Buick Century: recalls and complaints by model year

NHTSA lists 55 recall campaigns for the Buick Century, model years 1973 to 2005. NHTSA has 1,795 complaints on file for this model line. 30 of the 33 model years have a page on this register.

Select a model year NHTSA VIN lookup

Complaint information entered into NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation vehicle owner's complaint database is used with other data sources to identify safety issues that warrant investigation and to determine if a safety-related defect trend exists.
NHTSA publishes these words. Source: NHTSA Datasets and APIs, section Complaints, read on 1 Oct 2026. Complaint file through 15 May 2019. Recall file through 29 Sep 2026.

Model years

The number under each year is the number of recall campaigns.

Buick Century: recall campaigns and complaints for each model year, newest first
Model year	Recall campaigns	Complaints	Share of the line average	Units in the campaigns
2005 Buick Century NHTSA page	0	18	33%
2004 Buick Century	0	35	64%
2003 Buick Century	0	123	226%
2002 Buick Century	0	149	274%
2001 Buick Century	3	144	265%	272,324
2000 Buick Century	5	190	349%	291,326
1999 Buick Century	3	235	432%	780,232
1998 Buick Century	2	217	399%	561,222
1997 Buick Century	2	106	195%	304,491
1996 Buick Century	1	79	145%	2,216,325
1995 Buick Century	1	97	178%	2,216,325
1994 Buick Century	6	106	195%	2,416,345
1993 Buick Century	2	54	99%	2,219,173
1992 Buick Century	3	45	83%	2,226,499
1991 Buick Century	2	38	70%	2,535,506
1990 Buick Century	2	33	61%	2,535,506
1989 Buick Century	1	40	74%	2,216,325
1988 Buick Century	3	16	29%	36,880
1987 Buick Century	0	28	51%
1986 Buick Century	2	22	40%	969
1985 Buick Century NHTSA page	0	7	13%
1984 Buick Century	3	8	15%	200,873
1983 Buick Century NHTSA page	1	1	2%	352,036
1982 Buick Century	2	3	6%	534,824
1981 Buick Century	3	1	2%	5,827,867
1980 Buick Century	5	0	0%	10,798,737
1979 Buick Century	5	0	0%	9,003,893
1978 Buick Century	6	0	0%	12,961,101
1977 Buick Century	3	0	0%	321,137
1976 Buick Century	2	0	0%	42,289
1975 Buick Century	2	0	0%	223,544
1974 Buick Century	2	0	0%	808,532
1973 Buick Century	3	0	0%	1,376,899

The share is the complaints of the model year divided by the average of the line for one model year. A campaign that names 3 model years is in the count of each of the 3.

A model year with fewer than 2 campaigns and fewer than 25 complaints has no page here. The link in its row opens its NHTSA page.

Recall campaign: One recall in the NHTSA recall file, with one campaign number. A campaign can name many makes, models and model years.

Complaint: A report about a possible safety problem that a person sends to NHTSA. This site shows the number of complaints and not their text.

Units: The number of vehicles or products that a recall can include. The manufacturer or the firm reports the number to the agency.

Components in the complaints

2,356 component mentions.

A complaint can name more than one component. Each component that a complaint names is one component mention. The figure per 1,000 component mentions shows how many of each 1,000 mentions name the component.

Buick Century: complaints by component, per 1,000 component mentions
Component	Per 1,000	Mentions
Engine and Engine Cooling	115	271
Service Brakes, Hydraulic	107	252
Electrical System	96.3	227
Exterior Lighting	74.3	175
Power Train	72.6	171
Visibility	71.3	168
Steering	70	165
Vehicle Speed Control	50.5	119
Seat Belts	47.1	111
Air Bags	44.6	105

Counts by year

Recall campaigns that name the Buick Century, by the year NHTSA received the report. The largest year is 1994, with 4 campaigns.

Complaints about the Buick Century, by the year NHTSA received them. The largest year is 1999, with 175 complaints.

Other model lines of the make

Lesabre46 campaigns
Regal98 campaigns
Lacrosse23 campaigns
Park Avenue16 campaigns
Enclave29 campaigns
Rendezvous9 campaigns
Lucerne6 campaigns
Skylark50 campaigns
Rainier10 campaigns
Roadmaster11 campaigns
Riviera33 campaigns
Verano11 campaigns
Terraza3 campaigns
Encore13 campaigns
Reatta4 campaigns
Electra29 campaigns
Envision9 campaigns
Skyhawk17 campaigns
Estate8 campaigns
Encore GX4 campaigns
Estate Wagon6 campaigns
Apollo7 campaigns
Wildcat5 campaigns
Centurion3 campaigns
Envista2 campaigns
Special3 campaigns

Buick: all 27 model lines

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Official channels

NHTSA VIN lookupNHTSA shows the unrepaired recalls of one vehicle from its VIN or its license plate.
NHTSA: report a safety problemThe NHTSA form for a complaint about a vehicle, a tire, a child seat or equipment.

Cite this page

Recall Register. Buick Century: recalls and complaints by model year. https://recallregister.com/vehicle/buick/century/. Source: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation, recall, complaint and investigation files. Data through 29 Sep 2026.

Sources

Source: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation
Licence: US government work, public domain
Recall file through: 29 Sep 2026
Complaint file through: 15 May 2019
Manufacturer in the recall file: GENERAL MOTORS CORP.

The model name is the name in the NHTSA files. NHTSA keeps a variant of a model as a different line. How the register is made. Report an error.

Questions

Which Buick Century model years have the most recall campaigns?: 1994 with 6, 1978 with 6, 2000 with 5. A campaign that names 3 model years is in the count of each of the 3.
Which Buick Century model year has the most complaints?: The 1999 model year, with 235 of the 1,795 complaints for the line. A newer model year has had less time to get complaints.
Which components do the complaints about the Buick Century name?: Engine and Engine Cooling: 115 per 1,000 component mentions. Service Brakes, Hydraulic: 107 per 1,000 component mentions. Electrical System: 96.3 per 1,000 component mentions.
How many NHTSA investigations name the Buick Century?: 19 investigations name one or more model years of the line. The page of each model year lists its investigations.