Most common 2001 Buick Regal problems
Share of the 187 complaints; one complaint can involve more than one system. "~" is the median mileage when the problem started.
Buick Regal complaints by model year
Best Regal years: 2020, 2017, 2018. Years to avoid: 2011, 1998, 1996, 1995, 1999. Compare all years →
2001 Buick Regal recalls (6)
Engine and engine cooling › Exhaust system › Manifold/header/muffler/tail pipe
General Motors LLC (GM) is recalling certain model year 1998-1999 Chevrolet Lumina and Oldsmobile Intrigue, 1997-2004 Buick Regal and Pontiac Grand Prix, 2000-2004 Chevrolet Impala, and 1998-2004 Chevrolet Monte Carlo vehicles.
Remedy: The remedy applied under recalls 08V-118, 09V-116, and 15V-201 did not adequately remove the safety risk. Under the improved remedy, dealers will replace the engine's front valve cover and gasket.
Engine and engine cooling
General motors is recalling 1,497,516 my 1997-2003 Buick regal, my 1998-2003 Chevrolet lumina, monte carlo and impala, my 1998-1999 Oldsmobile intrigue, my 1997-2003 Pontiac grand prix vehicles equipped with a 3.8l v6 naturally aspirated engine.
Remedy: Dealers will replace the engine's front valve cover and front-valve-cover gasket with new parts of an improved design and remove the engine's plastic cover and plastic oil-fill-tube extension, free of charge.
Engine and engine cooling
GM is recalling 207,542 my 1997-2003 Buick regal and Pontiac grand prix vehicles equipped with a 3.8l supercharged v-6 engine. These vehicles have higher front rocker cover gasket temperatures, creating the potential for earlier degradation of the front rocker cover gasket and eventual oil seepage.
Remedy: Dealers will replace the engine's front valve cover and front-valve-cover gasket with new parts of an improved design and remove the engine's plastic cover and plastic oil-fill-tube extension, along with the 1-3-5 spark…
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.
NHTSA defect investigations
Federal safety investigators have looked into 2 possible defects involving the 2001 Buick Regal:
Engine compartment fire
By letter dated March 12, 2008, general motors corp. (GM) has notified the agency that it will conduct a safety recall (identified by NHTSA recall number 08v-118) to address a defect in approximately 207,542 model year (my) 1997-2003 Buick regal gs and Pontiac grand prix gtp vehicles equipped with the l67 supercharged version of GM's 3800 series ii v6 engine.the recalled regal gs vehicles were built from August 1996…
Engine compartment fires
Ea02-030 is closed with gmea02-030 is closed with GM?s actions in 03v-473 and 04v-090 recalling approximately 529,000 my 1998-99 c- and h-body vehicles equipped with defective fuel pressure regulators.these vehicles were equipped with plastic intake manifolds that are unable to contain pressures that occur in some backfire events and defective fuel pressure regulators with leaking diaphragms that can provide a…
What 2001 Buick Regal owners say
Engine & cooling all 86 →
On [redacted], my son drove the car to Wendy's to get lunch around 12:30 pm. He returned, parked the car in the driveway. My son entered the house and while we were eating lunch the doorbell rang, it was the police informing us that my car was on fire in the driveway. The fire department was called and they eventually extinguished the fire which started under the hood of the car. The jaws of life were used to cut the hood of the car loose to fully extinguish the fire. The car is destroyed. There is no fixing it. Marion, Virginia Fire Department extinguished the fire and stated that a report could be obtained but they were positive the fire started in the engine.
Tl* the contact owns a 2001 Buick Regal. The contact stated that there was a fuel odor emitted from the front of the vehicle. The contact opened the hood and noticed flames coming from the manifold and the gasket cover. The contact attempted to extinguish the fire. There were no reports filed. The contact took the vehicle to the dealer who replaced the s cover, s retainer, and gasket. The contact stated that the check engine light was illuminated and all the body damage to the vehicle was not repaired. The contact received notification of NHTSA campaign number: 15V701000 (engine and engine cooling), which stated that the consequence for the recall could result in a fire. The contact stated that the failure experienced directly related to the failure indicated in the recall notice. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. …
Electrical system all 32 →
The 2001 buick regal that we have has very inadequate head lights as far as im concerned it is a wiring problem dims are so dim that it's like you have no head lights at all bright are just bright enough to almost see 50 to 100 feet in front of vehicle also this buick is not the only gm vehicle I have experienced this on the 98 buick century's have same head light problem some what worse though also our 2002 chevy venture van has same extremely dim dims on all three vehicles brights are substituted for dims I have tried to rimity the problem by cleaning oxidation from lenses also replacing head lamp bulbs on one vehicle lenses had condensation inside lenses replaced both lenses but the results were same extremely dim dims and still had to substitute brights for dims to see also thought batterie might be getting weak both van and buick have new batteries and alternator on Both are …
Tl* the contact owned a 2001 Buick Regal. While the vehicle was idling flames appeared from under the hood. No injuries were reported. The cause was undetermined. The contact stated that while parked with the engine on flames were suddenly present coming from under the hood of the vehicle. The fire department was called to the scene and extinguished the flames. A fire department and police department reports were taken at the scene. The vehicle was destroyed. The cause of the failure was not determined. The manufacturer and local dealer were not notified of the failure. The VIN look up indicated that the vehicle was included in the NHTSA recall campaign: 15V701000 (engine and engine cooling). The contact indicated that the vehicle had experienced the same failure listed in the recall. The failure mileage was 100,000.
Steering
I was driving doing almost 50 when it shut off with no warning the steering wheel locked up the brakes were not working. The first time this happened I just let the car coast to a stop, the second time was exactly the same except I put the car in neutral while I still had a good bit of speed and crunk it back up. The car always crank right back up with no problem and drives fine. I've change my fuses and certain lights (low tire, low coolant, check engine)on the dashboard won't go off and I just recently had my car inspected in which it passed
Tl* the contact owns a 2001 Buick Regal. While driving 35 MPH, the contact heard an abnormal noise coming from the front of the vehicle. The contact stated that the steering wheel became difficult to turn. The vehicle was towed to the contact's residence. On several occasions, when the vehicle was placed in the park position, it was difficult to remove the key from the ignition. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 71,000.
2001 Buick Regal engines & fuel economy
| Engine | Transmission | Drive | MPG city / hwy / combined |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3.8L 6-cyl | 4-speed automatic | FWD | 17 / 28 / 21 |
| 3.8L 6-cyl supercharged | 4-speed automatic | FWD | 16 / 26 / 20 |
EPA ratings. Class: Midsize car.
Frequently asked questions
Is the 2001 Buick Regal a good car?
Based on 187 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, the 2001 Regal rates average: 1.2× as many complaints as a typical year of the Regal 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 Regal?
The engine & cooling — 86 complaints, 46% of all complaints for this model year, most often about exhaust system. Next are the electrical system (32) and steering (14).
How many recalls does the 2001 Buick Regal have?
There are 6 recalls for the 2001 Buick Regal, the most recent from October 26, 2015 (manifold/header/muffler/tail pipe). 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 Regal?
The best years by complaints, compared at the same age, are 2020, 2017 and 2018. Years to avoid or approach with caution: 2011, 1998, 1996, 1995 and 1999. See the full Buick Regal years comparison.
At what mileage do 2001 Buick Regal problems happen?
The median mileage reported in complaints is about 92,000 miles; 24% 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.