Other electrical problem on the 2008 GMC Acadia
1 fire 1 injury 2 of the 57 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 2008 GMC Acadia report other electrical problem at a median of 87,500 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 65,000 miles and a quarter after 127,500 miles, from 39 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 85,000 miles. It is the 6th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 25,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 157,500 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 131,024 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.
13% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25,776 miles | 64,687 miles | 88,000 miles | 127,500 miles | 156,800 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 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 17 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2020, at a median of 5,000 miles, and latest on the 2012 at 95,000 miles.
By volume the 2017 carries the most reports, with 147; the 2008 has 57. 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.
Water leaking in into passenger area and on instrument panel body electrical centre causing fuse block to become wet and short out. All dash display went out and came back on with the "service air bag "service tire maintenance system" illuminated. Purchased car on 7/16/08 and leaking occurred approx 1 month later on 8/18/08. Have had to take car back to dealer several times. It has been at dealer 2 of the 6 weeks I have owned it. I am concerned that air bag will deploy. Have contacted gmc and they are very un-helpful. *tr
Turned down a road and felt something pop and then the transmission would not shift out of 2nd. Gear. Since then have had several issues with the transmission shifting to excessively. That some issues with extremely excessive shifting. Once my wife pulled out into traffic and the transmission would not shift causing a man in a truck to slid off of the road to avoid hitting her because the vehicle would not shift and go down the road. And also with the battery dying for no reason. This has happened 4 different times. *tr
I own a 2008 gmc acadia with melting headlights. The plastic housing is melting and the bulbs are melting into the sockets. I have had problems for many months with the electrical system including replacing 3 batteries in 1 1/2 years. I have had the vehicle checked by the dealer which finds "no problem" with the electrical system, and no explanation for the battery life. With intense heat that would be necessary to cause this socket to melt, metal and all, is of great concern, and is a potential fire hazard. This vehicle also was involved in a recent recall for possible fire with heated windshield wipers (now disconnected). Hopefully, this can be investigated, so that no one gets hurt. *tr
Also reported on the 2008 GMC Acadia
Other powertrain problem
Complete transmission failure
Other engine problem
Sunroof failure or glass breakage
Airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault
Timing chain, belt or tensioner failure
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 57 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 2008 GMC Acadia?
Across 39 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 87,500 miles. A quarter were filed before 65,000 miles and a quarter after 127,500 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 2008 GMC Acadia?
57 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 1.2 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