2015 BUICK ENCORE — Complaint #1767231
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about SUSPENSION:REAR:AXLE:SPINDLE filed September 8, 2021
NHTSA complaint #1767231 (ODI reference 11432136) concerns a 2015 BUICK ENCORE and was filed on September 8, 2021. The owner reports the failure occurred on August 29, 2021. The vehicle had 108,000 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to California based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as suspension:rear:axle:spindle, one of NHTSA's standardized taxonomy codes used to group defect patterns across make, model, and year.
The filer flagged the following severity indicators: crash: yes, fire: no, injuries: 1, fatalities: 0. A complaint that flags a crash, fire, or fatality is escalated on NHTSA's internal review queue and factors more heavily into any Preliminary Evaluation decision on this make and model. Because a VIN was supplied, this complaint is tied to a specific vehicle and not just a model-year cohort.
Individual complaints are consumer-submitted and unverified by NHTSA engineers — the agency's role at this stage is to collect, index, and make them searchable. What matters for federal action is the pattern: when many owners of the same BUICK ENCORE cohort independently describe similar suspension:rear:axle:spindle failures, defect investigators have grounds to open a PE and request manufacturer data. Related filings for the same vehicle and component appear below, and the detail page for the full 2015 BUICK ENCORE shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
The contact owns a 2015 Buick Encore. The contact stated that while their son was driving at approximately 30 mph when they suddenly heard a booming sound from underneath the body of the vehicle. The contact stated that the vehicle then suddenly gear towards the right and the driver had lost control of the vehicle. The vehicle then crashed into another nearby vehicle which caused the vehicle to flip upside down. The air bags did deploy. A police incident report was filed. There were injuries to their hands, shoulders and back that required medical attention. The vehicle was towed however had not been decided to be deemed totaled as of yet. The contact stated that when a family member who was a licensed contractor in welding examined the vehicle they noticed the axle may have not been welded with appropriate material due to noticing that the material welding axle itself had deteriorated and began to detach from the axle. The contact was concerned that the failure could have resulted in
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 1767231 |
| ODI Number | 11432136 |
| Date Filed | September 8, 2021 |
| Failure Date | August 29, 2021 |
| VIN | KL4CJHSB3FB |
Source: NHTSA Vehicle Complaints Database. Component taxonomy and severity codes are standardized by NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.
Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.