1997 GMC Sierra — reported problems

What owners report: issue areas

Owner complaints are classified by the system they concern: 294 classifications in all. One complaint can concern several systems, so these add up to more than the number of complaints.

• Brakes73 (24.8%)Official recall records for this system: 28, covering model years 1999–2020.
• Steering63 (21.4%)Official recall records for this system: 22, covering model years 1999–2015.
• Powertrain (transmission & drivetrain)32 (10.9%)Official recall records for this system: 17, covering model years 1995–2026.
• Visibility (glass, wipers, mirrors)23 (7.8%)Official recall records for this system: 4, covering model years 1995–2003.
• Fuel system13 (4.4%)Official recall records for this system: 10, covering model years 2002–2015.
• Electrical system12 (4.1%)Official recall records for this system: 20, covering model years 1999–2020.

Other / uncategorized: 6 classifications (2.0%) were not assigned to a specific system by the source. They are counted but not treated as an issue area.

These are counts of records held by CarFaultIQ, not a failure rate. More records can simply mean more vehicles were sold or more owners reported. No vehicles-in-service figure exists in this data, so no reliability or risk score can be derived from it.

What the records are about, by source

Each source is kept separate: owner complaints, recalls, manufacturer communications and investigations are different kinds of record and are never added together. All model years.

• Owner complaints (7,170 records, model years 1995–2017) are most frequently classified under: brakes, visibility (glass, wipers, mirrors) and powertrain (transmission & drivetrain).
• Safety recalls (170 records, model years 1995–2016) are most frequently classified under: powertrain (transmission & drivetrain), electrical system and brakes.
• Transport Canada recalls (375 records, model years 1995–2026) are most frequently classified under: air bags (restraint system), brakes and seat belts.
• Manufacturer communications (8,943 records, model years 1995–2017) are most frequently classified under: equipment & accessories, engine and electrical system.
• Investigations (68 records, model years 1995–2008) are most frequently classified under: brakes, body & structure and doors, latches & locks.

"Most frequently classified under" reports how the records are filed by the source. It is not a finding about causes, and a record can be filed under more than one system. Read the individual records

Mileage reported when the issue occurred

• 49reports included a mileage
• 85,990average of those mileages

This is the mileage owners recorded at the time they reported, not an expected failure mileage and not a prediction for any individual vehicle. The lowest and highest figures on record are not shown: they are unverified odometer entries that include zeros and implausibly high readings, so they would not describe a real range. A median is not shown either, because the stored figures are group totals and a median cannot be recovered from them.

Evidence by model year

Records held per model year. Select a year to narrow this page to it.

1. 1995 284 records for 1995 284
2. 1996 272 records for 1996 272
3. 1997 258 records for 1997 258
4. 1998 215 records for 1998 215
5. 1999 856 records for 1999 856
6. 2000 730 records for 2000 730
7. 2001 759 records for 2001 759
8. 2002 732 records for 2002 732
9. 2003 808 records for 2003 808
10. 2004 768 records for 2004 768
11. 2005 504 records for 2005 504
12. 2006 284 records for 2006 284
13. 2007 304 records for 2007 304
14. 2008 402 records for 2008 402
15. 2009 328 records for 2009 328
16. 2010 320 records for 2010 320
17. 2011 344 records for 2011 344
18. 2012 310 records for 2012 310
19. 2013 294 records for 2013 294
20. 2014 211 records for 2014 211
21. 2015 263 records for 2015 263
22. 2016 80 records for 2016 80
23. 2017 951 records for 2017 951
24. 2018 10 records for 2018 10
25. 2019 15 records for 2019 15
26. 2020 14 records for 2020 14
27. 2021 10 records for 2021 10
28. 2022 9 records for 2022 9
29. 2023 7 records for 2023 7
30. 2024 4 records for 2024 4
31. 2026 2 records for 2026 2

Counts are not adjusted for how many vehicles were sold in each year, so a taller year is not necessarily a worse year.

Reports mentioning outcomes

• 6mention a crash
• 5mention a fire
• 4mention an injury

These are counts of records whose report mentioned the outcome. They are not a severity rating and not a safety assessment of this vehicle.

Official records held

• Manufacturer communications NHTSA 19
• Transport Canada recalls Transport Canada 1
• Owner complaints NHTSA 238

Explore the underlying evidence records