2016 BUICK ENCORE — Owner-Reported Problems

NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation Snapshot 2026-08-22 79 complaints · 0 recalls
Most-reported system: ENGINE (26 complaints · 32.9%)
Safety signals:
  • Crashes 6
  • Fires 1
  • Injuries 14
  • Deaths 0
Compare with 2015 →
NHTSA Consumer Complaints Snapshot 2026-08-21 Open source record Read our complete data methodology →

Complaint counts reflect self-selected reports and are not normalised for production sales volume. We publish no reliability scores, superlatives, or vehicle rankings.

Component Problem Distribution

Share of owner complaints filed for each vehicle system (unaffected by sales volume)

Component Problem Distribution ENGINE appears in 26 of 79 owner complaints (32.9%) in this vehicle snapshot. ENGINE: 26 complaints, 32.9% of reports ENGINE 26 · 32.9% · 1 fire reports FUEL SYSTEM: 9 complaints, 11.4% of reports FUEL SYSTEM 9 · 11.4% ELECTRICAL SYSTEM: 5 complaints, 6.3% of reports ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 5 · 6.3% POWER TRAIN: 5 complaints, 6.3% of reports POWER TRAIN 5 · 6.3% AIR BAGS: 3 complaints, 3.8% of reports AIR BAGS 3 · 3.8% · 3 crash reports SEAT BELTS: 3 complaints, 3.8% of reports SEAT BELTS 3 · 3.8% · 2 crash reports STEERING: 3 complaints, 3.8% of reports STEERING 3 · 3.8% STRUCTURE: 3 complaints, 3.8% of reports STRUCTURE 3 · 3.8% VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL: 3 complaints, 3.8% of reports VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL 3 · 3.8% UNKNOWN OR OTHER: 14 complaints, 17.7% of reports UNKNOWN OR OTHER 14 · 17.7% 0% 25% 50% 75% 100%

UNKNOWN OR OTHER is an NHTSA classification artifact and is always listed last.

View component data as a table
System / Component Complaints Share of Reports Safety Reports (Crashes / Fires)
ENGINE 26 32.9% 0 crashes · 1 fires
FUEL SYSTEM 9 11.4% 0 crashes · 0 fires
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 5 6.3% 0 crashes · 0 fires
POWER TRAIN 5 6.3% 0 crashes · 0 fires
AIR BAGS 3 3.8% 3 crashes · 0 fires
SEAT BELTS 3 3.8% 2 crashes · 0 fires
STEERING 3 3.8% 0 crashes · 0 fires
STRUCTURE 3 3.8% 0 crashes · 0 fires
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL 3 3.8% 0 crashes · 0 fires
UNKNOWN OR OTHER 14 17.7% 0 crashes · 0 fires
NHTSA Consumer Complaints, NHTSA Safety Recalls, and NHTSA Defect Investigations Snapshot 2026-08-22 Open source record Read our complete data methodology →

Complaint counts reflect self-selected reports and are not normalised for production sales volume. We publish no reliability scores, superlatives, or vehicle rankings.

Problem & Recall Timeline

Observed complaint volume and manufacturer recall actions over time

Problem & Recall Timeline Owner reports in this snapshot begin in Jul 2016. 2016-Q3: 1 owner reports 1 2016-Q4: 2 owner reports 2 2017-Q1: 1 owner reports 1 2017-Q3: 4 owner reports 4 2017-Q4: 2 owner reports 2 2018-Q1: 4 owner reports 4 2018-Q2: 2 owner reports 2 2019-Q1: 3 owner reports 3 2019-Q2: 2 owner reports 2 2019-Q3: 2 owner reports 2 2019-Q4: 5 owner reports 5 2020-Q1: 3 owner reports 3 2020-Q2: 2 owner reports 2 2020-Q3: 2 owner reports 2 2020-Q4: 2 owner reports 2 2021-Q1: 2 owner reports 2 2021-Q2: 4 owner reports 4 2021-Q4: 2 owner reports 2 2022-Q3: 2 owner reports 2 2022-Q4: 1 owner reports 1 2023-Q1: 1 owner reports 1 2023-Q2: 1 owner reports 1 2023-Q3: 2 owner reports 2 2023-Q4: 2 owner reports 2 2024-Q1: 2 owner reports 2 2024-Q2: 4 owner reports 4 2024-Q3: 2 owner reports 2 2024-Q4: 3 owner reports 3 2025-Q1: 3 owner reports 3 2025-Q2: 3 owner reports 3 2025-Q3: 1 owner reports 1 2025-Q4: 1 owner reports 1 2026-Q1: 4 owner reports 4 2026-Q3: 2 owner reports 2 Owner reports Jul 2016 Jul 2026
View timeline records as a table
Date Record type Count Record identifier
2016-Q3 Owner reports 1
2016-Q4 Owner reports 2
2017-Q1 Owner reports 1
2017-Q3 Owner reports 4
2017-Q4 Owner reports 2
2018-Q1 Owner reports 4
2018-Q2 Owner reports 2
2019-Q1 Owner reports 3
2019-Q2 Owner reports 2
2019-Q3 Owner reports 2
2019-Q4 Owner reports 5
2020-Q1 Owner reports 3
2020-Q2 Owner reports 2
2020-Q3 Owner reports 2
2020-Q4 Owner reports 2
2021-Q1 Owner reports 2
2021-Q2 Owner reports 4
2021-Q4 Owner reports 2
2022-Q3 Owner reports 2
2022-Q4 Owner reports 1
2023-Q1 Owner reports 1
2023-Q2 Owner reports 1
2023-Q3 Owner reports 2
2023-Q4 Owner reports 2
2024-Q1 Owner reports 2
2024-Q2 Owner reports 4
2024-Q3 Owner reports 2
2024-Q4 Owner reports 3
2025-Q1 Owner reports 3
2025-Q2 Owner reports 3
2025-Q3 Owner reports 1
2025-Q4 Owner reports 1
2026-Q1 Owner reports 4
2026-Q3 Owner reports 2
NHTSA Safety Recalls Snapshot 2026-08-22 Open source record Read our complete data methodology →

Safety Recalls (0)

Official safety recall campaigns filed with NHTSA

Zero safety recalls recorded for this model year in official NHTSA records.

NHTSA Consumer Complaints Snapshot 2026-08-21 Open source record Read our complete data methodology →

Complaint counts reflect self-selected reports and are not normalised for production sales volume. We publish no reliability scores, superlatives, or vehicle rankings.

Complaint Narrative Explorer

Verbatim owner-reported defect narratives from NHTSA public records

Data: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation · snapshot Aug 21, 2026
Safety incident filters
Showing 0 of 79 complaints · page 1 of 4

No complaints match the current filters.
EPA Fuel Economy Database Snapshot 2026-08-21 Open source record Read our complete data methodology →

Estimated Ownership Cost

EPA fuel economy ratings and annual operating cost estimates

Data: US EPA Fuel Economy Guide · snapshot Aug 21, 2026
Supported range: 1,000–60,000 miles per year
Supported range: $1.50–$10.00 per gallon
55% city45% highway
Estimate unavailable

EPA fuel-economy data is unavailable for this vehicle.

No estimate is shown when required EPA values are unavailable.

 Open Ownership Cost Calculator →

Adjacent Model Years

Immediate preceding and succeeding model year records

NHTSA Consumer Complaints Snapshot 2026-08-21 Open source record Read our complete data methodology →

Complaint counts reflect self-selected reports and are not normalised for production sales volume. We publish no reliability scores, superlatives, or vehicle rankings.

Methodology & Data Integrity

Data sourced from NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation. Snapshot date: 2026-08-21.

Read our complete data methodology → Sources