Other electrical problem on the 2000 Buick Lesabre
10 fires 1 injury 11 of the 60 reports for this failure mention a crash, a fire, an injury or a death. Those are the owner's words on the complaint form, not a verified finding, and one report can mention more than one.
When other electrical problem gets reported
Owners of the 2000 Buick Lesabre report other electrical problem at a median of 85,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 25,000 miles and a quarter after 110,000 miles, from 24 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 85,000 miles. It is the 2nd most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 15,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 140,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 122,320 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A spread this wide points at use rather than design. Towing, climate, service history and city mileage all move a failure like this, so the median is a weak guide to any individual car.
46% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16,350 miles | 26,866 miles | 83,000 miles | 108,942 miles | 138,670 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
Of these reports, 10 a fire and 1 an injury are mentioned. Owners write their own complaints and the agency does not verify them, so read this as what the reports say happened rather than as a confirmed count.
Putting it right typically runs $250–$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 1996, at a median of 35,000 miles, and latest on the 1998 at 85,000 miles.
By volume the 2000 is the worst of them, which makes this a problem of this specific year rather than of the model as a whole.
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.
The vehicle's battery was installed under the rear seat inside the cabin. The battery was leaking sulfuric acid which caused the consumer to become very sick. The sulfuric acid had burned through the floorboard. The consumer was unsure of what caused the illness, but discovered the leaking battery on 10/02/02. The manufacturer claimed no responsibility, stating that the battery was properly vented. *mr there was a clicking noise when the vehicle was started, the battery vents were flimsy and not securely fastened to the battery vent openings. The vibrations would easily shake the vent tubes from the battery. The consumer requested reimbursement for the monies spent on the repair of the faulty battery venting system. *scc
The battery went dead while the vehicle was parked. The consumer called aaa to jump start the vehicle. The consumer drove the vehicle to a service station and turned the vehicle off. The doors would not open manually. The consumer had to slide the key through the window to the service mechanic to open the door. Once the battery was replaced, the door opened. *ak *sc *jb
Battery failure in 2000 buick lesabre. *mr the AC delco battery which was installed in the vehicle leaked acid and suddenly failed. The warning light did not illuminate. The consumer requested reimbursement. *sc *jb
Also reported on the 2000 Buick Lesabre
Other visibility problem
Window regulator or power window failure
Other engine problem
Other body or interior problem
Other wheel or tire problem
Steering rack, gear or tie rod failure
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 60 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 electrical problem happen on the 2000 Buick Lesabre?
Across 24 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 85,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 25,000 miles and a quarter after 110,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other electrical problem on the 2000 Buick Lesabre?
60 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 1.0 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