Other powertrain problem on the 2017 GMC Sierra 1500
2 crashes 2 of the 70 reports for this failure mention a crash, a fire, an injury or a death. Those are the owner's words on the complaint form, not a verified finding, and one report can mention more than one.
When other powertrain problem gets reported
Owners of the 2017 GMC Sierra 1500 report other powertrain problem at a median of 20,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 10,000 miles and a quarter after 35,000 miles, from 28 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 92,000 miles. It is the 2nd most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 100 miles at the tenth percentile to 70,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 69,789 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
When the reports scatter this far, the mileage is telling you about how these cars were driven more than about the part itself.
75% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 111 miles | 9,375 miles | 20,000 miles | 34,532 miles | 69,900 miles |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Of these reports, 2 a crash is mentioned. Owners write their own complaints and the agency does not verify them, so read this as what the reports say happened rather than as a confirmed count.
Putting it right typically runs $400–$4,500 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 22 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2019, at a median of 15,000 miles, and latest on the 2010 at 155,000 miles.
By volume the 2018 carries the most reports, with 77; the 2017 has 70. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
Unintended acceleration when slowing down to come to a stop the vehicle will occasionally engage a lower gear very suddenly and lurch forward. The resulting force is enough to overpower the braking effort being provided by the driver and the vehicle will move forward several feet before the driver can react and apply more braking force to stop the vehicle. The issue occurs randomly and infrequently at very slow speeds (5-10mph). There have been several occasions where ive been braking to stop at a stop light and been forced into the middle of an intersection. Im concerned the issue could cause the vehicle to strike the car in front of it or a pedestrian crossing in front of the vehicle as it stops for a crosswalk. Multiple unsuccessful repair attempts have been made by the dealer. I attempted to force the manufacturer to buy the vehicle back from me through the massachusetts lemon law and since that time they have denied the existence of a problem. I have seen several instances online where consumers with the identical vehicle (all with the 8 speed transmission) complained of the same problem.
When driving at slow parking lot speeds or when coming to a complete stop the vehicle intermittently lunges, surges or jolts, causing the vehicle to move forward or backwards unanticipated. Sometimes the jolt feels like another vehicle has hit this vehicle from the rear, again causing it to lunge forward.
I bought this truck used with 12,918 miles on it, april 2018. When driving(especially on highway), and changing speeds, transmission clunks and lurches-automatic transmission. It sounds and feels as if drive train will fall out. I have taken it to dealer twice. The first time, they kept it for 3 days, the second time, for one. The mechanic is able to replicate the noise/lurching, but they are unable to find a cause or correction. They tell me it is not dangerous, but I am concerned that the noise/movement, could cause myself or another family member to swerve or brake hard and cause an accident. The mechanic has tried "updating the software" but that did not fix it. Several other gmc sierra owners tell me they have had same problem.
Also reported on the 2017 GMC Sierra 1500
Other brake problem
Other electrical problem
Other engine problem
Other steering problem
Torque converter failure
Loss of braking
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 70 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does other powertrain problem happen on the 2017 GMC Sierra 1500?
Across 28 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 20,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 10,000 miles and a quarter after 35,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other powertrain problem on the 2017 GMC Sierra 1500?
70 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.8 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed