2015 GMC Sierra 1500
This year drew an ordinary 88 complaints for a GMC Sierra 1500 — the model's median is 54. What they were about is the unusual part: 28.4% of them mention headlights, against 3.5% across the model's other years.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 88 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 54 |
| Involving a crash | 5 |
| Involving a fire | 2 |
| Recalls | 9 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 18 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- headlights — 28.4% of this year's complaints, against 3.5% across the model's other years (8.1×). Owners wrote it as: headlights, roads, very dim, distance.
- poor — 42% of this year's complaints, against 14.8% across the model's other years (2.8×). Owners wrote it as: poor, illumination, head lights, very difficult.
- night — 30.7% of this year's complaints, against 11.1% across the model's other years (2.8×). Owners wrote it as: night, very poor, low beam, provide.
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
HEADLIGHT PERFORMANCE IS VERY POOR WITH WEAK YELLOW BEAM BOTH ON LOW AND HIGH BEAMS. DIFFICULTY SEEING DURING NIGHT DRIVING, ESPECIALLY AT HIGHWAY SPEEDS IN DARK AREAS, IS VERY HAZARDOUS, EVEN WORSE DURING RAIN. I AM CONCERNED ABOUT MY SAFETY AND THAT OF MY FA…
I PURCHASED THIS VEHICLE NEW AUGUST 2015. THE HEADLIGHT PROJECTION AND ILLUMINATION ON THIS VEHICLE IS EXTREMELY POOR ESPECIALLY DURING WET ROADS OR RAINING CONDITIONS. I HAVE TO USE THE FOG LIGHTS AT ALL TIMES AND STILL DO NOT HAVE ADEQUATE LIGHTING. I FEEL T…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 18V586000 STEERING Fixed free of charge.
- 19V645000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC Fixed free of charge.
- 19V761000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC Fixed free of charge.
- 16V651000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 17V437000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 16V209000 SEAT BELTS Fixed free of charge.
- 21V504000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 21V245000 SEAT BELTS Fixed free of charge.
Showing 8 of 9. The rest are on NHTSA's site.
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 2015 GMC Sierra 1500? What happened to yours?
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