2020 GMC Terrain

In January 2022, I purchased a 2020 GMC Terrain from a local GMC certified dealership along with an extended warranty. In July 2022, I started to experience intermittent acceleration issues. The issue only presented itself upon vehicle startup and was very sporadic. Upon startup, the vehicle was very slow to accelerate even with the gas pedal depressed to the floor. The vehicle would move at an extremely slow rate of speed for approximately 10 to 15 seconds before the vehicle would engage and actually start moving forward at the expected rate of speed. This would happen 4 to 5 consecutive times before things seemed to "warm up" and run smoothly. It proved to be dangerous at intersections if making a left hand turn into oncoming traffic or during heavy traffic times. From the beginning of July to Aug 9th, this has happened on 5 separate occasions. The story is the same, I start the car after it has been sitting for a bit (it's been from several hours to several days) and the issue will present itself without warning. There are no fault or error codes. I've taken the vehicle to my mechanic as well as the dealership where I purchased the car and both have run diagnostics on the vehicle with no luck. My mechanic did drive the car and he experienced the issue first hand but he could not figure out what was wrong. In the event other Terrain owners are experiencing this same sporadic acceleration issue with no fault or diagnostic codes, I wanted to make sure we documented our issue. I did not record the dates of the first few instances but the last two have been July 24th and August 9th.

THIS VEHICLE IS UNSAFE DUE TO A VIOLENT SIDE TO SIDE WOBBLE IN THE FRONT END MUCH LIKE THE JEEP DEATH WOBBLE. THIS HAPPENS CONSTANTLY ANYWHERE FROM 30MPH - 70MPH USUALLY AFTER HITTING A SMALL BUMP OR WHEN TURNING HARD. THE TURNING ASPECT IS WHERE IT HAS BECOME VERY DANGEROUS ON SLIPPERY SURFACES AS THE CAR THEN SLIDES OUT. I LIVE IN THE MOUNTAINS WHERE THIS IS A NORMAL OCCURANCE. I AM ACTUALLY AFRAID TO DRIVE THIS VEHICLE ANY LONGER. THE DEALERS HAVE CONFIRMED THE ISSUE, BUT STATES THAT GM DOES NOT HAVE A FIX FOR THIS AS OF NOW. I HAVE HEARD THIS IS AFFECTING ONLY THE AWD TERRAINS AND EQUINOX PLATFORMS. GM HAS BEEN UNRESPONSIVE TRYING TO GET AN ANSWER OR GETTING THIS FIXED. THE CAR HAS BEEN INTO MULTIPLE DEALERSHIPS SEVERAL TIMES FOR THIS SAME ISSUE AND HAS BEEN HAPPENING SINCE THE CAR TURNED ABOUT 2400 MILES AND HAS BEEN HAPPENING MORE FREQUENTLY SINCE THEN FOR THE PAST 6000 MILES.

ONLY A MONTH AFTER PURCHASING MY VEHICLE I STARTED TO FEEL A WOBBLE IN THE FRONT END WHEN ACCELERATING UP HILLS AND TURNING WHILE ON THE GAS. I TOOK IT TO THE DEALER AND THEY CHANGED OUT THE FRONT TIRES STATING THAT THE PROBLEM HAD BEEN FIXED. ONCE AGAIN WHILE DRIVING THE PROBLEM PERSISTED. I TOOK THE CAR BACK TO THE DEALER AGAIN AND THEY SAID THAT THEY COULD NOT FIND ANYTHING WRONG AND SUGGESTED THAT I MAKE AN APPOINTMENT TO GO FOR A DRIVE WITH THE MECHANIC TO SHOW THEM WHAT IS HAPPENING. I MADE AN APPOINTMENT. A DAY BEFORE THE APPOINTMENT I RECEIVED A CALL FROM THE DEALERSHIP STATING THAT AN EMPLOYEE RECENTLY PURCHASED THE SAME CAR AND THEY ARE HAVING SIMILAR DIFFICULTIES. THEY FOUND ONLINE THAT GMC WAS REQUESTING INFORMATION FROM DEALERS ABOUT THE PROBLEM AND WAS TOLD THAT I NOW NEED TO WAIT FOR GMC TO COME UP WITH A SOLUTION. MY CAR SHAKES EVERY TIME THAT I DRIVE IT, IT'S AWFUL, AND IT ONLY HAS AROUND 6,000 MILES ON IT. I'M NOT SURE WHAT TO DO BECAUSE THE DEALERSHIP TOLD ME THAT I HAVE TO WAIT FOR A SOLUTION. THEY ARE NOT EVEN TRYING TO FIX ANYTHING AT THIS TIME. PLEASE HELP.

WE DROVE TO A FARM WITH A FAMILY OF 5M KIDS AND AN ELDERLY, AND PARKED MY CAR FOR 2-3 HOURS IN THE FARM'S OPEN AREA PARKING LOT. VEHICLE SHOWED NO WARNING LIGHTS, NO PROBLEMS, NO ISSUES DURING OUR DRIVE TO THE FARM AND PRIOR TO THIS TRIP. EVERYTHING WAS FINE WHEN WE GO THERE AND PARKED. WE WERE READY TO LEAVE THE FARM TO DRIVE BACK HOME, BUT THE CAR SIMPLY WOULDN'T START.THE NEUTRAL GEAR DIDN'T WORK, I ATTEMPTED MANY TIMES IN 30 MINUTES TO START THE CAR, BUT IT DIDN'T START, CONTINUED MAKING THE SOUND OF ENGINE ATTEMPTING TO START BUT NOT SUCEEDING. 30 MINUTES LATER, I DECIDED TO GIVE IT ANOTHER TRY, I WAS AFRAID TO BURN DOWN THE STARTER AFTER ATTEMPTING SO MANY TIMES. IT SOUNDED TERRIBLE, SCREECHING METAL SOUND. ALL OF A SUDDEN, THE CAR STARTED. I LET IT RUN, AFRAID TO TURN IT OFF AGAIN. AFTER 15 MINUTES OF RUNNING, WHILE WE WERE WAITING FOR ROADSIDE ASSISTANCE TO ARRIVE, THE VEHICLE TURNED OFF AGAIN, ALL BY ITSELF. NO ONE WAS INSIDE THE CAR, WE WERE WAITING OUTSIDE WITH THE DRIVER DOOR WIDE OPEN. I CALLED ROADSIDE ASSISTANCE, WAITED 40 MINUTES TO GET A LIVE AGENT TO TALK TO. THE YELLOW ENGINE LIGHT IS ON. I TRIED TO LOOK IN THE MANUAL TO BE ABLE TO FIND ANYTHING REMOTELY CLOSE TO WHAT WAS HAPPENING. CAME UP WITH NOTHING. THIS WAS SO FAR THE TRICKIEST THING TO HAPPEN TO ME. I SCHEDULED AN APPOINTMENT TO TAKE THE CAR TO THE DEALERSHIP FOR DIAGNOSIS.