Other powertrain problem on the 2014 GMC Acadia
2 crashes 1 injury 3 of the 25 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 powertrain problem gets reported
Owners of the 2014 GMC Acadia report other powertrain problem at a median of 50,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 5,000 miles and a quarter after 100,000 miles, from 18 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 92,000 miles. It is the 4th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 400 miles at the tenth percentile to 155,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 156,460 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.
44% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 440 miles | 5,750 miles | 47,500 miles | 102,000 miles | 156,900 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, 2 a crash 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 $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 16 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2021, at a median of 30,000 miles, and latest on the 2025 at 125,000 miles.
By volume the 2017 carries the most reports, with 181; the 2014 has 25. 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.
Vehicle jerks and lurches when slowing to turn a corner, then accelerating, especially when turning left. The transmission seems to downshift, but pauses, then jerks into gear when upshifting when the gas pedal is pressed. This only occurs when I slow down to turn a corner (approx. 10-15 MPH), then press on the gas pedal. The lurch usually happens between 15-20 MPH. I've taken it to the gmc dealership where it was purchased several times, but they don't know what to do with it. They mentioned that it could just be the vehicle "learning," but it now has over 4000 miles on it. Their latest thinking was that it was a programming problem, but they said that gmc has not created a software fix for the program, and therefore there is nothing that can be done. They told me that it is safe to drive, so I should just keep driving it. I've contacted gmc, but they just refer me back to the dealership, and they don't know what to do. There are similar complaints from others who are experiencing the same problem on www.acadiaforum.net. *tr
I was driving on a highway with the speed limit increasing from 35 MPH to 55 MPH. I was going about 35 MPH. The car in front of me signaled to turn. I applied the brake and slowed down until the car in front of me completed their turn. When I moved my foot from the brake to the gas pedal and attempted to accelerate, the engine roared loudly, but the car would neither shift nor accelerate. I had traffic behind me, but I was not able to go faster than about 20 MPH in the 45 MPH zone. I took my foot completely off the gas pedal and allowed the car to coast for a few seconds. I was finally able to get the car to shift gears and eventually accelerate to keep up with traffic. I was worried that the car behind me would hit me, but they did not. I was grateful that I was not driving on a busy freeway or attempting to merge into heavy traffic as it could have caused an accident. *tr
Was going to back out of my garage when I put the shifter into reverse. When the shifter was in reverse, it shifted out of gear on its own into drive and it went forward slamming front end of the vehicle into a refrigerator. Causing the refrigerator to be completely destroyed and the front end of the hood to become crooked. This is very dangerous and concerning as had their been someone in front of the vehicle it would have more than likely seriously hurt them or killed them. I have also had other incidents when driving the vehicle that it will shift from drive to low on its own and this happens frequently at least 3 times per week. *tr
Also reported on the 2014 GMC Acadia
Other electrical problem
Airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault
Other engine problem
Airbag inflator rupture
No-start or intermittent start failure
Fuel gauge or level sensor failure
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 25 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 2014 GMC Acadia?
Across 18 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 50,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 5,000 miles and a quarter after 100,000 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 2014 GMC Acadia?
25 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.4 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