2008 Gmc ACADIA - Ratings, Complaints and Recalls

The 2008 GMC Acadia has received top ratings of 5 stars for both driver and passenger sides in front and side crash tests. Although the rollover rating is 4 out of 5, the vehicle is deemed stable with no tendency to tip over. The car comes equipped with standard electronic stability control, which enhances safety by helping the driver maintain control in challenging driving conditions. However, it does not have forward collision warning or lane departure warning systems.

On the downside, there have been 850 complaints reported for this model, along with 5 recalls and 2 ongoing investigations. It is crucial for owners to stay informed about any potential issues and ensure that recalls are addressed promptly to maintain the safety of the vehicle.

Top stats at a glance

Complaint Count

850

Recall Count

5

Investigation Count

2

Safety Rating

Not Rated

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Safety Features

2008 GMC Acadia 4-DR. w/SAB Safety Features

Here are the safety features that come as standard on the 2008 GMC Acadia 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.

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

2008 GMC Acadia 4-DR. w/SAB Safety Ratings

Here we have the crash and rollover ratings for the 2008 GMC Acadia 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 2007 Score 2008 Score 2024 Score
Overall Front Crash Rating Not Rated Not Rated Not Rated
Front Crash Driver Side Rating 5 5 Not Rated
Front Crash Passenger Side Rating 5 5 Not Rated

Side Crash Ratings

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

Test 2007 Score 2008 Score 2024 Score
Overall Side Crash Rating Not Rated Not Rated Not Rated
Side Crash Drivers Side Rating 5 5 Not Rated
Side Crash Passenger Side Rating 5 5 Not Rated
Combined Side Barrier Pole Rating - Front Not Rated Not Rated Not Rated
Combined Side Barrier Pole Rating - Rear Not Rated Not Rated Not Rated
Overall Side Barrier Rating Not Rated Not Rated Not Rated

Rollover Ratings

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

Test 2007 Score 2008 Score 2024 Score
Rollover Rating 4 4 Not Rated
Rollover Possibility % 0% 0% 0%
Dynamic Tip Result No Tip No Tip
Side Pole Crash Rating Not Rated Not Rated Not Rated

Complaints for the 2008 Gmc ACADIA

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:
"i've come to find out my car is throwing a code for the tcm being stuck turns out this is an extremely common issue as well as the wave plate for this model gmc should be held responsible being this is their design flaw and seems to be an issue across the board for almost all acadias of these years."
Components Involved: POWER TRAIN
Date of incident: 2022-03-08

Complaint:
"transmission failure at 85,000 miles. at highway speed the vehicle suddenly races the motor and suddenly slows to about 30 mph, risk of rear end crash. the dealer thinks its the '' 35r wave plate''. this was reported to the dealer when it was in for the steering pump recall [ after it led to a crash]' there was a gm extended warranty on the transmission at that time as then knew it was a problem. they said that time that they '' couldn't replicate the transmission problem it '' at a single test drive. now that it has completely failed they say the extended warranty has expired time wise and they will not repair it. despite knowing it is a safety problem freq. to this model year., [ in motion, driving in a straight line]"
Components Involved: POWER TRAIN
Date of incident: 2020-03-01

Complaint:
"tl* the contact owns a 2008 gmc acadia. the vehicle was purchased used six months ago. while driving, the vehicle jerked severely while shifting from first into second gear. the vehicle almost veered off the road despite traveling less than 15 mph. bob allen motor mall chevrolet buick gmc (711 maple ave, danville, ky 40422, (859) 795-2006) stated that the interlock shift solenoid failed and needed to be replaced. the part needed to be ordered from out of state. the vehicle was not repaired. the manufacturer was not contacted. the failure mileage was 158,000."
Components Involved: POWER TRAIN
Date of incident: 2021-04-06

Complaint:
"tl* the contact owns a 2008 gmc acadia. the contact stated that the gear shifter seized and was unable to move into park. the contact stated that the vehicle exhibited the same symptoms as listed in nhtsa campaign number: 09v073000 (power train). the vehicle was not taken to a dealer to be diagnosed or repaired. the manufacturer was notified and stated that the vehicle was not included in a recall. the failure mileage was approximately 91,000. **tr consumer stated transmission shift cable failed after a few day of difficulty putting shifter into p park. ultimately was unable to put the car in park at all. if i kept driving and there was an issue with the transmission and not properly shifting - very dangerous. updated 11/1/18*jb"
Components Involved: POWER TRAIN
Date of incident: 2018-03-09

Complaint:
"had my transmission fail while camping in the mountains with zero cell phone service. check engine light came on at 121,657 miles, then deteriorated until it would no longer move when pressing on the gas pedal. taken to the local dealer told me that the transmission needs complete replacement totalling 4.5k. gmc refused to assist me in any manner towards the bill even though this is a very known issue with this make of vehicle. there needs to be a recall on these transmissions as it is a dealer defect."
Components Involved: POWER TRAIN
Date of incident: 2019-08-07

Complaint:
"my vehicle has 85,500 miles on engline and transmission. i bought the vehicle when it had 36,000 miles on it. i have never pulled anything behind my vehicle that would put strain on the transmission. i took it to the mechanic and found out i needed a new transmission. the vehicle would stay in 1st gear and would not shift to a higher gear."
Components Involved: POWER TRAIN
Date of incident: 2019-11-07

Complaint:
"i needed to add this information to complaint 11113379. sometimes the care would be shifting okay and going 55 miles per hour and then it would downshift to 1st gear and stay in first gear"
Components Involved: POWER TRAIN
Date of incident: 2019-11-07

Complaint:
"for the past 6-9 months i have been experiencing problems with unwarranted speed shifting, hard shift changes & overall transmission issues. i have had my car to transmission specialists almoat on a monthly basis for these issues. i was told by the specialist that he repairs at least 3 cars of my same make & model per week. he said he is noticing a very common failure in each vehicle. my vehicle has power but the speed & gear shift are huge safety issues, as it is very random & unprovoked. i have been driving on the highway & my vehicle would just stall or shift. i have had to carefully pull over to the side of the road to avoid a major accident."
Components Involved: POWER TRAIN
Date of incident: 2019-06-04

Complaint:
"tl* the contact owns a 2008 gmc acadia. while driving 40-45 mph, the engine would not switch gears. the contact pulled over to the side of the road, turned off and restarted the engine, and was able to drive the vehicle to the contact's residence. the contact experienced the same failure 18 months ago. the vehicle was taken to todd wenzel buick gmc (614 n state rd, davison, mi 48423) where it was diagnosed that a new transmission control module was needed. the manufacturer was contacted at 1-800-462-8782 and did not assist. there were no recalls associated with the vehicle. the failure mileage was 124,000."
Components Involved: POWER TRAIN
Date of incident: 2018-08-12

Complaint:
"citizen petition - 2008 gmc acadia, timing chain and 3rd/5th reverse clutch wave plate defect *cw the consumer would like the vehicle to be included in a recall. updated 09/21/2017*js"
Components Involved: POWER TRAIN
Date of incident: 2017-01-03

Recalls for the 2008 Gmc ACADIA

Component Recalls

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

Recall:
"gm is recalling 857,735 my 2006-2008 buick lucerne; cadillac dts; hummer h2; my 2007-2008 cadillac escalade, escalade esv, escalade ext; chevrolet avalanche, silverado, suburban, tahoe; gmc acadia, sierra, yukon, yukon xl, saturn outlook; and my 2008 buick enclave vehicles equipped with a heated wiper washer fluid system. a short circuit on the printed circuit board for the washer fluid heater may overheat the control-circuit ground wire."
Consequence:
THIS MAY CAUSE OTHER ELECTRICAL FEATURES TO MALFUNCTION, CREATE AN ODOR, OR CAUSE SMOKE INCREASING THE RISK OF A FIRE.
Remedy:

DEALERS WILL INSTALL A WIRE HARNESS WITH AN IN-LINE FUSE FREE OF CHARGE. THE RECALL BEGAN ON SEPTEMBER 12, 2008. OWNERS MAY CONTACT BUICK AT 1-866-608-8080; CADILLAC AT 1-800-982-2339 OR HTTP://WWW.CADILLAC.COM; CHEVROLET AT 1-800-630-2438; SATURN AT 1-800-972-8876 OR HTTP://WWW.SATURN.COM, GMC AT 1-866-996-9436; OR HUMMER AT 1-800-732-5493; OR THROUGH THEIR WEBSITE AT <A HREF=HTTP://WWW.GMOWNERCENTER.COM>HTTP://WWW.GMOWNERCENTER.COM</A> .

Component(s) Involved: ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
Date of incident: 2008-08-28

Recall:
"gm is recalling certain model year 2006-2009 buick, lucerne; cadillac dts; hummer h2; model year 2008-2009 buick enclave; cadillac cts; model year 2007-2009 cadillac escalade, escalade esv, escalade ext; chevrolet avalanche, silverado, suburban, tahoe; gmc acadia, sierra, yukon, yukon xl; saturn outlook; and model year 2009 chevrolet traverse vehicles equipped with a heated washer fluid system (hwfs). a recall was implemented in 2008 to add a fuse to the control circuit harness to address the potential consequences of a printed circuit board (pcb) electrical short. however, there have been new reports of thermal incidents on hwfs modules after this improvement was installed. these incidents resulted from a new failure mode attributed to the device's thermal protection feature. the significance varies from minor distortion to considerable melting of the plastic around the hwfs fluid chamber."
Consequence:
IT IS POSSIBLE FOR THE HEATED WASHER MODULE TO IGNITE AND A FIRE MAY OCCUR.
Remedy:

DEALERS WILL PERMANENTLY DISABLE AND REMOVE THE HEATED WASHER FLUID MODULE. AN UPDATED PAGE FOR THE OWNER MANUAL WILL BE PROVIDED AND INSERTED IN THE OWNER MANUAL TO DOCUMENT THAT THE FEATURE HAS BEEN PERMANENTLY DISABLED AND REMOVED FROM THE VEHICLE. THE SAFETY RECALL BEGAN ON JUNE 11, 2010. OWNERS MAY CONTACT BUICK AT 1-866-608-8080, CADILLAC AT 1-866-982-2339, CHEVROLET AT 1-800-630-2438, SATURN AT 1-800-972-8876, GMC AT 1-866-996-9463 AND HUMMER AT 1-800-732-5493 OR AT THE OWNER CENTER AT WWW.GMOWNERCENTER.COM.

Component(s) Involved: ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
Date of incident: 2010-06-04

GMC 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.

GMC ranks 8 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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