2019 GMC Sierra 1500
Complaints about this year name brake far more often than the other years of this generation — 20% of them, about 3× the usual rate of 5.8%.
First year of a new generation. The GMC Sierra 1500 was redesigned for 2019. 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 | 1,024 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 331 |
| Involving a crash | 22 |
| Involving a fire | 6 |
| Recalls | 10 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 4/5 |
What the complaints were about
- lifters — 10.5% of this year's complaints, against 2.9% across the other years of this generation (3.7×). Owners wrote it as: lifters, camshaft.
- cylinder — 6.6% of this year's complaints, against 1.5% across the other years of this generation (4.4×). Owners wrote it as: cylinder, misfire.
- brake pedal — 8.1% of this year's complaints, against 3.1% across the other years of this generation (2.6×). Owners wrote it as: brake pedal, stop vehicle, depressing.
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
- trailer brake — 7% of complaints, 16× usual
- service esc — 7% of complaints, 12× usual
- steering — 14% of complaints, 3× usual
What owners wrote
BRAND NEW TRUCK, DENALI, 10K MILES, STARTED VEHICLE WITH MULTIPLE WARNING SOUNDS/LIGHTS, DASH READ "BRAKE SYSTEM FAILURE 62MPH TOP SPEED", SERVICE TRAILER BRAKE SYSTEM", STEERING ASSIST IS REDUCED DRIVE WITH CARE" SERVICE ESC", POWER STEERING WAS VERY TOUGH TO…
NEW TRUCK, GMC 1500 DENALI, 1100 MILES, STARTED VEHICLE WITH MULTIPLE WARNING SOUNDS & WARNING LIGHTS, DASH SAYS "BRAKE SYSTEM FAILURE 62MPH TOP SPEED", SERVICE TRAILER BRAKE SYSTEM", STEERING ASSIST IS REDUCED DRIVE WITH CARE" SERVICE ESC", BRAKING WAS COMPLE…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 21V115000 TIRES Fixed free of charge.
- 19V889000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC Fixed free of charge.
- 19V888000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 20V792000 SEAT BELTS Fixed free of charge.
- 20V055000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC Fixed free of charge.
- 19V814000 SEAT BELTS Fixed free of charge.
- 21V423000 TIRES Fixed free of charge.
- 21V985000 TIRES Fixed free of charge.
Showing 8 of 10. 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 2019 GMC Sierra 1500? What happened to yours?
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