Owners filed 4,913 complaints about the 2015–2025 GMC Sierra 1500 with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the 14th-most of any vehicle in our Car Problem Index. The 2015 model year drew the most (717), and the single most-reported problem area is engine, named in 36% of complaints.
Key findings
- Worst model year: 2015, with 717 complaints, led by brakes (219).
- Spike years: 2015 (1.5× the typical year).
- Earliest-failing area: fuel system complaints came at a median of 16k mi on the odometer.
- Fire and crash reports: 48 complaints mention a fire and 110 mention a crash; owners reported 73 injuries.
GMC Sierra 1500 complaints by model year
| Model year | Complaints | Top problem areas | Median mileage | Crashes | Fires |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 717 | Brakes (219), Transmission / powertrain (97), Electrical system (96) | 47k mi | 23 | 9 |
| 2016 | 341 | Brakes (100), Transmission / powertrain (83), Electrical system (54) | 47k mi | 11 | 13 |
| 2017 | 353 | Transmission / powertrain (117), Brakes (100), Engine (58) | 39k mi | 14 | 4 |
| 2018 | 302 | Transmission / powertrain (130), Engine (65), Electrical system (43) | 34k mi | 10 | 1 |
| 2019 | 640 | Engine (300), Transmission / powertrain (136), Brakes (107) | 13k mi | 13 | 3 |
| 2020 | 465 | Engine (232), Transmission / powertrain (96), Electrical system (79) | 32k mi | 12 | 5 |
| 2021 | 567 | Engine (301), Transmission / powertrain (134), Electrical system (73) | 50k mi | 5 | 6 |
| 2022 | 584 | Engine (236), Transmission / powertrain (108), Body structure (101) | 39k mi | 9 | 5 |
| 2023 | 470 | Engine (205), Transmission / powertrain (91), Body structure (79) | 28k mi | 5 | 2 |
| 2024 | 358 | Engine (183), Transmission / powertrain (68), Electrical system (41) | 16k mi | 5 | 0 |
| 2025 | 116 | Engine (53), Transmission / powertrain (25), Electrical system (25) | 17k mi | 3 | 0 |
Newer model years have had less time on the road, so their counts are lower partly because owners have had fewer years to report problems.
Most-reported GMC Sierra 1500 problems, and what they cost to fix
| Problem area | Complaints | Share | Median mileage | Repair estimate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Engine | 1,754 | 36% | 50k mi | Engine repair cost |
| Transmission / powertrain | 1,085 | 22% | 35k mi | Transmission repair cost |
| Electrical system | 703 | 14% | 35k mi | Alternator / electrical repair cost |
| Brakes | 696 | 14% | 41k mi | Brake repair cost |
| Steering | 319 | 7% | 36k mi | Power steering repair cost |
| Body structure | 298 | 6% | 30k mi | — |
| Fuel system | 207 | 4% | 16k mi | Fuel pump repair cost |
| Engine and cooling | 188 | 4% | 63k mi | Engine repair cost |
One complaint can name several problem areas, so shares add up to more than 100%.
What this data can and can't tell you
These are unverified reports that owners submitted to NHTSA, counted by model year. They are not defect findings, and they aren't adjusted for sales: a best-selling vehicle collects more complaints simply because more of them are on the road. Use the counts to compare model years of the same vehicle and to see which systems owners complain about most, not to compare how reliable two different models are. See the full methodology.
Other GMC models in the index
- GMC Acadia (2,423)
- GMC Yukon (2,040)
Source: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation, consumer complaint files (nhtsa.gov), model years 2015–2025, retrieved 2026-09-23. Free to cite with a link to this page.