Other powertrain problem on the 2003 Buick Lesabre
When other powertrain problem gets reported
Owners of the 2003 Buick Lesabre report other powertrain problem at a median of 50,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 15,000 miles and a quarter after 95,000 miles, from 10 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 92,000 miles. It is the 2nd most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 5,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 105,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 98,030 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
When the reports scatter this far, the mileage is telling you about how these cars were driven more than about the part itself.
30% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7,280 miles | 17,400 miles | 47,600 miles | 92,919 miles | 105,310 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 $400–$4,500 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 9 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 1999, at a median of 35,000 miles, and latest on the 2004 at 100,000 miles.
By volume the 1997 carries the most reports, with 19; the 2003 has 13. 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.
While driving at any speed the consumer felt a vibration in the steering wheel and the seat. After seven visits to the dealers, they replaced the front suspension. The consumer has had the tires balanced 8 times and has bought 7 new tires. *jb the vibrating continued. The vehicle had a driveline shimmy at higher speed that was inherent to the vehicle. The front left tire was out of balance and the front left rear wheel were out of alignment and was corrected, vibrations were still evident during subsequent road test and three tires were found out of balance. The consumer was told that the tires and wheels weren't the problem. *sc the consumer was told the vehicle had a driveline shimmy at a higher speed. *jb
Dt*: the contact stated while pulling out from a stop sign or stop light, going 10-15 MPH, the vehicle would not immediately accelerate. The vehicle eventually accelerated; sometimes taking 15-30 seconds and up to five minutes. The vehicle has been to the dealership five times. The dealership ran diagnostic tests and the tests failed to show any codes to indicate a problem. Updated 08/28/06. *jb
Dt*: the contact stated the odor of gasoline was noticed around the vehicle. It was driven to the dealer, who determined the fuel line on the engine rubbed together with the transmission cable causing a hole in one of the hoses, which needed to be replaced. The transmission cable rubbed a hole in the fuel line , which caused gas to leak onto the engine. Updated 01/10/07. *jb
Also reported on the 2003 Buick Lesabre
Other body or interior problem
Other electrical problem
Other visibility problem
Other engine problem
Other suspension problem
Other wheel or tire problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 13 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 powertrain problem happen on the 2003 Buick Lesabre?
Across 10 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 50,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 15,000 miles and a quarter after 95,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other powertrain problem on the 2003 Buick Lesabre?
13 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 3.3 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