general problems of the 2017 GMC Acadia - part 1

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 #.

I’m just reporting several known issues. First, with code p2138, which I got today at oreilly after my car started throwing warnings. I used my parking brake briefly and afterwards got the following warnings on my car: “steering assist is reduced, drive with care”, “engine power reduced” , “propulsion power is reduced” , “service parking brake”. I’ve never even had one of these warnings. I’ve only gotten “shift to park” which is another known & common issue. With this p2138 code, it can affect acceleration and essentially loss of control over it, but seems I suddenly have several issues. Recently the infotainment system is possessed, touch screen stops working, it calls people by itself, beeps and scrolls by itself and is essentially useless. Might as well be driving at 1997 something or other, at least I could play a tape or cd. This is denali trim at 87k miles. Primarily though I’m concerned with this code, if it’s legit, it is very dangerous. How unreliable and unsafe to not know.

When placed in park a message appears to shift to park and the vehicle electrical system stays energized.

After shifting to park and attempting to turn off my vehicle, I receive an “action required shift to park” error message. I’m assuming the vehicle is in park but I’m not certain and worry about it moving or rolling. It is difficult to get it to turn off by jiggling the shifter and turning the vehicle on and off. At times, I am not able to get it off and then the vehicle will not lock and the battery goes dead. According to my VIN there is not an active recall but brief internet search states there has been numerous reports, recalls, and lemon law returns due to this.

Twice the shift to park function of the vehicle has failed, once in 2020 and again in 2025, it appear that there is a recall for the year make and model vehicle, but for some reason my particular VIN in not included in this recall. The recall needs to be expanded to address this safety issue.

The contact owns a 2017 GMC Acadia. The contact stated that while attempting to turn off the vehicle, the vehicle failed to turn off. The contact shifted from park (p) to drive(d) and was eventually able to turn off the vehicle. The contact stated that the letter p(park) was outlined in yellow and was illuminated on the instrument panel. Additionally, the contact stated that while attempting to close and lock the driver's side door, the door failed to lock securely. The contact stated that the failures occurred simultaneously. The contact stated that the failures were intermittent. The contact had not taken the vehicle to a local dealer or independent mechanic. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 74,000.

The known ‘shift to park’ GMC vehicle defect could cause vehicle to rollaway and possibly hit someone.

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.

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.

I was traveling at the posted speed limit of 80 mph on rt 90 in south dakota at 10:30 pm and the GMC Acadia was working without any issue when all of a sudden various warnings flashed on the dashboard with one of them being power saver mode engaged. Within about 3 minutes various other warnings flashed and the vehicle motor turned off along with all of the electrical systems. Luckily, I was able to maneuver the GMC Acadia to the shoulder of the highway safely. The vehicle would not start and for about a minute or so we were trapped in the Acadia. We could not unlock the doors or wind down the windows until I pressed the start/stop bottom several times. Onstar did not work either. Once we could get out of the Acadia, my wife called 911 and in roughly 20 minutes or so, a police officer arrived at our location. We also called aaa and had a tow truck take the broken down GMC Acadia to a garage for repairs. It turns out that the alternator went bad and rendered our GMC Acadia useless in roughly 3 minutes from the initial warning. There was absolutely none of the tell tale warnings of a bad alternator. We did not see or observe any dim lights, hesitating starts or any other things associated with a bad alternator prior to the 3 minute warning before the vehicle completely was inoperable. We are very lucky to be alive. If route 90 was more congested with traffic at the time of this incident, we might have been serious injured if not killed. Imo this GMC Acadia is a death trap. This vehicle warns the driver when the key fob’s battery is low many weeks before it needs to be replaced. It should warn you more than 3 minutes if not several hours prior to the vehicle being completely immobilized. It should be noted that the check engine light came on several hours before this incident and I called onstar and they ran the diagnostics and returned a p0420 code which is related to emissions. The check engine light turned itself off about 1 hour before incident.

I keep getting a message for shift to park when my car is already parked. My battery keeps draining for no reason even through my battery is good. I could be driving and my truck just shuts off without warning and my battery dies. Then when it shuts off all these other lights comes on. I have to let it sit for a second then it starts back up. This has been going on for months. I took it to the dealership and they ran all type of test and couldn’t figure out why it was doing it.

Ppark to shift code.

2017 GMC Acadia "shift to park" known failure. When you place the vehicle in the park position, mechanically it seems to be in park but the control says shift to park. When traveling long distance from home you can find yourself in a position where you cannot leave your car. You cannot lock it or turn it off properly. This is an ongoing problem known to gm and listed in many technical bulletins including bulletin no. 19-na-206 date September, 2019. A recall should be issued for this problem. We found ourselves stranded hundreds of miles from home with a vehicle we could not shut off or secure. This may cause you to leave your car unattended, unlocked and running if you cannot get it to park and shut down.

Shift to park alert pops up when turning vehicle off. Vehicle is in park. This prohibits the vehicle from turning off. Per my investigation other GMC Acadias made in 2017 also have experienced this which results into either prohibiting them from turning their vehicle off or their battery dying. This is a safety hazard because it increases risk of being stranded due to malfunction.

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.

Vehicle shut down while driving and start showing shift to park message had it check and issue keep having shift to park message.

My vehicle won’t shift into park.

This vehicle has a severe water leak after rain event from body. Leaks into electrical, floor boards, roof. Dealership not able to locate water leak location. Have been working on it going on a month. We recently purchased the vehicle used.

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.

Vehicle will randomly drop into a lower gear which causes the engine to rev up, then a warning light comes on indicating that the steering assist and abs system are offline. Not what you want to have happen when driving 70mph on the highway. Problem has been ongoing for ytears and GMC insists it is a transmission problem but another thing I have noticed whenever it happens is that the battery voltage increases. Seems like GMC shipped these cars with weak alternators which would explain the myriad electrical problems this vehicle and others like it have had.

Went to burt watson the end of may. Paid $250 to diagnose 3 problems. Trans was intermittently kicking into passing gear when starting from a stop position, a service engine light and passenger side blind spot warning would come on when nothing was there and other times wouldn't recognize a vehicle was there. Around the middle of July the battery began draining intermittently leaving me stranded at night away from home. The rear defogger began turning itself on and couldn't be shut off and was very hot to the touch. The drivers seat moved all the way forward on its own pressing me into the steering wheel and dash while I was driving at highway speed. Forcing me to change 2 lanes of traffic trying to get to the side of the road. I was told by the service manager that the rear fuse block had shorted out do to water intrusion from bad drain ports. This was replaced, and then I was told something else was draining the battery. And this was "one " of the things not covered by warranty. There is a service bulletin stating that there may be pinholes at the top of the a-pillars and d-pillars yet the dealership stated a new windshield was needed. There are several service bulletins indicating that such leaks can reek havoc on the electronics. The dealership has changed their estimate several times with still no solution in site. The vehicle has been sitting at the dealership since July. At one point it was communicated to me that gm would assist in the cost of the repairs when and if job was ever completed. They are now stating the cost to repair the issues is $5500. 00 and is my responsibility.

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.

I bought my vehicle in 2020. In 2019, there was a special coverage notice (n172097060) with part repair because of known service side detection issues for water module intrusion. My understanding is this is due to the poor design and placement of the item in the rear of the vehicle that is known for getting water in it when driving, which then impacts the entire electronic system (not just service side detection). Beginning in spring 2023, I began to have these issues, starting with service side detection first. I then had other major electrical issues connected to this issue I believe are a safety concern. I have had very scary episodes at high speeds of my entire car electronic system shutting down, speedometer going to zero, gas going to empty, glitching and not starting multiple times. It got to the point my entire car was not drivable due to this issue - the dealer has a temporary fix on it to allow it to continue to be drivable until parts are in. The dealer has confirmed the issue I am experiencing is this safety special coverage issue from 2019. I contacted the dealer I bought my car from and they stated they did the special coverage fix in 2019. They confirm this issue is occurring again. However, they claim that because it was fixed in 2019, I am responsible for paying and fixing it this time around. The issue was not resolved and I believe this is a huge safety issue that should be a recall, not just a special coverage. It was very scary driving on a highway with my children in tow and having my entire system go out at a high speed. It has been inconvenient, parts are supposedly on backorder and being told it's my responsibility to cover it when it's a known issue. I have also found online many other owners having this issue. The special coverage did not fix it if water continues to get into the module and continues to generate these issues again. I appreciate any assistance on this matter and thank you for your time!.

I get a "service side detection" on my dic. It used to work occasionally, now it no longer works. The sensors lights do come on when the "service side detection" shows up. Sometimes this alerts comes and goes and sometimes it stays until I push a button, in which it just reappears later. Through research I found this document sent out from https://static. Nhtsa. Gov/odi/tsbs/2019/mc-10160088-9999. Pdf global safety field investigations dcs5011 urgent - distribute immediately subject: n172097060 - special coverage side blind zone alert module water intrusion general motors is releasing special coverage n172097060 today. The total number of u. S. Vehicles involved is approximately 131,652. Please see the attached bulletin for details. Condition: some 2013-2016 model year Chevrolet cruze, 2014-2015 Chevrolet impala and 2013-2017 GMC Acadia vehicles, may have a condition where the side blind zone alert (sbza) modules may fail or malfunction due to water intrusion. The driver may experience a side blind zone alert message displayed on the driver instrument cluster (dic). If this message is ignored, the condition could result in the corruption of LS gmlan that may result in the loss of some driver interface functions such as cluster, infotainment / displays, chime, and passenger presence detection (passenger airbag could be suppressed, w/airbag tt, dic message). Major safety concern!! special coverage adjustment: this special coverage covers the condition described above for a period of 6 years or 80,000 miles (130,000 km) whichever occurs first, from the date the vehicle was originally placed in service, regardless of ownership. Correction: dealers are to repair the vehicle by ordering and installing the appropriate service kit. The service kit will contain all of the components required to complete the repair. The repairs will be made at no charge to the customer. Problem: my car has a branded title so they will not fix it. If it is a recall, they have to.

Shift to park message appears and unable to lock doors.

I put the car in park and the push button start would not let me turn off my car. I sat in the parking lot almost 30 min, putting my car in park, then drive, then park for my car to recognize its actually in park to turn off. I started getting this error on the start and stop at lights. . . It never turned off during the start and stop but fearing my life or my families life. . . . I took it to my local GMC dealership and the manager from the service department said this is a common issue with this model, he has repaired hundreds of them. His words. This is a safety issue. . . . I am shocked this has not been recalled. The lack of urgency to get this fixed is very concerning. It costs my $708. 92 to fix this issue. I 100% think I am owed this money due to something that should 100% be recalled. I found an open class action lawsuit that was confirmed by the dealership to be the exact same issue I had. Https://topclassactions. Com/lawsuit-settlements/consumer-products/auto-news/GMC-class-action-alleges-acadia-shift-to-park-defect/.

Gm put out notice in April 2019 stating side blind zone alert message due to water intrusion may cause issue with driver interface functions. Do not take your vehicle to dealership unless you believe there is a problem. Reimbursement by 4/30/2020 6 years 80,000 miles. Vehicle stopped working while parked in driveway. No start, no cranking, warning lights for security lock out, side crash detection, tire monitoring service and airbags displayed. Dome light for front door did not work while second row lights did work. Lift gate would not open. When stating issues to dealer prior to service were told they had not heard of anything that would stop a cars engine from functioning. Dealership repair stated this was due to rear blind side detection module and that the module shorted out cause all other circuits to go to ground, yet no fuses were blown. Starter fuse and relays were good. I asked dealer if this could have caused my car to stop while driving and they answered yes. Have corroded module and wire loom referee to as kit. Was told no way to circumvent system other than replacement.

My vehicle has serious issues that from my research seem to be a common problem/manufacturer defect experienced by other owners of this model. I believe the defect/issue is an electrical problem. While driving, the vehicle will often have problems using it's automatic transmission. It ranges from "rough" shifting (where the car jerks while shifting gears) to situation where the vehicle fails to shift gears completely leading to the rpms shooting up. The cars power steering and traction control system also simultaneously fail. This leads to a dangerous situation when on highways etc this issue simultaneously causes all of the warning lights on the dashboard to light up while displaying the following messages on screen "service stabilitrak" & "steering assist reduced -drive with care" & "service brake assist" & "service parking brake". The gauges also stop responding/reflecting accurate info when this happens. I have a video of what this all looks like. This has been on ongoing intermittent problem pretty much for the entire life of the vehicle. GMC informed me that they had never heard of this when I inquired about it a dealership but searching online makes it incredibly clear that this is an extremely widespread issue that they are aware of. I have also attached a file that has a list of all error codes detected by me for this vehicle.

P0128 apparently what happens when the temp sensor on the t-stat housing goes bad it sends a signal to the ecm that the engine is overheating, causes the temp gauge to peg to "c", shuts down a/c compressor clutch engagement to not exacerbate the overheat condition and super speeds the cooling fans. Of course it's a false flag warning and the engine isn't actually running hot. At the same time a signal to the ecm also tells the power steering rack that it's super cold out and the lube in the steering system may freeze up causing loss of steering assist. Nhtsa 17-na-158 - may 2017 needed to have thermostat and temperature sensor replaced. Was quoted by two dealers $1400-$1700. Very deceiving for gm to have several "tech bulletins" advising their techs how to properly diagnose this common "error". . . But it's not a recall so they won't foot the bill for what is clearly a defect. Car has only 59,400 / 2017 GMC Acadia all terrain.

Vehicle went on fire in or near the engine compartment - the entire front end was burned and car is a total loss. I was in the vehicle driving home with my children (a 5 min drive from their school) and we smelled what we assumed was a a fire pit or fireplace burning nearby; we got out of the vehicle, within 90 seconds there were flames coming out of the hood. Car was well maintained and received nearly all service at the rvc GMC dealership it was purchased from. Vehicle was also still under the warranty we purchased.

I brought this car from stoops and have been having this same issue since I received this car in March of 2021. Check engine came on within two weeks of me getting this car. The intake air pressure measurement system map sensor and maf sensor on my 2017 GMC Acadia which is causing other issues. My car is only at 100k mikes and I shouldnt be having the same issue. The map sensor was replaced in July of 2021. Here it is a year later and my check engine light keeps coming on and saying the same thing which is causing all these other issues to happen such as steering power system reduced which driving. Notifications about of transmission and engine issues because of intake air pressure measurement system. Every time I take it to stoops they have it for a couple days and I’m out of a car which means no transportation for work and within 10 days after I get it back the same issue appears. The car sounds like it’s going to shut off at any given time I’m driving. It shutters while at a light or in a restaurant line. It drives smooth but when I shut the car off it makes a whiny noise sometimes. I don’t feel safe driving myself and my kids in the car when different things come up all because of this intake air pressure measurement system issue.

When trying to place the vehicle in "park" the message is displayed to "shift to park". The shift lever is in the park position, but the vehicle cannot be turned off while this message is displayed. The shift lever has to be moved back and forth multiple times, sometimes for several minutes before allowing you to safely shut down the vehicle and exit. This is a known issue for GMC vehicles, yet they tell me that my VIN doesn't show the vehicle is eligible for a recall for this exact issue.

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.

Purchased the vehicle in October 2017 with 7,408 miles on it. In 2019 started to receive a warning when the car was in park and I was shutting it off that said “shift to park”. The vehicle would not allow itself to shut off. I took it to our dealer and they replaced the shifter. The mileage at the time was 12,974. This week the “shift to park” message has now begun to pop up again and today I was unable to turn the vehicle off for quite some time as I had to keep shifting it in and out of park for the computer to respond. The car is shifted completely in to park and it shows a p on the console screen, however still is not recognizing that is in park. I only have put 15,000 miles on it over the past three years so there is no reason for it to have failed. It is scary and dangerous to be unable to shut your vehicle off. Especially when you are stuck in your garage or away from home with your little one.

This car, 2017gmc Acadia, started showing up on many occasions; and is getting worse. I park the car and put it into park. When I try to turn off the engine, a message shows up on the display shift car into park. The car is in park, and I cannot shut off the engine, due to this message. The car is in park, and the message tells me it is not. And I cannot shut off the engine. I have to leave the car engine running until I try shifting gear shift back and forth multiple times and bingo sometimes the message goes away. Something is wrong here.