Equipment Problems of GMC Sierra 3500 - part 1

The contact owns a 2025 GMC Sierra 3500 used for hauling a 2026 aluminum trailer equipped with a deemaxx: dbi-7k-maxx-ss-kit brake kit. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the brake caliper bracket detached due to insufficient generic quality bolts included in the brake kit. The contact pulled over and had the trailer towed to an RV park. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired by an independent mechanic or dealer. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure but informed the contact that the failure was caused by improper installation. The failure mileage was unknown. The VIN was not available.

See all problems of the 2025 GMC Sierra 3500 🔎.

Randomly when the truck is turned on, the turn signals will stop working, no noise, nothing. When this happens, the infotainment system also stops working. It is unsafe to be driving and not knowing if your signals are working or not. This has been happening since the truck was purchased from the dealer.

I was driving in the high way and the vehicle started having issues and then it completely shut off and wouldn’t drive or anything in the middle of the highway and the dash said it was reducing power.

See all problems of the 2023 GMC Sierra 3500 🔎.

Diesel exhaust fluid tank heater malfunctioned and meted tank and connectors.

See all problems of the 2020 GMC Sierra 3500 🔎.

Our dash board cracked very badly from the top next to the speaker to the passenger side air bag. We purposely use a dash board cover and never place heavy things on it. This is a safety issue as if getting in an accident wouldn’t be bad enough flying shrapnel would be worse. We just had it fixed at a dealership to the tune of $2500. This is not okay as I see this is a constant problem.

See all problems of the 2012 GMC Sierra 3500 🔎.

The integrated wirless phone charger when charging my phone always the phone to get very hot and puts my phone into overheating protcol. The safety concern is that this charger could overheat my phones battery and cause a fire with in the cab of the vehicle. This could cause an imminent threat to the safety of all persons in the vehicle. The issue was reproduced to the dealer that does my regular service. The component has not been inspected by the manufacturer. There is no warning signs produced by the installed device.

I tried to honk the horn when a car started to come into my lane and discovered that it was not working. I took it to the dealership, and they said it needed a new steering wheel as the contacts that operate the horn were faulty. They told me that the steering wheel airbag would not be operational due to this problem until it was fixed. This is a 2022 pickup with only 10,000 miles on it. I’ve never had to use the horn before I, so to discover that the issue is pretty serious was disconcerting, and of course my 36 month bumper-to-bumper is used up. This vehicle is basically brand-new, and there should be a recall on this vehicle.

See all problems of the 2022 GMC Sierra 3500 🔎.

Front wheel well liners keep falling out of place like they are melting. Happens when towing and engine gets hotter than normal. Trailer is well below limit for vehicle. Liners fall onto the tire while in motion. This is the 4th time this issue has happened to my vehicle. Dealer replaces them and says it happens all the time.

See all problems of the 2024 GMC Sierra 3500 🔎.

There is currently a recall on ram promasters built in 2022 and onward for an issue with the backup camera. My vehicle was built in the spring of 2021 and has the identical issue but is not covered under the recall.

Tailgate opens when in park. Caused damage when parked in the garage. The tailgate hit the garage door. Recall under n242469160, but not attached to my VIN.

The contact owned a 2019 GMC Sierra 3500. The contact stated while driving at approximately 45 mph, the vehicle went into “engine power reduced mode” and the contact attempted to pull over to the side of the road, but the contact stated that the battery went dead and the vehicle shutoff. The contact shifted to park(p) and attempted to restart the vehicle; however, the vehicle failed to restart, and smoke started coming from under the hood. The contact stopped attempting to restart the vehicle, and exited the vehicle and raised the hood, and the vehicle was on fire in the engine compartment on the left side of the firewall. The contact stated that there was gray and white smoke coming from the vehicle and an odor of electrical wires burning. The contact attempted to reach for a fire extinguisher but was informed by another driver who had stopped to see if the contact needed assistance, to step away from the vehicle. The other driver saw the flames coming from the engine compartment and told the contact to step away from the vehicle because it was unsafe to attempt to extinguish the flames, and the engine compartment became engulfed in flames. The fire department was contacted and arrived on scene and extinguished the fire. The contact stated that the front end of the vehicle and the front bumper, hood, engine, and engine components were damaged by the fire. Additionally, the front windshield was severely damaged. The vehicle was towed to an impound lot and declared a total loss by the insurance provider. The contact stated that the fire department filed an incident report. The manufacturer was not informed of the failure. The contact related the failure and the fire to NHTSA campaign number: 21v496000 (equipment) which was associated with the VIN. The failure mileage was approximately 242,000.

See all problems of the 2019 GMC Sierra 3500 🔎.

The coolant sensor was faulty and required a replacement coolant reservoir. No cause for this provided other than it went bad.

Engine started skipping, then service parking brake light came on, then service engine light came on and speed dropped to 44 mph.

Windshield issues. Small debris creates significant chips and cracks on windshield. In 30 years of owning vehicles I have never had a chip. Had this vehicle one year and 3 significant cracks and three chips. Anything that hits the windshield does damage. Very dangerous issue that needs addressed. A windshield is a safety issue and one that cracks so easily is completely unsafe!.

The other day approximately 5 minutes after leaving my house I noticed a smell and saw some slight smoke coming from my rear window. I immediately turned off the rear defrost and my rear window shattered. The next day I discovered other chevy/GMC vehicles have a recall for a short circuit in the rear defrost. Unfortunately the dealership will not help me until there is a recall with my VIN as there is not an open recall on my vehicle.

Vehicle is put into park after driving. Shift to park warning comes on while vehicle is in park. Vehicle will not shut off due to this warning and must be left running unoccupied.

See all problems of the 2021 GMC Sierra 3500 🔎.

The tailgate automatically opened while I was driving. I was sure the tailgate was shut and latched properly prior to the incident.

Breaks and/or drive train. It is available for inspection. 1) breaks sink causing slowed break time and decreased breaking ability. If the breaks are "pumped", more often than not, they will come back up to full pedal. However, in an emergency breaking situation, there is not time to "pump" the breaks. I was nearly in an accident recently when the break pedal would not stop the truck in time, due to the soft break pedal. I literally had to steer to the shoulder of the road. 2) when placing transmission in drive or reverse from the park position, then taking foot off of break pedal, there is about a 1 - 2 foot roll, then the truck stops as if the e-break has been engaged (but it is not engaged). By tapping the accelerator, it will "break free" (with a popping sound and a slight "jerk" in the truck) and then roll fine. This does not always happen ~ guestimate of about 10% of the time. 3) I don't know if this is related, but when I set the drive mode to "normal", it automatically goes to "off road" ~ this happens no matter the driving conditions. This isn't safety related necessarily, however, it may be a part of the total problem. . . . It also decreases my fuel economy. I took the truck to the local GMC dealer/shop. They said the truck had 2 recalls and they took care of those. They believed one of the recalls would help solve the "sticking" when placing in drive or reverse ~ it did not. They also (supposedly) checked the breaking system and took it for a test drive. They said the breaks were fine. I doubt this happened as the soft break pedal and the need to "pump" the breaks to bring them to full pedal is completely obvious. I took the truck home after the inspection and recall. The same issues continued, so I took it back to the shop where it was inspected again. Again, I was told everything was in working order ~ it is not! there are no warning lights that I can find to indicate there is an issue. I'm begining to think that I should have bought a ram truck. . .

Approximately Nov 15, 2024 is when the issue started. At approximately 44,000 miles the truck experienced a catastrophic oil coolant failure causing oil and coolant to mix. It is available for inspection. The incident happened suddenly as the truck was being driven. When pressing on the accelerator, the truck hesitated to move on several occasions. The issue was confirmed by an authorized GMC service center. The truck has been inspected by the authorized GMC service department. The warning light came on after the damage was done. There was no other sign of an issue. It wasn't until the next day when the truck was started, that the warning light appeared. No leaks of any kind.

There is a known issue with these trucks with the infotainment screen blacking out, which renders the backup cameras inoperative. This is a huge safety risk and its astounding to me that this hasn't been recalled yet.

Driving approximately 50 mph when vehicle suddenly made loud bang and locked up rear brakes for 25' coming to a stop in road side ditch, numerous vehicles had to make evasive actions to avoid me and other vehicles. Flat spotted tire abut no visible physical damage. Sat on side of road for transmission temp to cool down then drove to shop without repeat. Called dealer was told the earliest appt was a month away. Have not been able to repeat incident so far. This has happened a few times and is becoming more frequent, mfg has TSB issued but indicates they cant assist because my warranty has expired so I will have to pay 225 per hour diagnostic fee. This is untenable and dangerous. This needs a recall and repair ASAP.

Multiple instances of diesel engine emissions system parts and software failure. While driving, towing or not, the dic would randomly display a message that the def level is low and reduced speed will occur in x-amount of miles and that mileage would then begin a visible countdown on the dic, sometimes much more quickly than the actual speed I was traveling. In other words, it might at first state 500 miles remaining, but then be counting down from 500 miles by one mile per second of time, or faster. Each instance, I would park and attempt to refill the def tank, only to discover that the tank is already full or near full. My truck’s def tank has now been replaced twice under warranty with the latest tank being installed at only 35,460 miles on the odometer. During the latest replacement, the technician also diagnosed and replaced the electrical wiring harness related to the def tank, stating that one of the connector pins was not reading the required voltage. There was also a faulty diesel particulate sensor that was replaced under warranty. This emissions system is problematic, and it is unsafe to due to the drive ability restrictions it imposes due to faulty software and equipment. I use my truck to tow, and it would make for a very unsafe condition to have my vehicle’s speed become limited as if the vehicle ran out of fuel. Mountain grades. Two-lane highways. Passing through bad neighborhoods. Driving in uninhabited areas, sometimes late at night. Family of 6 in the vehicle. Unacceptable. General motors corp. Must create a permanent and fail-safe fix for this emissions system and implement the parts. The emissions system warranty should be extended from 80k miles to lifetime to cover the vehicles affected.

The truck intermittently shuts off trailer brakes.

When towing our 5th wheel RV we started getting messages on the computer that the trailer brakes were not working due to an issue with the brake controller. Trailer brakes would come and go. The only time we got notification was when towing. Only 20 minutes after getting the first notification we were involved in an accident due to the trailer brakes not working. We thoroughly had the trailer brakes and plugs checked and they are not the problem .

While driving the truck began switching between towing, normal, and off-road driving modes. Lights were flickering and various messages were being displayed on the dash cluster screen. After parking truck and shutting it off all of the lights were flickering and I was unable to start the truck. Charging the batteries did nothing nor was I able to jumpstart the truck with another diesel. After repairs for these issues, at some point the odometer reset and while likely not certain it reset to zero. Gm has no way of knowing when it reset and how many miles were driven between leaving the dealership and the reset leaving me with a truck set to the best guess mileage. I am being told this was a software bug and having experienced another software bug when I had the recall to enable seat warmers where the keyfobs would not work in any way I have serious concerns about the quality and safety of the software on these trucks.

We’ve had issues with the electrical system/brake lights when we hook any trailer (horse/boat/utility) to the truck. One issue is that the system shows unconnected and the trailer lights blink or do not work. We’ve brought this in to the dealer 3 times and they have yet to resolve the issue. The other issue of melted plastic on our rear sliding mirror. It just appeared one day, possible after using the rear defog button. We took it to the dealer and they also do not know what is the issue. We found several other blogs where owners have had the same issue. This is a newer vehicle, and we live in southern California where the temperature is mild. It just appeared one day. We are concerned this is a safety issue with the electrical system melting the plastic and possibly causing a fire. Here is a link to a blog: [xxx] lastly, this vehicle was advertised as having adaptive cruise and it does not have the capability (chip) to do so. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

Vehicle caught fire minutes after remote starting. Fire appears to have started on firewall on the left side. We were about to take our kids to school vehicle could have easily caught our house and other property on fire. We did have the check engine light come on occasionally but it would always turn back off, vehicle only had about 12000 miles. Also none of the outlets inside the vehicle never worked.

Unknown truck unexpectedly comes to almost complete stop between speeds of 35 to 55 mph. Occurs more frequently around 40 mph. Truck has been in repair shop and diagnostic can’t explain the problem.

The component that failed was the passenger side or main battery. Our safety was compromised when the design of the hvac system and the battery location allowed the hydrogen sulfide gas into the passenger compartment of the vehicle. The issue has not been confirmed by a deal or independent service center. The battery(s) and vehicle are available for inspection to confirm the issue. I have uploaded pictures of the battery and one can visually see the swollen battery with liquid leaking out of it. There were no warning messages or other symptoms prior to the failure. The rotten egg smell started shortly after the truck was started and my three young children were in the truck for about 10-15 minutes while I was loading items in the bed of the truck. When I entered the vehicle, the smell was extremely strong and my eyes started burning. I opened all the windows to air out the passenger compartment and thought it was possible off gassing from the nearby septic field. Once driving with the windows now closed, the smell came back instantly and very strong. My children started complaining of headache and nausea. For the next part of the trip, we drove with the windows down. When we arrived at our destination, I was able to determine the smell was coming out of the hvac system while in normal "auto" mode. Opening the hood, I went to smell around the engine compartment and when I got over the passenger side main battery, the rotten egg smell was so strong that my nose and eyes instantly started burning. We then drove the truck home with the windows closed and the hvac system in recirculate but the smell still entered the passenger compartment. All four of us had symptoms of hydrogen sulfide poisoning with my son being the worse with multiple vomiting episodes immediately upon exiting the vehicle. Poison control was notified and all four of us were evaluated in our local emergency department for inhalation toxin. The truck is all oem.

In short, the diesel exhaust fluid (def) reductant heater failed which requires the entire def tank assembly (part 85138746) to be replaced on my 2020 GMC Sierra 3500. This cause the truck to go into "limp" mode where it will not travel above 65 mph, and after another period, the speed continues to be reduced down to 25 mph. Prior to the speed being reduced, there is a warning message that appears stating "service def system see owner's manual" and a warning light illuminates in the gauge cluster. Any severe reduction in speed that can cause the truck to go "limp" is a safety concern. In addition to being a safety concern, some quick internet research reveals that this has been a known problem with gm's def system since at least 2019. The electrical connections are too small for the current which supplied the def tank heater, causing the system to short and trigger the truck into limp mode which renders it useless. The replacement part is on national backorder, and it has been on backorder for years. My truck is completely useless until this part (or a better-engineered replacement) arrives at the dealer, and there are hundreds if not thousands of people waiting on this same, defective part to get their trucks back on the road. People are losing their livelihood and the means by which they support their families. Gm has known about this defective part for years and has done nothing- neither engineered a better part nor issued a recall with some kind of workaround. They haven't even been able to stock the defective part, and this is not just a supply chain issue as new trucks are still being built. This problem was not inspected by any police or insurance agency as it did not cause an accident or injury in this case.

I purchased 2022 GMC sierra hd last year. Due to micro chip shortages at the time GMC provided custo. Ers a $50. 00 credit and notice that they provide the chips ASAP and that it should be provided by December 2022. I like many others accepted the risk for not having parking assist sensors and other features for this period of time. I contacted GMC last month after speaking with my dealer and was told by GMC customer service that GMC has instead adopted an approach of providing chips to new vehicles while they work on getting chips for those vehicles already sold. No where in the agreements that customers signed did it acknowledge that we would be prioritized by GMC in order for them to make new vehicle sales over the increased safety risks. I drive a GMC hd (3500) which has significant blind spots and increased safety risks to pedestrians as a result of no warning detection systems during parking in lots and on streets. I would like to have this risk mitigated by having GMC honor the agreements and commitments to its customers by providing the micro chips required to fulfill these safety requirements ahead of new sales, so no injuries or loss of life are sustained as a result of this profit over safety stance that GMC has adopted. I would like the NHTSA to assist consumers in addressing this safety issue.

Safety factor dash is cracking manly. Around air bag on passenger side. Across dash behind instrument panel. If air bag deploys it would send plastic before air bag, destroying your face even eyes. The GMC dealer said cracking happens on all chevy and GMC trucks.

See all problems of the 2011 GMC Sierra 3500 🔎.

While towing a fifth wheel camper, the exhaust was so hot it melted the camper directly behind it. Was caught in side mirror before anything caught on fire.

The communications quit working, I can not use the hands free on my phone.

See all problems of the 2015 GMC Sierra 3500 🔎.

Front tires are continually wearing on the front outside edge. Wearing until bald in first 15000 miles of ownership, multiple front end alignment calibration tests and actual front end calibration not resolving issue. Front tires replaced at approximately 23,000 miles and again wearing on outside edge at 40,000 miles. Worse on driver side. Contacted dealer several times for resolution and contacted gm twice to open ticket. Last gm ticket was 8-4030406653. Tires are michelin and are supposed to last 65,000 miles. Never seen this type of wear on any past gm vehicle owned. Rear tires are in excellent condition. Unable to get dealer or gm to find cause and resolve once and for all. Tired of paying out of pocket alignment costs. The front tires are on the second set and the current vehicle mileage is 42k. I have attached images of front driver side tire which has greatest wear and image 20180328_113012. Jpg is the original back tires which have no wear. Front are the second set since purchasing vehicle. Original set was completely bald on outside edge before 19k miles.