Other electrical problem on the 2009 GMC Sierra 2500
Only 5 reports for this mode came with an odometer reading, which is too few for percentiles to mean anything. The page is here because someone linked to it; treat the figures as anecdotes, and see the full report for this year instead.
When other electrical problem gets reported
There are 6 reports of other electrical problem on the 2009 GMC Sierra 2500, 5 with a mileage attached. That is too few to place the failure on the odometer with any confidence.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 85,000 miles. It is the 1st most-reported problem on this model year.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | 65,000 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
Putting it right typically runs $250–$2,000 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 13 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2020, at a median of 200 miles, and latest on the 2015 at 115,000 miles.
By volume the 2005 carries the most reports, with 18; the 2009 has 6. 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.
I have a 2009 gmc sierra 2500 with 39,200 miles. My door lock actuator quit working, so my door no longer automatically locks and unlocks which I consider to be a safety hazard. I noted on-line that this seems to be a very common problem in gmc trucks, tahoes, and suburbans - and I even have friends and family members that have had the very same problem with their gm trucks. Because this is so very common, and to me is a safety issue, it seems like gm should be addressing this. I inquired with the dealer, and the cost for a single door lock is well over $200. Based on what I've been reading, I can expect the remaining locks to go out over time. I respectfully request that NHTSA look into this matter as I believe it is affecting many others and is a safety hazard. *tr
I have a 2009 gmc sierra 2500 with 70,000 miles. At 39,200 miles, the actuator on the front drivers side door lock failed. Then at about 46,000 miles the actuator on the rear drivers side door lock failed. My door locks no longer automatically lock and unlock which creates a safety hazard, particularly in the case of the rear door lock because it cannot be locked or unlocked by the driver without exiting the vehicle and crawling through from the passenger side. If you don't manually lock the rear door, a young child could open the unlocked door while the vehicle is in motion; but if you manually lock the rear door, you cannot get a child out quickly in the event of an accident because it is impossible to access the lock without crawling through from the passenger side. Door lock actuator failures seem to be a common problem on 2009 general motors trucks. My father also has a 2009 gmc sierra 2500, and one of the front door lock actuators failed on it. I had a 2009 chevrolet silverado 3500 truck for use by my staff and one of the rear door lock actuators failed on it. A friend has a 2009 chevrolet silverado 1500, and one front and…
At approximately 65,000 miles the passenger side door lock actuator quit working. The lock does not operate with the automatic door lock on the driver side door lock function or the keypad. At approximately 110,000 miles the rear driver side door lock actuator also quit working. This is a highly unsafe situation on many scales especially since there are no keyholes on those doors. *tr
Also reported on the 2009 GMC Sierra 2500
Other body or interior problem
Other brake problem
Instrument cluster or gauge failure
Loss of braking
Other engine problem
Other fuel system problem
How far this goes
This page is kept out of search results because 6 reports is not enough to publish percentiles from. It stays reachable because somebody looking at this exact car would rather see the reports than be told there are none.
Complaints are voluntary, so 6 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 electrical problem happen on the 2009 GMC Sierra 2500?
Across 5 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 65,000 miles. A quarter were filed before — and a quarter after —. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other electrical problem on the 2009 GMC Sierra 2500?
6 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.2 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