5 rating for rollover protection. Additionally, it comes equipped with electronic stability control, which is a great feature for enhancing vehicle stability in different driving conditions.

Unfortunately, the Buick Enclave does not have forward collision warning or lane departure warning systems. Safety technologies like these can provide additional protection and alert drivers to potential hazards on the road.

On a concerning note, there have been 120 complaints reported for this vehicle, indicating some issues that owners have experienced. Additionally, there have been 6 recalls for the 2012 Buick Enclave, which suggests there may be certain safety-related issues that need to be addressed by the manufacturer. It's crucial for owners to stay informed about any recalls and address them promptly to ensure the safety of their vehicle.

auto generated summary, may be inaccurate.

Top stats at a glance

Complaint Count

120

Recall Count

6

Investigation Count

1

Safety Rating

5/5

Search Vehicle Details

Advanced Search

The advanced search lets you search by safety ratings and features. This will return a list of vehicles that match your search criteria.

Safety Features

2012 Buick Enclave SUV FWD Safety Features

Here are the safety features that come as standard on the 2012 Buick Enclave SUV FWD

Electronic Stability Control (ESC)

ESC is an advanced safety feature in vehicles designed to help drivers maintain control during challenging driving conditions. By continuously monitoring various factors such as steering angle, vehicle speed, and individual wheel speeds, ESC can detect and reduce the risk of skidding or loss of control. It achieves this by automatically applying brakes to specific wheels to stabilize the vehicle.

Standard
Forward Collision Warning (FCW)

Forward Collision Warning (FCW) is a safety feature in vehicles that helps prevent frontal collisions by alerting the driver of an imminent collision with a vehicle or obstacle ahead. Using sensors such as radar or cameras, FCW monitors the distance and speed of vehicles in front, and if it detects a potential collision, it provides visual and/or auditory warnings to prompt the driver to take evasive action.

No
Lane Departure Warning (LDW)

Lane Departure Warning (LDW) is a safety feature in vehicles that alerts drivers when their vehicle unintentionally drifts out of its lane without signaling. Utilizing cameras or sensors to monitor lane markings on the road, LDW detects when the vehicle crosses these lines and triggers visual, auditory, or haptic alerts to notify the driver of potential lane departure.

No

2012 Buick Enclave SUV FWD Safety Ratings

Here we have the crash and rollover ratings for the 2012 Buick Enclave SUV FWD Where possible we've included the ratings for the oldest and latest models of this car so you can compare how the safety ratings have changed over time.

Frontal Crash Ratings

Combines Driver and Passenger star ratings into a single frontal rating. The frontal barrier test simulates a head-on collision between two similar vehicles, each moving at 35 mph.

Test 2008 Score 2012 Score 2024 Score
Overall Front Crash Rating Not Rated 4 5
Front Crash Driver Side Rating 5 5 5
Front Crash Passenger Side Rating 5 4 5

Side Crash Ratings

Combines Side Barrier and Side Pole Star Ratings into a single side rating.

Test 2008 Score 2012 Score 2024 Score
Overall Side Crash Rating Not Rated 5 5
Side Crash Drivers Side Rating 5 5 5
Side Crash Passenger Side Rating 5 5 4
Combined Side Barrier Pole Rating - Front Not Rated 5 5
Combined Side Barrier Pole Rating - Rear Not Rated 5 4
Overall Side Barrier Rating Not Rated 5 5

Rollover Ratings

The Rollover Resistance test measures the risk of rollover in a single-vehicle, loss-of-control scenario.

Test 2008 Score 2012 Score 2024 Score
Rollover Rating 4 4 4
Rollover Possibility % 0% 0% 0%
Dynamic Tip Result No Tip No Tip No Tip
Side Pole Crash Rating Not Rated 5 5

Complaints for the 2012 Buick ENCLAVE

This chart show the number of complaints for each car component. A Higher number of complaints could indicate that this car might have a common fault. Something to look out for when purchasing one.

Component Complaints

Choose a component to see what complaints people have made about them.

Complaint:
"the contact owns a 2012 buick enclave. the contact stated that after pressing the liftgate button to the open the rear liftgate, the liftgate door opened before suddenly falling downward and closing. during the incident the liftgate door had made contact with the owners head. the contact sustained bruised head which did not require medical treatment. the manufacturer was notified of the failure and informed that the vin was not included in the nhtsa campaign number: 15v415000(structure). the contact indicated that the vehicle had experienced that same failure listed in the recall. the local dealer was not contacted. the failure mileage was 105,000."
Components Involved: STRUCTURE
Date of incident: 2023-07-06
Complaint:
"the contact owns a 2012 buick enclave. the contact stated that while placing groceries into his vehicle, an abnormal noise began to emit from the rear liftgate. as the contact moved out of the way, the liftgate slammed down independently without warning. upon investigation, the contact discovered nhtsa campaign number: 15v415000 (structure) which he linked to the failure. the contact called the manufacturer and he was informed that his vehicle was not included in the recall. the contact was then referred to a dealer for assistance. the dealer had yet to be notified of the failure. the vehicle had yet to be repaired. the failure mileage was approximately 100,000."
Components Involved: STRUCTURE
Date of incident: 2022-03-06
Complaint:
"the contact owns a 2012 buick enclave. the contact stated that upon starting the vehicle, he would hear loud abnormal rattling and ticking sounds coming from the corner between the front passenger’s side and the windshield. there were no warnings lights were illuminated. the dealer and the manufacturer were not notified of the failure. the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. the approximate failure mileage was 129,000."
Components Involved: STRUCTURE
Date of incident: 2021-03-11
Complaint:
"tl* the contact owns a 2012 buick enclave. the contact stated that the liftgate inadvertently closed and struck a person retrieving an unknown object out of the vehicle. the manufacturer was made aware of the failure and referred the contact to the f. c. kerbeck gmc dealer located at 100 route 73 n, palmyra, nj 08065, where the contact was informed that there was no recall on the vehicle. the vehicle was not repaired. the failure mileage was 65,100."
Components Involved: STRUCTURE
Date of incident: 2020-12-08
Complaint:
"tl* the contact owns a 2012 buick enclave. the contact stated that the rear hatch failed to open automatically because the struts fractured. the vehicle was not taken to a dealer. the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. the manufacturer was notified of the failure. the approximate failure mileage was 87,000."
Components Involved: STRUCTURE
Date of incident: 2018-01-12
Complaint:
"tl* the contact owns a 2012 buick enclave. while the vehicle was stationary, the liftgate slammed down on several occasions after being lifted. as a result, the hatchback became inoperable. a dealer was not made aware of the failure. the manufacturer was made aware of the failure. the contact referenced nhtsa campaign number: 15v415000 (structure) as a potential cause of the failure. the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. the failure mileage was approximately 123,000."
Components Involved: STRUCTURE
Date of incident: 2020-03-09
Complaint:
"tl* the contact owns a 2012 buick enclave. the vehicle was taken to courtesy of kingsport (1220 e stone dr, kingsport, tn 37660, (423) 246-4101) to be repaired per nhtsa campaign number: 15v415000 (structure). shortly after the repair, the liftgate continued to come down and had to manually be closed by the contact. the manufacturer was notified and suggested having a dealer repair the vehicle again. the approximate failure mileage was 70,000."
Components Involved: STRUCTURE
Date of incident: 2016-01-02
Complaint:
"took my vehicle in to have nhtsa campaign 15v415000 completed (liftgate strut failure). took the vehicle home from the dealership and the first time i lifted the tailgate it fell on me. called them up and they say "oh yes i guess the gas struts need replacing -- the program change didn't do it" . appalling recall service at phillips buick/gmc in leesburg, florida if you ask me."
Components Involved: STRUCTURE
Date of incident: 2018-11-10
Complaint:
"the power back door"hatch" slams shut after opening. be the power on or off. sometimes it will stay open other times it slams shut. it doesn't matter even if you are standing there. it has slammed several times on my childrens' heads. i emailed buick but they stated my car was not involved in the recall but this is obviously the same problem the other 2012 buick enclaves were having."
Components Involved: STRUCTURE
Date of incident: 2017-01-01
Complaint:
"tl* the contact owns a 2012 buick enclave. the contact stated that the liftgate independently closed on the back of an occupant. there were no injuries. the failure occurred without warning. prior to the failure, the vehicle was remedied per nhtsa campaign number: 15v415000 (structure). the contact was informed that the liftgate struts were repositioned instead of having the software updated as the recall remedy stated. the manufacturer was notified of the failure. the failure mileage was approximately 62,000."
Components Involved: STRUCTURE
Date of incident: 2015-08-12

Recalls for the 2012 Buick ENCLAVE

Component Recalls

Choose a component to see what recalls people have made about them.

Recall:
"general motors, llc (gm) is recalling certain 2008-2017 buick enclave and 2013-2017 chevrolet traverse vehicles. the driver's air bag inflator may explode during deployment, due to a manufacturing defect."
Consequence:
An inflator explosion may result in sharp metal fragments striking the driver or other occupants, resulting in serious injury or death.
Remedy:

Dealers will replace the driver's air bag module, free of charge. Interim owner notification letters were mailed on November 3, 2021. Owner notification letters were mailed on January 10, 2022. Owners may contact Buick customer service at 1-800-521-7300 or Chevrolet customer service at 1-800-222-1020. GM's number for this recall is N212349040.

Component(s) Involved: AIR BAGS > FRONTAL
Date of incident: 2021-10-07

BUICK Overall Complaint Ranking

This table shows the ranking of car manufacturers when it comes to most complaints and recalls. The manufacturer with the most complaints is at the top. However this doesn't necassarily mean they should be avoided. Some manufacturers might just have more popular or affordable cars which a lot of people have bought. Which means there's more scope for a complaint to be made. Use the ranking table below as a part your wider research into buying a car.

BUICK ranks 20 out of 44 in the complaints ranking table.

Manufacturer Complaint Count Recall Count Ranking
FORD 208,358 3,259 1
CHEVROLET 111,306 2,082 2
TOYOTA 81,019 1,852 3
HONDA 61,937 1,268 4
NISSAN 56,226 930 5
DODGE 45,756 827 6
HYUNDAI 44,150 649 7
GMC 34,441 1,410 8
KIA 29,832 501 9
CHRYSLER 27,698 254 10
TESLA 26,230 730 11
BMW 24,890 1,877 12
VOLKSWAGEN 23,125 829 13
MERCEDES-BENZ 19,066 2,925 14
SUBARU 18,513 703 15
MAZDA 10,599 364 16
PONTIAC 10,430 138 17
CADILLAC 9,434 444 18
AUDI 7,865 1,093 19
BUICK 7,851 279 20
SATURN 7,672 84 21
MERCURY 7,374 135 22
LEXUS 6,373 408 23
LINCOLN 5,897 423 24
ACURA 5,722 382 25
MINI 5,585 366 26
INFINITI 4,000 187 27
MITSUBISHI 3,912 397 28
VOLVO 3,875 727 29
PORSCHE 2,646 1,231 30
SUZUKI 2,272 123 31
FIAT 2,205 80 32
SAAB 1,536 76 33
JAGUAR 1,195 198 34
SMART 528 17 35
GENESIS 436 42 36
ISUZU 249 37 37
ALFA ROMEO 161 37 38
MASERATI 76 46 39
BENTLEY 46 159 40
POLESTAR 42 2 41
LUCID 14 6 42
CODA 4 2 43
MAYBACH 0 0 44

Related Vehicles

Why not check out other BUICK vehicles?

2012 LACROSSE EASSIST
BUICK
  • Overall Safety Rating: 5
  • Complaints Count: 0
  • Recall Count: 0
View Car
2024 ENVISTA
BUICK
  • Overall Safety Rating: Not Rated
  • Complaints Count: 1
  • Recall Count: 1
View Car
2013 REGAL
BUICK
  • Overall Safety Rating: 5
  • Complaints Count: 86
  • Recall Count: 5
View Car
2023 ENVISION
BUICK
  • Overall Safety Rating: 5
  • Complaints Count: 8
  • Recall Count: 1
View Car