YearsTell

all vehicles · every Sierra year · method

GMC Sierra 2016

Safety complaints filed by owners in the first three years, per 1,000 sold.

0.41 per 1,000

0.9 times this nameplate’s own median · from 92 complaints filed in the first three years, of 454 ever. 95% lower bound 0.33.

Against its own model years

The model year carries far more information than the badge, so this is the comparison that matters.

Model yearPer 1,000Complaints
20080.2338
20090.1927
20100.1316
20110.2433
20120.1625
20130.1933
20141.33264
20151.13247
20160.4192
20170.52114
20180.48106
20190.80181
20200.58141
20210.45113
20220.73178
20231.22328

What owners describe

Phrases over-represented in these complaints compared with the same component on every other vehicle. Counts are complaints containing the phrase.

Service Brakes 130 complaints

low speeds2116%
vacuum pump1915%
depress1814%
low speed1713%
becomes119%
slow speeds108%

Power Train 96 complaints

truck4951%
hard3132%
shifts1617%

Electrical System 69 complaints

rear window1928%
shattered1725%
window shattered1116%

When it breaks

28% of reported failures happened before 30,000 miles (median 45,000 miles, from 256 complaints that recorded one).

Failures arrive late and spread out, which looks like wear. Service history matters more than model year here.

What NHTSA did

1 investigation covering this model year, 1 of which list a recall campaign. Owners had filed 89 complaints about this component over roughly 22 months before an investigation opened.

Brake Vacuum Pump Failure

What owners and forums say

Not built yet. This panel is meant to carry community sentiment beside the filed-complaint data, so the two can be compared. Showing something weaker here would defeat its purpose.

Check this yourself

Example records behind this page:

10845603 · 10850797 · 10852516 · 10883299 · 10893169 · 10896801

Limits of this figure. It counts safety complaints filed with the federal government, which is a floor on failures and not a census: problems that only cost money are under-reported. Complaint rates also reflect how likely a brand’s owners are to file, which cannot be separated from how often the car fails. Sales are calendar-year and the denominator for this nameplate is automated checks only, not verified against an external source.