Wiper or washer failure on the 2011 GMC Terrain
When wiper or washer failure gets reported
Owners of the 2011 GMC Terrain report wiper or washer failure at a median of 95,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 75,000 miles and a quarter after 115,000 miles, from 18 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 80,000 miles. It is the 6th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 35,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 140,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 104,441 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.
11% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 34,716 miles | 74,540 miles | 96,000 miles | 113,925 miles | 139,157 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 $120–$800 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 7 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2013, at a median of 60,000 miles, and latest on the 2011 at 95,000 miles.
By volume the 2012 carries the most reports, with 44; the 2011 has 21. 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.
Tl* the contact owns a 2011 gmc terrain. The contact stated that the windshield blade was defective and would bounce abnormal. The windshield wiper would only partially clear the windshield. The vehicle was taken to the dealer several times for the failure and the dealer replaced the blades several times, but the failure was not corrected. The dealer advised the contact that they were not knowledgeable as to how to correct the failure. The manufacturer was contacted and they advised that they would to provide the contact with a glass cleaner. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 11,000 and the current mileage was 14,000. Updated 02/01/12*lj the consumer stated from the beginning, the wiper blades would continually skip across the windshield, especially on the passenger side. The skipping would happen when the consumer used internal cleaning solution, which was the original solution installed by gm. The consumer has s ince purchased non gm wiper blades. Updated 02/10/12
Tl* the contact owns a 2011 gmc terrain. The contact stated that the windshield wiper blades had to be replaced after two years. The contact felt that the blades were wearing prematurely. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 12,400. *tr
Driving down i5 during a downpour when the drivers side windshield wiper went off the side of the windshield. Skirted trafficto bring the car to the side of the road and moved the wiper back onto the windshield. Wipers would no longer work. Towed off interstate to the nearest dealership where they stated the wiper transmission was "broken" and they replaced it. *tr
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
Complete engine failure or seizure
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 21 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 wiper or washer failure happen on the 2011 GMC Terrain?
Across 18 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 95,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 75,000 miles and a quarter after 115,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is wiper or washer failure on the 2011 GMC Terrain?
21 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