2009 Buick Enclave: sudden loss of power

Filed Jun 14, 2019 · Steering · 112,000 miles · WA

While in motion and braking to turn right or left, my power steering completely goes out. The steering wheel becomes very difficult to turn causing me to almost hit another vehicle as the turning radius had become much more larger than I am used to. The power steering does not seem to be impacted while going 15 MPH or higher, it is only while applying brakes and slowing down and turning, right or left. I have been told by an auto shop that loss of power steering is a common problem for gm vehicles between 2009 - 2011 and that even a special coverage adjustment was issued, not a recall though. The special coverage was issued for cars up to 150,000 or 10 years after car was issued for service/sold. Ten years in my case was in february 2019. I called a gm dealer to ask for help and was told I'm out of luck because the 10 years had passed. I am the 2nd owner of this vehicle and purchased it used in december 2014. I never received letters or notice from gm of this special coverage. Furthermore, I have repeatedly taken my car in for service to this same dealership over the 5+ years of ownership and never once did the gm dealer notify me of the special coverage. At least 2 times, I took my car in for steering issues.

Filed Dec 22, 2018 · Acceleration · 129,900 miles · AZ

Car accelerated on it's own during highway speeds. Was traveling on a 2 lane highway in the desert at 70 MPH in #1 lane, attempting to pass a semi truck, went to the #2 lane increased speed up to 75, let off gas once I was back in #1 lane and my car was at 5 RPM when typically it's at 2 RPM or less. My car was increasing speed on it's own & the brake had no power. I used my other foot to kick up the gas pedal and I was able to control my speed again. Very scary situation. No warning lights nor codes to indicate problem. Had my cruise control turned off at that time. Contacted buick,explained what happen, they gave me a case ref# and will be towing it to the buick service to have them look at it. I have been in a car when I lost power, but never lost control of the throttle being in full power. Lucky to be alive to tell my story and grateful I didn't kill or hurt anyone on my path. Hoping buick fixes this issue so no one has to be in a dangerous situation.

Filed Sep 21, 2018 · Transmission · 92,000 miles · AZ

Driving on the highway the rpms started racing and it felt like the transmission was slipping. We started losing power and eventually the car would not shift out of first gear. Carmax had a dealership repair the transmission. We don't use this vehicle often so when we drive it several months later it seemed fine initially then after driving it a little more we started having the engine light come on and getting several fault codes and very rough shifting at lower speeds 30-35 MPH. In the process of trying to get the issue fixed again.

Filed Jan 30, 2018 · Driver assistance, Engine · 78,000 miles · WI

Sevice stabiltrak light and check engine lightcame on and engine power loss while traveling down freeway. Check out many videos and forums of issues [xxx] parts of this document have been redacted to protect personally identifiable information pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6).

Filed Apr 19, 2016 · Steering, Transmission · 90,595 miles · ID

Car lost power steering at low speed when making turns.

Filed Feb 11, 2016 · Steering · 124,180 miles · DE

Tl* the contact owns a 2009 buick enclave. While driving 25 MPH, the vehicle lost power steering and became difficult to turn. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic. The vehicle was repaired; however, the failure recurred. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 124,180.

Filed Jan 6, 2016 · Engine, Suspension · 115,699 miles · NC

Check engine light on with reduced engine power message. Also display AC off message and overheat message. Vehicle towed. Pressure tested system found water pump leaking. Removed and replaced water pump. Front timing cover leaking. Removed front engine cover and resealed. Found both front struts leaking. Removed and replaced front struts.

Filed Jul 16, 2015 · Driver assistance, Fuel system · 72,000 miles · IN

Driving on interstate 75 north of cincinnati oh in bumper to bumper traffic on 7-13-15 in left lane when buzzer sounded ,traction control light came on and engine lost power. Trying to get to shoulder was a bad experience as traffic was having one hell of a time trying to cope with a car that suddenly wasn't moving. How a bad accident didn't happen, I just say it was good luck! We really like our buick enclave and would like to keep it. I have a code reader and no code was revealed. I pushed the traction control button several times and reentered traffic and the car ran fine for the next two hours to home......

Filed Nov 18, 2014 · Steering · 61,450 miles · IL

I was coming up to turn into my driveway and lost power steering. This condition about LED me to hit another car. At higher rpms the power steering comes back but at an idle or just above it requires great effort to turn the vehicle.

Filed Oct 2, 2014 · Driver assistance, Engine · 68,032 miles · NC

Issue: car makes loud screeching noise, loss of power steering, engine fan constantly running and car A/C heats on one side and cools on the other. Resolution: dealership located leaking gear and pump damaged which caused noise. Replaced power steering gear and power steering pump. Flushed power steering system and evac and recharge A/C system. Issue #6

Filed Aug 22, 2014 · Steering · 40,000 miles · VT

Loss of power steering at low speeds. Initially occurred occasionally, but frequency has increased to the point where it now occurs almost daily. Prior to steering failure, I did notice a funny sound when the steering wheel was turned to far right or left. At first I thought this was just my car, but it would appear that it is a pretty widespread issue judging by the number of complaints lodged, which I am sure represent just a fraction of the owners who have experienced this issue. Given the serious safety issue involved, I am very surprised there has not been a recall since gm seems to be issuing recalls for much less serious issues.

Filed Jul 27, 2014 · Steering · 85,000 miles · FL

We intermittently lose power steering at low speeds. So far we have not hit anything, but have come close at intersections, in parking lots, and in driveways. I am not sure when it first happened. Maybe about a year ago. At the beginning, it was once in a while. Now just about every trip we have an incident. Power steering reservoir is full and pump appears to be working properly. When I told the dealer of the issue I am having, they recommended changing the pump and gear at an approximate cost of $2,000. As an engineer, I found it hard to believe that both the pump and gear needs replacing. I did some research online and found that many people with same issue who did change pump and gear still had the same issue. Further research leads me to believe that the power steering system has a design is defect that needs to be addressed by the federal safety agency. The enclave and other gm vehicles have a variable effort steering (ves) system that varies the amount of effort to steer the vehicle. Apparently the steering gear valve solenoid can stick causing lose of steering with no warning. I recommend that the federal safety agency requires gm to either replace ves system with a highly reliable design or disable the system to reduce possibility of having an accident due to power steering failure. The federal safety agency is welcome to use my vehicle to analyze the issue.