2017 GMC Acadia: key fob or push-button start problems

Filed Dec 3, 2025 · Electrical · NC

The car is in park & ignition button has been hit to turn vehicle off. When engine is turned off all interior, exterior, dash, & ignition switch lights remain on with a notification on the dashboard stating to "shift to park". The doors can not be locked when this message is on the screen. It can take anywhere from 30 seconds to 15 minutes for the lights & dash to go out, allowing you to exit & lock the car. If you exit the car while the message still appears on the dash, not only are the lights on & unable to lock the car, but if someone where to get into the car, without the key fob, they can start the car & drive off. My husband & I were in a shopping center parking lot in July 2025 where the "shift to park" error came on. We sat in the car, 110 degrees outside, for 10 minutes waiting for the car to shut down. Finally we had to exit the car because we could no longer take the heat. My husband went back to the car, 5 minutes late, while I was in the store to see if the car had finally shut down. To his surprise the lights and dash where still on. He noticed the start button light was also still on & thought if he hit the button the lights would shut off, but no, the car actually started & again he did not have the key fob with him. This is a serious issue & needs to be addressed & I do not feel that I should be paying for this repair. My husband unexpectantly passed away in Sept 2025 & now I am left to deal with this on my own. I have to get this issue fixed as I can not take the chance someone will take my car someday nor do I want to continue to sit in my car for 10-20 minutes waiting for it to shut down. The dealership I took it to diagnosed it as due to a faulty switch in the shifter which means its poor workmanship & not related to owner usage. Please add this to the recall list so that I can get it fixed quickly or if I have to get it fixed prior to being approved by you I can at least recoup my money. Thank you

Filed Aug 11, 2024 · Electrical, Fuel system · PA

I was traveling at the posted speed limit of 80 mph on [XXX] in South Dakota at [XXX] and the GMC Acadia was working without any issue when all of a sudden various warnings flashed on the dashboard with one of them being power saver mode engaged. Within about 3 minutes various other warnings flashed and the vehicle motor turned off along with all of the electrical systems. Luckily, I was able to maneuver the GMC Acadia to the shoulder of the highway safely. The vehicle would not start and for about a minute or so we were trapped in the Acadia. We could not unlock the doors or wind down the windows until I pressed the start/stop bottom several times. Onstar did not work either. Once we could get out of the Acadia, my wife called 911 and in roughly 20 minutes or so, a police officer arrived at our location. We also called AAA and had a tow truck take the broken down GMC Acadia to a garage for repairs. It turns out that the alternator went bad and rendered our GMC Acadia useless in roughly 3 minutes from the initial warning. There was absolutely none of the tell tale warnings of a bad alternator. We did not see or observe any dim lights, hesitating starts or any other things associated with a bad alternator prior to the 3 minute warning before the vehicle completely was inoperable. We are very lucky to be alive. If [XXX] was more congested with traffic at the time of this incident, we might have been serious injured if not killed. IMO this GMC Acadia is a death trap. This vehicle warns the driver when the key fob’s battery is low many weeks before it needs to be replaced. It should warn you more than 3 minutes if not several hours prior to the vehicle being completely immobilized. It should be noted that the check engine light came on several hours before this incident and I called Onstar and they ran the diagnostics and returned a P0420 code which is related to emissions. The check engine light turned itself off about 1 hour before incident. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMAT

Filed Feb 27, 2023 · Brakes, Electrical · TX

I put the car in park and the push button start would not let me turn off my car. I sat in the parking lot almost 30 min, putting my car in park, then drive, then park for my car to recognize its actually in park to turn off. I started getting this error on the start and stop at lights... it never turned off during the start and stop but fearing my life or my families life.... I took it to my local GMC dealership and the manager from the Service department said this is a common issue with this model, he has repaired HUNDREDS of them. His words. This is a safety issue.... I am shocked this has not been recalled. The lack of urgency to get this fixed is very concerning. It costs my $708.92 to fix this issue. I 100% think i am owed this money due to something that should 100% be recalled. I found an open class action lawsuit that was confirmed by the dealership to be the exact same issue I had. https://topclassactions.com/lawsuit-settlements/consumer-products/auto-news/gmc-class-action-alleges-acadia-shift-to-park-defect/

Filed Apr 15, 2022 · Electrical, Engine · 38,538 miles · NY

The contact owns a 2017 GMC Acadia. The contact stated that the key fob was inoperable. The vehicle failed to start. The contact stated that the vehicle spontaneously locked. The contact was able to start the vehicle however, the vehicle failed to move. The vehicle was taken four times to the local dealer where it was diagnosed that the side blind spot module needed to be repaired. Additionally, the inter system malfunctioned. The vehicle was repaired; however, the failure recurred. The manufacturer was notified but no additional assistance was provided. The failure mileage was approximately 38,538.

Filed Jun 7, 2020 · Electrical, Transmission · 22,000 miles · OH

I receive a 'shift to park' warning message when my vehicle is clearly in the park position and it prevents my car from being able to completely turn off. I have have had this same issue supposedly repaired at the gmc dealership on two separate occasions and it is now giving me the same error. I am now no longer able to open my garage door from my vehicle, I have had several instances in which the vehicle does not recognize either one of my key fobs.

Filed Sep 16, 2019 · Electrical · 37,507 miles · IN

When shifting the vehicle to park and then shutting off the engine, I get an error message 'action required- shift to park'. The vehicle is already in park! I've had to jiggle the shifter, press the brake while jiggling the shifter, restart the vehicle put in reverse, then back in park, and jiggle some more. The radio and lights (both interior & exterior) will not power off and the door chimes nonstop. This happens randomly and it has been a little over a month since the last incident which occurred two days after I had to replace the battery because I missed the error message heading in to work. The last 2 days my husband has disconnected the battery because nothing will work to power off radio & lights. I've had to replace the battery twice now in a new vehicle leased in 2016. The first time was due to brake recall, my vehicle being the only 2017 gmc acadia denali effected by that recall. The brake lights would remain on because the brake was basically sticking, draining the battery. That issue also disabled the cruise control as that feature is unavailable when breaking! This vehicle also had repair to wiring in driver side door due to water getting into the door frame from outside and corroding wires causing detection issues with the key fob. I could not unlock my doors without removing the key to manually unlock. While in the car wash, the vehicle lost connection with my key and the driver's seat moved all the way back as it would for easy exit which I had disabled. Message stating key not detected wouldi was told a needed a new battery in my fob, dealership replaced, called & said everything was working as it should. They ran the vehicle through the car wash before I arrived to pick up the car. When I tried to unlock the doors, the vehicle would not recognize the fob. Thank goodness the service rep was there to witness the malfunction.

Filed Aug 3, 2018 · 15,160 miles · MI

Vehicle displays "action required - shift to park" in the dashboard information center when the gear shift is put into park and the ignition push button is pushed to turn the vehicle off. The alarm sounds repeatedly and the auxiliary power stays on. If the vehicle is exited alarms sound as if the key fob were left in the vehicle. In addition, the auxiliary power stays on (including the headlights if in auto mode) indefinitely. My dealership is unable to fix this problem for nearly two months and has other customers with the same problem. Gmc customer assistance has provided no help.

Filed Nov 21, 2017 · Electrical, Engine · NY

Truck constantly fails to start. Keyfob not recognized. Computer system crashes, rear air vents fall out. Faulty gas tank and gas line. Cannot fill up gas tank past 1/2 a tank. Been happening since inception and is constantly in and out of service for the same issues over the past year. Not being able to start the truck is a safety hazard to me and my family. There needs to be an alternate way to start the truck should the computer system crash.