2008 GMC Sierra 1500 problems
The 2008 GMC Sierra 1500 has 442 complaints on file with NHTSA. The largest share (55%) concerns air bags. Next are electrical system (7%) and body & structure (6%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 442 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Air bags 55% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 13 and 7
- Injuries and deaths
- 17 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 75,000 miles 242 complaints with mileage
Source: NHTSA owner complaints
Where the complaints are
Share of this model year's complaints by the part of the car involved. One complaint can name more than one part, so the shares can add up to more than 100%.
When problems show up
View the numbers
| Mileage | Complaints |
|---|---|
| 0k to 20k miles | 30 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 37 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 32 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 26 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 20 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 31 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 23 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 15 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 13 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 12 |
| 200k+ miles | 3 |
What the data shows
Of the 242 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 75,000 miles. For air bags specifically, the median reported mileage is about 86,000 miles (83 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 13 complaints mention a crash; 7 complaints mention a fire; 17 injuries reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2008 ranks 17th most-complained-about out of 30 model years of the GMC Sierra 1500 with enough data (96 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 2 safety recall campaigns.
What owners wrote
A few complaints as filed, shortened and with personal details removed. The first ones are among the most serious reports for this model year; the rest are typical.
" takata recall" last memorial day, I had just left a stoplight traveling approx. 20 MPH, when I was struck broadside by a volvo sedan traveling between 50-60 MPH. I have a slt model with front and side airbags and none of my airbags deployed.
Tl*the contact owns a 2008 GMC sierra 1500. After the contact parked and exited the vehicle, it began to roll forward in his garage. The vehicle crashed into the garage door and the contact sustained injuries. He took the vehicle to the dealer and they could not find any failures. The contact called GMC and a representative came out to take pictures and inspect the vehicle. The purchase date was unknown. The current mileage was 27,000 and failure mileage was 13,202.
While driving a brand new 2008 GMC sierra, 4 door, 4 wheel drive with only 872 miles on the odometer, going approximately 30 to 40 MPH, the steering knuckle holding the tie rod broke on drivers front side. The driver impacted a pull camper trailer exploding the tire upon impact with the camper. The wheel rim was turned side ways as it impacted the tires of the camper flattening 2 tires curling the camper wheel rims and causing damage along the side of the camper.
Takata recall: GMC has known about this issue way to long and still to this date cannot give me a date or time frame when they can fix my issue. This should have already been corrected. The second issue is the epidemic dash cracking that is obviously an engineering issue and GMC should be held accountable to correct this defect in their dashes. My dash cracks are almost identical to thousands of other GMC owners and when there is an obvious flaw, they should correct it.
Tl* the contact owns a 2008 GMC sierra 1500. While driving approximately 5 MPH, the vehicle stalled. The vehicle was restarted, but the failure recurred and code: p069-e illuminated. The dealer was not called. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and stated that there was no recall. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 130,000.