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1997 Buick Lesabre at 96,000 miles

You did not give a mileage, so this uses 96,000 — the median reported failure mileage for this model year, which is a rough stand-in for “a typical example of this car”. Put your real reading in the box below for an answer about your car.

Rounds to

At 96,000 miles on this car

At 96,000 miles on a 1997 Buick Lesabre, 20 of the failure modes other owners have reported already have their median report at or below your reading, and 0 more fall inside the window where they are usually reported. The heaviest of the ones already due is other engine problem.

Already past the median 20

Half of all reports of these failures came in at or below where your car is now.

8 more.

You are in the window 0

Your reading falls inside the middle half of reports for these.

Nothing here.

Typically later 17

Reported further down the road than where you are.

5 more.

Timing unknown 25

Reported, but too few owners gave an odometer reading to place them.

  • Other visibility problem 15×
  • Wiper or washer failure 10×
  • Complete transmission failure 7×
  • Alternator or charging system failure 6×
  • Control module (ECM/PCM/BCM) failure 6×
  • Cruise control failure 5×
  • Steering rack, gear or tie rod failure 5×
  • Steering column or shaft failure 5×
  • Tire blowout or tread separation 4×
  • Other lighting problem 4×
  • Master cylinder or brake booster failure 3×
  • Strut, shock or spring failure 3×

13 more.

Why the list is generic until you type a number

Every figure below is a comparison against your odometer, so with no reading given the page has to pick one: 96,000 miles, roughly what a 1997 car covers at 12,000 miles a year. A reading 30,000 miles either side of that moves failures between the columns, which is the difference between a useful list and a generic one.

Already inside the reported range

20 failure modes on the 1997 Buick Lesabre have a median reported mileage at or below 96,000: other engine problem (median 75,000 miles, 76 reports), other electrical problem (median 80,000 miles, 29 reports), other fuel system problem (median 80,000 miles, 27 reports), seat belt or retractor failure (median 45,000 miles, 20 reports), other powertrain problem (median 85,000 miles, 19 reports) and exhaust leak or fumes in the cabin (median 80,000 miles, 16 reports).

Half the owners who reported each of these had done so by that mileage, which means half had not. A failure being "due" here is a statement about other people's cars, and the useful response is an inspection rather than a pre-emptive repair.

Still ahead of you

17 further modes sit above your reading, the nearest being stalling while driving at a median of 105,000 miles. On a car you intend to keep, these are the ones that decide whether it is worth keeping.

What this list is not

It is a reading of what owners of other 1997 Buick Lesabres reported, and at what odometer reading they reported it. It is not a maintenance schedule, not a diagnosis, and not a prediction about this car: two identical cars with different service histories are not the same car.

Complaints are filed voluntarily, mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers, and a failure mode with few reports has a wide window even when the median looks precise. Modes with fewer than 8 dated reports are shown without percentiles for that reason.

Where 96,000 miles falls on the curve

The three columns above sort the failure modes one by one. This is the same evidence in aggregate: every dated report on this model year, stacked up in the order the odometer readings arrived. The dashed line marked you is where your car sits. How much of the line is to the left of that mark is how much of this model year's reported trouble is, on the evidence, already behind you.

Share of reports filed by each mileage, with your reading marked
you: 96k

About 44% of the dated reports on this model year had already been filed by 96,000 miles. That is the share of the problems that show up in this record, not of the problems this car will have. A further 1 report came in above the top of the scale, which is why the line stops short of the top.

  • Line share of reports filed by that mileage
  • Dashed the mileages called out above

A steep early climb means a car whose reports cluster young, which is the pattern of a defect rather than of wear. A line that only gets going past six figures is the opposite. Neither shape says anything about the specific car in your driveway, and a curve built from a few dozen readings can be moved by one owner with a talkative afternoon.

Full report for the 1997 Buick Lesabre Compare with another car

Questions this page answers

What should I expect at 96,000 miles on a 1997 Buick Lesabre?

20 of the failure modes owners have reported on the 1997 Buick Lesabre have a median report at or below 96,000 miles, and 0 more fall inside the mileage window where they are usually reported. That is a watch list drawn from other owners, not a prediction about this car.

How to use the three columns. The left column is the list to hand a mechanic before you buy, and to check the service history for if you already own the car. The middle column is what to budget for this year. The right column is not a reprieve — it is a reminder that a used car has a bill schedule, and this is roughly where it falls. All of it is drawn from 514 owner complaints about this exact model year, not from a maintenance manual. How the percentiles are computed.

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