AutoUtility currently tracks 41 official NHTSA owner defect complaints for the 2016 Buick Regal. Steering System issues are the most frequently reported category, appearing in 10 complaints (24.4% of submitted records). Among these NHTSA complaint records, 1 reports one or more injuries.

Key Problem Findings
  • Total NHTSA Complaints: 41 reports
  • #1 Reported Problem Area: Steering System (10 reports • 24.4% of submitted complaints)
  • Secondary Problem Areas: Driver Assistance & Safety Tech (6), Engine & Cooling (6)
  • Crash-Citing Complaints: 0 filings
  • Fire-Citing Complaints: 0 filings
  • Complaints Reporting Injuries / Fatalities: 1 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
41
Submitted to NHTSA ODI
Crash-Citing Complaints
0
Filings citing a collision
Fire-Citing Complaints
0
Filings citing smoke or fire
Complaints Reporting Injuries
1
Filings citing one or more injuries
Complaints Reporting Fatalities
0
Consumer filings citing fatalities

Most Reported Problems for 2016 Buick Regal

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

#1 Problem Area 24.4% of complaints

Steering System

10 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
#2 Problem Area 14.6% of complaints

Driver Assistance & Safety Tech

6 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
✓ 0 crashes or fires cited
#3 Problem Area 14.6% of complaints

Engine & Cooling

6 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
✓ 0 crashes or fires cited
#4 Problem Area 14.6% of complaints

Exterior Lighting

6 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
✓ 0 crashes or fires cited
#5 Problem Area 14.6% of complaints

Electrical System

6 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%.

Symptoms Mentioned in NHTSA Owner Reports for 2016 Buick Regal

Specific mechanical, electrical, and driver-assist defect symptoms identified via deterministic narrative analysis

AutoUtility uses deterministic phrase matching to identify recurring symptom descriptions within consumer-submitted NHTSA complaint narratives.

Powertrain & Transmission 9.8% of complaints

Loss of Motive Power While Driving

4 complaint narratives describe this symptom
Symptom Identification Method: A complaint may describe more than one symptom, so percentages may sum to more than 100%. Symptom identification reflects text contained in consumer-submitted complaint records and does not establish a confirmed mechanical diagnosis.

Recent NHTSA Owner Reports for 2016 Buick Regal

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

Driver Assistance & Safety Tech NHTSA ODI ID: #11667836
Filed: 06/18/2025

"My Buick stops when driving unknown when it’s a surprise lights and dash go off almost got hit took to mechanics it’s the 2016-17 “throw away motor” ad they call it does not last and gets”metal pieces” to ruin motor and turbo as I have noticed speed issues and dying unexpectedly it’s the regal..."

Incident Date: 04/01/2025 • Raw NHTSA Component: VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,WHEELS,ENGINE
Steering System NHTSA ODI ID: #11642262
Filed: 02/12/2025

"My steering failed and started pulling left into traffic. It was hard to keep it in my lane. Had to have it towed by AAA. Took to my mechanic and he said it was the electric belt drive rack &pinion steering. He told me there was a recall on it. When I checked I was told that my vin # was not..."

Incident Date: 02/03/2025 • Raw NHTSA Component: STEERING
Wheels & Tires NHTSA ODI ID: #11616371
Filed: 09/25/2024

"My tires were Black when I bought them at Wittlins in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin in 2020. They have been continualy turning brown on the outside of tire. Now they are a beige color on the outside of tire. It seems the tires are aging terribly. I complained to Wittlins a few times about tires..."

Incident Date: 06/17/2021 • Raw NHTSA Component: TIRES
Exterior Lighting NHTSA ODI ID: #11589503
Filed: 05/19/2024

"I purchased the 2016 Buick Regal used in 2021 with 40,000 miles., it now has close to 70,000 miles. It’s still in well cared for mint condition, except for the driver side headlight. Condensation appeared and has been getting worse, dealership says the only option is buying another complete..."

Incident Date: 12/13/2021 • Raw NHTSA Component: EXTERIOR LIGHTING
Steering System NHTSA ODI ID: #11589081
Filed: 05/16/2024

"The contact owns a 2016 Buick Regal. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle lost power steering functionality and the vehicle became difficult to steer. The contact stated that the failure occurred intermittently. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired by an..."

Incident Date: 05/15/2024 • Raw NHTSA Component: STEERING
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 Regal

Reported defect complaint volume across sibling model years (2015–2020)

Model Year NHTSA Complaints Crash Reports Safety Recalls Detailed Report
2015 Buick Regal 33 1 0 View 2015 Problems →
2016 Buick Regal Current Page 41 0 1 Current
2017 Buick Regal 20 1 0 View 2017 Problems →
2018 Buick Regal 33 5 3 View 2018 Problems →
2019 Buick Regal 18 0 3 View 2019 Problems →
2020 Buick Regal 5 0 2 View 2020 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 Regal

Complete distribution of consumer defect reports across all 24 granular NHTSA system and subsystem classifications

Vehicle Component / System Total Complaints Crash Reports Fire Reports Reported Injury Entries Reported Fatality Entries
Steering NHTSA category: STEERING 9 0 0 0 0
EXTERIOR LIGHTING 4 0 0 0 0
Other / Uncategorized NHTSA category: UNKNOWN OR OTHER 3 0 0 0 0
Visibility & Wipers NHTSA category: VISIBILITY/WIPER 3 0 0 0 0
Electrical System NHTSA category: ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 2 0 0 0 0
Structure & Body NHTSA category: STRUCTURE 2 0 0 1 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,EXTERIOR LIGHTING,UNKNOWN OR OTHER 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,UNKNOWN OR OTHER 1 0 0 0 0
Engine NHTSA category: ENGINE 1 0 0 0 0
Engine & Cooling NHTSA category: ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING 1 0 0 0 0
EXTERIOR LIGHTING,STRUCTURE 1 0 0 0 0
Powertrain NHTSA category: POWER TRAIN 1 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE 1 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL (ESC) 1 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,ENGINE 1 0 0 0 0
SERVICE BRAKES,SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC 1 0 0 0 0
STEERING,WHEELS,SERVICE BRAKES 1 0 0 0 0
SUSPENSION,POWER TRAIN,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 1 0 0 0 0
Tires NHTSA category: TIRES 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
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 1 0 0 0 0
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,WHEELS,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 (41). 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.