Most common 2001 Buick Century problems
Share of the 145 complaints; one complaint can involve more than one system. "~" is the median mileage when the problem started.
Buick Century complaints by model year
Best Century years: 2005, 2004, 1996. Years to avoid: 1999, 1998, 2000. Compare all years →
2001 Buick Century recalls (3)
Seat belts
Vehicle description: certain passenger vehicles, equipped with sunvisor located air bag labels, fail to conform to federal motor vehicles safety standard no. 208, "occupant crash protection." these vehicles have a message area less than 30 cm which does not meet the requirements of the standard.
Remedy: GM will mail a new bilingual air bag label with installation instructions. However, the customer May bring the label to their dealer for installation free of charge. Owner notification began May 4, 2001.
Air bags › Side/window
Vehicle description: passenger vehicles. Some of these vehicles exhibit a condition in which the driver side impact air bag inflator separates from the air bag module during deployment.
Remedy: Dealers will replace the side impact air bag module.
Seat belts
Vehicle description: passenger vehicles, light duty trucks, sport utility vehicles, and Mini vans equipped with trw seat belt buckle assemblies. The buckle base of these seat belt assemblies were not properly heat treated and therefore do not pass the load bearing requirement of federal motor vehicle safety standard no.
Remedy: Dealers will inspect the vehicle's safety belt buckle assembly date codes and, if necessary, will replace any safety belt buckle assembly.
What 2001 Buick Century owners say
Engine & cooling all 31 →
5/15/2017, $1,197.66 repair for intake manifold gasket. On October 23, 2008, the california superior court granted final approval to the class action lawsuit, but nothing is available to those of use that did not have a problem until after that suit. Https://www.girardgibbs.com/dexcool/
About a month ago the check engine light came on. Because of the cost to have a mechanic hook up the obdii monitor I didn't take the vehicle in right away, hoping it was simply due to a dirty sensor or loose gas cap (which has been the root cause before in other vehicles). Shortly after the check engine light incident the temp gage and heater started acting funny. Starting in the morning the heater only provided lukewarm air at best. Then the temp gauge would spike really fast and the coolant alarm would come on. Then right away the gage would normalize and there would be no problems the rest of the trip. The temp gage would be in the normal range. The problem only happened a couple of times then appeared to go away. Yesterday the problem re-surfaced except the temp gauge didn't normalize and there was a smell of antifreeze coming from the engine compartment. …
Brakes all 26 →
In stop & go traffic on highway went to stop for 8th or 9th time that morning and brakes failed and caused me to rearend another vehicle. Upon further investigation, there is about a 6" section of brake line that is completely rusted through. Same place on both sides at a bend. Rest of the lines are pefectly fine. This should not happen on a carr that is only 3 ears old and has 9000 miles on it. The defective part of the line is not in a place where it can be attributed to any cause other than defective material.(ie: no rubbing, no sitting in dirt or salt, can't be hit by flying debris, etc)
Tl* the contact owns a 2001 buck Century. The contact stated that while traveling 25 MPH, the driver depressed the brakes and smoke started to emit from the vehicle. The contact mentioned that the vehicle failed to stop. The vehicle was towed to the dealer who stated that the brake lines failed and needed to be replaced due to corrosion. The manufacturer was contacted. The vehicle was repaired. The failure and current mileage was 53,000....updated 10/19/12 updated 10/25/2012
Transmission & drivetrain all 21 →
We purchased this car (as is) for our grandson. On our way home from the dealer, as soon as the transmission warmed up (4-5 miles), the shifting was hard and jerking with a whine coming from the transmission. Took the car to a garage which found the computer code of p1811 and were told a complete rebuild would be necessary. Went online and discovered many others had complaints of the same nature. Would hope GM would come forward with reimbursement since its transmission in this model was incorrectly designed. The rebuilding garage owner even had to go to a special school to learn how to correct this problem in the Buick Century. After paying $1,757.25 to queens transmission, inc., in bradenton, fl [phone]), the shifting is now normal.
Had transmission replaced at authorized GMC dealership May 2006 .this came with a warranty. Several times over several summers since then have taken vehicle into dealership with concerns that happened after vehicle would be driven in high humidity high temperature days after traveling a minimum of 60 miles mostly on state highways that are quite rough and curvy, I.e. It would take about 90 minutes or more togo this distance. Then when in bumper to bumper traffic and trying to move forward or stopping the car's automatic transmission would cause the vehicle to shake like jumping into the wrong gear and in more than one time the car's engine would die. It always happened at low speeds so luckily we didn't loose control of the vehicle. But, the only way to stop this from continuing was to stop and park to let the engine and or cool down. …
2001 Buick Century engines & fuel economy
| Engine | Transmission | Drive | MPG city / hwy / combined |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3.1L 6-cyl | 4-speed automatic | FWD | 18 / 26 / 21 |
EPA ratings. Class: Midsize car.
Frequently asked questions
Is the 2001 Buick Century a good car?
Based on 145 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, the 2001 Century rates average: 1.3× as many complaints as a typical year of the Century at the same age. Complaint counts don't account for sales volume or individual maintenance, so have any used car inspected before buying.
What is the most common problem with the 2001 Buick Century?
The engine & cooling — 31 complaints, 21% of all complaints for this model year, most often about engine. Next are the brakes (26) and transmission & drivetrain (21).
How many recalls does the 2001 Buick Century have?
There are 3 recalls for the 2001 Buick Century, the most recent from April 6, 2001 (seat belts). Recall repairs are free at any authorized dealer — check whether yours has been done with the VIN recall check.
What are the best and worst years of the Buick Century?
The best years by complaints, compared at the same age, are 2005, 2004 and 1996. Years to avoid or approach with caution: 1999, 1998 and 2000. See the full Buick Century years comparison.
At what mileage do 2001 Buick Century problems happen?
The median mileage reported in complaints is about 55,000 miles; 43% of problems with a recorded mileage started before 50,000 miles.
Source: U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) — owner complaints through October 20, 2026, recalls and defect investigations; fuel economy from the EPA. Complaints are unverified reports and are not proof of a defect. How we rate model years.