10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
1 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
1 / 0
Average Mileage:
30,799 miles

About These NHTSA Complaints:

The NHTSA is the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints can be spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem. See the Back button — blue bar at the very top of the page — to explore more.

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problem #16

May 262023

Terrain

  • miles
My vehicle keeps running extremely low in oil and not alerting me with any warning lights. My vehicle starts to shake like it is going to stall and the engine makes a rattling noise. This is a safety concern.

- Slatington , PA, USA

problem #15

Feb 012022

Terrain

  • miles
On my back doors driver side and passenger side there is no child lock and when I lock all doors from inside while driving the back doors can still be opened allowing my baby child to open the door which is not safe

- Bridgeport, CT, USA

problem #14

Mar 202022

Terrain

  • miles
Vehicle hesitates and is sluggish on takeoff, causing a delay in intersections and when turning into traffic causing a safety hazard. Problem has yet to be found and determined. Problem worsens when the ECO option is turned on causing more of a safety hazard and inability to use the option.

- Clarksville , TN, USA

problem #13

Feb 142022

Terrain

  • miles
The front brakes and rotors have been changed twice in 2 months time, over $400. Something is causing the rotors to warp. The heat went out in the middle of winter because the blend door broke, $800. Also, about 6 months ago I had to have the timing chain and a gasket replaced because of the ongoing oil consumption issue, $1300. It's an expensive problem for the owners of these vehicles and no reasonable solution.

- Portage, IN, USA

problem #12

Jul 102020

Terrain

  • 72,000 miles
The driver side windshield wiper broke off the bearings and became completely unfunctional while driving in a rain storm. The wipers were going at medium speed.

- Greenwood, DE, USA

problem #11

Oct 242018

Terrain

  • miles
The manifold and the catalytic converter is cracked and emitting hazardous carbon monoxide inside the cabin of the car. For close to 2 months my husband has been driving the car like this and we have taken it to 2 mechanics and finally found the cracks. My husband has been getting sick from the carbon monoxide. It is a blessing he is still alive. According to online google searches this is a well known issue in this vehicle. The smell is strong especially when he uses the remote starter and when the car is in motion and stationary.

- Vineland, NJ, USA

problem #10

Oct 042019

Terrain

  • 128,000 miles
Stabilitrak warning and check engine light came on. Gauges went to 0 and then bounced up and down while I was driving. The car refused to accelerate over 40mph. This time I was not on the highway, but this has happened while driving on an interstate as well. I have put in a complaint with General Motors and they called back once because I thought the car got bad data when my cc for onstar was compromised. They have not returned my calls since. I have taken it to a certified GM shop 4 times and they still cannot diagnose the issue. I am terrified to drive the vehicle now. This last time, I was able to record the gauges acting crazy and have also sent that to General Motors.

- Gray Court, SC, USA

problem #9

Jan 282019

Terrain

  • 50,603 miles
Takata, intake timing camshaft sensor, locking up, or stopped working. Was in motion, city streets and big problem when backing up or turning. Stops in traffic

- South Beloit, IL, USA

problem #8

Aug 172018

Terrain

  • 41,971 miles
In 2 days, the vehicle has stalled on me. I was in the parking lot and another car almost hit me since the car slowed down and the steering wheel got hard then shut off. Today, I almost got hit again after stopping at a stop sign going into a turn I almost hit someone and a car almost hit me.

- Lansing, MI, USA

problem #7

Jun 032018

Terrain

  • 48,000 miles
I opened my rear powered lift gate to get out my groceries, and when it reached the top position, it immediately reversed direction and rapidly closed about half way down and then reversed again and returned to the full open position, then reversed again and closed all the way. This all happened very fast and I almost bumped mt head, getting out of the way. None of the safety controls seemed to work to prevent entrapment, when the lift gate started to close down on me.there is a potential for a serious head/neck injury, and this could also crash down on a child and entrap them. My vehicle was in my driveway and was parked, when this incident occured.

- Rocky Mount, NC, USA

problem #6

Feb 182018

Terrain

  • 75,000 miles
When the rear powered lift gate opened and reached the top position, it immediately reverses direction, rapidly closing approximately 30% down, then reverses again and returned to the full open position, then reversed again and closed all of the way. This "hammer" action happened automatically. Also, any safety controls to prevent entrapment or pinch when the lift gate is closed no longer worked. The first time this happened I was going to put groceries away and had begun to enter the trunk while the rear gate was opening. The lift gate then slammed down on my head (which almost knocked me off my feet and ultimately caused a bump) raised back up and then began lowering again. I attempted to prevent it from closing down on me again but could not hold the weight/force for very long. And when I let go it slammed closed. There is a potential for a serious head/neck injury from the initial uncontrolled reversal motion, not to mention a crush or entrapment hazard (especially to children) when the lift gate finally closes. Note: I have a video file available but it is too large to send per the upload limits stated below.

- Lakeland, FL, USA

problem #5

Jan 102018

Terrain

  • 57,400 miles
On 1/10/18, I was on my way to work and received message "engine power reduced", the engine light came on and power was reduced to 25 mph. I brought the Terrain into a mechanic and he synchronized the gas pedal sensor and fuel sensor and the engine light went out. On 1/13/18, the same thing happened except I was on a highway and it was much more frightening. I brought the Terrain back to my mechanic and left the vehicle. I am now without a car for the weekend.

- Staten Island, NY, USA

problem #4

Oct 082015

Terrain

  • 6,810 miles
Front passenger seat belt chime comes on when there is nothing on the front seat or almost nothing on the seat. This has happened at least 1/2 dozen times or more. I can be driving and all of sudden comes on. It can scare one esp 1st time. You don't know what is happening. I thought I blew a tire or door came open. My attention was everywhere but on 65 mph traffic on freeway. Breaks one's driving concentration. Independent of temperature. Other problem I have is lots of wind comes in on passenger door. It is not aligned properly. GM has tried a couple of times with no success. Very annoying and hard to hear radio etc.. 3rd problem is navigation, communication center, it keeps disappearing. It is giving me directions somewhere and then just disappears and resets. It has been replaced once. It has gotten me stranded more than once. I am a senior who relies on system. When it disappears, I am not always somewhere that I can stop to completely reset and reenter all the information again. I feel that this is a safety issue. I was on hwy every time and most of the time not in a remote area but not in area that I could stop. In ca. There are many areas you do not want to get off the frwy at. All instances above happened in the city areas while driving. Service was done Oct 2015. None of issues resolved despite attempt. All are ongoing.

- Fullerton, CA, USA

problem #3

Oct 152015

Terrain

  • 3,000 miles
The contact owns a 2015 GMC Terrain. While driving at approximately 40 mph, the pressure of the air was painful to the contact's ears when the windows were rolled down. The manufacturer was notified. The approximate failure mileage was 3,000.

- Zeeland, MI, USA

problem #2

Sep 052015

Terrain

  • 10,000 miles
In the early morning of 9-5-15 my daughter began driving home from pittsburgh to de. She swerved to avoid an animal on the pa turnpike, hit the jersey wall on the right, rolled over completely twice to the left, landing upright in the median. Luckily the seat belt saved her and she had only minor injuries. However the side air bags did not deploy. In fact onstar called 911 because their monitoring equipment showed that the air bags had deployed, but they did not. The vehicle was declared a total loss. There is no recall on this vehicle for airbag problem though I've heard that there should be so I wanted to report this.

- Ocean View, DE, USA

problem #1

May 202015

Terrain 6-cyl

  • miles
When renting a GMC 2015 Terrain from national car rental in phoenix AZ in May 2015, upon returning the vehicle we noticed that the sun roof was shattered. There was a sliding door between the sun roof and the interior of the vehicle and we never opened the sun roof or the sliding door and was surprised when the sun roof was shattered. We were charged by national car rental $750 for the repair and still can't figured out how or when this happened. We didn't experience any extreme hot phoenix temperatures during that time and the vehicle was parked in a garage when not used. We didn't even know that there was a sun roof as we were transporting our 1 year old grand daughter around in an infant seat in the back seat. If we would have even known about the sun roof we wouldn't have opened anyway. We don't know if we rented the vehicle that had this damage before we left the rental area or not as who ever looks for damage on top of a rental vehicle and we always check around the vehicle, we will now check and probably never rent another vehicle with a sun roof. It is unfortunate that rental car companies have policies that never allow these types of damages to be reported when safety is at risk. Update 9/15/15

- Kailua-Kona, HI, USA