The door handle broke off on the driver side the passenger side door handle will not open the door the outside handles are loose and the rear back driver and passenger side will not open their doors.
GMC Sierra 1500 door locks problems
77 of the 9,082 owner complaints about the GMC Sierra 1500 describe doors won't lock, open or latch, most of them for the 2008 model year.
- owner complaints
- 77
- worst model year
- 2008
- typical repair cost reported
- $772
- typical mileage
- 57,880
Is there a fix? No recall or service bulletin covers this area of the car yet.
By model year
Often reported together
ABS 4Warning lights 3Stalling 3Headlights 3Check engine light 3Airbag light 3Wipers 2
What owners say
Apparently, GMC began using soy-based wire coatings approximately 10 years ago. The wiring harness on my vehicle has literally been eaten and destroyed by squirrels causing the entire electrical system to be compromised. Safety features have been especially affected including but not limited to air bags, windows being inoperable, door locks being stuck open or closed without a physical key, stabilitrak system arbitrarily shutting off, and windshield wipers working intermittently. Obviously, these are critical systems for the safe operation of this vehicle for the driver, passenger, and members of the public that share the roads. I have had the main harness repaired at a dealership (paid by insurance) but it remains an ongoing safety and financial issue. The dealership identified other portions of the electrical system still need repair and may further compromise safety. Not only were warning lights activated, approximately 10 in-dash messages were displayed warning of malfunction prior to dealership inspection and partial remediation.
Transmission, rear wheel lock up issue. Dealer performed recall notice work. Truck still has same issue after dealer visit. When issue starts, feels like you ran over something in the road, All warning lights are on, loss of power to engine and the engine did quit working once. Door locks continue to cycle repeatedly, multiple screen warnings appear on dashboard. It appears that everything that could go wrong happens at once. Have heard transmission valve control modules is a major problem with GM 10 speed transmissions.
While unlocked, passenger doors go through unlocking phase, door locks click, parking lights flash and tail gate comes open. Along with this, an electric motor sound comes from underneath the vehicle (pre start fuel pressurization sequence?) that goes on and on, doors locked, or unlocked, that, left unchecked, drains the battery. Must be hooked to battery recharger round the clock.
There is an issue with the drivers door locking mechanism. Something between the electrical and the mechanical components that lock and unlocks the door keeps breaking. So far you can always unlock the door manually by pulling the door handle but it sporadically will not lock or unlock by the remote or push button. Also it doesn’t always lock when put into drive like the rest of the doors do.
Battery - Total discharge of the battery. 2023 GMC Sierra Denali purchased in Jan 2023. In July 2023, vehicle with 3800 miles door would not open, engine turn on, etc with electrical system completely inoperable. Upon checking the battery, it had 0% charge.
I was hit broad side, by driver running red light. He was doing over 50 MPH I was hit left side forward of left door. My steering wheel airbag did not deploy fully. The crash caused only the steering wheel bag to deploy but it only came out maybe half way, it smoldered so bad I panicked seeing all the smoke and had to crawl out of my truck after kicking open the passenger door because the nose of the truck is racked to the right the passenger door would not open. Other car had full airbag deployed, all curtains and steering wheel
After driving vehicle for about 40 mins from last parked location, i slowed to take a left hand turn, engaged blinker, accelerated while proceeding to turn left. the steering wheel jerked to the Right and sounded an audible "ding" and door locks engaged. upon driving an additional estimated 100 feet, the entire system shut down. (i happened to be turning into a parking lot where there was a car parts store in town) no power at all, nothing on the display panel, all doors remained locked and i was locked inside the vehicle. i placed the gear shift into Park and tried unlocking the doors, which would not unlock due to no power. taking the key out of the ignition and reinserting it and tried to start did nothing. after a few more failed attempts, the interior lights and display screen flashed (glitchy blinking) and after a few more attempts, when the key was turned to the run position I finally had normal power. the doors finally unlocked. seemed as if the system rebooted itself and i had power and was able to start the vehicle. the dash panel showed a message to roll down the drivers side window, then showed a message to roll up the drivers side window. after i followed the prompts, everything returned to normal. i went into the parts store and had them hook up to a code scanner, which did not show any codes, the battery, alternator, and starter were also checked and were fine. i was able to drive home with no problem. I am afraid to drive my truck because i do not want this to happen when driving at a higher rate of speed. I was fortunate to be turning into a parking lot when the event happened. I am fearful of this happening again and causing an accident.
The interior and exterior door handles broke on both doors on my 2013 GMC SIERRA truck. There was no warnings and my safety was at risk because the only way to enter or exit the vehicle is to crawl out the window.
Transmission Control Module Since the summer of 2020 the vehicle has at least half a dozen times, without warning, experienced the following symptoms (most recently July 27, 2021 when I captured it on video). 1. power door locks begin cycling open and closed 2. intermittent chime operation 3. transmission locks into a single gear and won't shift or will shift harshly 4. gauges fluctuate 5. traction control and stabilitrak turn off 6. service traction control and service stabilitrak messages appear 7. transmission position indicator disappears
Related recalls
No recalls on record for this model year.
Questions about the GMC Sierra 1500 door locks
Which GMC Sierra 1500 years have doors won't lock, open or latch problems?
The model years with the most reports are 2008 (26 complaints), 2009 (8 complaints) and 2007 (7 complaints).
How much does it cost to fix doors won't lock, open or latch on the GMC Sierra 1500?
Owners who mentioned a price put the repair at about $772 (median of 7 complaints that include a dollar amount). Costs vary with mileage, warranty and where the work is done.
VIN decoder
See the problems and recalls for an exact car
Buying a used GMC Sierra 1500?
Check the exact car before you pay: accidents, salvage or flood titles, odometer readings and previous owners.
Check its history