AutoUtility currently tracks 140 official NHTSA owner defect complaints for the 2016 Buick Enclave. Air Bags & Restraints issues are the most frequently reported category, appearing in 111 complaints (79.3% of submitted records). Among these NHTSA complaint records, 2 filings cite a crash, 3 report one or more injuries.

Key Problem Findings
  • Total NHTSA Complaints: 140 reports
  • #1 Reported Problem Area: Air Bags & Restraints (111 reports • 79.3% of submitted complaints)
  • Secondary Problem Areas: Powertrain & Transmission (9), Engine & Cooling (7)
  • Crash-Citing Complaints: 2 filings
  • Fire-Citing Complaints: 0 filings
  • Complaints Reporting Injuries / Fatalities: 3 injury filings • 0 fatality filings
Reporting Methodology: Statistics describe unverified consumer submissions voluntarily filed with NHTSA. Complaint volume is not normalized for vehicle sales volume or miles driven. Multiple components can be cited within a single owner complaint submission.
Total Complaints
140
Submitted to NHTSA ODI
Crash-Citing Complaints
2
Filings citing a collision
Fire-Citing Complaints
0
Filings citing smoke or fire
Complaints Reporting Injuries
3
Filings citing one or more injuries
Complaints Reporting Fatalities
0
Consumer filings citing fatalities

Most Reported Problems for 2016 Buick Enclave

Top automotive subsystem defect categories ranked by unique owner complaint volume in federal records

#1 Problem Area 79.3% of complaints

Air Bags & Restraints

111 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
⚠️ NHTSA Recall Context

NHTSA records list 2 official safety recall campaigns for this model year involving the same broad component area:

*Component overlap means an official recall exists for the same broad vehicle system. It does not establish that an individual owner complaint was caused by, covered by, or resolved through that recall.
⚠️ 2 crash reports 🩹 4 injury report entries
#2 Problem Area 6.4% of complaints

Powertrain & Transmission

9 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
✓ 0 crashes or fires cited
#3 Problem Area 5% of complaints

Engine & Cooling

7 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
✓ 0 crashes or fires cited
#4 Problem Area 5% of complaints

Electrical System

7 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
✓ 0 crashes or fires cited
#5 Problem Area 2.1% of complaints

Body & Structure

3 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
🩹 1 injury report entry
Domain Share Note: Share percentage represents the proportion of unique complaint filings referencing each vehicle system. Because single complaints may cite multiple systems (such as engine and electrical simultaneously), domain percentages represent individual category incidence and may sum to over 100%.

Recent NHTSA Owner Reports for 2016 Buick Enclave

Representative defect filings submitted by owners to the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation

Powertrain & Transmission NHTSA ODI ID: #11749129
Filed: 07/08/2026

"Traction stabilization light comes on very frequently and vehicle loses power, step on gas and it sputters can’t get out of any one’s way, they throw parts at it and never fixes. From feedback off internet a big problem 2008-2017 enclaves"

Incident Date: 06/18/2026 • Raw NHTSA Component: POWER TRAIN,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE
Air Bags & Restraints NHTSA ODI ID: #11720753
Filed: 02/26/2026

"I am seeing that these have been repaired, when in fact it has not been repaired."

Incident Date: 02/26/2026 • Raw NHTSA Component: AIR BAGS
Electrical System NHTSA ODI ID: #11702282
Filed: 12/01/2025

"Odometer Fraud. The contact purchased a 2016 Buick Enclave on November 25, 2025 from an independent dealer. It was later discovered that there was a mileage discrepancy. At the time of purchase, the Odometer reading was 102,068. After contacting Endurance Warranty Company, the contact was informed..."

Incident Date: 11/25/2025 • Raw NHTSA Component: ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
Other / Miscellaneous NHTSA ODI ID: #11682503
Filed: 08/22/2025

"We have had spark plugs fixed twice in the past 4 months and they keep faltering. Both mechanics changed them"

Incident Date: 05/06/2025 • Raw NHTSA Component: UNKNOWN OR OTHER
Air Bags & Restraints NHTSA ODI ID: #11682235
Filed: 08/21/2025

"The contact owns a 2016 Buick Enclave. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V334000 (Air Bags); however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, but was not diagnosed or repaired. The dealer confirmed that parts were not..."

Incident Date: 08/21/2025 • Raw NHTSA Component: AIR BAGS
Consumer Narrative Notice: Excerpts are sanitized text descriptions submitted by vehicle owners to the federal ODI database. They reflect the reporting consumer's observations at the time of filing and have not been independently confirmed by vehicle manufacturers or government investigators.

Complaint History for Buick Enclave

Reported defect complaint volume across sibling model years (2015–2026)

Model Year NHTSA Complaints Crash Reports Safety Recalls Detailed Report
2015 Buick Enclave 171 7 5 View 2015 Problems →
2016 Buick Enclave Current Page 140 2 4 Current
2017 Buick Enclave 179 6 3 View 2017 Problems →
2018 Buick Enclave 64 5 0 View 2018 Problems →
2019 Buick Enclave 42 2 1 View 2019 Problems →
2020 Buick Enclave 56 2 6 View 2020 Problems →
2021 Buick Enclave 25 0 2 View 2021 Problems →
2022 Buick Enclave 13 2 1 View 2022 Problems →
2023 Buick Enclave 19 2 0 View 2023 Problems →
2024 Buick Enclave 7 1 0 View 2024 Problems →
2025 Buick Enclave 36 3 0 View 2025 Problems →
2026 Buick Enclave 0 0 1 View 2026 Problems →
Comparative Disclaimer: Complaint totals are unadjusted historical counts and are not normalized for vehicles sold, active fleet size, or total road mileage. Newer model years naturally have had less calendar exposure time to accumulate owner filings.

Detailed NHTSA Component Breakdown for 2016 Buick Enclave

Complete distribution of consumer defect reports across all 19 granular NHTSA system and subsystem classifications

Vehicle Component / System Total Complaints Crash Reports Fire Reports Reported Injury Entries Reported Fatality Entries
Air Bags NHTSA category: AIR BAGS 107 1 0 0 0
Powertrain NHTSA category: POWER TRAIN 5 0 0 0 0
Other / Uncategorized NHTSA category: UNKNOWN OR OTHER 4 0 0 0 0
Engine NHTSA category: ENGINE 3 0 0 0 0
Steering NHTSA category: STEERING 3 0 0 0 0
Structure & Body NHTSA category: STRUCTURE 3 0 0 1 0
AIR BAGS,SEAT BELTS 2 1 0 3 0
POWER TRAIN,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE 2 0 0 0 0
Electrical System NHTSA category: ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,AIR BAGS 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,UNKNOWN OR OTHER,ENGINE 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,UNKNOWN OR OTHER,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 1 0 0 0 0
Equipment & Accessories NHTSA category: EQUIPMENT 1 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 1 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,ENGINE 1 0 0 0 0
Seat Belts NHTSA category: SEAT BELTS 1 0 0 1 0
UNKNOWN OR OTHER,ENGINE,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 1 0 0 0 0
Visibility & Wipers NHTSA category: VISIBILITY/WIPER 1 0 0 0 0
Wheels & Hubs NHTSA category: WHEELS 1 0 0 0 0
Data Attribution & Reporting Methodology: Complaints are unverified voluntary submissions to the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI). Because multiple vehicle components can be cited within a single owner complaint submission, component-level rollups may sum to more than the unique complaint count (140). Injury and fatality entries in the detailed table reflect raw values entered by reporting consumers across individual submissions; they are not deduplicated casualty statistics and may include duplicate or unverified entries. Complaint volume is not normalized for sales volume or vehicle mileage and does not represent an audited component failure rate.
Official US Government Data Provenance

The complaint records on this page are retrieved directly from the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) public database.

Local Production Store Compiled: August 2026 • Deterministic Audited Dataset • Zero Dynamic External API Runtime Latency.