Other electrical problem on the 2003 Buick Regal
1 fire 1 of the 8 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.
Only 6 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 electrical problem gets reported
There are 8 reports of other electrical problem on the 2003 Buick Regal, 6 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 85,000 miles. It is the 3rd most-reported problem on this model year.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | 149,000 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, 1 a fire is 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 13 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2019, at a median of 5,000 miles, and latest on the 2003 at 150,000 miles.
By volume the 2011 carries the most reports, with 49; the 2003 has 8. 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.
2003 buick regal grand sport on sunday june 22, 2008 my husband and I were returning home from chicago, il. While we were driving down interstate 55 I accelerated to go around the vehicle in front of me. When I stepped on the gas to accelerate, the dash lights all went red, and the vehicle stalled. It lost all power. This was very scary and could have cost many lives. I was able to get to the shoulder by coasting there. After sitting there in disbelief of what had just happened. The vehicle was still running so I put it into drive and tried to accelerate again to pull into traffic, but the car would not move. I turned the vehicle off and restarted it. And it started right up, so I pulled into traffic and proceeded home. However the vehicle was running at less power. Even through the speedometer read 65 I was not going 65 I was going more like 55 on the interstate. My husband noticed the difference also. When we reached our home, we unloaded the suitcases and immediately took the vehicle to the dealership where we bought the car and I have my repair work done. (we bought this car new from the dealership) after having the car for…
The vehicle engine shut down and had to be restarted while rolling. Every event usually involved turning and braking at the same time, but occasionally shut down while idling at stop lights. It appeared to be similar to the ignition recalls that have been made on other vehicles, but not on this particular model. It has occurred several times and at least two to three times while turning onto on ramps to freeways. It always requires shifting into neutral to restart and very stiff steering because power steering is disabled. This has occurred in traffic and presented very hazardous conditions. I believe the ignition is at fault, but cannot say positively. Usually occurs when the car has been driven for some time and the engine has been running quite some time and is considerably warm. Under hot conditions it occurs more often. *tr
Tl* the contact owns a 2003 buick regal. While driving approximately 30 MPH, the vehicle stalled and an unknown warning light illuminated. The contact was able to restart the vehicle, but the failure recurred. The contact took the vehicle to a certified mechanic who found no failures; however, the mechanic stated that the computer system failed intermittently. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the issue. The VIN was unknown. The approximate failure mileage was 77,582.
Also reported on the 2003 Buick Regal
Other engine problem
Ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure
Overheating
Tail light, brake light or signal failure
Other brake problem
Other body or interior problem
How far this goes
This page is kept out of search results because 8 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 8 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 2003 Buick Regal?
Across 6 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 150,000 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 electrical problem on the 2003 Buick Regal?
8 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.2 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