GMC Canyon other reported problems

UNKNOWN OR OTHER

The truck have a bad shudder that can shake you off the road. They know about the issue because its been an issue with there vehicles. I have a 2020 colorado also with this dangerous issue.

NHTSA complaint #11746700 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

UNKNOWN OR OTHER

2022 GMC Canyon AT4 Crew Cab. After the vehicle is shifted into Park and the engine is shut off, the ignition key cannot be removed from the cylinder. The key is physically locked, the steering wheel will not lock, and the vehicle cannot be reliably secured. The only workaround is to restart the engine and cycle the shifter repeatedly until the interlock releases the key. Recurring. Safety implications: operator cannot reliably power the vehicle off in an emergency, cannot lock the steering column, and may be forced to leave an unattended vehicle in accessory mode — fire, electrical, and theft risk. The defect is documented in GM's own literature. GM Bulletin PI1429 and GM TSB 19-NA-206 address this exact symptom on the Canyon/Colorado platform. NHTSA-archived GM TSB MC-10113734 (March 2015), "Ignition Key Cannot Be Removed and/or Does Not Rotate to the 'Off' Position," names the 2015 GMC Canyon and Chevrolet Colorado. The 2022 Canyon uses the same shifter and ignition-interlock architecture. Documented cause: failure of the transmission control lever microswitch that signals "Park" to the interlock solenoid. Documented fix: replace the shifter assembly. Reported to an authorized GMC dealer while still under the New Vehicle Limited Warranty. Dealer recorded the concern verbatim — "key stays locked in ignition when shifting to Park" — and closed it "unable to duplicate," no repair, despite the open bulletins. A second GMC dealer later refused to inspect, with the service advisor stating on the service drive that there is no fix, that they see this on Canyons and Colorados all the time, and that he had seen another such vehicle the day before. No diagnostic, no repair order. GM's Technical Assistance Center has since taken the position that the bulletins above do not apply to this vehicle, which is inconsistent with the bulletins themselves. No crash, no injury, no fire. Reporting a manufacturer-documented ignition-interlock defect GM is refusing to repair.

NHTSA complaint #11740040 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

UNKNOWN OR OTHER

Coolant leak observed at the upper radiator hose quick-connect fitting. The leak appears to originate from the internal seal at the radiator inlet connection. This issue developed without warning and is consistent with a known defect in the radiator hose seal design used in 2023 GMC Canyon vehicles. Vehicle experienced coolant loss and visible residue at the connection point. No visible external damage to the radiator or hose assembly was observed. GM has issued a Special Coverage program for similar radiator inlet hose seal failures in related vehicles using the same component design. Concern is that this defect may lead to coolant loss and potential engine overheating if not addressed.

NHTSA complaint #11733035 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

UNKNOWN OR OTHER

Ambient air temperature sensor

NHTSA complaint #11730687 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

UNKNOWN OR OTHER

On [XXX], at approximately 4:10 PM, I was at the McDonald’s drive-through located at [XXX] and [XXX] in Springfield, Missouri. I was stopped at the final service window. As I pulled away from the window, I approached a 90-degree left turn heading south. I removed my foot from the accelerator pedal to allow the truck to coast slowly around the corner, as the area is heavily pedestrian and requires caution. While coasting with my foot completely off the gas pedal, the truck suddenly and rapidly began to accelerate on its own. I immediately applied the brakes, and the unintended acceleration stopped right away. At that point, I called Thompson GMC in Springfield, Missouri, at 4:17 PM to report the incident. This was the second time this has occurred. The first incident happened several months ago on [XXX] north of Strafford, Missouri. While navigating a curve, I lifted my foot off the accelerator to coast, and the truck again experienced sudden, hard acceleration. I quickly applied the brakes, and the acceleration stopped immediately. I called Thompson GMC at that time as well. They advised me that I could bring the vehicle in for inspection, but without a check engine light or warning light illuminated, and without the issue occurring while a technician was driving, it might be difficult to diagnose. I did not bring the vehicle in after the first incident. Yesterday, a Thompson GMC employee scheduled an appointment for me to have the truck inspected. No warning lights or check engine lights were illuminated on the dashboard during either incident. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

NHTSA complaint #11727351 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

UNKNOWN OR OTHER

The warning light is saying engine power reduced having to do with the DEF system

NHTSA complaint #11726916 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

UNKNOWN OR OTHER

Radiator Hose began to leak coolant. Faulty radiator hose. This could have caused engine failure and potentially caused an accident or may have put others at risk for hazards. No warning other strange sound. Inspected by authorized dealers service center.

NHTSA complaint #11722277 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

UNKNOWN OR OTHER

Top radiator hose is leaking coolant. Radiator hose O ring appears to be faulty.

NHTSA complaint #11718457 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

UNKNOWN OR OTHER

There is a phantom chime that happens intermittently at all driving conditions when close to or below 20 degrees F. (stop and go, highway, back roads, dry weather, wet weather, clear weather, etc.). This chime does not produce any warning on the driver displays. This is dangerous because it causes the driver to look away from the road to figure out what the warning is. But no warning being shown causes one to look around for the issue. Again, taking eyes off of the road even longer. Chimes can happen a dozen times on a drive, or none at all. completely random but only happens in the temperature range listed above. This is reported on numerous forums for the current generation canyons and Colorados. This has been consistent with winter of 2025 and now winter of 2026.

NHTSA complaint #11717475 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

UNKNOWN OR OTHER

I have been dealing with a sweet/Christmas-like smell in my car occasionally for the last several months. This is a health & safety concern for me involving ethylene glycol fumes in the cabin. These fumes could be linked to why I have experienced increased sinus headaches over the past several month. I took it into CarMax (where I purchased the vehicle) and they were able to diagnose the issue and state that my heater core needed to be replaced. However, since my vehicle was under 36,000 miles, it needed to go to the dealer. The dealer that has been working on the vehicle is Hendrick Hoover Chevrolet. I have taken the vehicle to the dealer twice already and they have not been able to diagnose it the same as CarMax nor recreate the smell. Both times I have picked up the vehicle, I smelled the same thing within 1 day of having the vehicle back. Today (1/22/26) I took the vehicle back to CarMax to have them take it to the dealer for the THIRD because I have not only smelled the same smell, I have 2 new issues that need to be addressed. They are not the reason for this complaint, however. But for documentation purposes, it involves servicing the safety restraint system and error codes P0018 and P0021. I do not have any records of the first time I took the vehicle to CarMax/Dealer in November of 2025, but I have attached the records from the latest visit where I dropped the vehicle off on 12/10/25 and picked it up on 1/14/26.

NHTSA complaint #11712664 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

UNKNOWN OR OTHER

Upper radiator hose is leaking

NHTSA complaint #11711891 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

UNKNOWN OR OTHER

I am reporting a driver distraction safety issue involving the infotainment system in my 2024 GMC Canyon. The vehicle displays a mandatory “Focus your attention on driving” warning every time the vehicle is started, requiring user acknowledgment. When using the built-in Google Maps navigation without subscribing to GM’s paid Connected Services plan (while tethering to a personal cellphone hotspot instead), the system displays a modal warning stating that a connected services subscription is required. This warning appears whenever cellular connectivity is briefly interrupted, even for a few seconds (such as when driving through a known cellular dead spot). The warning overlays the navigation screen and requires the driver to manually press a “Dismiss” button to continue, even while the vehicle is in motion, requiring the driver to take their eyes off the road to focus on pressing the dismiss button. This behavior creates a safety contradiction: The system warns drivers to focus on driving, then forces manual interaction with the touchscreen during active driving. The interruption is triggered by transient network conditions, not driver action. The behavior does not occur if the driver pays for GM’s subscription service, indicating it is a business-rule enforcement rather than a technical or safety requirement. The repeated appearance of this warning during normal driving conditions constitutes an unnecessary and avoidable distraction. It diverts attention from the road and navigation, increasing risk rather than reducing it. I believe this design violates established human-factors safety principles by introducing nonessential driver interaction during vehicle operation and should be reviewed as a potential safety defect related to driver distraction. We just got home from a trip to West Texas and had to press the dismiss button no less than 100 times while driving through areas with marginal/intermittent cell service. It's a huge driver distraction.

NHTSA complaint #11706486 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

UNKNOWN OR OTHER

Transmission has been shuddering since 15,000 miles till now. Dealerships says it's normal on these transmissions, 6 fluid and filter changes and now at 72,000 miles the transmission is failing just outside of warranty. They scammed me and kept my transmission barely alive until warranty ran out and now they want 8k-10k for a replacement. They knew. Dash goes crazy from the touch screen to the digital information screen in the speedometer. They say it's normal and happens on all the units. But it's distracting and has been messing up since bought the truck new. Again they just kept saying it was nothing they can do. Now they say it needs to be replaced after my warranty has run out. DEF system is failing conveniently after the warranty has run out. It's dangerous because they programmed the truck to go into limp mode when anything emissions related fails stranding me anywhere at anytime. Emission failures like sensors should not restrict travel. This is a major issue with the diesels in these trucks and they need to be forced to remove anything that's not dangerous to the health of the engine or drive train from the software or hardware from being able to restrict travel. In every situation I've been restricted to limp mode by dirty particulate sensors, but the code that pops and puts my truck in limp mode says that the NOX sensor is bad. This is false and is just a way for GM to get service at their dealers. Then they charge customers a fortune to replace parts that don't need to be replaced when you can just remove and clean the four particulate sensors and the restrictions will clear themselves shortly after. EMISSIONS RELATED ISSUES SHOULD NOT RESTRICT TRAVEL BY ANY MEANS! It is dangerous to be stranded on a trip because your emission sensors may be malfunctioning.

NHTSA complaint #11680750 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

UNKNOWN OR OTHER

The Driver Information Center located directly in front of the driver that contains the speedometer, tachometer, oil pressure...etc., has a very distracting background. The background is a geometric patterns of triangles giving a sense of depth. This is very distracting especially at night. Quick looks to see speed, engine temperature or other critical vehicle information is complicated by this unnecessary aesthetic background. I reported this problem and it can be located here: [XXX] I've been advised to mail via USPS my concern to The Office of Defect Investigation Team which I will do today. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

NHTSA complaint #11675350 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

UNKNOWN OR OTHER

The vehicle does not have a manual switch for the headlight control. The only way to control the headlights is through the digital control interface on the infotainment console panel. The headlight controller button is so small that a person has to take their eyes off the road for a long time making it a very unsafe condition. If a deer was in your lane you could not turn your lights on and off quick enough to maybe un shine the deer so in would move while honking your horn. It is just totally unsafe as a hole when you’re not looking down the road while driving. If you had the switch you can always feel around for it much safer than taking your eys off the road while driving.

NHTSA complaint #11666012 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

UNKNOWN OR OTHER

The ignition key intermittently will not extract. I'm seeing a number of complaints on-line regarding this. I have to often restart the truck back up or forward, turn the steering wheel hard left and right, then put in park to extract the key. I believe this is a danger as you would have to leave the key in the ignition of you cannot extract it. This happens multiple times a week.

NHTSA complaint #11665707 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

UNKNOWN OR OTHER

The chrome trim that is on the dashboard has a glare that reflects into the rear-view outside mirrors making hard to see obstructions the problem is all weather conditions sunny or cloudy

NHTSA complaint #11656281 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

UNKNOWN OR OTHER

Trailer braking and stability control randomly disables. This leaves an unsafe condition when towing any trailers that require a trailer brake controller. Has happened on multiple occasions.

NHTSA complaint #11653554 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

UNKNOWN OR OTHER

Heat shield over drive train not installed properly. While driving since purchased I’d hear a metal reverberation / clunking sound that seemed to be under the truck. I even had it in for oil change service w/ dealer and no mention of finding anything. On Sat 3/15/2025 I took it back to dealer with the heat shield that was torn from the undercarriage over the drive train, the service person said it did not to appear to have been fastened at the factory before delivery to dealer/me. They were going to re-install it, however it was damaged; and I told them that was not acceptable to put a broken part back on the truck. I still don’t know what other damage has occurred to the vehicle due to the rubbing/clanking around while driving the 12,000 miles I have on it. They told me it was safe to drive and just come back when they get the part in. I have photos and videos; the dealer took the damaged heat shield from me and I don’t know what they did with it. Risk level to other drivers is the heat shield could have flown off truck while driving; to me inside the vehicle could have obstructed drive train and caused damage/accident, and other damage I’m still not aware of. Yes, dealer advised: Harnish GMC Puyallup, WA 253-840-6300 No fix yet. No warnings in vehicle or on any electronic displays. I noticed the sound right away on purchase but couldn’t identify it until it “got so bad” I went under the truck to look, and found it separated and dragging on the drive train.

NHTSA complaint #11650320 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.