2018 Buick Encore Reliability Report

Stalling at stop signs, at red lights and in traffic recurs here, along with power loss, hard jerking and turbocharger replacement. All-wheel-drive warnings come and go, and in one report steering was briefly lost. Dealers cannot pull codes once the lights clear. The driver-side blind spot indicator gives false alerts and misses cars, and one dealer suspects an incorrect control module. Tire failures and a battery that failed within its first year round out the list.

Power steering, brakes and throttle cut out together while the car is moving. That is the core complaint here and a serious loss-of-control risk. Cars shake or hum before it happens. Warning lights flood the dash, screens flicker, and doors lock and unlock on their own. Some cars shut off completely while driving. One crash with an injury is reported. The fault is intermittent and keeps coming back. Dealers often cannot reproduce it, even after several repair attempts.

The radiator cooling fan keeps running after shutdown and drains the battery. This is the clearest pattern here. In one case a dealer found a fan assembly installed backward and a melted fuse block. Other reports describe a brief total power loss while driving, a no-start with unresponsive computer systems, and a glitching infotainment screen alongside rough running and stalling. Another describes a dash that gets hot with an odor while the climate system will not shut off.

Oil leaks from the oil cooler pipe, loose turbo hose clamps and turbocharger failure make up these reports. The loose clamps set a check engine light and lower fuel economy, and they come back after being tightened, in one case around 54,000 miles. A defective turbo assembly causes sudden power loss before the engine restarts on its own, and antifreeze burning in the engine is also reported. The oil cooler pipe leak continues until the part is replaced.

The car speeds up when the brake is pressed, the brakes lock and slow the car while the driver is on the gas, or the engine stalls when coming to a stop. One unintended acceleration case ended in a crash while cruise control was on. In another, a dealer replaced the brake pedal position sensor and then found a loose pivot in the pedal assembly. Stalling at stops leaves drivers exposed to rear-end collisions.

A cracked high-pressure plastic fuel line just ahead of the right rear tire pours out gasoline. That is a fire risk. The repair means dropping the fuel tank and runs about $900 in the report. Separately, rain pools at the fuel filler port and blocks refueling. Only two reports fall under this heading, so there is no wider pattern yet.

Sudden acceleration and accelerator pedal failure are the two problems reported here. In one, the engine revs hard during low-speed braking, the brake pedal sinks to the floor, and the car surges into a wall. In the other, an Engine Power Reduced message caps speed at 25 mph, and a dealer traces it to a failed accelerator pedal at about 41,000 miles. Both create a crash risk in traffic or tight spaces.