1996 GMC Sonoma — reported problems

What owners report: issue areas

Owner complaints are classified by the system they concern: 186 classifications in all. One complaint can concern several systems, so these add up to more than the number of complaints.

• Brakes56 (30.1%)Official recall records for this system: 13, covering model years 1995–2000.
• Visibility (glass, wipers, mirrors)31 (16.7%)Official recall records for this system: 3, covering model years 1995–1996.
• Powertrain (transmission & drivetrain)17 (9.1%)Official recall records for this system: 2, covering model years 1996.
• Engine15 (8.1%)Official recall records for this system: 2, covering model years 1998.
• Air bags (restraint system)10 (5.4%)
• Electrical system9 (4.8%)Official recall records for this system: 2, covering model years 1998–1999.

Other / uncategorized: 4 classifications (2.2%) 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

Evidence by model year

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

1. 1995 255 records for 1995 255
2. 1996 199 records for 1996 199
3. 1997 165 records for 1997 165
4. 1998 239 records for 1998 239
5. 1999 154 records for 1999 154
6. 2000 449 records for 2000 449
7. 2001 433 records for 2001 433
8. 2002 425 records for 2002 425
9. 2003 452 records for 2003 452
10. 2004 413 records for 2004 413

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

• 26mention a crash
• 1mention a fire
• 5mention 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

• Safety recalls NHTSA 9
• Manufacturer communications NHTSA 36
• Transport Canada recalls Transport Canada 6
• Owner complaints NHTSA 148

Explore the underlying evidence records