2024 Buick Envista: What to check before buying

The instrument cluster and center screen go blank without warning, at startup or while driving, leaving no speedometer, turn-signal or warning-light display. This is the most common pattern, and it often starts in the first months of ownership. A second group of reports describes the car shutting off at stoplights or stalling while accelerating. In these cases the cluster is blank and the dealer finds no trouble codes. Other reports cite key fob and app unlocking failures, dead steering-wheel buttons, phantom door locking, false blind-spot and power-steering alerts, and sudden brake loss with ABS warnings. Dealers often find no cause.

At highway speed the driver's side mirror vibrates, blurring the view behind the car. Windshields also crack on their own, with the crack starting in the center of the glass and no impact reported. Replacement glass was not available at the time because the model was new. Both reports describe visibility problems rather than mechanical failures, and neither gives a mileage.

Wiper blades streak the windshield in the driver's view, which is a problem in rain and snow. Factory replacement blades are on long backorder, and aftermarket blades may not stay securely attached to the wiper arm at speed. The second complaint is an air conditioning failure. The dealer traced it to a refrigerant leak that requires a new front evaporator at about 3,800 miles, with a three-month wait for the part. Parts shortages run through both reports.

Few engine failures are reported here, but they are severe. One fire-flagged report with one injury describes the engine exploding on a two-lane highway in 14-degree weather, leaving the car undrivable before it was two years old. Another describes smoke from the coolant reservoir at highway speed, an empty reservoir, and steady coolant loss of about a third of a gallon a day at 10k miles. That car had already had an air conditioning compressor failure with a backordered part. The third filing gives no details.

The car shuts off completely while moving, including at freeway speeds, and steering, brakes and the dashboard go dead with it. Before shutdown, the dash flickers and the engine sputters. Some drivers also report the steering wheel locking up repeatedly in traffic. One owner reports four such shutdowns. In a separate complaint, lane-keeping assist pulls the car left during a right turn when the turn signal fails. These are loss-of-control events, though no crashes or injuries are reported.

Fire is the main concern. One report describes a noise while driving, followed by smoke and flames under the hood that needed the fire department. The other describes a check engine light that comes on, goes off and returns, while the dealer says the car is safe to drive until the service visit. Neither report gives a cause or a mileage, and only 2 complaints are on file.

The brake pedal goes soft and sinks to the floor, and the car coasts instead of stopping. One report pairs this with a burst of warnings, including Brake System, ABS, Service StabiliTrak and Steering Assist Reduced, plus a message limiting speed to 62 mph. Another failure happens below five miles per hour and clears after the car is shut off and restarted. Both describe a loss of normal stopping power, which is a direct crash risk.

Both complaints are about the design, and nothing actually fails. The brake lights sit low in the rear bumper instead of in the main taillights, where following drivers expect to see them. Owners worry that drivers behind them miss the brake lights. One reports a near rear-end collision while using adaptive cruise control. The layout is worth knowing about before buying.