2015 GMC Canyon
Complaints about this year name power steering far more often than the other years of this generation — 60% of them, about 8× the usual rate of 7.7%.
First year of a new generation. The GMC Canyon was redesigned for 2015. A first year carries problems nobody has found yet, and they are found by the people who buy it — which is worth knowing before you become one of them.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 319 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 39 |
| Involving a crash | 8 |
| Involving a fire | 4 |
| Recalls | 8 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 4/5 |
| EPA combined | 21 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- steering — 70.8% of this year's complaints, against 12.3% across the other years of this generation (5.8×).
- assist — 27.9% of this year's complaints, against 9.2% across the other years of this generation (3×). Owners wrote it as: assist, steering assist, assembly, torque sensor.
- turn — 25.4% of this year's complaints, against 9.2% across the other years of this generation (2.8×).
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
Also unusual this year
- steering assist — 13% of complaints, 33× usual
- restarted — 12% of complaints, 29× usual
- traction control — 9% of complaints, 23× usual
What owners wrote
WHILE DRIVING AT VARIOUS SPEEDS, THE VEHICLE LOSS POWER STEERING ASSIST WITH THE TRACTION CONTROL WARNING LIGHT ILLUMINATED. THE CONTACT PULLED OVER AND TURNED OFF AND RESTARTED THE VEHICLE HOWEVER, THE FAILURE PERSISTED. AN UNKNOWN DEALER WAS CONTACTED AND TH…
WHILE DRIVING ACROSS PARKING LOT AT 8 MPH, VEHICLE LOST POWER STEERING CONTROL WITHOUT WARNING. ENGINE AND OTHER ELECTRONICS CONTINUED TO OPERATE, HOWEVER VEHICLE POWER STEERING AND TRACTION CONTROL WARNING LIGHTS WERE ILLUMINATED. I STOPPED VEHICLE, TURNED OF…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 17V621000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 18V358000 FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE Fixed free of charge.
- 14V645000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 15V267000 SEATS Fixed free of charge.
- 16V054000 STEERING Fixed free of charge.
- 15V278000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC Fixed free of charge.
- 15V157000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 21V213000 STEERING Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the GMC Canyon was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2015 GMC Canyon? What happened to yours?
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