2022 BUICK ENCORE GX — Complaint #2146896
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING:EXHAUST SYSTEM filed November 7, 2025
NHTSA complaint #2146896 (ODI reference 11698247) concerns a 2022 BUICK ENCORE GX and was filed on November 7, 2025. The owner reports the failure occurred on November 5, 2025. The vehicle had 31,000 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to Florida based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as engine and engine cooling:exhaust system, 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: no, fire: no, injuries: 0, fatalities: 0. No crash, fire, or fatality was associated with this report, which places it in the early-warning stream rather than the priority-review stream. 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 GX cohort independently describe similar engine and engine cooling:exhaust system 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 2022 BUICK ENCORE GX shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
The contact owns a 2022 Buick Encore GX. The contact stated while driving approximately 20 MPH and depressing the accelerator pedal, the vehicle failed to exceed 35 MPH and made an abnormal loud sound that became louder as the contact continued driving. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, where it was test-driven, and the contact was informed that there was an exhaust leak. The dealer advised the contact that the vehicle was drivable. The contact drove to the residence. The contact stated that upon parking the vehicle, the contact noticed that the exhaust pipe laying onto the ground. The vehicle was towed to the dealer, where it was diagnosed that the exhaust pipe had detached. The dealer determined that the exhaust muffler needed to be replaced, and the dealer ordered the parts. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact related the failure to GM Campaign Number: N242445280 (Special Coverage Front Exhaust Pipe). The manufacturer was notified of the failure and a case was filed, but th
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 2146896 |
| ODI Number | 11698247 |
| Date Filed | November 7, 2025 |
| Failure Date | November 5, 2025 |
| VIN | KL4MMDSL6NB |
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.