Lights
12 complaints filed with NHTSA about the Buick Envision's lights. Headlights, tail lights, brake lights, turn signals and interior lighting failures.
General Motors, LLC (GM) is recalling certain 2020-2023 Cadillac CT4 and CT5; 2021-2023 Buick Envision; and 2022-2023 Cadillac Escalade and Escalade ESV, Chevrolet Silverado 1500, Suburban, Tahoe, GMC Sierra 1500, Yukon, and Yukon XL vehicles. The daytime...
When driving on the freeway at night in intermittently foggy conditions, I attempted to adjust the automatic high-beam controls on the center console screen in the vehicle. During this attempt, as I was selecting to deactivate the auto lighting function, ALL of the vehicle lights shut off at once, and the console and screen-based instrument cluster went completely black. I attempted to stop the vehicle as quickly as possible and struck a small reflector post at the side of the road. The instrument panel and lights...
restarted, but his incident could have easily resulted in a catastrophic loss of control, endangering myself and others. To my knowledge, no incidents or recalls of this sort have been reported for this model, but a recall for a similar malfunction was issued in late 2023 for some models of the Chevrolet Trax, Buick Envista, and Buick Encore GX. This vehicle has not yet been inspected by the manufacturer, police, insurance representatives, or others as of yet, but an insurance claim has been issued, so such an inspection may be forthcoming. No warning lamps or warning signals preceded this complete blackout of all the vehicle's lights and the main screen/instrument cluster. This malfunction appeared without warning and, in this case, during extremely dangerous, nighttime driving conditions.
Interior light keep coming on while driving when I turn it off it comes back on
Purchase the vehicle new with fifteen miles in June 2022, 11/3/2022 Service Instrument Cluster failure happened during a vehicle software update in November 2022. 11/7/2022 Took the vehicle to a GM Dealer they performed a software update that was to correct the problem. However, a day later the Service Instrument Cluster light came on. parts for this are on back order. 8/04/2022 When driving, the gears are not shifting correctly; also, while driving, the RPM jump up, When I speed up to move over to the next lane...
or pass, the vehicle hesitated, the engine would accelerate, up, and the vehicle started moving slowly. I also notice in this new vehicle that when I turn off the car, there is a loud noise like knocking coming from the front of the vehicle that lasts for a few minutes after the car is off. When program the memory seat seems to mix up drivers 1 and 2 must reprogram several times and it still doing the same thing. When I pruchased the car I was told the chip would be in between September and October and would be considered a recall having them put in. now it indefinite with no time frame of when the chip will be available. The purchased price and paid for this car included heated seats front and back. Paid for items not equipped on the car.
The contact owns a 2017 Buick Envision. The contact stated while driving 45-50 mph, a week after purchasing the vehicle, she noticed that the headlights were significantly dim. There were no warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired by an independent mechanic or dealer. The contact stated that the failure recurred while driving. The dealer was made aware of the failure and informed the contact a diagnostic test was needed to determine the cause of the failure. The contact stated that...
she contacted a second dealer, Bell and Bell Buick GMC Trucks (2491 Hwy 9 E, Little River, SC 29566), and was informed that the vehicle needed to be diagnosed. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 20,000.
Dash lights go out when you are in a shady area. Stay out way to long. No way to adjust to make them bright. Collision alert goes off when you are not near hitting anything. Clock went from est to west coast time. Car makes a knocking sound in the rear end. Also makes a scrapping sound. Doesn't matter if your going up hill, downhill, left or right. Never know when it will do it. Always when the speed is between 45 & 55 mph. This is the second buick envision that was repurchased. Same issue with the first one. Worked on many times by garage & even a rep sent from buick. The problem could not be fixed. This was 18 months of issues to get a resolution. Happy that I have a chevy equinox now.
Car makes a scrapping sound. Spent 32 days, then 22 days at the garage. At the 32 days torque tube to drive shaft changed. Noise came back. At 22 days buick sent a field rep. To work on envision. Invoice said they loosened & retorque the frame that attaches the rear differential to the unit body of the car. With my case buick called & told me the garage changed a carrier bearing. Asked the garage why they said that. Was told they had to put something down to get paid. Buick ended up doing a repurchase. Now we...
have the same noise in the replacement buick envision 2017. Another issue with this suv is the dash lights. It's sunny out & you get in a shaded area & they go out. Dash is so dim sometimes you can't see your speed or your gages plus radio. There is a wheel to brighten or dim the lights. You roll the wheel up to have a bright setting & it rolls back, like it's spring loaded. July 14, 2017 was the first trip of many to the garage. The noise is sporadic. It doesn't matter if you are going uphill, down hill, left or right. The garage know how to make the noise. They drive 50 -55 mph & drop the car in low. This puts the car in 6th gear. We don't do that. It makes the noise. Was shocked that they figured our how to make the scrapping sound.
The headlights on this vehicle are mostly inadequate. They fail to provide decent lighting beyond a short distance in front of the vehicle. The fog lights improve the situation, but when using high beams you'd have better luck seeing ahead by putting a flashlight out the window. My 2017 encore with the pan reflective halogen lights are much more effective than these more expensive "terminator" style headlights. (The lights look like terminator eyes). This presents a major safety concern because you cannot see far enough in front of you to see what is ahead - and high beams are worse than low beams with fog lights.
The interior lighting for the dash/radio/backup camera/nav screen are all dimmed prematurely in the evening. You'll enter a shady area and while still very bright outside, the screen dims and all of the dash lights dim to the point of being unusable - almost non-existent. Safety issue on backup camera, or if trying to view nav screen and next turns, you are driving blind because the screen is too dark to see anything. Dealer claimed to have brightened the screen, but that simply didn't do anything. Problem...
still apparent. Problem is that the dimming sensor is too quick to switch to night mode, and night mode is okay if it is dark outside, it is too dim when it is anything but completely dark. And sadly, the sensor doesn't seem to know this.
Tl* the contact owns a 2017 buick envision. The contact stated that the headlights failed to illuminate up to standards. The local dealer (todd wenzel buick gmc of grand rapids, 2727 28th st se, grand rapids, mi, 49512) was made aware of the failure; however, no additional assistance was offered. The manufacturer was also contacted and stated that there was no failure. Additional assistance was not offered. The failure mileage was approximately 20.
The headlight illumination on the 2017 buick envision or inadequate. They are dim and lack distance projection even on bright. We can barely see to get up and down the hill of our driveway. We do not drive at night unless we know the road well. The headlights should be recalled because they will cause accidents and there will be lawsuits.
All dash gauge and navigation lights go dark and unreadable when going from bright daylight conditions to shady conditions such as driving under a dark grey cloud shelf , in heavy rain, or even driving into tree shade. When you are in heavy downpour at 65, 70, or 75 mph it can be very panicky to not only drive but see your speed. Only very, very faint gauge info and nav info are displayed, so you cannot tell speed or if under guidance, where your turns or lane guidance info are. 2 Buick dealers have "flashed the...
chip" and occurances have lessened, but still there. One instance only "fixed" by restarting the car after taking a highway exit, the other I could restore by using the dash light brightness option after holding the switch for 15 seconds. The vehicle was in motion each time at varying speeds both in city and on highway. We shined a flashlight on the sensor located center front of dash with no return to normal intensity. I think problem lies in both the programming and the light sensor circuit itself. Service personnel cannot duplicate (of course). This 2nd report to you, the chip was flashed after that report. Thanks.
2 Hours after sunrise or 2 hours before sunset, if driving on a sunny day and drive into tree shadows, both the instrument panel and the intellilink system displays go completely dark. This is with no external lights on (why should they be on a bright sunny morning or evening?). Returning to sunlit stretches do not make the panels go bright again. You have to turn off the ignition and restart the car to bring the panels back to daylight intensity. You have to stare at the dark panels for 5 seconds to see if you can...
read anything, which you cannot, and this is making for eyes-off-the-road-time very dangerous. Made a service appointment 2/22, but only the salesman and service writer looked at car in the service lane and stated nothing wrong. The car did not enter the service bays at all, but only 1 service requested so far.This problem has happened 3 times; 2/22, 4/16, and 5/11/17. I saw on a buick envision trouble web page where 1 person with same problem said they found a service bulletin for this, but no reference to where they found it or the bulletin itself. I am still looking and am going to make another service appointment, but in person this time and not via the dealer's web page. This is a dangerous driving situation.
Source: U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) complaints and recalls, checked daily. Complaints are owners' own reports and are not verified. How we use the data
Owners helping owners
Know before you drive.
Every experience you share - good or bad - shows on that vehicle's page and helps the next owner and buyer. Two minutes, anonymous.
Share your experience