When I have cruise control on but not in use at that moment the car will engage cruise on its own. It does this at a high rate of acceleration with no Rhyme or Reason as to why. I have to be quick to get it to stop because of the high rate of speed. I do not use the cruise control anymore on my vehicle because of being unsafe. I have been lucky a couple of times I have not rammed into the vehicle in front of me through no fault of mine except for having cruise control on. No it has not been examined or inspected. The problem has not been confirmed by the dealership or and independent service center. It has been confirmed by various drivers of my car. None of them will use cruise control anymore.
The worst 2001 Buick Century problems
Ranked by number of owner complaints. Mileage and cost come from what owners wrote.
Problems by type
Tap a problem to see which part fails, at what mileage and in which other years.
- Engine31
- Brakes26
- Transmission21
- Acceleration19
- Electrical17
- Visibility15
- Steering11
- Body8
- Tires8
- Airbags5
- Lights5
- Suspension4
- Fuel system3
- Seat belts3
- Driver assistance1
- Locks1
Specific symptoms reported on the 2001 Buick Century
Recalls 3
Seat belts
- What is wrong
- Vehicle description: certain passenger vehicles, equipped with sunvisor located air bag labels, fail to conform to federal motor vehicles safety standard no. 208, "occupant crash protection." these vehicles have a message area less than 30 cm which does not meet the requirements of the standard.
- Risk
- These vehicles do not comply with the standard.
- Remedy
- Gm will mail a new bilingual air bag label with installation instructions. However, the customer may bring the label to their dealer for installation free of charge. Owner notification began may 4, 2001. Owners who do not receive the free label and installation instructions within a reasonable time should contact oldsmobile at 1‑800‑442‑6537 or buick at 1‑800‑521‑7300.
Recall number 01V109000 · Recall details
Air bags: side/window
- What is wrong
- Vehicle description: passenger vehicles. Some of these vehicles exhibit a condition in which the driver side impact air bag inflator separates from the air bag module during deployment.
- Risk
- If the inflator separates, the air bag will not deploy properly during a crash and occupant protection would be reduced. If is also possible that a separated inflator could be propelled downward and could result in injury to a rear seat passenger whose foot is positioned approximately under the inflator module.
- Remedy
- Dealers will replace the side impact air bag module.
Recall number 00V371000 · Recall details
Seat belts
- What is wrong
- Vehicle description: passenger vehicles, light duty trucks, sport utility vehicles, and mini vans equipped with trw seat belt buckle assemblies. The buckle base of these seat belt assemblies were not properly heat treated and therefore do not pass the load bearing requirement of federal motor vehicle safety standard no. 209, "seat belt assemblies."
- Risk
- In the event of a vehicle crash, the occupant may not be properly restrained.
- Remedy
- Dealers will inspect the vehicle's safety belt buckle assembly date codes and, if necessary, will replace any safety belt buckle assembly.
Recall number 00V228003 · Recall details
Technical service bulletins for the 2001 Buick Century 393
Bulletins tell dealers how to fix known problems. A warranty extension means the manufacturer pays for that repair for longer.
- This PI communicates the requirement to provide a pico file to receive diagnostic assistance from TAC.
- This Preliminary Information communication provides information to the technician about vehicles that have...
- This Preliminary Information communicates to the dealer the process for downloading or updating operating...
- This Preliminary Information communication provides information to the technician about vehicles that the...
- Vehicle Wide Programming (VWP) is a new process to update software on GM Vehicles
- GM is receiving damaged (cracked or broken) transmission cores returned to the reman facilities
- This service bulletin advises of a new fuel injection cleaner kit used for decarbonizing the intake valves...
- This bulletin provides information for use on a Product Assistance Claim (PAC), which is formerly known as...
- This service bulletin provides information for dealers/technicians on Service Programming System (SPS)...
- This technical bulletin advises of a new fuel injection cleaner kit used for decarbonizing the intake...
2001 Buick Century fuel economy
Official EPA estimates in miles per gallon (MPGe for electric). Ranges cover trims that share the same engine.
| Engine | Drive | City | Highway | Combined |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.1L 6‑cyl | FWD | 18 | 26 | 21 |
What 2001 Buick Century owners say
Most recent owner complaints, unedited.
Steering locked while driving on highway. Car would speed up on its own without touching the gas peddle. This occurred as soon as the car was taken out of park.
5/15/2017, $1,197.66 repair for intake manifold gasket. On october 23, 2008, the california superior court granted final approval to the class action lawsuit, but nothing is available to those of use that did not have a problem until after that suit. Https://www.girardgibbs.com/dexcool/
For almost the entire time of 16 years of owning this car, the set cruise control often times speeds uncontrollably. Have replaced the module twice but continues to happen. Local buick dealer tells me they have not heard of this before. I firmly believe they are untruthful.
Turned on speed control while driving on interstate, pressed set button to set the speed. The cruise indicator light came on. The car accelerated on its own. My speed went from 65 MPH to 80 MPH in a few seconds. I depressed the set button again to decelerate, but when I released the set button, the car immediately accelerated again. I depressed the brake to stop the acceleration & turned the speed control switch to the off position.
We purchased this car (as is) for our grandson. On our way home from the dealer, as soon as the transmission warmed up (4-5 miles), the shifting was hard and jerking with a whine coming from the transmission. Took the car to a garage which found the computer code of p1811 and were told a complete rebuild would be necessary. Went online and discovered many others had complaints of the same nature. Would hope gm would come forward with reimbursement since its transmission in this model was incorrectly designed. The rebuilding garage owner even had to go to a special school to learn how to correct this problem in the buick century. After paying $1,757.25 to queens transmission, inc., in bradenton, fl (941‑746‑7480), the shifting is now normal.
While driving with the speed control turned on but not engaged the speed control will engage and the engine will race until brake is tapped or speed control switch turned off. This can happened randomly , when resume is engaged , or when lane change signaling.
Had transmission replaced at authorized gmc dealership may 2006 .this came with a warranty. Several times over several summers since then have taken vehicle into dealership with concerns that happened after vehicle would be driven in high humidity high temperature days after traveling a minimum of 60 miles mostly on state highways that are quite rough and curvy, I.e. It would take about 90 minutes or more togo this distance. Then when in bumper to bumper traffic and trying to move forward or stopping the car's automatic transmission would cause the vehicle to shake like jumping into the wrong gear and in more than one time the car's engine would die. It always happened at low speeds so luckily we didn't loose control of the vehicle. But, the only way to stop this from continuing was to stop and park to let the engine and or cool down. We even put on the heater while driving to help reduce the temperature gauge to go below the halfway mark. This car was purchased in shelton, wa not in ky, so we never experienced this prior to transmission replacement. The service department has never been able to duplicate problem, now the cruise control has stopped working. We have dashboard warnings continually stating low oil, service engine soon (when just completed), etc.
Tl* the contact owns a 2001 buick century. While driving approximately 35 MPH, the vehicle stalled. The vehicle was able to be restarted, but the failure recurred multiple times. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic who could not determine the cause of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired and the manufacturer was not notified. The approximate failure mileage was 200,000.
Low beam headlights suddenly stopped working while driving at night. I bought the car used a year ago, and the multifunction switch was replaced just before I bought it. After doing some investigation, I discover it's a very common, almost universal problem with these vehicles that costs almost $800 to repair. Gm hasn't issued a recall for this defect.... Yes, I said defect.
Compare the 2001 Buick Century
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Questions about the 2001 Buick Century
Is the 2001 Buick Century reliable?
Owners have filed 145 complaints about the 2001 Buick Century, close to a typical Century model year.
What is the 2001 Buick Century year score?
The 2001 Buick Century scores 69 out of 100 (average). The score compares it with the other model years of the Buick Century: 75 is a typical year, 50 means twice the usual complaints, and serious complaints and recalls lower it.
What is the most common problem with the 2001 Buick Century?
Engine and cooling, with 31 complaints, typically around 68,450 miles. Next is brakes (26).
How many recalls does the 2001 Buick Century have?
3 recalls, covering seat belts and air bags.
What year does the Buick Century have bad engine?
The Buick Century model years with the most engine complaints are 1999 (61 complaints), 2002 (33 complaints) and 2001 (31 complaints).
What gas mileage does the 2001 Buick Century get?
Official estimates for the 2001 Buick Century range from 21 mpg combined. The most efficient version (3.1L 6-cyl, FWD) gets 18 city and 26 highway.
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