2021 GMC Sierra 1500
This year drew an ordinary 534 complaints for a GMC Sierra 1500 — the model's median is 331. What they were about is the unusual part: 10.3% of them mention lifters, against 3.3% across the other years of this generation.
Generation 3 of the GMC Sierra 1500, which began in 2019. Everything below compares this year against the others in that generation, not against a different car wearing the same name.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 534 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 331 |
| Involving a crash | 5 |
| Involving a fire | 6 |
| Recalls | 7 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 4/5 |
What the complaints were about
- lifters — 10.3% of this year's complaints, against 3.3% across the other years of this generation (3.1×). Owners wrote it as: lifters, camshaft, rods, bent.
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.
What owners wrote
Engine lifters bent a pushrod and scratched my camshaft in my engine causing me to be stranded with minor children. 3rd time since I bought this in 2021 that I have had engine faults in this truck.
2021 Harley Davidson Sierra 4WD, 6.2L L87. Started the truck in the morning and immediately heard intermittent, very loud banging noise coming from engine. Shut truck down quickly and had it towed to dealer. Diagnosis was bent pushrods & failed lifters which w…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 20V792000 SEAT BELTS Fixed free of charge.
- 20V811000 SEAT BELTS Fixed free of charge.
- 20V684000 TIRES Fixed free of charge.
- 21V985000 TIRES Fixed free of charge.
- 24V797000 POWER TRAIN Fixed free of charge.
- 25V274000 ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING Fixed free of charge.
- 26V083000 POWER TRAIN Fixed free of charge.
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 2021 GMC Sierra 1500? What happened to yours?
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