Parking brake failure on the 2017 GMC Acadia
When parking brake failure gets reported
Owners of the 2017 GMC Acadia report parking brake failure at a median of 25,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 10,000 miles and a quarter after 50,000 miles, from 11 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 88,000 miles. It is the 6th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 10,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 60,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 52,500 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
Reports bunched into a band this tight usually mean the component has a life of its own: it goes at roughly the same mileage regardless of who owns it.
64% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7,500 miles | 8,670 miles | 27,000 miles | 50,000 miles | 60,000 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
Putting it right typically runs $250–$1,300 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 8 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2019, at a median of 500 miles, and latest on the 2015 at 130,000 miles.
By volume the 2017 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.
This issue has happened 3 times now and is becoming a safety concern for my family and I and for others on the road. I purchased the car brand new in may 2017 and the issue occured for the first time on october 02, 2017. Second time was february 15, 2018 and the third time happened around early april 2018. While driving at a slow speed (entering a parking lot, in the middle of an intersection when I was about to make a left turn on a green light, and while driving in a parking lot after getting gas) the car made a grinding/clunking sound and was brought to a very abrupt stop. I tried to press the gas but the car would not move. I changed the gear from drive to park and then drive again and would still not move. I turned the car off and then back on and still nothing. I ended up figuring it out by pressing the parking break button 1-2 times and was then able to proceed to drive. It seems as though something may have triggered the parking brake but while I was in drive and while the vehicle was moving. I was almost rear ended when this happened in the intersection and also during the time I was unable to move in the intersection, my…
This issue has happened 3 times now and is becoming a safety concern for my family and I and for others on the road. I purchased the car brand new in may 2017 and the issue occured for the first time on october 02, 2017. Second time was february 15, 2018 and the third time happened around early april 2018. While driving at a slow speed (entering a parking lot, in the middle of an intersection when I was about to make a left turn on a green light, and while driving in a parking lot after getting gas) the car made a grinding/clunking sound and was brought to a very abrupt stop. I tried to press the gas but the car would not move. I changed the gear from drive to park and then drive again and would still not move. I turned the car off and then back on and still nothing. I ended up figuring it out by pressing the parking break button 1-2 times and was then able to proceed to drive. It seems as though something may have triggered the parking brake but while I was in drive and while the vehicle was moving. I was almost rear ended when this happened in the intersection and also during the time I was unable to move in the intersection, my…
This issue has happened 3 times now and is becoming a safety concern for my family and I and for others on the road. I purchased the car brand new in may 2017 and the issue occured for the first time on october 02, 2017. Second time was february 15, 2018 and the third time happened around early april 2018. While driving at a slow speed (entering a parking lot, in the middle of an intersection when I was about to make a left turn on a green light, and while driving in a parking lot after getting gas) the car made a grinding/clunking sound and was brought to a very abrupt stop. I tried to press the gas but the car would not move. I changed the gear from drive to park and then drive again and would still not move. I turned the car off and then back on and still nothing. I ended up figuring it out by pressing the parking break button 1-2 times and was then able to proceed to drive. It seems as though something may have triggered the parking brake but while I was in drive and while the vehicle was moving. I was almost rear ended when this happened in the intersection and also during the time I was unable to move in the intersection, my…
Also reported on the 2017 GMC Acadia
Other powertrain problem
Other electrical problem
Other engine problem
Other brake problem
Other driver assistance problem
Other lighting problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 21 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 parking brake failure happen on the 2017 GMC Acadia?
Across 11 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 25,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 10,000 miles and a quarter after 50,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is parking brake failure on the 2017 GMC Acadia?
21 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.3 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