Misfire or rough idle on the 2011 GMC Terrain
When misfire or rough idle gets reported
Owners of the 2011 GMC Terrain report misfire or rough idle at a median of 55,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 40,000 miles and a quarter after 125,000 miles, from 12 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 92,000 miles. It is the 9th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 5,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 150,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 145,340 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.
25% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4,800 miles | 38,700 miles | 56,500 miles | 123,350 miles | 150,140 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–$1,600 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 5 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2019, at a median of 5,000 miles, and latest on the 2010 at 100,000 miles.
By volume the 2011 is the worst of them, which makes this a problem of this specific year rather than of the model as a whole.
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 2.5 month old 2011 gmc terrain. At 4984 miles it is in the shop for stalling, for a horrible rattle upon start up, and for it jerking between first and second gear. When I took it in this morning it had stalled six times within the past 2 days. It stalls after start-up in forward and reverse and it stalled three times while in idle in a fast food drive-thru. There is also the rattling which happens on cold and warm starts, whether the A/C or eco mode are on. It sounds like metal rattling and like it is harming the engine. The least of my worries, is the fact that between 25-35 miles an hour the transmission shifts very hard and kicks myself and passengers forward. Apparently there is a tech bulletin that has been out for the rattle for several months. Why not fix them before they sell them? Also, there is a recall #11195 for "rough idle, poor driveability" that doesn't show up on the NHTSA site or anywhere else but the gmc dealer's computer. Additionally, despite the claims, I have never gotten better than 21 mpg while driving this car including an all highway trip from michigan to indiana. I think it is false advertising…
I have a 2.5 month old 2011 gmc terrain. At 4984 miles it is in the shop for stalling, for a horrible rattle upon start up, and for it jerking between first and second gear. When I took it in this morning it had stalled six times within the past 2 days. It stalls after start-up in forward and reverse and it stalled three times while in idle in a fast food drive-thru. There is also the rattling which happens on cold and warm starts, whether the A/C or eco mode are on. It sounds like metal rattling and like it is harming the engine. The least of my worries, is the fact that between 25-35 miles an hour the transmission shifts very hard and kicks myself and passengers forward. Apparently there is a tech bulletin that has been out for the rattle for several months. Why not fix them before they sell them? Also, there is a recall #11195 for "rough idle, poor driveability" that doesn't show up on the NHTSA site or anywhere else but the gmc dealer's computer. Additionally, despite the claims, I have never gotten better than 21 mpg while driving this car including an all highway trip from michigan to indiana. I think it is false advertising…
I have a 2.5 month old 2011 gmc terrain. At 4984 miles it is in the shop for stalling, for a horrible rattle upon start up, and for it jerking between first and second gear. When I took it in this morning it had stalled six times within the past 2 days. It stalls after start-up in forward and reverse and it stalled three times while in idle in a fast food drive-thru. There is also the rattling which happens on cold and warm starts, whether the A/C or eco mode are on. It sounds like metal rattling and like it is harming the engine. The least of my worries, is the fact that between 25-35 miles an hour the transmission shifts very hard and kicks myself and passengers forward. Apparently there is a tech bulletin that has been out for the rattle for several months. Why not fix them before they sell them? Also, there is a recall #11195 for "rough idle, poor driveability" that doesn't show up on the NHTSA site or anywhere else but the gmc dealer's computer. Additionally, despite the claims, I have never gotten better than 21 mpg while driving this car including an all highway trip from michigan to indiana. I think it is false advertising…
Also reported on the 2011 GMC Terrain
Other engine problem
Other powertrain problem
Excessive oil consumption
Timing chain, belt or tensioner failure
Other fuel system problem
Wiper or washer failure
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 14 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 misfire or rough idle happen on the 2011 GMC Terrain?
Across 12 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 55,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 40,000 miles and a quarter after 125,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is misfire or rough idle on the 2011 GMC Terrain?
14 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