Buick Rainier Reliability Problems

Rainier owners have made 43 complaints over 4 model years. Using our PainRank™ system we've ranked it 6th in overall reliability out of 14 Buick models, with real suspension and interior concerns.

The Most Common Rainier Problem

A list of some of the most common issues Rainier owners have to deal with.

  1. Sudden Low Beam Headlight Failure

    The 1st generation Lacrosse and Rainier have low beam headlights can suddenly shut off even though the lights themselves are perfectly fine. The issue is a a defective headlamp driver module which is responsible for distributing power to th…

    Continue reading article "Sudden Low Beam Headlight Failure" An open fuse block with the bad module circled in red

  2. What Are We Missing?

    We know there's more problems than this. Let us know which one you'd like to see us cover next.

    Continue An open fuse block with the bad module circled in red

What Rainier Owners Complain About

Sometimes it helps just to tally up the complaints and see where the biggest stacks are. Use this information to learn about troublespots or to run for the hills.

Worst Issues

What Breaks the Most

Years to Avoid

Full Lists on CarComplaints.com

Rainier Generations

Generations are groups of model years where few, if any, changes were made to the vehicle which means their model years tend to break in similar ways. The Rainier has 1 generation available in North American markets.

Rainier Key Numbers

  1. 43 complaints

    Running tally of owner grievances filed to CarComplaints.com.

  2. 969 service bulletins

    Documenting the process of troubleshooting common problems.

  3. 10 recall campaigns

    Time-sensitive, free repairs for widespread safety problems.

Recent Rainier News

There's a lot of news out there, but not all of it matters. We try to boil down it to the most important bits about things that actually help you with your car problem. Interested in getting these stories in an email? Signup for free email alerts over at CarComplaints.com.

  1. A while back GM owners were told to park their SUVs outside far away from structures, trees, leaf piles or pretty much anything that could catch on fire.

    The reason? The power window switches were acting like tinderboxes and setting vehicles ablaze.

    The problem was first recalled back in June of 2013 but "the fix" didn't work. So GM turned around and issued a recall of the recall -- a re-recall? This time they vowed to be super-duper sure they got it right. And when you're both super and duper sure, you better be right -- so they asked owners to hold tight (and keep parking outside) while they got the parts together.…

    keep reading article "Park Your Rainier Outside, Take 2"

Other Buick Models