A GM truck recall has been issued in Canada for more than 159,000 units of the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra half-ton and heavy-duty trucks equipped with the power sliding rear window.
The defect: over 159,000 units of the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra trucks equipped with the power sliding rear window could have faulty rear defroster circuits, which could overheat and lead to a fire. GM Canada is currently unsure of what will be done to repair the problem.
The hazards:Â GM says that if fires don’t occur, the rear defroster circuits may melt and emit smoke. However, the risk of a full-on fire is high, which can lead to serious damage to the trucks and possible injuries to passengers.
Affected components: electrical –Â rear window defroster on trucks equipped with the power sliding rear window.
Affected vehicles:
- 2014-2018 Chevrolet Silverado 1500
- 2015-2019 Chevrolet Silverado HD
- 2014-2018 Chevrolet Silverado LD
- 2014-2018Â GMC Sierra 1500
- 2015-2019Â GMC Sierra HD
- 2014-2018Â GMC Sierra LD
Number of vehicles affected:Â 159,000 which are located in Canada.
- There is no current recall of this nature for trucks sold in the U.S.
The fix: GM is unsure how to fix the problem at this time and thus the recall has not yet officially begun. Interim repairs will be performed by removing the fuses for the rear window defroster. Then, truck owners will be sent a second notice when repairs details become available.
Owners should: owners affected by this GM truck recall are advised not to use their rear window defroster until their truck can be repaired by an official GM service center. They can also contact GM Canada customer service with questions by using the information below. Although a recall has not yet been issued in the U.S, it is still recommended that owners contact NHTSA to see if their trucks are affected.
Contacts:
- General Motors of Canada Customer Assistance Center:Â 1-800-263-3777
- Manufacturer recall number:Â N192220470
- Transport Canada Recall #:2019325
Comments
Queue the moron saying this should only be covered if the truck is still under warranty and everyone else should have to pay for the fix to ensure their truck doesn’t burn to the ground!
YEP,
Yes, these items should not be recalled. If a problem happens while under warranty GM pays for it. After its the customers responsibility.
So how long should GM keep fixing this problem? 5 years, 15 years, 25 years?
And why are we living life based of if something happens?
As for me being a moron. If you cant understand what the true definition of a warranty is then you are the only moron on this site!!!
You sound like Ford. How long did they drag their feet to recall all those millions of vehicles with cruise control switches that were known to cause fires? Everyone knew the switch was a fire hazard and they still resisted a recall of all of them for over a decade.
I sound like the only person with any common sense!!!
Tell me what happens when you go to best buy and you buy a TV. You take that TV back to the store one month after the warranty expires. Wanna tell me what happens? Just like what happens to the rest of the industries that offer a warranty.
They tell you that you are responsible for the repairs.
If that TV burns down your house ?
When that fire that started with that TV kills someone ?
You know what happens, right ?
No more TV company !!!
Recalls like this are simply legal tools to keep the public form suing the manufacturer.
Look at ALL the recalls in the world !!
Food recalls, child seat recalls, there are recalls on everything everywhere for public safety mostly, but also to prevent just more lawsuits.
Brian, if your GM vehicle started your house on fire and killed someone you loved, maybe you would think different ? maybe not ?
Nope I have respect for ownership. I am not cheap
The purpose of a warranty is to resolve one-off issues that may occur on an otherwise healthy product. The vehicle is expected to perform well over 3 years, 36k miles and is guaranteed to do so. In this case, a recall is issued because a larger than expected number of vehicles have the same issue with a faulty piece of hardware that was not designed well. It has a higher than tolerated incidence of failure and should be covered for a reasonable amount of time. The reasonable amount of time should be an amount that can pass after which any failure could be attributed to another factor as.
Wrong, that is not what a warranty was designed for. It was designed to give people the peace of knowing that if anything goes wrong the car is covered.
With the understanding that once the warranty period is over the owner is responsible.
These recalls are ridiculous and are only hurting the buyer in the long run
Is it every month that something is going wrong with these trucks another reason why people are switching to ram it’s like we just started building trucks yesterday pretty soon Gm is going to be back in bankruptcy may be someone with a more pride in the products they make need to take over
That’s a pretty dumb move on their part. It’s shocking just how many 2019 Ram’s have major issues. Everything from electrical glitches, to stalling problems. They even managed to mess up their ZF 8HP when they made updates to it. Suddenly a lot of guys are having downshifts that slam. Worse yet, when they put their truck into drive, it won’t roll forward when they give it gas, then a few seconds later it slams so hard it looks like the truck was rear ended and it starts moving. I’m glad I jumped off of Ram’s ship years ago. I had enough of their seized up lifters, flattened cams, and electrical nightmares years ago.
I like Mary and her understanding of the business, but she had better start stepping up some of this stuff.
When she said ” no more crappy cars ” its like she switched the crappy to the truck and stopped making the cars all together !!
What is going on ? Who is in charge of this stuff ? And then to say its junk and we can’t fix it, WHAT !!!
We bought it with the options we want to work, not a rear defrost, a block heater, and a heated seat that doesn’t work !!
Come on !!
GM’s fix will be a new button. Instead of “Rear Defroster” it will say “Cigarette Lighter”
I’ve got a GMC sold in Canada but I live in USA.
I’ve been waiting since May for ring gear and pinion bearings for my 2016 three-quarter ton truck They still say parts are not available bs . Truck came with a great warranty getting it fixed seems to be the problem .
The problem is likely the money saving going on in GM ..the wiring is likely too light for the current applied..so the fix may have to be a more robust harness..
I guess it could be worse. I recently found out my 2017 F-150, like every F-150 made in the last decade or so, has a reputation for rear windows that shatter when you use the defroster. Town and Country Ford’s youtube salesman bragged about the one-piece rear window with a sliding window in the middle, which does look nice, but it sure does suck when the whole thing blows out in the middle of the winter.
Another reason to buy a Toyota Tundra. Mileage sucks, and fancy cabin details aren’t comparable to big 3 but are 10 times more reliable and hold their value
HAHA that flimsy old rust bucket? Sorry but no thanks. I’ve seen enough 2nd gen Tundras with rear diff problems to know I want nothing to do with it. Mileage does suck. My neighbor’s 2018 F-250 gasser gets nearly as good (or bad) fuel mileage as a 5.7 Tundra. That’s bad.
yeah they’re major gas hogs. low quality diffs and flimsy frames too. hard pass.
Another reason to buy a Toyota Tundra. Mileage sucks, and fancy cabin details aren’t comparable to big 3 but are 10 times more reliable and hold their value
Matt, I had a 2006 Ford F-150 that I kept for 13 years. Only problems I ever had was a cruise control switch under the dash that I replaced for less than $30 and a Ford badge on the rear that faded because truck stayed outside all the time. I sold the truck for about $10k less than what I bought it for new. I’ve also had several Suburbans and Tahoes that I sold to friends who kept them for over a decade with no issues.
I currently own a 2018 GMC Sierra and I shopped all brands except Nissan before buying it. I won’t badmouth your truck but you are correct in saying that the Toyota isn’t close on finish, etc. I wouldn’t take anything for my Sierra (SLT premium plus package). One of the nicest vehicles I’ve ever been in.
What about faulty Torque converters?? 2014-2019 6 speed transmission torque converters are failing at around 25-30 k miles. Dealer doesn’t want to fix that because there is no lights on the dash.
Seems like all the manufacturers have problems like this (and more) crop up. I understand that with mass produced vehicles there will be problems. But I wonder, are these things being tested at all while in development? Does the supplier of (in this case) the window defroster simply tell GM it’s good to go and GM believes them?
A branch graph showing a vehicle and who all makes the parts for it reveals the fact that car makers don’t make a whole lot of the car nowadays, suppliers do!
Ford shows their test vehicles in an oversized refrigerator pulled down to 40 below for cold weather testing. Did they think to turn on the rear defroster to check it? Evidently not as Ford has had this same sh!t happen to them.
Bottom line: there’s no money for thorough testing anymore, just get it in the showroom and we’ll figure it out later. Everyone’s guilty.
Including Boeing with the 737 Max – IMHO this is another vehicle that isn’t ready for prime time either.
It’s more than likely a supplier not doing a thorough job testing. Kind of like how GM started offering a heated windshield washer fluid system that ended up having design issues that the supplier didn’t address and they created a risk of fire.
Have a pending lawsuit with GM now . My truck caught fire in Delaware. I asked for a buy back for the 5th time which gm said no . They put new parts on an engine that has been on fire which was a take it or sue us . This was still under warranty so they extended the warranty. This truck had problems at 17000 miles and could not pass a Chevy dealership without breaking down . It was in a 24 month of owning the truck 26 times thru out the U S
It appears that GM is aware of the problem but at this time has not determined the cause and therefore the solution. I would want it fixed one time and correctly. Warranty length should not apply to documented safety and hazards to life issues on a vehicle. Recall!
Purchased a2015 GMC Sierra had back window blow out on meet just over 60000 km on it. Had to pay for it myself just wondering if I will be reimbursed? Lot of smoke came from behind the back seat
GM reimbursed me my costs to have it fixed after a long period but I got reimbursed and that’s the main thing. I still have my truck and still love it.
2018 GMC Sierra 1500 , purchased brand new, had the rear sliding window recall completed last week, today it started smoking and the passenger side window panel shattered. I week after it was dealer fixed under recall.. how disappointing is that..
My young kids ride in the back of our ’15 Sierra Denali all the time. If the rear windows shatters I will not hesitate to sue GM for a crap load of money.
2016 Silverado 51,000 miles. Purchased it with 9000 miles on it. Under warranty still. Late night pulled in driveway. Tried to shut truck down. Turned key back like normal, truck wouldn’t turn off. It kept starting by itself. Noticed smoke coming from under hood. Smoke stopped. Got out walked in house. 20 minutes later someone beats on my foot, I go outside to see smoke bellowing from under hood. Unlock doors manually and unlatch hood. Touch it and it’s hot to touch. Backed away neighbor opened and smoke came from everywhere. The junction box engulfed in flames. My mother brought that truck for my birthday, 2 yrs ago . Never had a problem with it. I almost lost my home. Shame on you Chevy, I could be dead! I’m during knowing you had knowledge of defect!
Should be covered under your car insurance! So what’s the problem.
Ok so I have a question for all of you commenting. Do you have a truck that has had these issues? Cuz let me tell you this just happened to our 2017 Silverado and getting someone to help let alone be honest about this known problem has been terrible. We were stranded Sunday not knowing if there was more damage than the rear window, we had to leave the truck out of town and I went back and forth with warranty department, our insurance and OnStar to just get the vehicle towed back to our main dealer. No I was not above going to a closer dealer they could not get us in a rental vehicle. I just wonderer if those of you who are commenting on how stupid it is to have a recall ever had this happen? After going thru hoops to just get it home was enough for me. They still have no answers as to why or how to fix it!
Just bought our 2016 truck in May…40k miles on it…driving yesterday maybe 1/4 mile from my driveway and I heard a loud pop and the back window behind driver seat was shattered… smelled like electrical something but no visible smoke. This is a recall in the 2015-2019 GMC Sierra 1500…but not my specific VIN! So therefore the dealership said no covered! Not even under CPO warranty or my extended warranty I purchased! I have a call into GMC they best be doing something! Thank GOD nobody was sitting directly in front of that window!
Insurance company paid for mine under fire cause of the smoke but later got reimbursed from the dealership and got another slider back window installed because wasn’t right one put back in
We live in Indianapolis. We had a low mileage 2018 Sierra that went up in flames in the early morning hours of February 2nd. It was near our home and damaged the garage door, gutter and asphalt driveway. It was quite scary. We are having a difficult time contacting GMC
I have a 2016 Silverado in NJ. This happened to me a month ago. Back window smoking, then shattered. Luckily was in my driveway, and I turned off truck before fire started. I contacted CEO of GM. I was called my someone from their exec team. They seemed interested, took my story, said it would be escalated to another team. I havent heard from the “other team.” My insurance is covering repair, minus my deductible, of course. This is a known dangerous problem. shame. I will follow up with GM.
There is a TSB on this problem that’s been out for a couple of years…Mine was fixed several years ago.
Fantastic!
Now what , mine just blew the back window out filled the truck with glass and smoke is GM going to replace my back window I’m still pulling glass out of my neck and hands ,Jesus
2018 real tree edition, back window just blew out from this problem glass everywhere still pulling it out of my neck and hands ,are you replacing my back window GM.