2000 Buick LeSabre Limited from North America - Comments

Last year, we inherited my mother-in-law's 2000 Buick LeSabre with less than 50,000 miles. Within less than a year, I had to replace the rear driver's side (April 10, 2006) window actuator, front driver's side (July 17, 2006) and the rear passenger side just went out today (August 22, 2006).For all windows, we heard a grinding noise and the window stopped working, unfortunately down.

I did some research on Edmunds. com and found that a bulletin (bulletin #3483 on Jan 2001, item #85 on list) was sent out from General Motors to??, I'm guessing dealerships, so they knew this was a problem even then... It states (as typed by them) "VISIBILITY: POWER WINDOW DEVICES AND CONTROLS Vehicle:2000 Buick LeSabre

Summary: POWER WINDOW INOPERATIVE, NOISY OR GLASS DROPS. (NHTSA ITEM NUMBER- 100117398) "

If they knew of this being faulty and a continual problem, I agree that they should replace any/all that problems occurred with. What do you have to do to get a recall moving?

I have had other vehicles that an occasional problem occurred with, but never the same problem repeating itself 3 times in less than 6 months...

Lemony Snickets to Buick. I certainly couldn't justify buying something that manufacturer's refuses to stand behind when so many consumers have experienced the same problem. It just screams recall to me. Apparently someone has to get injured badly or killed first...

I just posted the preceding post... this whole window regulator situation (we are on our 3rd window) really has me peeved. I called Buick, and was told I need to take this to a dealership for a Diagnostic AT MY EXPENSE, and pay for the repair (again, out of my pocket) and submit it to them to see what IF ANY portion they will reimburse me for. Yeah, right!

So I asked what needed to be done to start a recall, being so many others have had this same problem, MULTIPLE TIMES. I was told recalls are done through COMPLAINTS filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Their website to file (do not research complaints, as that will cost you money, just FILE ONE) a complaint is www.nhtsa.dot.gov or you can call to file a complaint.

I hope enough of you check back to this site and see this message- if we all call, maybe we can get something done to remedy this situation on a defective parts situation that certainly is grounds for a recall.

After my wife went to the dealer about her passenger rear window falling and not able to be brought up again I decided to check the Internet about this problem. What I found was not surprising. There were multiple complaints about the 2000 Buick Le Sabre electric windows with the regulator/motors. But no recall was ever issued. At an average cost of approx. $400.00 each w/the possibility of this happening to all the windows I believe a recall should have should have been issued. This is our 3rd Le Sabre in succession (all new) that we have purchased and luckily we are about ready for our new purchase, but with buick's attitude with this problem we will no doubt not be purchasing another Buick.

Welcome me to the club! Our 2001 Le Sabre Ltd made a loud “bang” and the rear window slowly slid down into the door, about a week ago. We have no children, and almost never put the rear window down, so it’s not an over-usage issue. Meanwhile, we’re looking at a $460.00 price tag through our local dealer, and another mom & pop shop won’t even buy the part, though they’d be happy to put it in if I bring it to them. It sounds like Buick has an issue they need to address. I can’t believe they purposely designed the window to fail at a little over 50,000 miles, so this has to be an oversight they could address with a recall.

I to have had problems with the windows on my 2001 Buick. Only one was covered by GM, the rest were approx. $400.00 ea. to repair. We have had to replace the Drivers side rear, Drivers side front, Drivers side rear and Passenger side rear. The shame is that the rear windows never get used.

This is the only problem we have with the car, but it is enough to make us consider anything, but GM for our next purchase.

I just returned from the local Buick dealership with my new window regulator for the right front passenger window on my 2002 Le sabre. I guess the price to repair must be going up according to what I have read in the above customer comments. The price to repair my window was $529 including a $50 coupon I received in the mail from the dealership for any repairs over $500. The service technician said that Buick changed the regulator design in 2000 to this style and that they replace a lot of regulators. This explains why I never had one regulator failure on my 1997 Le sabre which had 150,000 miles on it when I let it go. He gave me the old part and I can see why they fail. The stress points for the cable assembly are made of thin plastic that can easily break under (probably normal) cable tension. Since Buick will take no responsibility for a bad design, it seems to me that the replacement regulators should be beefed up with aluminum or steel components in place of the weak plastic parts. After reading all the other owner comments I fell lucky to have had only one window failure and don't plan on ever rolling the windows down for as long as I own this car, which won't be very long. Since Buick has no loyalty to their repeat customers, then I certainly have no desire to even consider another Buick. By the way I have only owned this car for eight months, there could have been other failures. It has 62,000 miles now.

I bought our 2000 Le Sabre new and at 24 months the windows started dropping. Seven times they have been repaired (yes seven). Wife just called and another just dropped (EIGHT). Warranty covered the first six and I talked Buick rep. into covering the seventh as the car was only a couple of months out of warranty. We very seldom use the windows (children are grown) as we are afraid they will break. This is a sad reflection on Buick. They should fess up and come up with a fix.

George Barefoot

Cleveland, MS.

The problem hasn't been fixed - I purchased a 2003 about 6 mos ago. A salesman that we've bought several GMC vehicles from, sold it to us - a great deal he said. We've trusted him in the pass. The person was trading it in with only 17,000 miles - but it was in also for a "window problem". Last week I heard the popping & it refused to go up again. Just called, it's ready and with the extended warranty, I owe $218. Asked cost to repair - "that's not available". My dad has exact same car - has been in shop twice for same problem - difference window. I loved the car until this happened - it is my 1st Buick and absolutely my last. Now I'm ready to get rid of it before it happens again. How does Buick get away with it?

I also have a window story about the Buick LeSabre. My car is a 2002 with 60000 miles on it. I have two windows out so far. The first was Aug. 2005 and the last was two weeks ago. The first was $432 in a Buick dealership and the last was $539 in a private repair shop. I called GM four times in the last week and am waiting for a return call from "our rep" to discuss it with me. The last repair man told me he has had several people in our area come in with the same problem with their Buick's. Also, the last window was the rear driver's side which has been down maybe five times since I bought the car. Buick should step up and recall the car's to fix this problem.

I own a 2002 Buick LeSabre. 3 of my power windows have gone out in succession. At first Buick tried to charge me $500 for each repair. When I refused, they asked me for a "contribution" and reduced the cost to $170 per window. The window design/part is obviously defective. However, rather than own up to it and make the repair, Buick is using their defective window as a way of generating a profit. Buick's approach in not making good on the defective part and then attempting to charge $500 for the "repair" is dishonest. I will never buy another GMC product again. I was going to buy a Pontiac G6 for my son who was headed off to college. A Honda Civic is looking real good now.

I have a 2001 LeSabre, first it was the driver's side window that cost nearly $500 to repair. Now the left rear has broken. Bottom line, the cable either jumps the track or it snaps altogether which happened on the rear. I personally pulled the regulator out myself to inspect it. They have designed the cable and regulator rail as one peice and the motor is removable. Even though it is mostly just the cable with a wind up spool they charge you for everything. I found the complete replacement part online for $99.00. It isn't too hard to replace if you take your time and use blue masking tape to hold up the window. It took me 10 minutes to pull out the old one and probably 30 minutes to put in the new one and put it all back together. So how can the dealer charge nearly $500 for a $99. part??? here is the link for the regulator...

http://www.1aauto.com/1A/WindowRegulators/Buick/LeSabre/1AWRG00122/437817&ovchn=OTHER&ovcpn=NexTag&ovcrn=&ovtac=CMP

GM should be ashamed of themselves for not stepping up.

We have a 2000 Buick Le Sabre and have now had to replace 2 windows. The cost for each window was over $400.00. The regulator went out in each and could not be bought separately from the motor. Seems like this is an ongoing problem with these Buick electric windows. We are hoping we don't have to replace the last 2. A recall seems to be in order!

First, I want to say Thank You for all the Great Info. I now know I am not alone. My wife and I own a 2002 Buick Le Sabre we bought brand new, Had three miles on it, in Oct. 2002, So it is just this month a full 4 years old. Like I have read on this site, we too have had problems with “three windows!” Both the back ones, and now, as of Friday, Sept. 29, 2006 the front drivers side window has fallen. Also, for the last couple of months, the front passenger window has taken on a mind of its own. It only operates when it wants to, and only from the drivers door control. Because of my mechanical know how, I just bolted the back windows up. The only person who rides in the back seat with any regularity, is our 5 year old Granddaughter. I bolted the front window up for a temp. fix, but that is driving my wife nuts. I did this search, and found this site, looking mostly for an idea of what it would cost to repair. I thank you all for your comments, and for the link to find the part online. I do agree with all of you that if this problem is so widely known about, and unresolved by Buick, then I doubt I will buy another one myself, even tho the car itself has been a good vehicle.

R.D. in Fort Worth Texas.

I have a 2000 Buick LeSabre and have had 3 window regulators replaced on the vehicle (both front and rear passenger). The dates of replacement were June 2004, September 2004 and September 2006. The cost for all would have been about $350-$400 each occurrence. Thankfully, I PURCHASED an extended warranty, which covered the costs. I am concerned about the last window, which hasn’t been replaced yet, and how long will the others last. I contacted Buick after the first two incidents to file a complaint, and I see others are experiencing the same issues. I also filed a complaint with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) after this last incident. I suggest others do the same.

I guess I've just joined the club of unhappy Buick owners. Started driving in to work this morning and the left rear window fell on my 2000 LeSabre. One of our VP's had this same problem with his car. Finding this site tells me that it's an ongoing problem. GM needs to step up and take care of it. I'm going shopping for a Honda or Toyota... I know they'll stand behind their vehicles.

R. S. Indiana.