GMC Sonoma — reported problems
CarFaultIQ holds 4,766 evidence records for the GMC Sonoma (1995–2004), drawn from official sources and owner complaints.
What owners report: issue areas
Owner complaints are classified by the system they concern: 2,566 classifications in all. One complaint can concern several systems, so these add up to more than the number of complaints.
- Brakes602 (23.5%)Official recall records for this system: 13, covering model years 1995–2000.
- Visibility (glass, wipers, mirrors)356 (13.9%)Official recall records for this system: 3, covering model years 1995–1996.
- Body & structure240 (9.4%)
- Powertrain (transmission & drivetrain)166 (6.5%)Official recall records for this system: 2, covering model years 1996.
- Seats146 (5.7%)
- Air bags (restraint system)134 (5.2%)
Other / uncategorized: 48 classifications (1.9%) 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 (2,012 records, model years 1995–2003) are most frequently classified under: brakes, visibility (glass, wipers, mirrors) and body & structure.
- Manufacturer communications (2,655 records, model years 1995–2004) are most frequently classified under: equipment & accessories, engine and electrical system.
"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
- 620reports included a mileage
- 64,704average 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.
- 1995 255 records for 1995
- 1996 199 records for 1996
- 1997 165 records for 1997
- 1998 239 records for 1998
- 1999 154 records for 1999
- 2000 449 records for 2000
- 2001 433 records for 2001
- 2002 425 records for 2002
- 2003 452 records for 2003
- 2004 413 records for 2004
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
- 216mention a crash
- 14mention a fire
- 104mention an injury
- 2mention a fatality
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
- Safety recalls NHTSA 49
- Manufacturer communications NHTSA 2,655
- Investigations NHTSA 13
- Transport Canada recalls Transport Canada 37
- Owner complaints NHTSA 2,012
Diagnostic codes found in evidence for this vehicle
These codes appear by explicit identifier in official records matched to this exact model and year.
A code appearing in a record means the code was named in that document. It is not a diagnosis of this vehicle, not a fault this vehicle has, and not an indication of urgency. Diagnosis requires reading live data from the vehicle.
Where to go next
- GMC Sonoma coverage hub Published problems, year windows and buyer guidance for this model.
- Evidence Explorer — the underlying records Read the individual recalls, investigations, manufacturer communications and complaints these counts come from.
- Browse all vehicle coverage Every make and model CarFaultIQ has published coverage for.