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2026 Buick Encore

Gas

Small Sport Utility Vehicle 2WD
3 EPA-rated configurations
Data refreshed 2026-10-26

Safety Signal

94 / 100 from the NHTSA recall record

RecallsNHTSA campaigns 1

Complaints1 crash reported 4

Crash ratingNHTSA overall 5★

Fuel economybest combined, EPA 30 mpg

2026 2025 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016

The 2026 Buick Encore is sold in the U.S. as a gas compact SUV with 3 EPA-rated configurations. The most efficient version, the Encore GX FWD, is EPA-rated at 30 mpg combined. NHTSA lists 1 recall campaign for this model year, which gives it a Safety Signal grade of A. Owners have filed 4 complaints, most often about the engine. NHTSA crash-tested it at 5 stars overall.

Buick Encore — photograph via Wikimedia Commons — Buick Encore · Photo: Navigator84 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Trims & pricing

Source: manufacturer press kitCompare a trim →

Trim	Powertrain	Drive	MSRP	HP	Torque	MPG comb	Cargo (2nd row)	Wheels
Preferred	Gas	FWD	—	137 hp	162 lb-ft	30 mpg	23.5 cu-ft	18 in
Preferred	Gas	AWD	—	155 hp	174 lb-ft	27 mpg	23.5 cu-ft	18 in
Sport Touring	Gas	FWD	—	155 hp	174 lb-ft	30 mpg	23.5 cu-ft	18 in
Sport Touring	Gas	AWD	—	155 hp	174 lb-ft	27 mpg	23.5 cu-ft	18 in
Avenir	Gas	FWD	—	155 hp	174 lb-ft	30 mpg	23.5 cu-ft	19 in
Avenir	Gas	AWD	—	155 hp	174 lb-ft	27 mpg	23.5 cu-ft	19 in

MSRP excludes destination. Open a trim for the complete spec sheet and standard/optional equipment. Have the car in front of you? Decode its VIN to see which of these trims it is and what it was priced at.

Specs & fuel economy

Source: EPA fueleconomy.gov

Configuration	Powertrain	Drive	Engine / motor	City	Hwy	Comb	Annual fuel*
Encore GX FWD	Gas	FWD	1.3L 3-cyl turbo	29	31	30	$2,250
Encore GX FWD FFV	Gas	FWD	1.2L 3-cyl turbo	30	31	30	$2,250
Encore GX AWD	Gas	AWD	1.3L 3-cyl turbo	26	28	27	$2,500

*EPA estimate at 15,000 miles/year at EPA reference fuel and electricity prices. fueleconomy.gov record ids: 49441, 49440, 49479.

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Recalls (1)

Source: NHTSA recall database

●moderate

Back Over Prevention

A262554900

306,511 vehicles 0% reported repaired built Dec 2, 2024 – Dec 2, 2024

Problem General Motors, LLC is recalling certain 2024-2025 Buick Envista, 2024-2026 Buick Encore GX, Chevrolet Trailblazer, and 2025 Chevrolet Trax vehicles. The rearview camera screen may display a distorted or blank image. Risk A rearview image that does not display correctly reduces the driver's view behind the vehicle, increasing the risk of a crash. Fix Dealers will inspect and replace the rearview camera, if necessary, free of charge. Letters informing owners of the safety risk were mailed September 17, 2026. Another letter will be mailed once the parts are available. Owners may contact Chevrolet customer service at 1-800-222-1020 or Buick customer service at 1-800-521-7300. GM's number for this recall is A262554900. Vehicle Identification Numbers (VINs) involved in this recall became searchable on NHTSA.gov on August 20, 2026.

Filed with NHTSADefect report PDF Owner letter PDF Remedy instructions PDF Dealer notice PDF

NHTSA campaign 26V539000 reported Aug 20, 2026 General Motors, LLC the full filing, and every vehicle covered →

These are vehicle campaigns — the ones the automaker filed against this model. NHTSA also records equipment recalls, filed by a parts maker against a component (a tyre, a child seat, an aftermarket part), and those are not listed here or counted above. nhtsa.gov/recalls shows both for a VIN.

Whether any of this applies to one specific Encore

A campaign covers a build range, not a model year, so two identical-looking cars from 2026 can differ. Both of these check a VIN against the manufacturer’s own list, free, in about ten seconds. Buick publishes its own lookup because federal rule 49 CFR 573.15 requires it to, and to keep it current to within seven days.

NHTSA VIN check →Buick’s own VIN lookup →

Hear about a recall before the letter does

The manufacturer’s letter is the last step of a recall: it has up to 60 days after filing to mail owners, at the address on the registration. We email you the day NHTSA posts a recall on the 2026 Buick Encore, with what to do next. Nothing else, ever — no newsletter, no marketing, one-click unsubscribe in every message.

Owner complaints

Source: NHTSA complaint database

4complaints filed

1 involved a crash · 0 a fire · 0 injuries · 0 deaths reported

1.0 per 10,000 built · Buick reported 40,278 Encore built (its Early Warning production report to NHTSA)

Filed per year: 2026: 4

Most-cited components

Engine 3

Electrical System 1

Steering 1

Vehicle Speed Control 1

In owners' own words

Filed with NHTSA by the people who own these cars, one per problem area. Quoted as written, with anything identifying removed.

When the vehicle is at a stop, with the car in drive, the vehicle will shut off. The vehicle needs to be put back into Park and restarted. It then sometimes shuts off again and I have to repeat the sequence. This happens when it is in idle load reduction.... For gas saving

Engine Aug 18, 2026 NHTSA owner report · ODI 11757793

The contact rented a 2026 Buick Encore GX. The contact stated that while making left or right turns on several occasions, the vehicle accelerated and jerked. The contact stated that on one occasion while making a left turn, the vehicle jerked and accelerated, and the vehicle crashed into a column in a parking garage.

Steering at 17,153 miles Aug 25, 2026 NHTSA owner report · ODI 11759522

When the vehicle engages auto-off at a stoplight, the engine stalls when trying to reengage. The engine also struggles to engage from a manual start, sometimes needing to try starting the engine three or four times before it will turn on.

Engine Aug 1, 2026 NHTSA owner report · ODI 11754126

The vehicle is equipment with a Stop/start when brake is applied and vehicle is at a stop, the engine turns off. Randomly the engine does not restart when brake is released and accelerator is pressed, vehicle is required to be put in park and restarted .

Engine Jul 22, 2026 NHTSA owner report · ODI 11751991

Complaint counts are raw owner reports to NHTSA, not verified defects, and scale with how many were sold. Use them to spot patterns, not to rank.

Reported by Buick itself: 2 death-or-injury claims on this model year in its quarterly Early Warning reports to NHTSA (49 CFR 579.21): 2 injured, as claimed, not verified — about 5.0 per 100,000 built. Every Encore model year, by year and system → Dated and by system, they are exhibit F of the defect dossier.

Crash ratings

Source: NHTSA NCAP

Configuration	Overall	Frontal	Side	Rollover	Rollover risk
SUV AWD	★★★★★	★★★★★	★★★★★	★★★★☆	18%
SUV FWD	★★★★★	★★★★★	★★★★★	★★★★☆	18%
SUV AWD	not rated	★★★★★	not rated	★★★★☆	18%
SUV FWD	not rated	★★★★★	not rated	★★★★☆	18%

NHTSA New Car Assessment Program. Standard driver-assist: forward collision warning, lane departure warning, automatic emergency braking.

Service bulletins & campaigns

Source: NHTSA manufacturer communications

Communicationsfiled with NHTSA 136

Most recentmanufacturer date 2026-10-07

Kindsas classified by NHTSA 133 service bulletins, 2 over-the-air updates, 1 other

Most often about: Unknown Or Other, Electrical System, Engine, Steering, Service Brakes.

PIT6110L Service bulletin
2026-10-07 · Unknown Or Other
This Preliminary information communicates an issue with the SES MIL and DTC P062B and engineering is currently investigating.
PIT6457C Service bulletin
2026-09-28 · Unknown Or Other
This preliminary information is for technicians that may see DTCs that are history and should not perform any part replacements. They should follow the notes mentioned prior to anything being replaced.
PIC6540K Service bulletin
2026-09-28 · Unknown Or Other
This Preliminary information communicates to dealers a procedure to reset the radio.
PIT5698F Service bulletin
2026-09-26 · Unknown Or Other
This PI provides Diagnostics tips on how the LIN bus works and how to diagnosis it.
PIC6629F Service bulletin
2026-09-10 · Unknown Or Other
This PI is to instruct dealer on diagnostic procedures that need to be completed prior to replacing a radio or IPC display
PIP4902W Service bulletin
2026-09-04 · Unknown Or Other
This preliminary information advises a dealer on how to email GDS2 session logs into Technical Assistance.
PIT5995B Service bulletin
2026-09-04 · Unknown Or Other
This Preliminary Information provides the dealer information of the location of the rear seat child anchors.
PIT6196A Service bulletin
2026-08-28 · Unknown Or Other
This Preliminary Information provides a diagnostic tip for diagnosing an issue with Cruise Control, Adaptive Cruise and Lane Keep Assist Turns Off or Inoperative.

A service bulletin is the manufacturer telling its dealers how to diagnose or repair a known condition. It is not a recall, not a finding that the vehicle is defective, and the work is not automatically free — though a bulletin is often what a dealer works from when you describe a symptom, so quoting the document number can save a diagnosis. The count is every communication filed; the list shows the most recent, one entry per campaign, because a single campaign is usually filed as several documents on the same day. The summaries are NHTSA's; the full documents come from the manufacturer.

Diagnostic trouble codes on file

Source: NHTSA manufacturer communications and complaints

Codes documented against this model year in the federal record. A code appearing here does not mean this vehicle will set it — it means the code is part of this nameplate-year's documented history.

Code	What it means	Most often filed under	Where it appears
P219A P219A on Buick →	Manufacturer-defined — the meaning is set by the automaker, not the standard.	Unknown Or Other	3 bulletins
P062B P062B on Buick →	Manufacturer-defined — the meaning is set by the automaker, not the standard.	Unknown Or Other	2 bulletins

Generic codes (the second character is 0 or 2) mean the same thing on every vehicle sold in the United States. Manufacturer-specific codes (1 or 3) mean whatever the automaker assigned, and no honest source can define them for you — which is why the ones here carry the evidence instead of a definition. A code is a link when enough separate federal documents name it across the catalogue to be worth a page of its own; the rest are listed here, where the vehicle is the context that makes them mean something.

Encore by model year

all years, side by side →

Year Safety Recalls Complaints

2026 this page A 1 4 30 mpg 2025 A 1 15 30 mpg 2024 B 2 32 30 mpg 2023 A 0 28 30 mpg 2022 A 1 42 30 mpg 2021 B 2 62 31 mpg 2020 C 4 89 31 mpg 2019 B 2 88 28 mpg 2018 A 0 74 30 mpg 2017 B 2 90 30 mpg 2016 B 2 80 30 mpg

Common questions about the 2026 Encore

Source: EPA, NHTSA and manufacturer press kits

Does the 2026 Buick Encore have any recalls?

NHTSA has posted 1 recall campaign for the 2026 Buick Encore. The most serious on file is 26V539000, covering Back Over Prevention. 1 of them was filed with no repair available at the time — NHTSA's file records what the manufacturer had in hand on the filing date, not what exists today. Check your own VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls; a recall applies to specific build ranges, not every car.

How safe is the 2026 Buick Encore?

NHTSA gave the 2026 Buick Encore 5 stars overall in its New Car Assessment Program tests — 5-star frontal crash, 5-star side crash, 4-star rollover. WhichTrim also grades it A (94/100) on its recall record, which is a different question from crash protection.

What is the fuel economy of the 2026 Buick Encore?

Across the 3 EPA-rated configurations of the 2026 Buick Encore, the best EPA combined figure is 30 mpg. Figures are the EPA's own, per configuration, and every one is listed above.

What do owners complain about on the 2026 Buick Encore?

Owners have filed 4 complaints with NHTSA about the 2026 Buick Encore, most often about engine, electrical system, steering. Of those, 1 involved a crash. Complaints are unverified owner reports, so treat the pattern as a signal and the individual report as an anecdote.

Are there service bulletins for the 2026 Buick Encore?

The manufacturer has filed 136 service bulletins and related communications with NHTSA for the 2026 Buick Encore, most often covering unknown or other, electrical system, engine. The most recent is dated 2026-10-07. A bulletin is not a recall: it is the repair procedure a manufacturer sends its dealers for a condition it knows about, and the work is not automatically paid for. It is still worth knowing — if the symptom matches, quoting the bulletin number at the service desk can save a diagnosis. The document numbers and summaries are listed above.

What we hold, and what an empty row means

Paid vehicle-history reports will not tell you the difference between “nothing happened to this car” and “we never received that record” — both of the big two say as much in their own help pages. Most of what is on this page comes from complete federal registers, so we can tell you which is which, row by row.

Data	Held	Source	What it covers — or what empty means
Fuel economy & configurations	3 configurations	EPA certification records	Every configuration the EPA certified for sale, with its own test figures.
Emission certificates	none	EPA emission certificates	The EPA published no certificate we could match to a configuration on this page.
Recalls	1	NHTSA recall campaigns	A complete federal register: every campaign covering this model year, with severity and advisory flags.
Owner complaints	4	NHTSA complaint database	Also complete, but unverified: these are reports owners filed, not findings. Counts scale with how many were sold.
Crash ratings	4 tested	NHTSA NCAP	Only the configurations NHTSA chose to crash-test, which is never all of them.
Service bulletins	136	NHTSA manufacturer communications	Everything the manufacturer told its dealers about a defect or malfunction, short of a recall.
Investigations	none	NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation	No defect investigation has been opened.
Driver-assist crash reports	none	NHTSA Standing General Order 2021-01	No report has been filed. Only entities named in the order report, and only crashes they hear of — so this is also what an unequipped car, or a manufacturer without telematics, looks like.
Specifications filed with NHTSA	none	NHTSA vPIC, decoded from VIN patterns	We had no VIN pattern to decode for this model year, or the manufacturer filed nothing usable.
Trims, pricing & equipment	6 trims	Manufacturer press kit	Transcribed from the manufacturer's own press material, every value carrying the document it came from.

Rebuilt nightly; this page was generated 2026-10-26. Every figure above is traceable to the source named beside it, and the JSON for this page carries the same values with their identifiers.

Sources & method

Safety Signal starts every model-year at 100 and subtracts points per open NHTSA recall campaign by severity: critical 15 (fire risk, park-outside or do-not-drive advisories), high 8 (brakes, steering, airbags, loss of drive power, structure, battery), moderate 6, minor 3 (software, labels, lighting fixed by an update). The most serious recall counts in full and each further one counts 85% of the one before, because a vehicle sold in millions is recalled more often than a rare one without being more dangerous — and because a flat subtraction bottomed the scale out, scoring a vehicle with 22 recalls within a point of one with six. A ≥ 90, B ≥ 80, C ≥ 70, D ≥ 60, otherwise F. Read it as what it counts: recall campaigns on the federal record, weighted by severity. The damping reduces the sales bias by roughly 40% but does not remove it: like our complaint counts, this is not normalized by how many were sold, so a best-seller still scores somewhat worse than an obscure model with the same real risk. NHTSA crash ratings, do-not-drive and park-outside advisories, and the crash, fire, injury and death counts in owner complaints are reported separately on every page and never blended into the letter — a vehicle can hold five stars and a poor letter at once, and where that happens we say so rather than leave you to notice. Because the scale subtracts from a clean sheet, a model year too new to have been recalled, complained about or bulletined scores full marks on an empty record; we label those grades provisional rather than present them as earned.

EPA figures come from fueleconomy.gov vehicle records. Recalls, complaints, investigations and crash ratings come from NHTSA's public flat files, refreshed nightly. Trim-level specifications and pricing are transcribed from the manufacturer's official press kit; every value carries its source in the data file.

JSON for this page · API