2019 GMC Terrain

Accelerating from a stopped position into a busy intersection heard a loud clunk come from engine bay resulting in immediate "Reduced engine power" warning and stall condition. Was able to push vehicle onto the side of the road. Engine would not restart and a tow truck was called. Vehicle towed to local dealership who discovered that Vacuum Pump had failed resulting in sheering off of the exhaust camshaft. Dealers recommended fix was to replace vacuum pump and camshaft at around $4,000 but could not guarantee no debris had gotten into valve body resulting in engine failure so stated they could replace with used engine for 8500. Second vacuum pump to blow on this vehicle, first at 35k miles and replaced under warranty, this incident at just under 80k miles. Could not afford repairs and vehicle has sat for nearly 2.5 years. Contacted GM many times over that time period to get no assistance, only the offer of a small discount on a new vehicle. This incident could have proven fatal if happening at highway speeds since it stalls engine out and makes braking nearly impossible. Both GM and the NHSTA have really flunked on this one, should have been recalled during first complaints in 2020. I will continue to file complaints here on NHSTA and with GM until the cows come home.

Service parking brake comes on, steering reduced. Problem reoccurring often, but intermittently. Actuators malfunctioning causing many sensors to fail off and on. Huge safety concern for myself, my riders, and anyone else on the road. When this happens my car has to “think” to move unless you clear the pop up message. Check engine light comes off and on at its leisure. When steering reduced comes on the car will not move until ready. This is clearly affecting electrical things as when I shut power off to other supplies it sometimes becomes more frequent as well as less frequent. The car does not understand what to do as its computers are confused at what the problem is, as the problem does not consistently happen. I have print outs of one time I caught it with failing actuators. I refuse to go to the dealership as I’m told “oh the problem isn’t happening now.” Which negates safety of all people on the roadways. You’re more than welcome to inspect. Though I will be present as I refuse to be told there’s no problem. As previously stated this happens when it wants to happen, but again I’ve caught the issue and can supply information.

Driving home from dropping my daughter off at school. When slowing down at stop sign, car locked up brakes completely, almost went through stop sign, car shut down engine and placed vehicle in park. Diagnosis is a vacuum pump failure, causing reluctor wheel to spin freely from camshaft. This happened without warning at 70k miles. Diagnostic report from three weeks prior showed no bad diagnostics with engine or drivetrain components, or brake components. Had to have car towed from intersection where i was impeding traffic due to sudden failure. Garage is concerned regarding potential for debris and engine damage, as well as timing issues due to sudden failure of vacuum pump. GM has authorized vacuum pump recalls on other makes from prior years, not Terrain for some reason. This is how becoming highly reported failure among GMC/Chevy vehicles with shaft driven vacuum pump design between 2019-2022. GM has stopped using this design on 23 and newer models. They should absolutely recall these older models for this issue. Sudden vacuum pump failure can lead to unrepairable engine damage due to design.

My ESC randomly comes on. Service parking brake message comes on intermittently. Messages pop a up saying steering wheel assist limited, drive with care. Again, all of these are intermittent but when they happen my steering wheel locks up. Even mid turn. Being intermittent it doesn’t always happen and weather seems to affect when it happens, or that’s a coincidence.

At 86,000 miles information board on dashboard alerted “Service, Brake Assist” upon braking from coming off of interstate. Diagnosed to a failed cam shaft driven Vacuum pump for power brake booster, next to no braking power with little to no warning what so ever. Terrible design from GM. Near miss collision due to brake failure with no warning. This needs an immediate attention through the engineering department to create a redundancy within the system. Nearly caused a very bad accident with my [XXX] and [XXX] daughters in the vehicle while fiancé was coming to pick me up from being on the road as a OTR truck driver. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

The brake vacuum pump failed. I am extremely fortunate this happened at a rest stop after being on interstate 80 for numerous miles. Had this happened at highway speeds it would have been catastrophic for myself and most likely others. I do not have the part. The problem was confirmed and the psrt was replaced by Mavis Discount Tire in Mountain Top, PA There were no warning lights, signs, or symptoms prior to the malfunction. It is my understanding that GM has recalled the part on other models, but did not include the Terrain in the recall. I believe it should be before someone is seriously injured.