2018 GMC Acadia owner complaints

The contact owns a 2018 GMC Acadia. The contact stated that on three separate occasions while driving at undisclosed speeds, the gears inadvertently shifted from second gear to third gear and then to neutral. No warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer on three separate occasions where the failure could not be duplicated. The vehicle was then taken back a fourth time where it was diagnosed and determined that the transmission needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 87,000.

2018 GMC acadia. The crossover (automatic gear shifter) is failing to recognize that it has been put into park, flashing a message on the dash instructing the driver to 'shift to park' even when the gear lever have already been moved to the 'p' position.

When I put the in park, it does not recognize that the vehicle is already engaged. The console displays tells me to put vehicle in park and beeps. I have to keep moving the gear shift from reverse to neutral to park several times before it recognizes the vehicle in engaged in park. This has been happening about 8 months or so. I have mentioned it to the dealer and they tell me their are no recalls for my problem, not even recognizing my problem with the vehicle.

Shift to park message has appeared again and the engine will not cut off. First happened in Feb 2020, mileage was 31,143. Took to Dealer and new wiring harness was installed. Had to take back to dealer April 2020 for same problem; shifter assembly was replaced at that time. Shift to park message came back on August 2023. Took back to Dealer and shifter harness replaced again and jumper harness was installed. Mileage was 52,993. Shift to park message has once again appeared, December 2025. Having to put car in park and push engine on/off button numerous times before engine will finally shut off.....sometimes having to unhook battery in order to kill the engine. This will be the fourth time we have had the same recurring issue repaired. My husband read through over half the 352 register

Recevied "action required - shift to park" message on instrument panel screen. Motor turns off but vehicle stays in accessory mode and chimes continuously. Dealer replaced wiring harness that promised to fix the problem, went away for 1 month and came back. Jiggling the shifter or flicking the shifter button is the only way it will go away.

The contact owns a 2018 GMC Acadia. The contact stated that after shifting to the park(P), there was an audible warning alarm activated, and the message "Shift to Park" was displayed, and the vehicle failed to immediately turn off. After restarting the vehicle and jiggling the gear shifter, the failure was corrected. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer, who diagnosed the vehicle and determined that the gear shifter assembly was faulty and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired, but while picking up her daughter from school, the gear shifter was shifted into park(P), and moments later, the vehicle started rolling backwards. The contact had to activate the parking brake to stop the vehicle. The vehicle was later towed back to the dealer. The cause of the failure was not yet de

Experienced the "vehicle not in park " when shifter was in park. Engine would not turn off because electrical switch did not recognize the vehicle was in park. After many tries I was able to turn vehicle off. Had vehicle serviced and shifter was replaced (3 weeks ago ). Today shifter froze in park yet console indicated vehicle was in drive. Did not remove foot off of brake because vehicle would move forward because it was in gear. Could not shut off vehicle because it is a push button start/stop and foot must be off brake to stop engine. Called dealer for help. Finally we put emergency brake on and pushed stop button. The engine turned off but electrical system was still on. Had vehicle towed to dealer. They will advise in a week or so they are short handed.

11/22/24 shift to park issue appeared. Happens constantly. I just bought car on 10/26/2024. I know by looking up shift to park issues there was a recall on 2017 an 2018 cars.

My 2018 acadia keeps giving error message "shift to park" , it has drained my battery twice I had to get new one. In order to shut off error, I have to restart ignition and move shifter to drive or reverse several times before error message to shut off. At times the vehicle still thinks it is on and then drains battery. I brought it in on september 2019 and the dealership replaced the harness however it has started again. My warranty is about to expire. If this happens again I will need to pay out of pocket. I have not received any recall notifications from GMC. This is very frustrating and it is a safety hazard as we don't know if car is on park.

Had to replace the shifter, harness, and parking assist module to the tune of $1569.00! When it was put into park the system would not acknowledge it was in park...therefore I could not lock the vehicle and an alarm kept going off. My Acadia only has 12,000 miles on it...NO excuse for having to replace those parts with or without a warranty! Dealership said I am not the only one this has happened to...they have replaced a number of them!

I am getting a error message "shift to park" even when the vehicle is clearly in park. It drains the battery because you can't shut off the vehicle with the message. Have to jiggle the shifter after several attempts it may clear the message. Had one time I got out with the error message and the vehicle began to roll with no one in it even though the shifting area said "p" for park. And sitting in my garage with car running could not get the shifter to move to reverse, drive, anything, had to shut it off 3 times before it would register. Have had the wiring harness already replaced.

On december 5th 2019, I arrived home from work to take my son to his dr. Apt. I pulled into my driveway around 10:30am. I left the car on so my son wouldn't have to go into a cold car, being he way sick. I ran into my house where my mother was watching both my sons. I said to my mom, let me use the restroom quickly before I get his coat on. I was no more than 2 mins. As I stepped out the bathroom, I hear my husband screaming from up stairs the car is on fire! He comes running down there stairs as fast as he can, almost injuring himself because he didn't see me yet and thought I was in the car! He then sees me and grabs the fire extinguisher. He runs outside to try and extinguish the fire..as I called the franklin square fire department and 911. But in under the 5 mins the car was engulfed

The car is put in park but the it doesn’t detect that it’s in park and won’t turn off. You can’t get out of your car because the won’t turn off. There were no errors before this. I get an error message that says shift to park. I have to shift the car into drive and then park several times to make the car turn register that it’s in park The dealership has not looked at my car. Nothing has ever been wrong with my car. I have read online that it’s a problem for many people with Arcadia vehicles .

I put the car in park, but the instrument panel reads "shift to park." the engine turns off, but the electrical system stays on because the car doesn't think it's actually in park. I have to turn the engine back on, shift to another gear, shift back to park, and turn the engine off to see if it registers that the car is in park. I've had to do this several times before the car actually registers that its in park and will completely turn off.

The shift to park action required keeps popping up when I go to turn my car off. The car will be in park. I will have to turn the car on and off multiple times before the notification goes away and than im able to get out of the car.

Car has started displaying a "shift vehicle into park" message when I have put the car in park. Even though the care is clearly in park this warning displays and I'm unable to turn the vehicle completely off. Have re restart and mess with the shifter several times in order to be able to turn the vehicle off and lock the doors.

Put car in park and push button to shut car off and motor turns off but it's in accessory mode and the display message says to shift to park. Takes numerous times turning car on and off and moving the shift button around before it recognizes that the car is in park. It started a month age where it would happen only once and when I turned the car on and back off it stayed off which made me think it was human error. This last time it took me an hour before it recognized it was in park search the internet and see other people having the same problem and GMC is aware but no recalls.

2018 GMC acadia park issue.the vehicle keeps saying "shift to park" when parked. Can not shut the vehicle off or lock the doors. The dash stays lit up. Always have to run through the gears several times taking up to 15 minutes to get into park.

I have been having issues with shift to park message for a yr now and it just gets worse and do not have the funds to pay for it myself bu5 see that it is a recall and gm is covering cost for other makes models of my same yr for same issue takes sometimes 20 minutes to mess with my shifter until I can finally park my car where it shuts completely off. This is a safety risk as 1 it could roll away if it isn't 2 my car could drain and die leaving me stranded by not turning off fully one time. This is ridiculous I called gm and all they just pushed me off I don't understand how this is not being taken serious especially knowing this is a known problem!

The warning light for a steering assist needs service came on the dash. The dealer had a code (po128) that pertained to a bad thermostat and coolant temp. sensor. The steering assist could have failed, along with possible engine damage. The dealer replaced the thermostat and the coolant temp sensor. Their were no police or insurance reports needed.