2009 Buick LACROSSE - Ratings, Complaints and Recalls

The 2009 Buick LaCrosse has not been rated for overall safety by the NHTSA. However, it received a high front crash driver side rating of 5 and a front crash passenger side rating of 5, indicating good protection in frontal collisions. In side crash tests, it scored a 3 for the driver's side and a 4 for the passenger's side, showing decent but not exceptional protection in side impacts.

This model offers optional electronic stability control which can help assist the driver in maintaining control in challenging situations. Unfortunately, it does not come with forward collision warning or lane departure warning systems to alert the driver of potential hazards ahead or if the vehicle is drifting out of its lane.

The car has had 105 complaints reported, which is relatively high, and has been subject to 2 recalls. Overall, while the Buick LaCrosse shows strong performance in certain crash test categories, the lack of an overall safety rating and the number of complaints and recalls are factors to consider for potential buyers.

auto generated summary, may be inaccurate.

Top stats at a glance

Complaint Count

105

Recall Count

2

Investigation Count

0

Safety Rating

Not Rated

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Safety Features

2009 Buick LaCrosse 4-DR w/SAB Safety Features

Here are the safety features that come as standard on the 2009 Buick LaCrosse 4-DR w/SAB

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.

Optional
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

2009 Buick LaCrosse 4-DR w/SAB Safety Ratings

Here we have the crash and rollover ratings for the 2009 Buick LaCrosse 4-DR w/SAB 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 2005 Score 2009 Score 2019 Score
Overall Front Crash Rating Not Rated Not Rated 5
Front Crash Driver Side Rating 5 5 5
Front Crash Passenger Side Rating 5 5 4

Side Crash Ratings

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

Test 2005 Score 2009 Score 2019 Score
Overall Side Crash Rating Not Rated Not Rated 5
Side Crash Drivers Side Rating 3 3 4
Side Crash Passenger Side Rating 3 4 5
Combined Side Barrier Pole Rating - Front Not Rated Not Rated 5
Combined Side Barrier Pole Rating - Rear Not Rated Not Rated 5
Overall Side Barrier Rating Not Rated Not Rated 5

Rollover Ratings

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

Test 2005 Score 2009 Score 2019 Score
Rollover Rating Not Rated Not Rated 5
Rollover Possibility % 0% 0% 0%
Dynamic Tip Result
Side Pole Crash Rating Not Rated Not Rated 5

Complaints for the 2009 Buick LACROSSE

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:
"my headlamps have been going out sporadically and until recently i was able to"
Components Involved: EXTERIOR LIGHTING
Date of incident: 2025-03-11
Complaint:
"tl* the contact owns a 2009 buick lacrosse. the contact received notification of nhtsa campaign number: 14v755000 (exterior lighting); however, the part needed to repair the vehicle was unavailable. the contact stated that the manufacturer exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. the manufacturer was not notified of the issue. the contact had not experienced a failure. parts distribution disconnect. updated 09/28/16*lj updated 03/14/17*jb"
Components Involved: EXTERIOR LIGHTING
Date of incident: 2018-04-07
Complaint:
"tl* the contact owns a 2009 buick lacrosse. the contact received notification of nhtsa campaign number: 15v519000 (exterior lighting); however, the part to do the repair was unavailable. the contact stated that the manufacturer exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. the manufacturer was made aware of the issue. the contact had not experienced a failure. updated 08/16/16*lj the consumer stated the vehicle was repaired. updated 08/17/16.*jb"
Components Involved: EXTERIOR LIGHTING
Date of incident: 2018-06-06
Complaint:
"tl* the contact owns a 2009 buick lacrosse. while driving various speeds, the headlights failed intermittently. the contact received notification of nhtsa campaign number: 14v755000 (exterior lighting); however, the part to do the repair was unavailable. the contact stated that the manufacturer exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. the manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. the approximate failure mileage was 52,000."
Components Involved: EXTERIOR LIGHTING
Date of incident: 2016-11-01
Complaint:
"tl* the contact owns a 2009 buick lacrosse. the contact received a recall notice for nhtsa campaign number: 14v755000 (exterior lighting). after contacting the dealer and the manufacturer on multiple occasions, the contact was informed that the parts needed to repair the vehicle were still not available and no estimated time for receiving the parts could be given. the contact had not experienced a failure."
Components Involved: EXTERIOR LIGHTING
Date of incident: 2017-07-04
Complaint:
"tl* the contact owns a 2009 buick lacrosse. while driving 35 mph, the automatic light setting fails to work in the dark. the dealer diagnosed that the passenger side headlight assembly had to be replaced. the vehicle was repaired; however, the failure recurred. the contact received notification of nhtsa campaign number: 14v755000 (visibility, electrical system); however, the part to do the repair was unavailable. the contact stated that the manufacturer exceeded a reasonable amount of time to do the recall repair. the manufacturer was made aware of the failure. the failure mileage was 76,000."
Components Involved: EXTERIOR LIGHTING
Date of incident: 2016-08-01
Complaint:
"tl* the contact owns a 2009 buick lacrosse. the contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the low beam head lights became inoperable without warning. the contact mentioned that the failure recurred intermittently. the vehicle was taken to a dealer however, the technician informed the contact that the part to repair the vehicle was unavailable. the contact received notification of nhtsa campaign number: 15v519000 (exterior lighting). the contact stated that the manufacturer exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. the manufacturer was notified of the failure. the failure mileage was 60,000. vin tool confirms parts not available. updated 04/22/16*lj updated 12/14/2017*js"
Components Involved: EXTERIOR LIGHTING
Date of incident: 2017-07-07
Complaint:
"tl* the contact owns a 2009 buick lacrosse. while driving at night, the headlights failed. in order to continue driving, the contact had to use the high beam lights to drive home. the vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic where the relay switch was replaced; however, the failure recurred. the contact received notification of nhtsa campaign number: 14v755000 (exterior lighting) and stated that the part needed for the repair was not available. the contact stated that the manufacturer exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. the manufacturer was made aware of the failure. the approximate failure mileage was 104,000. vin tools confirms parts not available."
Components Involved: EXTERIOR LIGHTING
Date of incident: 2015-06-01
Complaint:
"tl* the contact owns a 2009 buick lacrosse. the contact received a notification of nhtsa campaign number: 15v519000 (exterior lighting); however, the part for the recall was not available. the contact stated that the manufacturer exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. the manufacturer was notified of the issue. the contact had not experienced a failure. the vin was not available."
Components Involved: EXTERIOR LIGHTING
Date of incident: 2015-05-01
Complaint:
"tl* the contact owns a 2009 buick lacrosse. while driving approximately 35 mph, the low beam headlights were activated but failed to illuminate. the failure recurred on a separate occasion. in addition, the daylight running lights failed to operate. the contact received notification of nhtsa campaign number: 15v519000 (exterior lighting); however, the part needed to perform the repair was unavailable. the contact stated that the manufacturer exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. the manufacturer was not notified of the failure. the approximate failure mileage was 110,000."
Components Involved: EXTERIOR LIGHTING
Date of incident: 2016-05-06

Recalls for the 2009 Buick LACROSSE

Component Recalls

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

Recall:
"general motors llc (gm) is recalling certain model year 2007 pontiac grand prix, 2006-2009 buick lacrosse, 2006-2007 buick rainier, chevrolet trailblazer, gmc envoy, 2006 chevrolet trailblazer ext, gmc envoy xl, 2006-2008 isuzu ascender, and saab 9-7x vehicles. in the affected vehicles, the headlamp driver module (hdm) may overheat and fail, causing the headlamps and daytime running lights to not illuminate."
Consequence:
Headlamps that do not illuminate reduce the driver's ability to see the roadway and reduce the vehicle's visibility to oncoming vehicles, both of which increase the risk of a vehicle crash.
Remedy:

GM will notify owners, and dealers will replace the HDM, free of charge. The recall began on May 17, 2016. Owners may contact Buick customer service at 1-800-521-7300 or Pontiac customer service at 1-800-762-2737. GM's number for this recall is 14291.

Component(s) Involved: EXTERIOR LIGHTING > HEADLIGHTS
Date of incident: 2015-08-14

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

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