10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
3 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
2 / 0
Average Mileage:
6,412 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 #17

Feb 012024

Terrain

  • miles
Broken rear main seal broke which causes oil leak. Almost all GM vehicles around my year have the same issue resulting in blow engine. $2000 to repair and GM told me they know of this being an issue but won-??t do anything to resolve.

- Homewood, IL, USA

problem #16

Jan 222024

Terrain

  • miles
In September of 2022 my gmc automatically shut off right in the middle of traffic on a Friday night. No warring, no lights to indicate that something was wrong with my vehicle. I took it to a mechanic shop and they said nothing was wrong and they did a diagnostic test on the car and no codes popped up. A week later my engine light came on. And my car died again. Thankfully, I had an extended warranty on my car and took to another mechanic shop. It turns out the timing changes on my car needed to be replaced. Fast forward to today Jan 22,2024. I smelled burning oil every time I would drive the vehicle. The rear main seal and PCV was leaking in between my engine and transmission. I lost 5 quarts of oil between Wednesday and Sunday. My oil light never came in. Thankfully, my engine didn-??t lock up. It is currently in the shop getting repaired. My car is still under an extended warranty.

- Chattanooga , TN, USA

problem #15

Jan 222024

Terrain

  • miles
In September of 2022 my gmc automatically shut off right in the middle of traffic on a Friday night. No warring, no lights to indicate that something was wrong with my vehicle. I took it to a mechanic shop and they said nothing was wrong and they did a diagnostic test on the car and no codes popped up. A week later my engine light came on. And my car died again. Thankfully, I had an extended warranty on my car and took to another mechanic shop. It turns out the timing changes on my car needed to be replaced. Fast forward to today Jan 22,2024. I smelled burning oil every time I would drive the vehicle. The rear main seal and PCV was leaking in between my engine and transmission. I lost 5 quarts of oil between Wednesday and Sunday. My oil light never came in. Thankfully, my engine didn-??t lock up. It is currently in the shop getting repaired. My car is still under an extended warranty.

- Chattanooga , TN, USA

problem #14

Jan 152024

Terrain

  • miles
In certain makes of General Motor vehicles there is a defect with the PCV system in which the system can freeze in cold temperatures which in turns causes excessive crankcase pressure in the engine, and can lead to a dangerous loss of motor power due to this defect. The dangers of this defect can be catastrophic to myself and others on the roadway as the loss of motor power can happen suddenly and can happen while the vehicle is being driven. General Motors has released many service bulletins regarding this specific defect. The most recent service bulletin that was issued was GM January 2019 Bulletin PIP5093C, so they are aware of this dangerous problem in these vehicles. For my vehicle I have had a certified GMC dealership diagnosis the problem, and submit their findings to General Motors. There were not any warning lamps, messages, lights, or symptoms signaling that there was a problem prior to the occurrence on January 15th, 2024.

- Saint Charles, MO, USA

problem #13

Sep 092023

Terrain

  • miles
1. The car started making a noise then started surging and jerking. I'm not a mechanic, so I don't know what happened but it will not crank now. Yes, someone can come inspect the vehicle, by appointment only. 2. I was afraid that the car was going to blow up or the brakes would not hold. 3. No, the problem has not been reproduced or inspected. 4. No, the vehicle or component has not been inspected. 5. NO, there were no warning lights to let me know there was a problem.

- Anniston, AL, USA

problem #12

Jun 102023

Terrain 6-cyl

  • miles
We have had many GM vehicles my husband worked at GM retired now. Our complaint is we have a GMC Denali 2017 only 79000 miles on it. All upto date changes regularly all. Other like Transmission oil changed all upkeep to date. Transmission needs rebuilt. We are in our 80-??s And don-??t beat up our cars. Replace or rebuild transmission 3500 to 4500 bucks. That is a lot of money for us. No longer covered. It shudders when you drive at any speed and feels so unsafe. Took it to GM garage and they couldn-??t find anything wrong. No warning lights came on and we paid over 150 to have it checked out so with the shuddering getting worse and not feeling safe to drive we took it to a Transmission shop and he took it out and said the Shuddering was caused by something in the transmission. I have seen on google where GM is having a lot of problems in this area. We just need help with the repairs. Thank you. A retired GM worker Lordstown, Ohio [XXX]. Retired 1999 [XXX] INFORMATION Redacted PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).

- Atwater, OH, USA

problem #11

Dec 302022

Terrain

  • miles
The rear main seal is out, which is causing an oil leak. The intake manifold failed because the pvc system has a clog which has caused too much pressure to build up and caused the rear main seal to blow out. (PVC pipe is freezing over in cold temperatures which causes the failure of the main seal to blow out subsequently leading to additional major issues and parts failure. This issue has occurred in an overwhelming amount of vehicles.)

- Macomb Township, MI, USA

problem #10

Jan 212022

Terrain

  • miles
The rear main seal broke. Causing oil to leave the reservoir and empty the engine. This was due to a frozen pvc from cold temperatures. My vehicles engine light came on and I pulled over immediately noticing there was no oil. but there was never an indication of low oil. My vehicle is ervex with gmc every 5k miles for oil. Only 74,000 miles on a 2017 terrain. This is a manufacturers faulty equipment.

- Channahon, IL, USA

problem #9

Jan 232021

Terrain

  • miles
OnStar - I've had OnStar for several years and paid the bill annually by check. The company never sent a renewal bill this year. I contacted them via phone on 1-23-2021, 2-8-2021, 2-22-2021 and 3-9-2021. I used phone numbers 1-866-891-1233, 1-866-579-0028, and the OnStar button to talk to representatives. I also wrote letters to OnStar dated March 9 and March 27, 2021 without results. I had a confirmation # CN4175174. I never received a bill and now the safety device is cut off in my car.

- Lawrence Twp., NJ, USA

problem #8

Feb 242021

Terrain

  • 37,000 miles
Purchased GMC 2017 Terrain 1 month ago today. The first week I had it the engine kept stalling while idling. I took it to the dealership for them to fix. I got it back and it seemed to run hard. 3 days later I found that not one but both key fobs would not work. The battery is brand new. When I spoke to service man at dealership, he stated that one fob was faulty and they would order a new one. I haven't heard back from them...today I got into a front end collision where the air bags did not deploy causing me injury. Only after the fact did the alarm sound and dash message came on stating service airbag. The four way lights would not stay on and the interior lights would not turn off. And there was a smell of something burning.. no return call from GMC.

- Warsaw, NY, USA

problem #7

Apr 042020

Terrain

  • 45,000 miles
I was making a left turn during a green light my car was in motion. A white van was speeding towards me from the drivers side going straight at me at high speed with a red light. They hit the front drivers end of my car which made my car spin out. The airbags did not deploy. The whole front end of my car was ruined.

- Lake Forest, CA, USA

problem #6

Mar 152018

Terrain

  • miles
Vehicle was parked with the motor running. Reached over from the passenger seat and turned the motor off. Vehicle began to roll backwards. Was able to turn vehicle but unfortunately backed into the door of a parked truck turning the ignition off shouldn't start the vehicle to move.

- Columbia, SC, USA

problem #5

Jan 232017

Terrain

  • 11,000 miles
I was driving and inside alarm came on sounded like a fire alarm. However no lights in the car came on indication something was wrong, tire pressure was good, everything as far as my eyes could see it was fine except that an alarm kept going off coming thru the speakers. I pulled over got out looked around the vehicle. Nothing! made sure all doors where locked and everything good alarm still going off. Not the car theft alarm an internal alarm thru the speakers of the car. Please help as I am scared to drive my vehicle because maybe it was trying to tell me something is wrong. It eventually went off and I pulled off vehicle drove fine.

- East Orange, NJ, USA

problem #4

Dec 162017

Terrain

  • 3,400 miles
I've had my Terrain for 3 months. Car had 3400 miles at the time of the issue. Backed out of my driveway, put the car in drive and it wouldn't go. The car would rev up but wouldn't move forward. Had to put the car in neutral and push out of the middle of the street. Car was stranded in the street for three days due to the dealership service department being closed. Each day I tried to put the car in drive and it still wouldn't go when put in drive or manual only reverse. Car was towed to the dealership and sat for another day before the dealership could get to it. Dealership called and the car would drive with no issue. Asked if something could have shifted when the car was towed so they kept the car one more day to run some diagnostic tests which still resulted in nothing being found.

- Toledo, OH, USA

problem #3

Jun 192017

Terrain

  • 7,500 miles
Blind side alert activates when it is raining and there are no cars nearby. This only occurs when raining. No codes are thrown so dealer service won't troubleshoot. This can only be reproduced on a highway or parkway, when it is raining and no other cars are nearby. Cannot be reproduced on regular streets with other cars around. I've had my car in to the dealer service 3 times, all with the same results. No codes in the computer and cannot reproduce. The service department only tests on the local streets. There are other cars around, so how can this be an accurate test"?"

- Fishkill, NY, USA

problem #2

Mar 062017

Terrain

  • 3,700 miles
Side blind spot alert comes on and off when raining or snowing with nothing there, they should tell you this will happen before you pay extra for this package, how do you know if it works or not when driving down highway

- Xenia, OH, USA

problem #1

Feb 102017

Terrain

  • 1,400 miles
Our new Terrain has "vehicle in front" visual warning systems. We were following a tanker type semi on the interstate and pulled all the way up behind the tanker semi (within 25 ft) and the vehicle in front light never came on. We tested this on all types of cars and trucks as well as standard box type semi and it worked perfectly. I have pictures of the rear end of the tanker semi in which it did not detect at all.

- Meridian, MS, USA