AutoUtility currently tracks 12 official NHTSA owner defect complaints for the 2018 Buick LaCrosse. Electrical System issues are the most frequently reported category, appearing in 5 complaints (41.7% of submitted records). Zero crashes, fires, injury reports, or fatality reports are cited across these complaint records.

Key Problem Findings
  • • Total NHTSA Complaints: 12 reports
  • • #1 Reported Problem Area: Electrical System (5 reports • 41.7% of submitted complaints)
  • • Secondary Problem Areas: Engine & Cooling (4), Powertrain & Transmission (3)
  • • Crash-Citing Complaints: 0 filings
  • • Fire-Citing Complaints: 0 filings
  • • Complaints Reporting Injuries / Fatalities: 0 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
12
Submitted to NHTSA ODI
Crash-Citing Complaints
0
Filings citing a collision
Fire-Citing Complaints
0
Filings citing smoke or fire
Complaints Reporting Injuries
0
Filings citing one or more injuries
Complaints Reporting Fatalities
0
Consumer filings citing fatalities

Most Reported Problems for 2018 Buick LaCrosse

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

#1 Problem Area 41.7% of complaints

Electrical System

5 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
✓ 0 crashes or fires cited
#2 Problem Area 33.3% of complaints

Engine & Cooling

4 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
✓ 0 crashes or fires cited
#3 Problem Area 25% of complaints

Powertrain & Transmission

3 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
⚠️ NHTSA Recall Context

NHTSA records list 1 official safety recall campaign 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.
✓ 0 crashes or fires cited
#4 Problem Area 25% of complaints

Fuel & Propulsion System

3 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
⚠️ NHTSA Recall Context

NHTSA records list 1 official safety recall campaign 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.
✓ 0 crashes or fires cited
#5 Problem Area 16.7% of complaints

Driver Assistance & Safety Tech

2 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
✓ 0 crashes or fires cited
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 2018 Buick LaCrosse

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

Powertrain & Transmission NHTSA ODI ID: #11698766
Filed: 11/11/2025

"When I get to a stop sign, and a stop light, when trying to accelerate after a complete stop, the car would struggle to accelerate to go forward. Where the shifting gears would start blinking, and the warning lights (engine power reduced, engine light, and the traction safety collision light) would..."

Incident Date: 11/11/2025 • Raw NHTSA Component: POWER TRAIN,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM
Driver Assistance & Safety Tech NHTSA ODI ID: #11688843
Filed: 09/22/2025

"The contact owns a 2018 Buick LaCrosse. The contact stated the hand controls were not working properly. While driving, the accelerator pedal was depressed, but the vehicle failed to respond. The engine power reduced message was displayed, and the check engine warning light was illuminated. After..."

Incident Date: 04/01/2023 • Raw NHTSA Component: VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,ENGINE
Engine & Cooling NHTSA ODI ID: #11623656
Filed: 11/05/2024

"The 3.6 liter engine in my 2018 Buick Lacrosse Avenir only has 53,939 when we experienced a thermostat failure. The engine temperature was dead cold, and the dual electric fans were running non-stop. When I scanned the trouble code, I found PO128 which points to a faulty thermostat. Because the..."

Incident Date: 10/26/2024 • Raw NHTSA Component: ENGINE
Brakes & Traction Control NHTSA ODI ID: #11593626
Filed: 06/11/2024

"The contact owns a 2018 Buick Lacrosse. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle hesitated to accelerate while the accelerator pedal was depressed. The contact pulled over and checked underneath the vehicle. The contact discovered that the START/STOP accumulator endcap..."

Incident Date: 06/03/2024 • Raw NHTSA Component: SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC,FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE,POWER TRAIN
Engine & Cooling NHTSA ODI ID: #11561626
Filed: 12/23/2023

"Thermostat failure at 56,000 miles."

Incident Date: 12/04/2023 • Raw NHTSA Component: ENGINE
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 LaCrosse

Reported defect complaint volume across sibling model years (2015–2019)

Model Year NHTSA Complaints Crash Reports Safety Recalls Detailed Report
2015 Buick LaCrosse 44 5 3 View 2015 Problems →
2016 Buick LaCrosse 48 5 2 View 2016 Problems →
2017 Buick LaCrosse 34 0 2 View 2017 Problems →
2018 Buick LaCrosse Current Page 12 0 3 Current
2019 Buick LaCrosse 6 0 2 View 2019 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 2018 Buick LaCrosse

Complete distribution of consumer defect reports across all 7 granular NHTSA system and subsystem classifications

Vehicle Component / System Total Complaints Crash Reports Fire Reports Reported Injury Entries Reported Fatality Entries
Electrical System NHTSA category: ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 3 0 0 0 0
Engine NHTSA category: ENGINE 3 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 2 0 0 0 0
SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC,FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE,POWER TRAIN 1 0 0 0 0
Other / Uncategorized NHTSA category: UNKNOWN OR OTHER 1 0 0 0 0
Vehicle Speed Control NHTSA category: VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL 1 0 0 0 0
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,ENGINE 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 (12). 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.

Related Official Reports for 2018 Buick LaCrosse

Cross-reference safety recalls, crash test safety ratings, and EPA fuel economy for this model year

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.