2014 GMC Sierra 1500
Complaints about this year name headlights far more often than the other years of this generation — 20% of them, about 34× the usual rate of 0.6%.
First year of a new generation. The GMC Sierra 1500 was redesigned for 2014. 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 | 857 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 331 |
| Involving a crash | 29 |
| Involving a fire | 9 |
| Recalls | 9 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
What the complaints were about
- turning — 8.8% of this year's complaints, against 2.9% across the other years of this generation (3×). Owners wrote it as: turning, shuts off.
- condenser — 7.8% of this year's complaints, against 2.5% across the other years of this generation (3.2×). Owners wrote it as: condenser, conditioning, air conditioning, conditioner.
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
- night — 14% of complaints, 7× usual
- lighting — 6% of complaints, 15× usual
- dim — 9% of complaints, 6× usual
What owners wrote
HEADLIGHTS ARE DIM AND HORRIBLE. VERY DANGEROUS TO DRIVE MY TRUCK AT NIGHT. LIGHTING IS EXTREMELY SUB STANDARD COMPARED TO ALL OF THE OTHER TRUCKS ON THE MARKET AND ROADWAYS. THIS NEEDS ADDRESSED ASAP BEFORE PEOPLE GET KILLED. GMC DOESNT SEEM TO CARE ABOUT THE…
THE HEADLIGHTS ON THIS TRUCK SUCK THEY ARE DIM EVEN ON HIGH BEAMS GOING UP A TWISTY MOUNTAIN ROAD AT NIGHT IS LIKE TAKING YOUR LIFE IN YOUR OWN HANDS NOT SAFE AT ALL.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 19V645000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC Fixed free of charge.
- 19V761000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC Fixed free of charge.
- 18V267000 EQUIPMENT Fixed free of charge.
- 16V651000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 17V414000 STEERING Fixed free of charge.
- 16V209000 SEAT BELTS Fixed free of charge.
- 17V437000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 21V245000 SEAT BELTS Fixed free of charge.
Showing 8 of 9. The rest are on NHTSA's site.
How this was worked out
Every year of the GMC Sierra 1500 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 2014 GMC Sierra 1500? What happened to yours?
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