2017 GMC Sierra problems
NHTSA has received 77 complaints about the 2017 GMC Sierra, and 29% of them involve drivetrain & axles. Next are brakes (26%) and electrical system (8%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 77 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Drivetrain & axles 29% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 5 and 1
- Injuries and deaths
- 0 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 35,000 miles 67 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 | 26 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 15 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 13 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 9 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 3 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 1 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 0 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 0 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 0 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 0 |
| 200k+ miles | 0 |
What the data shows
Of the 67 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 35,000 miles. For drivetrain & axles specifically, the median reported mileage is about 10,000 miles (21 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 5 complaints mention a crash; 1 complaint mentions a fire.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2017 ranks 13th most-complained-about out of 26 model years of the GMC Sierra with enough data (76 complaints in that window).
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.
The contact owns a 2017 GMC Sierra. The contact stated that while his wife was driving at an undisclosed speed with the defroster activated, a smoke odor was detected inside the vehicle. The contact's wife checked the rearview mirror and saw flames coming from the rear windshield. The contact's wife pulled over and heard a loud explosion from the rear windshield shattering before turning off the vehicle. The flames from the rear windshield were extinguished on their own after the vehicle was turned off.
I almost killed a kid today parking for a baseball game. I was traveling slowly and parking when my brakes became hard to push and failed. Truck went over curb and toward kid putting on his cleats and not facing me. I was able to push as hard as I could and it stopped. I backed up and brakes worked again. I have 46,000 miles on the truck. I am now afraid to drive it, but it seems they are working again. If this is common, GMC needs to take care of this. Someone will soon be hurt seriously!
As I was backing up I applied my brakes and for some reason nothing happened which resulted in my hitting my wife's car and damaging her drivers side quarter panel. When I asked GMC about the issue they said it was just an error on my part. Now I find out that there is a recall on the braking system that the pressure to the brakes may be affected. Who is responsible for the damage to her car?
My 2017 GMC sierra denali had already been the subject of the recall relating to the brake issue. Shortly after they performed this recall work the brakes began failing at low speed. When driving below 5 MPH, the pedal which suddenly fall and the ABS would trigger. During this time, the car would continue moving with the ABS fully vibrating. Thankfully, my trailer hitch absorb the rear impact against a wall. The problem continued.
Truck lags power when pressing the gas pedal at times after putting transmission into drive from reverse. Transmission shifts hard into and out of first gear and at times feels like it is skipping 2nd gear during a downshift.