The 2013 Buick Enclave has 4 safety recalls and 70 owner complaints on file with NHTSA. The most-reported problem area is power train (14 complaints).
Recalls4safety recalls
Complaints70filed by owners
Crashes · fires3 · 1reported in complaints
Injuries · deaths7 · 0reported in complaints
Safety recalls
Air bags › Frontal › Driver side › Inflator module
NHTSA recall 21V782000 · Oct 7, 2021 · 555 vehicles · opened after NHTSA action (ODI)
Problem: 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.
Risk: An inflator explosion may result in sharp metal fragments striking the driver or other occupants, resulting in serious injury or death.
Fix: 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.
Components: Air bags › Frontal › Driver side › Inflator module; Air bags › Frontal
Problem: General Motors, LLC (GM) is recalling certain 2010-2015, 2017 Buick Enclave, 2010-2019 Chevrolet Traverse, and 2011-2016 GMC Acadia vehicles. The side curtain air bags may not be properly attached.
Risk: Unsecured side curtain air bags may not perform as intended, increasing the risk of injury.
Fix: GM will notify owners, and dealers will inspect and, if necessary, realign or replace the weld nuts, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed on May 24, 2021. Owners may contact Buick customer service at 1-800-521-7300, Chevrolet customer service at 1-800-222-1020, and GMC customer service at 1-800-462-8782. GM's number for this recall is N202321200.
Seat belts
NHTSA recall 14V266000 · May 20, 2014 · 1,339,355 vehicles
Problem: General Motors is recalling certain model year 2009-2014 Buick Enclave vehicles manufactured April 14, 2008, through May 14, 2014, Chevrolet Traverse vehicles manufactured June 6, 2008, through May 14, 2014, and GMC Acadia vehicles manufactured April 9, 2008, through May 14, 2014, and 2009-2010 Saturn Outlook vehicles manufactured April 14, 2008, through March 18, 2010. In the affected vehicles, the flexible steel cable that connects the seatbelt to the front outboard seating positions may fatigue and separate over time.
Risk: If the steel cable becomes fatigued and separates, the seatbelt may not properly restrain the seat occupant increasing the risk of an injury in a crash.
Fix: General Motors will notify owners, and dealers will inspect and, if necessary, repair and replace the lap pretensioner, free of charge. Parts are not currently available. An interim notice will be mailed to owners in July 2014. A second notice will be mailed to owners once parts become available. The recall for the 2009-2010 model years began on July 11, 2014. The interim letter for the 2011-2014 model years were distributed on July 11, 2014. Owners may contact General Motors at 1-800-222-1020 (Chevrolet), 1-800-521-7300 (Buick), 1-800-462-8782 (GMC), 1-800-553-6000 (Saturn). General Motors recall number for this campaign is 14187.
Air bags › Side/window
NHTSA recall 14V118000 · Mar 17, 2014 · 1,176,407 vehicles
Problem: General Motors LLC (GM) is recalling certain model year 2008-2013 Buick Enclave and GMC Acadia and 2009-2013 Chevrolet Traverse and 2008-2010 Saturn Outlook vehicles. In the affected vehicles, increased resistance in the driver and passenger seat mounted side impact air bag (SIAB) wiring harnesses may result in the SIAB and seat belt pretensioners not deploying in the event of a crash.
Risk: Failure of the side impact air bags and seat belt pretensioners to deploy in a crash increase the risk of injury to the driver and front seat occupant.
Fix: GM will notify owners, and dealers will replace the affected harness connections with soldered connections, free of charge. The recall began on June 16, 2014. Buick owners may contact the owner center at 1-800-521-7300, Chevrolet owners at 1-866-694-6546, Saturn at 1-800-553-6000, and GMC owners at 1-866-996-9463. GM's number for this recall is 14030. Note: Vehicles repaired as part of Customer Satisfaction Campaign 10085 and special coverage 10335 have already had the subject condition repaired and therefore are not included in the safety recall.
Recall repairs are free at any authorised dealer. A recall listed here may already have been fixed on a particular car: enter its 17-character VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls to see open recalls.
Crash test ratings
2013 Buick Enclave SUV AWD
Overall
★★★★★
Frontal crash
★★★★★
Side crash
★★★★★
Rollover
★★★★★
Rollover risk
15.5%
2013 Buick Enclave SUV FWD
Overall
★★★★★
Frontal crash
★★★★★
Side crash
★★★★★
Rollover
★★★★★
Rollover risk
16.9%
NHTSA 5-Star Safety Ratings (New Car Assessment Program). Ratings are comparable only between vehicles of similar size and weight, and ratings from 2011 on use tougher tests than earlier years. Photos: NHTSA.
Fuel economy
Enclave FWD
19mpg combined
City / highway
17 / 24 mpg
Fuel
Regular Gasoline
3.6 L · 6 cyl · Automatic 6-spd · Front-Wheel Drive · about $3,550/year to fuel
Enclave AWD
18mpg combined
City / highway
16 / 22 mpg
Fuel
Regular Gasoline
3.6 L · 6 cyl · Automatic 6-spd · All-Wheel Drive · about $3,700/year to fuel
EPA estimates from fueleconomy.gov for each engine and transmission sold. Annual cost is the EPA's estimate for 15,000 miles a year at its current fuel and electricity price assumptions. Your results will vary.
What owners report
Problem area
Complaints
Crashes
Fires
Injuries
Typical mileage*
Power train
14
1
0
0
73,000 mi
Engine
14
0
0
0
73,000 mi
Electrical system
12
0
1
1
32,624 mi
Electronic stability control (esc)
12
0
0
0
68,000 mi
Steering
12
1
0
0
43,400 mi
Air bags
10
3
0
2
53,000 mi
Unknown or other
8
0
0
0
83,218 mi
Exterior lighting
6
0
0
0
50,000 mi
Vehicle speed control
5
0
0
0
69,840 mi
Seat belts
3
0
0
0
12,700 mi
Fuel/propulsion system
3
0
0
0
95,000 mi
Structure Body
2
0
0
4
—
*Median odometer reading when the problem happened, where owners gave one. One complaint can name several problem areas.
Recent owner complaints
Sep 27, 2026Power train Transmission slip, surging forward, grinding, not shifting, shuts down completely
Aug 26, 2026 · 2,000 miles · crash · 1 injuryAir bags The contact owned a 2013 Buick Enclave. The contact stated that while driving at 35 MPH and attempting to make a right turn around a curve, the driver-side curtain airbag deployed unexpectedly and struck the contact's left temple, causing the contact to lose consciousness. While unconscious, the contact's foot remained depressed on the accelerator pedal, causing the vehicle to crash into a ditch, at which point the front passenger-side and rear driver-side and passenger-side airbags also deployed. Medical attention was required. The contact sustained an injury to the left temple, head pain, and pain extending from the left side of the neck into the shoulder blade. A police report was not…
Feb 14, 2026Power train No first gear. Engine stalls if car is brought to a halt. On take off, car will stall if given too much throttle. If able to roll from dead stop, it will jerk and hesitate as if in too high of gear or dragging clutch.
Feb 4, 2026Steering Steering wheel is so stiff it over works my arms and shoulder muscles burn it hard to turn literally feels as if the wheels is kind of bumping the frame 5 days steering wheel started to make a weird noise that is now persistent and sounds like a rubbing rubber sound and I have been getting electric shock every time Iâm getting out the car and go to close the door since this started making a static like electric sound in the dash over my steering wheel they all at the same time on the same day February 4,2026 scared my car might catch fire
Jun 21, 2024 · 109,000 milesAir bags The contact owns a 2013 Buick Enclave. The contact stated that the air bag warning light was illuminated. The vehicle had not been taken to the dealer or independent mechanic to be diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 109,000.
Mar 15, 2023Engine Check engine light illuminated due to transmission clutch not being adequate in manufacturing. Transmission causes motor to shudder due to clutches slipping. Whether in automatic or manual, when accelerating in low RPM, the entire car begins to shudder instead of downshifting. Transmission has been replaced twice, with no corrections. Happens every time the car is driven.
Mar 9, 2024Unknown or other You will just be driving down the road and then get the check engine light, engine power reduced, traction control off, and service stabilitrak warning on the dash board. You can be going 60 and it will just shut down with no warning. It's been to the shop 3 times and the issue is still unresolved. This is highly dangerous and could cause an accident
Nov 25, 2023Power train This vehicle should have a recall on the transmission upon review the recall numbers NHTSA Recall ID: 14V092000 and NHTSA Recall ID: 09V073000 are not showing up in the system as recalls on the 2013 model. I purchased this vehicle used from a private owner. In April of 2023 the transmission went out without any warning a major expense not to mention the trauma from being stranded on the highway. The repair at that time was not under a recall even though several other Buick Enclaves failed at the same time. Present November 2023 upon returning home from a road trip the vehicle showed the inability to shirt failed to shift into the proper gear NHTSA Recall ID: 14V092000 . Vehicle was towed to…
Owner complaints are submitted to NHTSA by the public and are not verified. Shown as filed (NHTSA removes personal details); long reports are shortened.
NHTSA defect investigations
EA20002 · opened Aug 31, 2020 · closed Aug 30, 2024 · led to recall 21V245Outboard Front Seat Belt Anchor Cable Failure On August 31, 2020, the Office of Defects Investigations (ODI) opened Engineering Analysis (EA) EA20002, as an upgrade of Recall Query (RQ) RQ19003. This investigation, related to recall 14V-266, was opened to investigate instances of detachment of the flexible steel seat belt anchor cable attached to the outboard side of the front seats in vehicles manufactured by General Motors (GM). The subject vehicles included model year (MY) 2009 through 2014 GMC Acadia, Buick Enclave, and Chevrolet Traverse SUVs as well as MY 2009 through 2010 Saturn Outlook SUVs. These vehicles were previously repaired for this defect under recall 14V-266. The subject vehicle population is approximately 1.3 million vehicles. Special Coverage N192219480, issued in June 2019, addressed the subject defect in vehicles that previously received the recall remedy repair for subject recall 14V-266. The Special Coverage…
RQ19003 · opened May 28, 2019 · closed Aug 31, 2020Seat Belt Anchor Cable Failure On May 19, 2014, General Motors LLC (GM) notified the Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) that it would conduct Safety Recall 14V266 to address fatigue and separation of the flexible steel cable that connects the front outboard seat belts to the seat-mounted belt pre-tensioner in 1.4 million model year (MY) 2009-2010 Saturn Outlook, 2009-2014 Buick Enclave, GMC Acadia and Chevrolet Traverse (Lambda Platform) vehicles.The remedy was to inspect for signs of damage and replace pre-tensioner anchor cables as needed. Re-work was conducted to relocate the pre-tensioner anchor cable out of the occupant entry path. ODI has subsequently received four (4) Vehicle Owners Questionnaires (VOQ) reporting anchor cable separations with no apparent warning in covered vehicles after the Recall 14V266 remedy had been applied.ODI opened RQ19-003 to assess the effectiveness of the actions GM took in…