I was driving on a highway when the front grill deflector flew off of my vehicle and broke my driver's side windshield wiper. The incident scared me and made me jump and I'm not sure where the part went after it flew over my wind shield but it could have hit the car behind me. The part in question was part of recall 25V060. I took the vehicle to the dealership, and they said they had already completed the recall in June of 2025 and that GMC would not cover the cost of fixing it. I see there is a new query for this exact problem RQ26003.
GMC Sierra 1500 wipers problems
67 of the 9,082 owner complaints about the GMC Sierra 1500 describe windshield wiper failure, most of them for the 1997 model year.
- owner complaints
- 67
- worst model year
- 1997
- typical mileage
- 70,000
By model year
Often reported together
Headlights 4Stalling 3ABS 3Loss of power 2Lane assist 2Screen failure 2Door locks 2Adaptive cruise 2
What owners say
While driving in the rain, the windshield wipers were on the highest intermittent setting and the high beam headlights were also on, automatic highbeams were not. The high beam lights dimmed to low, and the windshield wipers stopped in the middle of the windshield in the middle of navigating a sharp right hand turn at 35mph. The wipers stopped for approximately 30 seconds and then resumed operation. When the wipers resumed operation, the headlights also turned back on high with no input from the driver.
At low speeds when applying the brake, whether in a turn or traffic, the vehicle will shut off completely. This has happened multiple times and has almost caused accidents on a few occasions. It has also happened while just driving down the road, the entire truck lost power and then came back, the windshield wipers came on as well.
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.
Wipers work intermittently
Intermittent problems with various systems freezing up or not working: Windshield wipers freezing for several seconds mid-wipe. Nearly caused accident. Heads up display not retaining settings Seat controls (bladders that inflate deflate) intermittently working/infotainment screen freeze (where seat control is displayed). Lane departure warning inconsistently working (beeping) Radio quits playing for several seconds and screen goes dark Blinker stops blinking and then re-starts 6.2L engine slow/rough idle continuously hunting for stable speed (This is the only problem that is NOT intermittent). At times almost dies. A/C unit stuck on "hot" delivering 92 degree air when outside 72 degrees. Temp set at Low. (No A/C just trying to get fresh outside air in). Vehicle was under recall and control modules "reflashed" before purchased (new). Dealer reflashed which did not solve problems. Dealer cannot duplicate (but they only spend a little time looking at the issue). Has been in shop off/on for about 2 weeks attempting to resolve. Issues on occasion still occuring since Mid October 2024 purchase.
The issues with my vehicle began when the radio intermittently cut off or froze. Despite several attempts by the dealer to resolve the problem, they were unsuccessful. Early on, various electrical components failed to load or perform correctly, with the dealer attributing this to software updates. Currently, when the radio cuts off or freezes, I experience additional problems: the headlights randomly flash between dim and bright, the heads-up display fails to load or shows incomplete information, the collision detection activates with no objects around, and dynamic cruise control becomes unreliable or fails to engage. The wipers operate randomly, and the vehicle stalls when the auto start/stop feature is engaged. Random warning lights appear on the dash, and each day brings new, different issues. A new symptom involves the vehicle not recognizing the keys are inside, causing it to shut off and lock me inside. This recently happened while I was driving at low speed in a parking lot, which poses a serious safety risk. On the interstate, safety issues are more concerning: headlights flashing on and off, dynamic cruise control failing, BLIS and collision control activating unexpectedly, and the vehicle locking me inside with keys in the truck. My children are scared to ride in the vehicle due to these issues. The dealer claims they cannot replicate the problems, despite videos I’ve provided showing malfunctions. They acknowledge the issues but blame them on software updates. Multiple updates have been applied, but the problems continue and are becoming more frequent, affecting more systems. The vehicle is under warranty, but as of December 13, 2024, the dealer has refused to service it. After the dealer completed some work, an independent inspection confirmed the issues persist. Warning messages and malfunctioning lamps have been captured on video. Problem has been reported from first service approximately 6/2023 as radio malfunction / electrical issues
The wiper blade motor is defective. While driving during a storm the wiper blade motor stopped working on the delayed and low settings. This was a safety issue while driving. I took my vehicle to get looked at a GM Dealer to look at the vehicle. My vehicle is only 3 years old and should not have issues with the wiper blade motor.
Steering will drop out / skip. Electical items have been an issue since I purcased this truck new. Dealer could never find why the wipers trigger randomly when truck is turned on. Truck randomy dies overnight.
--Unwanted Reduction in The Front HVAC Blower Speed and Loss of Radio, Auto AC not working as designed --driver seat vibrating as the lane departure warning activated; I had turned the seat vibrate function off on 25 June 2023. I then went into settings to turn the function off again, and the system would not allow to make the change, it stayed in vibrate function --the passenger front window will not go up automatically, had to hold the button to make the window go up all the way. I then had a message in the DIC, that said, “Open and close passenger door”. I did so, at the next stop, but the message stayed on the DIC and the window still would not go up automatically with the button -- when the vehicle is operated and the AC is NOT on, just the fan, and windows down, and the auto temp set at 68 degrees, when at idle, there is an obvious increase in very hot air coming from the vents and stays that way until the vehicle is back in motion. Then it seems to adjust back toward normal outside air. During all this operation the recirculation is open to outside air --auto rain sensing windshield wipers; stops at full arc and hesitates during operation --driver side review mirror does not go back to preset 1 position, when put in reverse, both mirrors tilt lower, as I have set, but when put back into drive, the driver mirror does not fully recover until I push the 1 setting --DIC message of key not in vehicle, even when the key is in vehicle and vehicle is in motion, the DIC message stays on screen saying key not in vehicle --with AC in ON position, cold air stops and very warm/hot air starts coming out for about 30-60 seconds, then cold air starts coming out again, happens during driving and stopped, at any speed --Truck WIFI does not connect automatically SOFTWARE NOT UPDATED FROM GM- OTHER SAFETY ITEMS ARE AFFECTED --Auto headlights --Auto brakes --Auto wipers --Auto systems not working as designed
Related recalls
No recalls on record for this model year.
Questions about the GMC Sierra 1500 wipers
Which GMC Sierra 1500 years have windshield wiper failure problems?
The model years with the most reports are 1997 (13 complaints), 1994 (10 complaints) and 1998 (10 complaints).
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