Other body or interior problem on the 1997 Buick Lesabre
Only 5 reports for this mode came with an odometer reading, which is too few for percentiles to mean anything. The page is here because someone linked to it; treat the figures as anecdotes, and see the full report for this year instead.
When other body or interior problem gets reported
There are 21 reports of other body or interior problem on the 1997 Buick Lesabre, 5 with a mileage attached. That is too few to place the failure on the odometer with any confidence.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 88,000 miles. It is the 4th most-reported problem on this model year.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | 139,623 miles | — | — |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Putting it right typically runs $200–$2,000 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 10 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2004, at a median of 55,000 miles, and latest on the 1997 at 140,000 miles.
By volume the 2002 carries the most reports, with 57; the 1997 has 21. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
Sever inner rust/rotted area in the rear passenger side trunk back seat, wheel housing. Not visible rust to the naked eye, or no surface rust. Caused water to leak in and cause extensive damage to seat, carpet, padding. Leaked to under front passenger seat,shorting out sensor and deployed air bag without impact. G.m. Is unhelpful. They responded with "even if it was a factory defect I had exceeded my 6 year/100,000 mile warranty. I cannot see how this could fall to the consumers responsibility! I am hopeful that you may have an answer that could be of some help. I also am dumbfounded that an air bag will go off with out impact. Everything I have researched on them reports only on crashes, even on the g.m.web page for air bags there is nothing that says shorting out of a sensor due to water or anything else can deploy them. So I ask what if a child spilled a drink and it went under the seat? What if my wife or I purchased a gallon of milk or water, sat it on the back floor and it leaked? Should there not be a sensor or something to tell the air bag not to deploy due to the fact the auto wasn't in an accident? Thank you, brian and…
Tl*the contact owns a 1997 buick lesabre. While making a right turn, the contact heard a noise and felt the steering wheel continue to turn in her hand. The vehicle was towed to a mechanic and they stated that the vehicle's engine cradle washers rotted; therefore, the vehicle could not be steered. The gm manufacturer was called and they stated that they would make a note and wait for others to call about the failure. The failure mileage was 139,623. Updated 04-17-09 updated 04/20/09.*jb
Tl* the contact owns a 1997 buick lasabre. The contact stated that while driving 30 MPH, he began to turn to the right, and the front end of the vehicle collapsed to the ground. The vehicle was towed to an authorized dealer where the contact was informed that the washers, which were bolted to the frame, were severely corroded. The manufacturer was notified and offered to cover a portion of the repair costs. The vehicle was not repaired, because the contact thought the manufacturer should cover all costs. The failure mileage was 129,000. Updated 08/31/2011 *ln
Also reported on the 1997 Buick Lesabre
Other engine problem
Other electrical problem
Other fuel system problem
Seat belt or retractor failure
Other powertrain problem
Exhaust leak or fumes in the cabin
How far this goes
This page is kept out of search results because 21 reports is not enough to publish percentiles from. It stays reachable because somebody looking at this exact car would rather see the reports than be told there are none.
Complaints are voluntary, so 21 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does other body or interior problem happen on the 1997 Buick Lesabre?
Across 5 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 140,000 miles. A quarter were filed before — and a quarter after —. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other body or interior problem on the 1997 Buick Lesabre?
21 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.6 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
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