AutoUtility currently tracks 315 official NHTSA owner defect complaints for the 2015 GMC Terrain. Visibility, Wipers & Glass issues are the most frequently reported category, appearing in 120 complaints (38.1% of submitted records). Among these NHTSA complaint records, 10 filings cite a crash, 1 cites a fire, 7 report one or more injuries.

Key Problem Findings
  • Total NHTSA Complaints: 315 reports
  • #1 Reported Problem Area: Visibility, Wipers & Glass (120 reports • 38.1% of submitted complaints)
  • Secondary Problem Areas: Engine & Cooling (74), Electrical System (31)
  • Crash-Citing Complaints: 10 filings
  • Fire-Citing Complaints: 1 filings
  • Complaints Reporting Injuries / Fatalities: 7 injury filings • 0 fatality filings
Reporting Methodology: Statistics describe unverified consumer submissions voluntarily filed with NHTSA. Complaint volume is not normalized for vehicle sales volume or miles driven. Multiple components can be cited within a single owner complaint submission.
Total Complaints
315
Submitted to NHTSA ODI
Crash-Citing Complaints
10
Filings citing a collision
Fire-Citing Complaints
1
Filings citing smoke or fire
Complaints Reporting Injuries
7
Filings citing one or more injuries
Complaints Reporting Fatalities
0
Consumer filings citing fatalities

Most Reported Problems for 2015 GMC Terrain

Top automotive subsystem defect categories ranked by unique owner complaint volume in federal records

#1 Problem Area 38.1% of complaints

Visibility, Wipers & Glass

120 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
⚠️ NHTSA Recall Context

NHTSA records list 2 official safety recall campaigns for this model year involving the same broad component area:

*Component overlap means an official recall exists for the same broad vehicle system. It does not establish that an individual owner complaint was caused by, covered by, or resolved through that recall.
✓ 0 crashes or fires cited
#2 Problem Area 23.5% of complaints

Engine & Cooling

74 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
⚠️ 1 crash report 🔥 1 fire report
#3 Problem Area 9.8% of complaints

Electrical System

31 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
⚠️ 1 crash report
#4 Problem Area 7.6% of complaints

Exterior Lighting

24 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
⚠️ NHTSA Recall Context

NHTSA records list 1 official safety recall campaign for this model year involving the same broad component area:

*Component overlap means an official recall exists for the same broad vehicle system. It does not establish that an individual owner complaint was caused by, covered by, or resolved through that recall.
✓ 0 crashes or fires cited
#5 Problem Area 6.7% of complaints

Powertrain & Transmission

21 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
✓ 0 crashes or fires cited
Domain Share Note: Share percentage represents the proportion of unique complaint filings referencing each vehicle system. Because single complaints may cite multiple systems (such as engine and electrical simultaneously), domain percentages represent individual category incidence and may sum to over 100%.

Symptoms Mentioned in NHTSA Owner Reports for 2015 GMC Terrain

Specific mechanical, electrical, and driver-assist defect symptoms identified via deterministic narrative analysis

AutoUtility uses deterministic phrase matching to identify recurring symptom descriptions within consumer-submitted NHTSA complaint narratives.

Powertrain & Transmission 2.2% of complaints

Loss of Motive Power While Driving

7 complaint narratives describe this symptom
Symptom Identification Method: A complaint may describe more than one symptom, so percentages may sum to more than 100%. Symptom identification reflects text contained in consumer-submitted complaint records and does not establish a confirmed mechanical diagnosis.

Recent NHTSA Owner Reports for 2015 GMC Terrain

Representative defect filings submitted by owners to the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation

Engine & Cooling NHTSA ODI ID: #11751978
Filed: 07/22/2026

"I am submitting this complaint regarding the engine timing chain failure in my 2015 GMC Terrain because I believe it presents a serious safety hazard. Before the failure, the vehicle began experiencing intermittent symptoms, including engine jerking, shaking, rough operation, abnormal engine..."

Incident Date: 05/18/2026 • Raw NHTSA Component: ENGINE
Brakes & Traction Control NHTSA ODI ID: #11751551
Filed: 07/20/2026

"The contact owns a 2015 GMC Terrain. The contact stated that while driving 5 MPH, the brake, ABS, and stabili-trak warning lights were illuminated. The dealer was contacted and diagnosed the vehicle with an Electronic Brake Control Module failure. The dealer stated that the manufacturer no longer..."

Incident Date: 07/10/2026 • Raw NHTSA Component: SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC
Air Bags & Restraints NHTSA ODI ID: #11743616
Crash Cited Filed: 06/11/2026

"I hit a deer and it totaled my vehicle and the Airbags did not deploy"

Incident Date: 05/22/2026 • Raw NHTSA Component: AIR BAGS
Engine & Cooling NHTSA ODI ID: #11743259
Filed: 06/10/2026

"See attached document for complaint."

Incident Date: 01/06/2026 • Raw NHTSA Component: ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING
Engine & Cooling NHTSA ODI ID: #11731173
Filed: 04/14/2026

"The contact owns a 2015 GMC Terrain. The contact stated that while driving approximately 40 MPH, there was an abnormal rattling sound coming from the engine compartment. The vehicle was taken to the residence. The contact stated that when the vehicle was started the following day, the rattling..."

Incident Date: 12/20/2025 • Raw NHTSA Component: ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING
Consumer Narrative Notice: Excerpts are sanitized text descriptions submitted by vehicle owners to the federal ODI database. They reflect the reporting consumer's observations at the time of filing and have not been independently confirmed by vehicle manufacturers or government investigators.

Complaint History for GMC Terrain

Reported defect complaint volume across sibling model years (2015–2026)

Model Year NHTSA Complaints Crash Reports Safety Recalls Detailed Report
2015 GMC Terrain Current Page 315 10 3 Current
2016 GMC Terrain 152 9 2 View 2016 Problems →
2017 GMC Terrain 133 11 1 View 2017 Problems →
2018 GMC Terrain 218 14 5 View 2018 Problems →
2019 GMC Terrain 181 7 3 View 2019 Problems →
2020 GMC Terrain 192 7 2 View 2020 Problems →
2021 GMC Terrain 34 4 2 View 2021 Problems →
2022 GMC Terrain 81 0 2 View 2022 Problems →
2023 GMC Terrain 37 2 2 View 2023 Problems →
2024 GMC Terrain 48 1 1 View 2024 Problems →
2025 GMC Terrain 12 2 0 View 2025 Problems →
2026 GMC Terrain 0 0 1 View 2026 Problems →
Comparative Disclaimer: Complaint totals are unadjusted historical counts and are not normalized for vehicles sold, active fleet size, or total road mileage. Newer model years naturally have had less calendar exposure time to accumulate owner filings.

Detailed NHTSA Component Breakdown for 2015 GMC Terrain

Complete distribution of consumer defect reports across all 68 granular NHTSA system and subsystem classifications

Vehicle Component / System Total Complaints Crash Reports Fire Reports Reported Injury Entries Reported Fatality Entries
Visibility & Wipers NHTSA category: VISIBILITY/WIPER 93 0 0 0 0
Engine NHTSA category: ENGINE 53 0 1 0 0
Air Bags NHTSA category: AIR BAGS 14 5 0 3 0
Electrical System NHTSA category: ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 13 1 0 0 0
EXTERIOR LIGHTING 12 0 0 0 0
Other / Uncategorized NHTSA category: UNKNOWN OR OTHER 12 1 0 0 0
Powertrain NHTSA category: POWER TRAIN 10 0 0 0 0
EXTERIOR LIGHTING,VISIBILITY 9 0 0 0 0
Visibility / Glass NHTSA category: VISIBILITY 9 0 0 0 0
Structure & Body NHTSA category: STRUCTURE 8 0 0 2 0
Fuel & Propulsion System NHTSA category: FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 6 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,ENGINE 5 0 0 0 0
ENGINE,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 4 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE 3 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,EXTERIOR LIGHTING 3 0 0 0 0
Service Brakes NHTSA category: SERVICE BRAKES 3 1 0 1 0
UNKNOWN OR OTHER,ENGINE 3 0 0 0 0
ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL (ESC) 2 0 0 0 0
Engine & Cooling NHTSA category: ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING 2 0 0 0 0
EXTERIOR LIGHTING,VISIBILITY/WIPER 2 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 2 0 0 0 0
AIR BAGS,STRUCTURE,UNKNOWN OR OTHER 1 1 0 1 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL (ESC) 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL (ESC),FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,EXTERIOR LIGHTING,SEATS 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,EXTERIOR LIGHTING,VISIBILITY/WIPER 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,STRUCTURE 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,UNKNOWN OR OTHER 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL (ESC) 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,VISIBILITY/WIPER 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL (ESC),ENGINE 1 0 0 0 0
ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING,ENGINE 1 0 0 0 0
ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING,FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE 1 0 0 0 0
ENGINE,VISIBILITY/WIPER 1 0 0 0 0
EXTERIOR LIGHTING,VISIBILITY,AIR BAGS 1 0 0 0 0
Fuel System NHTSA category: FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE 1 0 0 0 0
LANE DEPARTURE,BACK OVER PREVENTION 1 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL (ESC) 1 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE 1 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,EXTERIOR LIGHTING 1 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL (ESC),ENGINE 1 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,ENGINE,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 1 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 1 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,SERVICE BRAKES 1 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,SERVICE BRAKES,ENGINE 1 0 0 0 0
SEAT BELTS,SEATS 1 0 0 0 0
SEAT BELTS,STRUCTURE,UNKNOWN OR OTHER 1 0 0 0 0
Service Brakes NHTSA category: SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC 1 0 0 0 0
SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 1 0 0 0 0
SERVICE BRAKES,VISIBILITY/WIPER 1 0 0 0 0
Steering NHTSA category: STEERING 1 0 0 0 0
STEERING,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,UNKNOWN OR OTHER 1 0 0 0 0
STEERING,SERVICE BRAKES 1 0 0 0 0
STEERING,SERVICE BRAKES,ENGINE 1 0 0 0 0
STRUCTURE,VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,ENGINE 1 1 0 0 0
SUSPENSION,POWER TRAIN,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 1 0 0 0 0
SUSPENSION,STRUCTURE 1 0 0 0 0
Tires NHTSA category: TIRES 1 0 0 0 0
TIRES,STRUCTURE 1 0 0 0 0
UNKNOWN OR OTHER,ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL (ESC) 1 0 0 0 0
UNKNOWN OR OTHER,ENGINE,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 1 0 0 0 0
UNKNOWN OR OTHER,SERVICE BRAKES 1 0 0 0 0
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,ENGINE 1 0 0 0 0
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,ENGINE,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 1 0 0 0 0
VISIBILITY,VISIBILITY/WIPER 1 0 0 0 0
WHEELS,VISIBILITY/WIPER 1 0 0 0 0
WHEELS,VISIBILITY/WIPER,LANE DEPARTURE 1 0 0 0 0
Data Attribution & Reporting Methodology: Complaints are unverified voluntary submissions to the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI). Because multiple vehicle components can be cited within a single owner complaint submission, component-level rollups may sum to more than the unique complaint count (315). Injury and fatality entries in the detailed table reflect raw values entered by reporting consumers across individual submissions; they are not deduplicated casualty statistics and may include duplicate or unverified entries. Complaint volume is not normalized for sales volume or vehicle mileage and does not represent an audited component failure rate.

Official NHTSA Defect Investigations (2)

2 CLOSED

Formal safety defect inquiries and engineering analyses opened by the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI)

Official Federal Inquiries: NHTSA opens a defect investigation when safety screening or consumer defect trends indicate a potential unreasonable safety risk. An open investigation is a formal inquiry and does not by itself confirm a defect or result in a mandatory recall.
CLOSED Engineering Analysis (EA) ODI Action #EA19005
Opened: 2019-12-13 • Closed: 2022-11-28

Front Wiper Transmission Inoperative

Affected Component: VISIBILITY

On December 13, 2019, the Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) upgraded RQ18-002 to an Engineering Analysis (EA19-005) to further assess the MY2010-2016 Chevrolet Equinox and GMC Terrain windshield wiper failures. Due to a prior recall, 16V-582, addressing this issue in the MY2013 subject vehicles, MY2013 was not included in the analysis. To date, ODI had received 998 complaints with allegations of the front windshield wiper failing in adverse w...

✓ Resulted in Safety Recall Campaign: 22V165000 Official NHTSA File →
CLOSED Recall Query (RQ) ODI Action #RQ18002
Opened: 2018-11-02 • Closed: 2019-12-19

Windshield Wiper Transmission Failure

Affected Component: VISIBILITY

On November 2, 2018, the Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) opened a Recall Query (RQ18-002) to assess the scope of Recall 16V-582.General Motors (GM) initiated Safety Recall 16V-582 on August 3, 2016 to address windshield wiper failure in the Model Year (MY) 2013 Chevrolet Equinox and GMC Terrain. Failures were attributed to water and debris intrusion into the windshield wiper assembly ball joints, leading to excessive wear and eventual detac...

Closed without associated recall campaign. Official NHTSA File →
Official US Government Data Provenance

The complaint records on this page are retrieved directly from the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) public database.

Local Production Store Compiled: August 2026 • Deterministic Audited Dataset • Zero Dynamic External API Runtime Latency.