2001 Buick Lesabre

Typical pattern

16.1% of complaints about the 2001 Buick Lesabre came in the first year, which is unremarkable for a 2001 vehicle — around the middle of the 216 model-years on record. The median complaint arrives at 6.0 yr in service. The most-reported system is visibility (98 complaints), typically at 6.6 yr or about 55,000 miles.

Complaints: 429
Median age at failure: 6.0 yr
Median mileage: 62,945 n=272
Crash / fire / tow: 9.1% of reports
Safety recalls: 0

When each system is reported — middle 50% of complaints

System

0y2y4y6y8y10y12y14y

Visibility

98 reports · 55,000 mi

6.6 yr

Structure

47 reports · 69,500 mi

10.0 yr

2.1%

Electrical system

45 reports · 60,000 mi

4.3 yr

4.4%

Engine cooling

33 reports · 85,000 mi

4.5 yr

Power train

28 reports · 50,200 mi

3.8 yr

Air bags

28 reports · 71,000 mi

6.3 yr

25%

Steering

24 reports · 39,420 mi

4.0 yr

Engine

19 reports · 140,000 mi

15.3 yr

68.4%

Other

15 reports · 70,000 mi

10.6 yr

13.3%

In owners’ own words

Electrical system mileage not reported 3 mo in service crash / fire / tow

UNDER HOOD FIRE WHILE DRIVING AT 15 MPH. DEALER/MANUFACTURER NOTIFIED. PLEASE FEEL FREE TO PROVIDE ANY FURTHER DETAILS ON THIS MATTER. *AK

Electrical system mileage not reported 4 mo in service

WHILE DRIVING 25-30 MPH BATTERY LIGHT ON DASH CAME ON, THEN, ALL DOORS LOCKED AND VEHICLE STALLED. CONSUMER AND 2 PASSENGERS WERE NOT ABLE TO GET OUT OF VEHICLE. WHILE TRYING TO START VEHICLE NUMEROUS TIMES, FRONT PASSENGER DOOR UNLOCKED, AND ALL 3 PERSONS INSIDE VEHICLE WERE ABLE TO GET OUT. THIS WAS THIRD TIME THIS HAPPENED. FIRST TIME ON 1JAN2001, DEALER SAID BATTERY TERMINAL WAS LOOSE, THEN ON 8JUNE2001 , DEALER REPLACED THE ALTERNATOR. NOW DEALER SAID VEHICLE WAS NOT DRIVEN ENOUGH. *AK ABS LIGHT ILLUMINATED. *SLC

Electrical system mileage not reported 4 mo in service

WHILE DRIVING 25-30 MPH BATTERY LIGHT ON DASH CAME ON, THEN, ALL DOORS LOCKED AND VEHICLE STALLED. CONSUMER AND 2 PASSENGERS WERE NOT ABLE TO GET OUT OF VEHICLE. WHILE TRYING TO START VEHICLE NUMEROUS TIMES, FRONT PASSENGER DOOR UNLOCKED, AND ALL 3 PERSONS INSIDE VEHICLE WERE ABLE TO GET OUT. THIS WAS THIRD TIME THIS HAPPENED. FIRST TIME ON 1JAN2001, DEALER SAID BATTERY TERMINAL WAS LOOSE, THEN ON 8JUNE2001 , DEALER REPLACED THE ALTERNATOR. NOW DEALER SAID VEHICLE WAS NOT DRIVEN ENOUGH. *AK ABS LIGHT ILLUMINATED. *SLC

Structure mileage not reported 4 mo in service

WHILE DRIVING 25-30 MPH BATTERY LIGHT ON DASH CAME ON, THEN, ALL DOORS LOCKED AND VEHICLE STALLED. CONSUMER AND 2 PASSENGERS WERE NOT ABLE TO GET OUT OF VEHICLE. WHILE TRYING TO START VEHICLE NUMEROUS TIMES, FRONT PASSENGER DOOR UNLOCKED, AND ALL 3 PERSONS INSIDE VEHICLE WERE ABLE TO GET OUT. THIS WAS THIRD TIME THIS HAPPENED. FIRST TIME ON 1JAN2001, DEALER SAID BATTERY TERMINAL WAS LOOSE, THEN ON 8JUNE2001 , DEALER REPLACED THE ALTERNATOR. NOW DEALER SAID VEHICLE WAS NOT DRIVEN ENOUGH. *AK ABS LIGHT ILLUMINATED. *SLC

Other Lesabre model years

How to read this

This is what owners reported, not a reliability rating. People file with NHTSA about alarming failures, not routine ones, and complaint volume tracks how many cars were sold.
Failure ages come from the incident date on each complaint, populated on about 83% of records. Mileage is shown where reported — NHTSA’s 2021 system change cut mileage capture to roughly 15%, so it thins out sharply after MY2020.
Every rank compares this vehicle only against others of the same model year. A 2025 car has not had time to accumulate five-year failures, so comparing early-failure share across years is meaningless.
Fourteen make-months distorted by media storms and mass recalls — Toyota in February 2010 ran 11× normal volume across 33 models — are excluded.
Recalls are manufacturer actions and authoritative; complaints are not. A recall listed here may already have been performed on any individual car. Check a specific VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls.