2010 Buick Lacrosse: sudden loss of power

Filed Dec 16, 2025 · Acceleration, Electrical · VA

I purchased a vehicle August 2, 2024 from Kingdom auto sales. The car was inspected July 2024 in which it passed shortly after the car wouldn’t go over 40 mph. It would say it’s an over speed. The car runs hot and the parking assist light won’t go off May 25, 2025 I was driving on the highway in the car lost power and the speed was reduced after getting off the highway lost control of the steering wheel due to the stability and hit a guard rail. no reports was made. I contacted the dealership in which I haven’t been contacted and problem not resolved.

Filed Jul 24, 2023 · Acceleration, Electrical · FL

I get Reduced Engine Power and Service Stabilitrak messages. Engine Code P2138 is prevalent. The car will not accelerate, nor maintain highway speeds, forcing the driver to pull off the road and shut off the car. The warning message returns under normal driving conditions. This code points to several components [Accelerator Pedal Position (APP) Sensor, Throttle Body Assembly with Sensor, Manifold Absolute Position (MAP) Sensor, etc...] All of which I have replaced. It is rumored that General Motors knows that it is a problem and the true fix is to replace the wire(s) and seal or replace the connector. Refer to GM Technical Service Document 070604019F

Filed Jan 1, 2020 · Electrical, Engine · 80,000 miles · CA · crash

Driving at nite to er and on way I thought I must have hit ignition button but car just locked up lost all power. I called gm they got back to me said they would be sending someone to see car. I did reck car not to bad but bad enough to take hole front bumper off. I am so mad because I thought I was crazy thinking car would just loos all power and even locked me in car could not open door thank god window was down. But they said they were coming to see me and car but never did

Filed Nov 5, 2019 · Driver assistance, Electrical · 130,000 miles · MO

Over the two years, while driving, the service stabilitrak warning light comes on; the ABS & park assist lights flash on and off; my RPM, speedometer, & temperature gauges go haywire; and the engine loses power causing the car to jerk. This happens while the vehicle is in motion at various speeds. You never know when this will happen. I have been put in dangerous situations when this happens while driving including on side streets and major highways. The check engine light also comes on and stays on throughout the rest of my drive. You can go sometimes weeks or months incident free and with no check engine light on. Then out of nowhere it happens again. I have taken my car to the dave sinclair buick / gm dealer located in st. Louis, missouri on 4 separate occasions over the last 2 years for the same issue yet to no avail it is still not fixed. The dealer's tech said my cars problem is almost certainly electrical. So far they have found multiple codes for ECM (they replaced at my cost) & TCM lost communication PCM malfunction & other communication issues (they reprogrammed). They have driven the car and have duplicated the issues but to this point have not been able to pinpoint the problem but said that it's electrical. I contacted buick and chatted with an advisor (a copy was uploaded) who basically told me there is nothing that they can do. A quick search of the internet will show several other buick owners experiencing the same issue as I describe. This is a very dangerous situation & I don't feel safe driving the car since I never know when the car will suddenly lose power, thus causing an accident.

Filed Sep 27, 2018 · Lights · 121,000 miles · NC

While driving or sitting all the instrument panel/dash and headlight/daytime driving lights intermittently either flash off and on or shut off for several seconds and come back on. This problem has built up over time and the radio has also started to also intermittently turn off and on conjunction with all the lighting. This seems to occur when ever there is some kind of quick draw of electrical power, such as braking, downshifting of transmission to accelerate, turning on defrosters, or simply while driving. This power loss also affects the cruise control and when power loss occurs it will disengage. This disturbingly occurs while driving at night and power loss to instrument panel/dash and headlight leaves me in complete darkness for several moments at time. I have not idea how fast I'm going of if the road is still in front of me. I notice an issue with the previous body style of lacrosse but not mine. If the battery is disconnected for several hours some thing or some program is reset and the issue will stop for roughly two weeks and then start back up, but so far the issue seems to intensify up restarting after the battery is disconnected. The drivetrain is not affected by the power loss and will continue to operate during the illumination and instrumentation loss. The issue does seem to repeat more frequently when in town with the constant acceleration and braking. On the interstate the issue will occurs intermittently while cruising and when accelerating or braking and if some device is activated such as defrosters, turn signals, or air conditioning. With the intermittent and so far short nature of the power loss, I'm not able to ascertain if any other systems are being affected as of yet. The problem resembles alternator or battery failure, but both were replaced at the onset over a year ago. Videos of the cluster are available but too large to attach.

Filed Jun 5, 2018 · Engine · 81,000 miles · CA

Tl* the contact owns a 2010 buick lacrosse. While driving 60-70 MPH, the reduced power warning indicator illuminated, the vehicle lost forward momentum, the braking and power steering ability seized, and the vehicle stalled. The vehicle was unable to restart. The vehicle was towed to thorson motor center (3456 e colorado blvd, pasadena, ca 91107, (626) 817-6465) where it was diagnosed that the oil level was low and that the oil level sensor was inoperable. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failures. The approximate failure mileage was 81,000. *tt *js engine stall updated 9/24/18

Filed Sep 1, 2017 · Acceleration, Engine · 50,000 miles · WI

Tl* the contact owns a 2010 buick lacrosse. While driving 75 MPH, the vehicle lost power and decelerated independently to 30 MPH. The failure recurred several more times. The vehicle was taken to zimbrick buick gmc eastside (5402 high crossing blvd, madison, wi 53718), but the failure could not be replicated. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and stated that they would not assist since the vehicle was out of warranty. The contact also stated that the vehicle failed to start. The contact was finally able to restart the vehicle and purchased a new battery; however, the failure recurred three or four times very close together. The contact also stated that, when attempting to start the vehicle, it would fail to detect the key fob even when placed properly. The vehicle was taken back to zimbrick buick gmc eastside, but the cause of the failure could not be diagnosed. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact was unsure of whether the manufacturer had been contacted. The approximate failure mileage was 50,000.

Filed Apr 30, 2017 · Engine · 63,000 miles · IL

The engine fan would come on after driving the car for a couple days, finally while driving the car the engine light came on and the car started running on reduced power and the car overheated. A leak was found in a hose and was replaced but yet the car still continues to overheat rapidly.

Filed Dec 21, 2016 · Engine · 52,000 miles · IL

Reduced engine power-while driving 30mph the vehicle will randomly reduce engine power and caused the vehicle to stall. I had to pull over and restart my vehicle 2 twice to make it home safely. Gm has a service bulletin out to repair 2010-2011 buck lacrosse only manufactured at specific plants. Gm dealer states I have same defective throttle that was manufactured in 2010-2011 lacrosse and causes the engine to fail while driving the vehicle however gm is saying that no matter if the part is defective it matters which plant made my car and that I should have take an extend warranty. My car just reached 52k miles this month and I could have lost my life and my children's lives by this happening to me over 10 times in 2 weeks.

Filed Oct 4, 2016 · Electrical, Engine · 122,352 miles · CA

Tl* the contact owns a 2010 buick lacrosse. The contact stated that the vehicle's door locks operated independently. In addition, the engine revved and the vehicle experienced a loss of power without warning. After the failure occurred, the park assist and shift panel indicators failed to illuminate as various warning indicators illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, but the failure was not diagnosed. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 122,352.

Filed Jul 6, 2016 · Acceleration, Transmission · 67,500 miles · MI

On friday, july 1, 2016 I was traveling down a 2 lane road with my cruise control set when my car suffered a loss of power. The engine still was running, but apparently my transmission lost the ability to power the car. I was able to park on the shoulder of the road, and eventually, towed to my mechanics shop. Yesterday I was told the problem was a faulty transmission control and it will cost me $1060 to repair. I was also told that this is a common enough problem that buick dealers keep the part in stock.. If it is that common of a problem, and cars are losing power on the road, that is a safety issue and should be subject to recall, instead of taking hard earned money out of owners pockets to fix! I might add that this car has less than 68,000 miles on it!

Filed May 4, 2016 · Acceleration, Electrical · 89,000 miles · FL

Over the past several months, while driving, the service stabilitrak warning light comes on; the ABS & park assist lights flash on and off; my RPM, speedometer, & temperature gauges go haywire; and the engine loses power causing the car to jerk. I never know when this will happen. On 3/18/16, I was put in a dangerous situation when this happened while driving across the state of florida on a 2 lane highway that had no safe place to pull off the road. The check engine light also came on and stayed on thru the rest of my drive. Two days later, the drive home was incident free & the check engine light was gone. On 3/22/16 I took the car to a gm dealer; showed the service tech a video of the events happening as I was driving and a letter I got from gm regarding a possible throttle sensor problem that causes reduced power and malfunction indicator lamps to appear. The gm dealer tech said my cars problems had nothing to do with gm's letter and he was 90% sure my fuel injector needed replacing. I took the car to my personal auto mechanic for 10+ yrs, who works for a very reputable company, for a second opinion. Since the codes had been cleared by the dealership service dept and the car checked out ok my mechanic said to drive it and bring it back if the problems occurred again. It recently started happening again & my check engine light came on so I took the car to my mechanic who found multiple codes for ECM & TCM lost communication PCM malfunction & other communication issues. He drove the car and experienced what I was explaining was happening. My mechanic couldn't pinpoint the problem but said there was no problem with the fuel injection system; that it's electrical. He suggested we take the car to another buick dealer to have it checked out. This is a very dangerous situation & I don't feel safe driving the car since I never know when the problems will start happening.