2018 Buick Envision: what breaks, and at what mileage
What breaks on the 2018 Buick Envision
On the 2018 Buick Envision, the failure owners report most often is control module (ECM/PCM/BCM) failure, with 3 reports on file. Across every failure mode on this year, half the dated reports were filed before 30,000 miles. Overall it scores 72 out of 100, high risk for a 2018.
High risk for a 2018 — 175th riskiest of the 251 2018 vehicles we can rate. 20 owner reports; fleet size borrowed from other years of the same model.
The failures owners actually file about
Owners have reported 10 named failure modes on the 2018 Buick Envision, and the three most-reported carry 40% of everything filed.
Control module (ECM/PCM/BCM) failure leads with 3 reports and about 1.3 per 1,000 vehicles.
Steering column or shaft failure follows with 3 reports.
Radiator or coolant leak follows with 2 reports, median 45,000 miles.
By system, the reports fall mostly into steering (6), electrical (4) and cooling (2).
When these failures get reported
Too few of the reports on this year carry an odometer reading to describe the timing: 4 of them do. The mileages quoted elsewhere on this page come from the modes that have enough of them.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
How reports accumulate
Every report with an odometer reading, cumulative, from 0 to 200,000 miles. A curve that climbs early is a car with early problems, whatever its total.
- Line share of reports filed by that mileage
What happens when these parts fail
Nothing in the reports on the 2018 Buick Envision mentions a crash, a fire or an injury. That is the ordinary case and it is worth stating: most defect complaints are about a car that stopped working, not one that hurt somebody.
The average severity weight across every report on this year is 4.40, where a stalled engine or a failed airbag weighs many times more than a rattling trim panel, and a figure this high means the reports are dominated by failures with safety consequences rather than annoyances. The weighting is set out in full on the methodology page.
What the top failures cost to put right, as editorial estimates for an independent US shop rather than figures from NHTSA: control module (ECM/PCM/BCM) failure at $700–$3,000, steering column or shaft failure at $600–$2,500, radiator or coolant leak at $350–$1,900 and cruise control failure at $200–$1,400. Dealer labour, a seized bolt or a part that is no longer made can push any of these past the top of its range.
15% of the reports on this year sit in the engine, transmission, drivetrain or cooling systems — the four where a repair bill is usually four figures.
Every reported failure mode
| Failure mode | System | Reports | With reading | 25th | Median | 75th | Per 1,000 | Typical repair | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Control module (ECM/PCM/BCM) failure | electrical | 3 | 0 | — | — | — | 1.3 | $700–$3,000 | High |
| Steering column or shaft failure | steering | 3 | 0 | — | — | — | 1.3 | $600–$2,500 | Critical |
| Radiator or coolant leak | cooling | 2 | 2 | — | 47k | — | 0.9 | $350–$1,900 | High |
| Cruise control failure | adas | 2 | 0 | — | — | — | 0.9 | $200–$1,400 | High |
| Other steering problem | steering | 2 | 0 | — | — | — | 0.9 | $350–$2,400 | High |
| Head gasket failure | engine | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 0.4 | $1,400–$4,000 | Critical |
| Loss of braking | brakes | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 0.4 | $400–$3,000 | Critical |
| Loss of power steering | steering | 1 | 1 | — | 18k | — | 0.4 | $600–$2,800 | Critical |
| Other electrical problem | electrical | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 0.4 | $250–$2,000 | Moderate |
| Other suspension problem | suspension | 1 | 1 | — | 400 | — | 0.4 | $350–$2,000 | Moderate |
| Unclassified problem | other | 3 | 0 | — | — | — | 1.3 | — | Moderate |
This year had no usable recall paperwork, so the fleet-size estimate is the median of other years of the same model. Repair costs are typical independent-shop ranges for the failure, not figures from these reports.
How often, against how many were built
Scaled by an estimate of how many of these cars exist, the 2018 Buick Envision draws about 8.8 per 1,000 vehicles, which puts it in the 89th percentile of complaint rates among 2018 vehicles we can rate.
That denominator is the weakest number on the page and it is fair to say so plainly. This year had no usable recall paperwork, so the fleet-size estimate is the median of other years of the same model.
The working figure is 2,279 vehicles. If the true number is twice that, every rate on this page is half what it says; the ranking against other 2018 vehicles, which is what the risk score uses, is far more robust than the rate itself.
How it ranks in the 2018 field
The score at the top of the page, placed among its peers. The zones are the same thresholds the scorer applies, read out of the scorer itself, so the picture and the band word cannot disagree.
Scores are ranked within the model year, never across years, because an older car has had longer to accumulate reports.
- Left fewer and less serious reports
- Right more, or worse
- Marker this vehicle
Where 2018 sits in the model line
High risk for a 2018 — 175th riskiest of the 251 2018 vehicles we can rate. The comparison is always within the same model year, so an older car is never penalised for having had longer to break.
Across the 9 model years of this car that carry enough reports to score, 2021 comes out best at 67 and 2024 worst at 83, with 2018 itself at 72.
If the model year is negotiable, 2021 scores lower than 2018 by a margin worth acting on. Same body, same engines, different luck — usually a supplier change or a mid-cycle fix, which the complaint data can show but never explain.
Within the 2016–2020 generation specifically, 2018 is the strongest year at 72 and 2019 the weakest at 80.
Scores compare each year against other cars of the same model year, so a low number on an older car is a real result and not an artefact of age.
Shorter is better. Years with too few reports to score are shown without a bar rather than as a zero, because no data is not good news.
Within the 2016-2020 generation, 2018 Buick Envision scores best at 72 and 2019 Buick Envision worst at 80.
Where these figures stop being useful
20 owner reports; fleet size borrowed from other years of the same model. Every count on this page is therefore a floor: it is the number of owners who went to the trouble of filing with a federal agency, which is a small and self-selected fraction of the owners who had the fault.
Of those 20 reports, 4 carried an odometer reading, so the mileages here describe 20% of the sample rather than all of it. Owners also round: readings pile up on multiples of ten thousand, which is why this site publishes "about 90,000 miles" and not "91,438".
The failure modes are assigned by software reading the owner's own words, which is accurate in bulk and wrong in individual cases. A mode with a handful of reports may contain a misfiled one.
And nothing here predicts what one car will do. These are other people's complaints, filed years apart, on cars maintained by strangers. Read the page as a map of where this model year has previously gone wrong, then have the specific car in front of you inspected.
Questions this page answers
What are the most common problems with the 2018 Buick Envision?
The most-reported failures are control module (ecm/pcm/bcm) failure (3 reports), steering column or shaft failure (3 reports) and radiator or coolant leak (2 reports, median 45,000 miles). Counts come from owner complaints filed with NHTSA, which are voluntary, so they show what owners bothered to report rather than every fault that occurred.
Is the 2018 Buick Envision reliable?
It scores 72 out of 100 on our risk index, which is high — 175th riskiest of the 251 2018 vehicles we can rate. The score is a comparison against other 2018 vehicles, not a prediction about any individual car, and it is built from complaint rates, severity and how early failures appear.
Which year of the Buick Envision is best?
Within the 2016–2020 generation, 2018 scores best at 72 out of 100 and 2019 worst at 80. Same body, same engines, different luck.
Where this comes from. Every figure above is computed from NHTSA owner complaints and recall records for this exact make, model and year. Complaints are voluntary and self-selected, so treat counts as a floor. The methodology page writes out each formula, and the same numbers are available as JSON.
What breaks at my mileage Compare with another car
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed