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Owner-Reported Problems · NHTSA

2020 GMC Terrain — Problems & Complaints

NHTSA has 197 owner complaints on file for this vehicle. Every report below was filed by a real owner with the US government's road-safety agency.

197

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.

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 58 reports

Unknown Or Other 34 reports

Power Train 28 reports

Electrical System 27 reports

Fuel/propulsion System 25 reports

Vehicle Speed Control 11 reports

Forward Collision Avoidance 8 reports

In Their Own Words

Recent Owner Reports

Unknown Or Other ODI 11499615 12/31/2022

My service brake assist light came on and then within seconds my vehicle then said engine power has been lowered and my vehicle pretty much shut down no steering no brakes couldn't do anything. Took it into the repair shop and my vacuum pump has shattered and now damaged my camshaft. I am aware there's been many other vehicles recalled with GM's vacuum pumps and I'm not sure w…

Electrical System ODI 11445742 12/31/2021

This 2020 GMC Terrain has a "feature" called autostop. This is not a switch to turn this off. It would not be so bad if the engine would run for 5 minutes at a stoplight before stopping the engine but it immediately shuts down the engine after a stop. This is getting annoying and dangerous due to the delay in getting the car moving. I have only had the car for a month. I unde…

Electrical System ODI 11707653 12/29/2025

Towards the tail end of a nearly 2.5 hour drive, the Automatic Theft Deterrent System was activated on the interstate. I lost every display on the dash panel including my speedometer, battery, coolant, gas, turn signals, and windshield wipers. I went into the nearest parking lot and was unable to restart the vehicle. It was towed to the dealership closest to our home and was …

Service Brakes ODI 11632946 12/29/2024

No warning, the brake pedal went stiff as a board. No brakes could not stop doing 35 on a residential road. Had to coast to a stop in neutral.

Service Brakes ODI 11632538 12/26/2024

The brake system failed. No warning. When the brakes failed, driver ran the car into a tree to stop instead of hitting pedestrians or other vehicles

Same Vehicle

Recalls & Crash Tests

Complaints are one half of the picture — see the official recalls and NHTSA crash-test stars for the 2020 GMC Terrain, or check your exact car by VIN with the free VIN lookup.

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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 2020 GMC Terrain reliable?

Owners have filed 197 safety complaints with NHTSA for the 2020 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.