2020 GMC Terrain Electrical System
Owner-reported problems and safety issues filed with NHTSA. Review common failures, severity levels, and complaint trends over time.
Complaint Timeline
Chronological view of owner reports
The contact owns a 2020 GMC Terrain. The contact stated that while driving in cold weather at various speeds; moisture accumulated and deactivated the charger, causing the vehicle to go into LIMP Mode and lose drive power. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, who diagnosed the vehicle and determined that the charger air cooler was defective and needed to be replaced. The dealer also wanted to place an air deflector on the vehicle. The contact was informed of a service update for the failure however, the VIN was not included. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact researched and learned that in Canada, the issue was being remedied with a bra apparatus and a thermal wrap for the engine to prevent the failure. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue and confirmed that the VIN was not covered. The contact was waiting to hear from a supervisor. The failure mileage was approximately 140,000. The VIN was unavailable.
Towards the tail end of a nearly 2.5 hour drive, the Automatic Theft Deterrent System was activated on the interstate. I lost every display on the dash panel including my speedometer, battery, coolant, gas, turn signals, and windshield wipers. I went into the nearest parking lot and was unable to restart the vehicle. It was towed to the dealership closest to our home and was repaired for $2200. The technicians at the dealership were not sure of what caused it and had never seen an issue like this so it was “elevated” to the GM engineers at their headquarters. They replaced the electrical control module and both key FOBs. We have not experienced any similar issues.
Sunroof/moonroof/sunshade and frame leaking for 2nd time.
Backup camera not working and has a blue screen. The camera was replaced. The fuses & wires were inspected and the screen remains blue.
Vehicle has not recently been inspected, backup camera has recently gone out leaving only a blue screen with "service rear vision system" to my knowledge nothing has happened to the unit that would cause this. Regular day to day driving, there was nothing that would have given me any notice that this would be happening.
Radio goes from normal volume to as loud as possible while just driving.scares ya to death! Can't turn volume down with out 1st shutting off radio and turning it back on.dealship stayed there isn't a problem they could find.Blu tooth cuts in and out and locks the radio up untill you shut vehicle off and restart.shows you still on a call even though you have disconnected phone from radio.volume issue has happened several times
Driving down the road at 40mph when the car shifts to park, the brake and steering wheel lock up and the car won’t accelerate. I had to pull over because I almost crashed due to the abrupt shift. Once pulled over I tried to restart the car but once off and back on it wouldn’t allow me to shift or drive it. The steering wheel and brake remained locked. It has happened several times over the past week.
Infotainment system shuts off completely. Disables blinker. Bluetooth and USB ports continuously went in and out and wouldn’t stay connected. Took to dealership on 02/07/2022 and was advised the system needed an update and the USB port needed to be replaced. USB port was replaced and software bulletin #20-NA-171 was applied. I picked up my vehicle on 02/08/2022 and the infotainment issue has not been corrected. It turned off again. USB ports seem to be working as they should for now. Also an issue with rear camera. Camera view sometimes shows a fisheye lens instead of normal camera view. Rear camera will sometimes stay on once car is in drive for a few seconds. I also notice a noise and vibration within my gas pedal randomly while driving. Clearly there are multiple issues that GM needs to acknowledge. It’s not a coincidence that this is happening to multiple people.
WHILE STARTING VEHICLE THE INFOTAINMENT SCREEN WENT BLACK AND NOTHING WOULD WORK. STAYED THIS WAY WHILE DRIVING. STOPPED TURNED OFF CAR AND STILL DIDNT WORK. WAS TOLD IT WAS THE DATA COMMUNICATIONS MODULE.
TWICE WITHIN THE LAST TWO MONTHS MY ENTIRE RADIO SHUT OFF, MY SCREEN WENT BLACK AND SO DID MY GAUGES FOR AT LEAST 20 SECONDS. THEN THEY JUST CAME BACK ON AND PICKED UP WHERE IT LEFT OFF.
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Quick Summary
The 2020 GMC Terrain has 10 Electrical System complaints on file. Review the timeline above for detailed owner experiences.