Home / Car Problems Checker / 2019 GMC Terrain

Owner-Reported Problems · NHTSA

2019 GMC Terrain — Problems & Complaints

NHTSA has 186 owner complaints on file for this vehicle. Every report below was filed by a real owner with the US government's road-safety agency.

186

Complaints

filed with NHTSA

Involved a Crash

owner-reported

Involved Fire

owner-reported

Injuries

across all reports

Years to Avoid

GMC Terrain — Complaints by Model Year

Years flagged AVOID have at least twice this model's average complaint count — the strongest public-data signal of a bad year.

2012 GMC Terrain AVOID

370 complaints

2013 GMC Terrain AVOID

369 complaints

2014 GMC Terrain

302 complaints

2015 GMC Terrain

316 complaints

2016 GMC Terrain

152 complaints

2017 GMC Terrain

135 complaints

2018 GMC Terrain

224 complaints

2019 GMC Terrain

186 complaints

2020 GMC Terrain

197 complaints

2021 GMC Terrain

36 complaints

2022 GMC Terrain

88 complaints

2023 GMC Terrain

40 complaints

2024 GMC Terrain

52 complaints

2025 GMC Terrain

13 complaints

2026 GMC Terrain

0 complaints

Problem Areas

What Owners Complain About Most

Service Brakes 72 reports

Engine 70 reports

Power Train 52 reports

Electrical System 39 reports

Unknown Or Other 21 reports

Vehicle Speed Control 9 reports

Hydraulic 7 reports

Back Over Prevention 7 reports

In Their Own Words

Recent Owner Reports

Back Over Prevention ODI 11633432 12/31/2024

The contact owns a 2019 GMC Terrain. The contact stated that while reversing, the rearview camera displayed a blank image. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired by an independent mechanic or dealer. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 80,000.

Tires ODI 11445662 12/30/2021

BOTH FRONT TIRES SHOWING HEAVY CHIPPING OFF OF TIRE TREAD

Unknown Or Other ODI 11163864 12/28/2018

LIFT GATE ON THIS VEHICLE OPENS TO A HEIGHT OF 69 INCHES . AT 74 INCHES I AM CONSTANTLY BANGING MY HEAD ON THE LIFT GATE. MY 2017 MODEL OPENED TO AT LEAST 76 INCHES WHICH IS MORE REASONABLE. I CONSIDER THIS A SAFETY ISSUE, AS THIS IS A FLAW IN THE DESIGN OF THE VEHICLE. THE MODEL THAT HAS A POWER LIFT GATE OPENS TO AROUND 76 INCHES.. A FULL 7 INCHES HIGHER THAN THE MANUAL ON…

Power Train ODI 11561795 12/25/2023

jerking at times while driving.

Electrical System ODI 11560928 12/19/2023

It began with showing "Service Brake Assist" for about 2 weeks + then on Dec 18th 2023 around 10:30 as my fiancé was stopped at a stoplight and all of sudden when the light turned green she attempted to continue forward as traffic started to move only to stall stalled out before any movement could be achieve the battery was reading severely depleted and the vehicle would no…

Same Vehicle

Recalls & Crash Tests

Complaints are one half of the picture — see the official recalls and NHTSA crash-test stars for the 2019 GMC Terrain, or check your exact car by VIN with the free VIN lookup.

Check Another Car

Problems Checker

Any year, make and model: open the Car Problems Checker. Data: NHTSA (US DOT, public domain), cached up to 7 days.

Questions

FAQ

Is the 2019 GMC Terrain reliable?

Owners have filed 186 safety complaints with NHTSA for the 2019 GMC Terrain, most often about service brakes. Compare the complaint counts across model years above — a year with far more complaints than the model's average is the strongest 'avoid' signal in public data.

Which GMC Terrain years should I avoid?

The rule of thumb used by analysts: a model year whose complaint count is well above the model's own average (we flag 2× or more) usually had a real manufacturing or design problem — not just noisy reporting. Use the year-by-year strip on this page.

Where do these complaints come from?

Directly from NHTSA, the US government road-safety agency. Any owner can file a Vehicle Owner Questionnaire; NHTSA publishes them as public domain data. We cache each lookup for up to 7 days.

Do complaints mean a recall is coming?

Sometimes. NHTSA opens defect investigations when complaint patterns emerge, and investigations can end in recalls. Check the recalls page for this vehicle to see what has already been recalled.