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2016 GMC Canyon

Gas Diesel Pickup truck

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Specs & fuel economyRecallsComplaintsCrash ratingsCompare
D
Safety Signal
61 / 100
DSafety Signal · 61 / 100
4Recalls · 1 critical
267Complaints · owner reports
4★Crash rating · NHTSA overall
25 mpgFuel economy · best combined

The 2016 GMC Canyon is sold in the U.S. as a gas and diesel pickup truck with 8 EPA-rated configurations. The most efficient version, the Canyon 2WD, is EPA-rated at 25 mpg combined. NHTSA lists 4 recall campaigns for this model year, 1 rated critical, which gives it a Safety Signal grade of D. Owners have filed 267 complaints, most often about steering. NHTSA crash-tested it at 4 stars overall.

Specs & fuel economy (EPA)

ConfigurationPowertrainDriveEngine / motorCityHwyCombAnnual fuel*
Canyon 2WDGasRWD2.5L 4-cyl192622$2,850
Canyon 2WDGasRWD2.5L 4-cyl202622$2,850
Canyon 2WDGasRWD3.6L 6-cyl182521$2,950
Canyon 4WDGas4WD2.5L 4-cyl192421$2,950
Canyon 4WDGas4WD3.6L 6-cyl172420$3,100
Canyon Cab Chassis 2WDGasRWD3.6L 6-cyl151716$3,900
Canyon 2WDDieselRWD2.8L 4-cyl turbo223025$3,600
Canyon 4WDDiesel4WD2.8L 4-cyl turbo202823$3,900

*EPA estimate at 15,000 miles/year and EPA reference fuel/electricity prices. Source: fueleconomy.gov vehicle records.

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Recalls (4)

Fuel System, Gasoline

critical
895 vehicles

Problem: General Motors LLC (GM) is recalling certain 2015-2018 GMC Canyon, 2016-2017 Buick Envision, 2016-2018 Chevrolet Colorado and Malibu, 2017-2018 GMC Acadia, 2018 Buick LaCrosse, Cadillac ATS, Chevrolet Equinox, and GMC Terrain vehicles. The high pressure fuel pump may detach from its mounting flange, possibly resulting in the pump damaging the high pressure fuel line.

Risk: A damaged fuel line can create a fuel leak, increasing the risk of a fire.

Fix: GM will notify owners, and dealers will replace the high pressure fuel pump, and high pressure fuel pipe, free of charge. The recall began July 2, 2018. Owners may contact Buick customer service at 1-800-521-7300, Cadillac customer service at 1-800-458-8006, Chevrolet customer service at 1-800-222-1020, or GMC customer service at 1-800-462-8782. GM's number for this recall is 18188.

NHTSA campaign 18V358000 · reported May 31, 2018 · General Motors LLC

Air Bags

high
16 vehicles

Problem: General Motors LLC (GM) is recalling certain 2015-2016 GMC Canyon and Chevrolet Colorado, and 2016 Chevrolet Volt vehicles. The driver's frontal air bag may improperly inflate during second-stage deployment in the event of a high speed crash.

Risk: An improperly inflated air bag increases the risk of injury in a crash.

Fix: GM will notify owners, and dealers will replace the driver's frontal air bag module, free of charge. The recall began November 8, 2017. Owners may contact Chevrolet customer service at 1-800-222-1020, or GMC customer service at 1-800-462-8782. GM's number for this recall is 17387.

NHTSA campaign 17V621000 · reported Oct 5, 2017 · General Motors LLC

Air Bags

high
1,579 vehicles

Problem: General Motors LLC (GM) is recalling certain model year 2016 Chevrolet Colorado vehicles manufactured January 19, 2016, to February 2, 2016, Chevrolet Malibu vehicles manufactured January 9, 2016, to January 26, 2016, and 2016 GMC Canyon vehicles manufactured January 21, 2016, to February 4, 2016. The driver frontal air bag may improperly inflate during second-stage deployment in the event of a high speed crash.

Risk: An improperly inflated air bag increases the risk of injury.

Fix: GM will notify owners, and dealers will replace the driver side frontal air bag module, free of charge. The recall began on April 14, 2016. Owners may contact Chevrolet customer service at 1-800-222-1020, and GMC customer service at 1-800-462-8782. GM's number for this recall is 28030.

NHTSA campaign 16V125000 · reported Mar 2, 2016 · General Motors LLC

Latches/Locks/Linkages

high
8,763 vehicles

Problem: General Motors LLC (GM) is recalling certain model year 2016 Chevrolet Colorado trucks manufactured August 25, 2015 to September 24, 2015, and GMC Canyon trucks manufactured August 28, 2015 to September 24, 2015. The affected vehicles have a console compartment lid latch assembly that may fail to keep the compartment door closed in the event of a crash. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) number 201, "Occupant Protection in Interior Impact."

Risk: If the console compartment door does not remain closed in a crash, the contents stored in the console may strike the vehicle occupants, increasing their risk of injury.

Fix: GM will notify owners, and dealers will replace the console compartment door latch assembly, free of charge. The recall began on January 5, 2016. Owners may contact Chevrolet customer service at 1-800-222-1020, or GMC customer service at 1-800-462-8782. GM's number for this recall is 16370.

NHTSA campaign 15V807000 · reported Dec 1, 2015 · General Motors LLC

Owner complaints

267 complaints filed

8 involved a crash, 2 a fire, 4 injuries, 0 deaths reported by owners.

Filed by year — 2016: 13 · 2017: 21 · 2018: 10 · 2019: 18 · 2020: 25 · 2021: 30 · 2022: 50 · 2023: 32 · 2024: 32 · 2025: 25 · 2026: 11

Most-cited components

  • Steering — 178
  • Power Train — 39
  • Electrical System — 37
  • Engine — 21
  • Unknown Or Other — 19
“WE RECENTLY PURCHASED A 2016 CANYON TRUCK FOR ABOUT 45K WITH THE NEW SMALL DIESEL ENGINE. ON 10-19-16 WE TOOK IT IN TO DEALERSHIP FOR ROUTINE SERVICE AND A MAJOR LOUD VIBRATION RATTLING UNDER THE DASH IN THE PASSENGER AIR BAG AREA. WHEN WE PICKED VEHICLE UP WE WERE TOLD THAT THEY DID NOT HAVE A FIX FOR NOISE COMING FRO…”Nov 22, 2016 · Air Bags · NHTSA owner report
“VEHICLE BOGS AND MISFIRES AT RPMS BELOW 2000 CAUSING A SIGNIFICANT SAFETY PROBLEM. VEHICLE REFUSES TO ACCELERATE AT LOW RPM UNLESS IT DOWNSHIFTS. RESEARCH ON THE INTERNET FINDS MULTIPLE COMPLAINTS FOR THE SAME ISSUE. I TEST DROVE A 2017 GMC CANYON AND IT EXHIBITED THE SAME ISSUES.”Oct 13, 2016 · Power Train · NHTSA owner report
“TRANSMISSION HESITATES DRAMATICALLY BETWEEN SOME SHIFTS..LONG PERIODS WHERE TRANSMISSION SEEMS TO BE IN NEUTRAL. TYPICALLY HAPPENS IN LOWER GEARS, SUCH AS BETWEEN 2 AND 3 GEARS. PRESSING ACCELERATOR THEM CAUSES A CLUNK INTO GEAR. ALSO, ON HIGHER SPEEDS, DOWNSHIFTS ARE SLOW TO OCCUR BUT THEN SEVERAL GEARS SEEM TO BE SKI…”Oct 6, 2016 · Power Train · NHTSA owner report

Complaint counts are raw owner reports to NHTSA, not verified defects, and scale with how many were sold. Use them to spot patterns, not to rank.

Crash ratings

ConfigurationOverallFrontalSideRolloverRollover risk
PU/CC 4WD★★★★☆★★★★☆★★★★★★★★☆☆21%
PU/CC RWD★★★★☆★★★★☆★★★★★★★★☆☆22%
PU/EC 4WD★★★★☆★★★★☆★★★★★★★★☆☆21%
PU/EC RWD★★★★☆★★★★☆★★★★★★★★☆☆22%

NHTSA New Car Assessment Program.

Compare the 2016 Canyon with

2016 Toyota Tacoma

Other Canyon model years

B

2026 Canyon

2 recalls · 6 complaints

B

2025 Canyon

2 recalls · 8 complaints

C

2024 Canyon

3 recalls · 205 complaints

C

2023 Canyon

3 recalls · 60 complaints

A

2022 Canyon

1 recalls · 25 complaints

B

2021 Canyon

2 recalls · 11 complaints

A

2020 Canyon

0 recalls · 14 complaints

A

2019 Canyon

0 recalls · 16 complaints

B

2018 Canyon

1 recalls · 52 complaints

B

2017 Canyon

1 recalls · 65 complaints

Sources & method

Safety Signal starts every model-year at 100 and subtracts points per open NHTSA recall campaign by severity: critical 15 (fire risk, park-outside or do-not-drive advisories), high 8 (brakes, steering, airbags, loss of drive power, structure, battery), moderate 6, minor 3 (software, labels, lighting fixed by an update). Floor 35. A ≥ 90, B ≥ 80, C ≥ 70, D ≥ 60, otherwise F. Complaint counts and NHTSA crash ratings are shown separately and are not blended into the grade.

EPA figures come from fueleconomy.gov vehicle records (ids 36592, 36593, 36594, 36605, 36606, 36600, 37119, 37125). Recalls, complaints, investigations and crash ratings come from NHTSA's public flat files, refreshed weekly.

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