2016 GMC Canyon
Complaints about this year name power steering far more often than the other years of this generation — 59% of them, about 8× the usual rate of 7.7%.
Generation 2 of the GMC Canyon, which began in 2015 and ran to 2022. 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 | 267 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 39 |
| Involving a crash | 8 |
| Involving a fire | 2 |
| Recalls | 4 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 4/5 |
| EPA combined | 21.5 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- power steering — 59.2% of this year's complaints, against 7.7% across the other years of this generation (7.7×).
- turn — 24.3% of this year's complaints, against 9.2% across the other years of this generation (2.6×).
- restarting — 6.4% of this year's complaints, against 0% across the other years of this generation (31.8×). Owners wrote it as: restarting, after restarting.
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
- stabilitrak — 9% of complaints, 23× usual
- model — 9% of complaints, 23× usual
- loss power — 9% of complaints, 22× usual
What owners wrote
The vehicle will lose power steering while driving. The lights come on for stabilitrak and traction control then it says power steering is gone. It randomly deactivates the power steering, while driving. It's extremely dangerous and have almost had accidents.…
I have been having the issue of the power steering/stabilitrak going out randomly since Feb 2021. I have taken it to 2 different dealerships, both told me the power steering pump is fine & nothing is wrong. The power steering went out completly & now a third d…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 17V621000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 18V358000 FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE Fixed free of charge.
- 15V807000 LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES Fixed free of charge.
- 16V125000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the GMC Canyon 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 2016 GMC Canyon? What happened to yours?
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