GMC · Pickup truck

GMC Sierra 3500HD

Every model year 2016–2026: recalls, owner complaints, NHTSA crash ratings and EPA efficiency side by side, each value traced to the file it came from.

11 Model years 2016–2026

50 Recalls NHTSA campaigns, all years

262 Complaints owner reports, all years

B Newest grade 2026 Safety Signal

2023 Best on record cleanest filed year

The 2026 Sierra 3500HD →Which years to avoid Compare it

GMC Sierra — photograph via Wikimedia Commons — GMC Sierra · Photo: Ethan Llamas · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Active NHTSA advisory on 2 model years of the Sierra 3500HD — park outside or do not drive. The year rows below carry it.

Every GMC Sierra 3500HD model year

Source: NHTSA · EPA · one row per year

Year	Safety	Recalls	Complaints	Crash	Best efficiency
2026	B	2	5	—	—
2025	A	1	17	—	—
2024	C	3	50	—	—
2023	A	1	28	—	—
2022	D	3	32	—	—	Park outside
2021	F	5	20	—	—	Park outside
2020	F	8	51	—	—
2019	F	7	13	—	—
2018	F	6	14	—	—
2017	F	7	13	—	—
2016	F	7	19	—	—

Which model year the record favours

Source: recalls and complaints per year on the road

Years to avoid, with the reasons →Best on the record 2023

On the filed record so far, the 2023 is the cleanest Sierra 3500HD year we hold, and the 2021 the one to check hardest. The 2021 carries a standing park-outside or do-not-drive advisory, which outranks every other number on this page.

Both figures are divided by the number of years the car has been on sale, because otherwise the oldest year on the page loses every time simply for having been around longer. The current model year and any year under three on the road are left out: their records are not finished.

Year	Safety Signal	Recalls /yr	Complaints /yr
2023	A	0.3	9
2016	F	0.7	2	3 critical
2017	F	0.8	1	3 critical
2018	F	0.8	2	4 critical
2019	F	1	2	5 critical
2020	F	1.3	8	5 critical
2022	D	0.8	8	Advisory
2021	F	1	4	Advisory

Also on file Beside the GMC Sierra 3500HD

Best year on file The 2025 Sierra 3500HD Ranking Safest 2026 pickup trucks Recalls Every GMC recall on file Compare The 2026 Sierra 3500HD against anything

Compare

All Sierra 3500HD head-to-heads →Which is better for you? →

Head-to-head	Verdict
2026 Sierra 3500HD vs Chevrolet Silverado 3500HD · Pickup truck	Silverado 3500HD +15.5
2026 Sierra 3500HD vs Chevrolet Silverado 2500HD · Pickup truck	Sierra 3500HD +7.2
2026 Sierra 3500HD vs Ram 2500 · Pickup truck	Sierra 3500HD +20.7
2026 Sierra 3500HD vs Ram 3500 · Pickup truck	Sierra 3500HD +9.1
2026 Sierra 3500HD vs Ford F-250 Super Duty · Pickup truck	Sierra 3500HD +19.4

Common questions about the GMC Sierra 3500HD

Source: EPA, NHTSA and manufacturer press kits

Which GMC Sierra 3500HD year is the best used buy?

On the recall record, the 2023 Sierra 3500HD comes out top of the years before the current one: Safety Signal grade A (92/100), 1 recall and 28 owner complaints on file. That ranks paperwork, not condition — a specific car's history and service record still decide it.

What GMC Sierra 3500HD years should I avoid?

2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 have the weakest recall records in this range — one carries an active park-outside or do-not-drive advisory. The year pages list every campaign, its severity and whether a repair exists yet. Every Sierra 3500HD model year ranked, with the reasons.

How many recalls does the GMC Sierra 3500HD have?

Across model years 2016–2026, NHTSA has posted 50 recall campaigns for the GMC Sierra 3500HD. They are counted per model year in the table above, because a campaign almost never covers the whole run — it covers a build range.