all vehicles · every Sierra year · method

GMC Sierra 2011

Safety complaints filed by owners in the first three years, per 1,000 sold.

0.24 per 1,000

better than this nameplate’s own median · from 33 complaints filed in the first three years, of 437 ever. 95% lower bound 0.16.

Against its own model years

The model year carries far more information than the badge, so this is the comparison that matters.

Model year	Per 1,000	Complaints
2008	0.23	38
2009	0.19	27
2010	0.13	16
2011	0.24	33
2012	0.16	25
2013	0.19	33
2014	1.33	264
2015	1.13	247
2016	0.41	92
2017	0.52	114
2018	0.48	106
2019	0.80	181
2020	0.58	141
2021	0.45	113
2022	0.73	178
2023	1.22	328

What owners describe

Phrases over-represented in these complaints compared with the same component on every other vehicle. Counts are complaints containing the phrase.

Air Bags 161 complaints

recall notification	37	23%
dash	27	17%
buick	22	14%
dashboard	21	13%
truck	20	13%
cracked	17	11%

Unknown Or Other 110 complaints

cracked	47	43%
airbag	45	41%
dash cracked	19	18%
corner	15	14%
dashboard cracked	12	11%
passenger airbag	11	10%

Structure 75 complaints

airbag

34%

When it breaks

25% of reported failures happened before 30,000 miles (median 56,660 miles, from 256 complaints that recorded one).

Failures arrive late and spread out, which looks like wear. Service history matters more than model year here.

What NHTSA did

2 investigations covering this model year, 1 of which list a recall campaign.

Pedestrian alert sounds

What owners and forums say

Not built yet. This panel is meant to carry community sentiment beside the filed-complaint data, so the two can be compared. Showing something weaker here would defeat its purpose.

Check this yourself

Example records behind this page:

10368729 · 10372652 · 10372705 · 10376716 · 10377941 · 10381271

Limits of this figure. It counts safety complaints filed with the federal government, which is a floor on failures and not a census: problems that only cost money are under-reported. Complaint rates also reflect how likely a brand’s owners are to file, which cannot be separated from how often the car fails. Sales are calendar-year and the denominator for this nameplate is automated checks only, not verified against an external source.