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2026 GMC Terrain

Gas

Small Sport Utility Vehicle 4WD
3 EPA-rated configurations
Data refreshed 2026-10-26

Safety Signal

97 / 100 from the NHTSA recall record

RecallsNHTSA campaigns 1

Complaints1 crash · 2 fire · 1 injured reported 33

Crash ratingnot rated by NHTSA —

Fuel economybest combined, EPA 27 mpg

2027 2026 2025 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016

The 2026 GMC Terrain is sold in the U.S. as a gas compact SUV with 3 EPA-rated configurations. The most efficient version, the Terrain FWD, is EPA-rated at 27 mpg combined. NHTSA lists 1 recall campaign for this model year, which gives it a Safety Signal grade of A. Owners have filed 33 complaints, most often about the forward collision avoidance.

GMC Terrain — photograph via Wikimedia Commons — GMC Terrain · Photo: Kevauto · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Trims & pricing

Source: manufacturer press kitCompare a trim →

Trim	Powertrain	Drive	MSRP	HP	Torque	MPG comb	Seats	Cargo (2nd row)	Wheels
Elevation	Gas	FWD	—	175 hp	184 lb-ft	27 mpg	5	29.8 cu-ft	17 in
Elevation	Gas	AWD	—	175 hp	203 lb-ft	25 mpg	5	29.8 cu-ft	17 in
AT4	Gas	AWD	—	175 hp	203 lb-ft	25 mpg	5	29.8 cu-ft	17 in
Denali	Gas	AWD	—	175 hp	203 lb-ft	25 mpg	5	29.8 cu-ft	19 in

MSRP excludes destination. Open a trim for the complete spec sheet and standard/optional equipment. Have the car in front of you? Decode its VIN to see which of these trims it is and what it was priced at.

Specs & fuel economy

Source: EPA fueleconomy.gov

Configuration	Powertrain	Drive	Engine / motor	City	Hwy	Comb	Annual fuel*
Terrain FWD	Gas	FWD	1.5L 4-cyl turbo	26	28	27	$2,500
Terrain AWD	Gas	AWD	1.5L 4-cyl turbo	24	28	25	$2,700
Terrain AWD Denali/AT4	Gas	AWD	1.5L 4-cyl turbo	24	26	25	$2,700

*EPA estimate at 15,000 miles/year at EPA reference fuel and electricity prices. fueleconomy.gov record ids: 49446, 49485, 49486.

New-vehicle warranty

Source: manufacturer press kits, make-level

Basic 3 yr / 36,000 mi Powertrain 5 yr / 60,000 mi Roadside 5 yr

As stated in GMC's press kits for the 2026–2027 model years (6 kits); this model year's own kit states no warranty terms, so the make's are shown. Confirm the term for this car with the dealer.

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Recalls (1)

Source: NHTSA recall database

○minor

Equipment

N252540430

5,861 vehicles 74% reported repaired built Apr 12, 2025 – Mar 4, 2026

Problem General Motors has decided that certain 2027 Chevrolet Bolt EV, 2025-2026 Cadillac OPTIQ, Chevrolet Colorado, Equinox EV, GMC Canyon, 2026 Buick Enclave, Envision, Cadillac CT5, Escalade, Escalade ESV, Escalade IQ, Escalade IQL, LYRIQ, VISTIQ, Chevrolet Blazer EV, Corvette Convertible, Corvette Coupe, Corvette Convertible E-Ray, Equinox, Silverado 1500, 2500, 3500, Silverado EV, Suburban 1500, Tahoe, Traverse, GMC Acadia, Hummer EV Pickup, Hummer EV SUV, Sierra 1500, 2500, 3500, Sierra EV, Terrain, Yukon, and Yukon XL vehicles. The radio may not have been set to the correct status to download the electronic owner's manual during production. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the req Risk Without an owner's manual to consult, owners may not know how to safely use and operate the vehicle, increasing the risk of injury in a crash. Fix Dealers will reset the vehicle radio, which will facilitate automatic download of the electronic owner’s manual, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed April 16, 2026. Owners may contact GM customer service at 1-866-467-9700, Chevrolet customer service at 1-800-222-1020 or Cadillac customer service at 1-800-333-4223. The manufacturer's number for this recall is N252540430. Vehicle Identification Numbers (VINs) involved in this recall became searchable on NHTSA.gov on February 26,

Filed with NHTSADefect report PDF Owner letter PDF Remedy instructions PDF

NHTSA campaign 26V114000 reported Feb 26, 2026 General Motors, LLC the full filing, and every vehicle covered →

These are vehicle campaigns — the ones the automaker filed against this model. NHTSA also records equipment recalls, filed by a parts maker against a component (a tyre, a child seat, an aftermarket part), and those are not listed here or counted above. nhtsa.gov/recalls shows both for a VIN.

Whether any of this applies to one specific Terrain

A campaign covers a build range, not a model year, so two identical-looking cars from 2026 can differ. Both of these check a VIN against the manufacturer’s own list, free, in about ten seconds. GMC publishes its own lookup because federal rule 49 CFR 573.15 requires it to, and to keep it current to within seven days.

NHTSA VIN check →GMC’s own VIN lookup →

Hear about a recall before the letter does

The manufacturer’s letter is the last step of a recall: it has up to 60 days after filing to mail owners, at the address on the registration. We email you the day NHTSA posts a recall on the 2026 GMC Terrain, with what to do next. Nothing else, ever — no newsletter, no marketing, one-click unsubscribe in every message.

Owner complaints

Source: NHTSA complaint database

33complaints filed

1 involved a crash · 2 a fire · 1 injuries · 0 deaths reported

3.9 per 10,000 built · GMC reported 85,117 Terrain built (its Early Warning production report to NHTSA)

Filed per year: 2025: 4 · 2026: 29

Most-cited components

Unspecified 9

Forward Collision Avoidance 9

Electrical System 5

Power Train 5

Suspension 5

Service Brakes 4

In owners' own words

Filed with NHTSA by the people who own these cars, one per problem area. Quoted as written, with anything identifying removed.

a failing telematics module on your 2026 GMC Terrain is causing network corruption, leading to an erratic speedometer and loss of driver assistance systems while driving

Electrical System Sep 21, 2026 NHTSA owner report · ODI 11765984

My vehicle is making a squeaky sound/noise when breaking and getting louder. I took it in for service and they couldn’t seem to find the issue. It’s coming from the front end of the vehicle

Suspension Sep 19, 2026 NHTSA owner report · ODI 11765446

When starting to accelerate from a red light. The car in front of us was accelerating faster. Yet our car initiated an emergency braking action at around 15 MPH. It was very jarring and I still have a headache more yhan 1 hour after the incident

Forward Collision Avoidance Aug 30, 2026 NHTSA owner report · ODI 11760736

This vehicle was bought new and is a NEW 2026 GMC TERRAIN DENALI with less than 5,000 miles at this time. It is a continuous event and not a specific failure date, but began soon after purchasing. The specific parts are UNKNOWN. It could be tires, wheels, steering parts (CV JOINTS, CONTROL ARMS ETC) or possibly transmission.

Steering Jul 4, 2026 NHTSA owner report · ODI 11748269

ABV came on. SCR alerted I needed service. On a 25 mph road I no longer could brake randomly

Service Brakes Jun 20, 2026 NHTSA owner report · ODI 11745358

The car has always had an issue where it would just get stuck in a low gear and RPMs would go high. Does this every single day. But recently it also started acting like it was put into neutral for a few seconds and then back into drive

Power Train May 12, 2026 NHTSA owner report · ODI 11737215

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.

Reported by GMC itself: 5 death-or-injury claims on this model year in its quarterly Early Warning reports to NHTSA (49 CFR 579.21): 5 injured, as claimed, not verified — about 5.9 per 100,000 built. Every Terrain model year, by year and system → Dated and by system, they are exhibit F of the defect dossier.

Crash ratings

Source: NHTSA NCAP

Configuration	Overall	Frontal	Side	Rollover	Rollover risk
SUV AWD	not rated	not rated	★★★★★	★★★★☆	17%
SUV FWD	not rated	not rated	★★★★★	★★★★☆	18%

NHTSA New Car Assessment Program. Standard driver-assist: forward collision warning, lane departure warning, automatic emergency braking.

Service bulletins & campaigns

Source: NHTSA manufacturer communications

Communicationsfiled with NHTSA 173

Most recentmanufacturer date 2026-10-17

Kindsas classified by NHTSA 159 service bulletins, 9 over-the-air updates, 4 service campaigns

Most often about: Unknown Or Other, Electrical System, Structure, Engine, Steering.

PIP6138 Service bulletin
2026-10-17 · Unknown Or Other
This Preliminary information communicates the potential for shudder and all cylinder misfire concerns on RPO LSD
PIT6556 Service bulletin
2026-10-15 · Unknown Or Other
This Preliminary Information, describes a condition where the HVAC will make noise when changing modes while HVAC is warm. Engineering is aware and no fix available at the time.
PIT6555 Service bulletin
2026-10-15 · Unknown Or Other
This Preliminary information describes an issue where the fuel pump makes a loud noise that engineering is currently investigating.
PIT6457C Service bulletin
2026-09-28 · Unknown Or Other
This preliminary information is for technicians that may see DTCs that are history and should not perform any part replacements. They should follow the notes mentioned prior to anything being replaced.
PIC6540K Service bulletin
2026-09-28 · Unknown Or Other
This Preliminary information communicates to dealers a procedure to reset the radio.
PIT6368E Service bulletin
2026-09-28 · Unknown Or Other
This Preliminary information communicates an issue with the virtual garage door opener not programming to a garage opener. Engineering is working on a new module.
PIT5698F Service bulletin
2026-09-26 · Unknown Or Other
This PI provides Diagnostics tips on how the LIN bus works and how to diagnosis it.
PIC6629F Service bulletin
2026-09-10 · Unknown Or Other
This PI is to instruct dealer on diagnostic procedures that need to be completed prior to replacing a radio or IPC display

A service bulletin is the manufacturer telling its dealers how to diagnose or repair a known condition. It is not a recall, not a finding that the vehicle is defective, and the work is not automatically free — though a bulletin is often what a dealer works from when you describe a symptom, so quoting the document number can save a diagnosis. The count is every communication filed; the list shows the most recent, one entry per campaign, because a single campaign is usually filed as several documents on the same day. The summaries are NHTSA's; the full documents come from the manufacturer.

Diagnostic trouble codes on file

Source: NHTSA manufacturer communications and complaints

Codes documented against this model year in the federal record. A code appearing here does not mean this vehicle will set it — it means the code is part of this nameplate-year's documented history.

Code	What it means	Most often filed under	Where it appears
P0237 P0237 on GMC →	Manufacturer-defined — the meaning is set by the automaker, not the standard.	Unknown Or Other	3 bulletins
P0299 P0299 on GMC →	The turbocharger or supercharger is not making the boost the computer asked for.	Unknown Or Other	3 bulletins
P0604 P0604 on GMC →	Manufacturer-defined — the meaning is set by the automaker, not the standard.	Unknown Or Other	2 bulletins
P0607 P0607 on GMC →	Manufacturer-defined — the meaning is set by the automaker, not the standard.	Unknown Or Other	2 bulletins
P16F4	Manufacturer-defined — the meaning is set by the automaker, not the standard.	Unknown Or Other	2 bulletins

Generic codes (the second character is 0 or 2) mean the same thing on every vehicle sold in the United States. Manufacturer-specific codes (1 or 3) mean whatever the automaker assigned, and no honest source can define them for you — which is why the ones here carry the evidence instead of a definition. A code is a link when enough separate federal documents name it across the catalogue to be worth a page of its own; the rest are listed here, where the vehicle is the context that makes them mean something.

Terrain by model year

all years, side by side →

Year Safety Recalls Complaints

2027 A 0 1 26 mpg 2026 this page A 1 33 27 mpg 2025 A 0 13 27 mpg 2024 A 1 53 26 mpg 2023 B 2 41 26 mpg 2022 C 4 88 27 mpg 2021 B 2 36 27 mpg 2020 B 2 197 27 mpg 2019 C 3 186 32 mpg 2018 C 5 225 32 mpg 2017 A 1 135 25 mpg 2016 A 2 153 26 mpg

Common questions about the 2026 Terrain

Source: EPA, NHTSA and manufacturer press kits

Does the 2026 GMC Terrain have any recalls?

NHTSA has posted 1 recall campaign for the 2026 GMC Terrain. The most serious on file is 26V114000, covering Equipment. Check your own VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls; a recall applies to specific build ranges, not every car.

How safe is the 2026 GMC Terrain?

NHTSA has not published a crash-test rating for the 2026 GMC Terrain yet. On the recall record WhichTrim grades it A (97/100), which measures open and severe recalls rather than crash protection.

What is the fuel economy of the 2026 GMC Terrain?

Across the 3 EPA-rated configurations of the 2026 GMC Terrain, the best EPA combined figure is 27 mpg. Figures are the EPA's own, per configuration, and every one is listed above.

What do owners complain about on the 2026 GMC Terrain?

Owners have filed 33 complaints with NHTSA about the 2026 GMC Terrain, most often about unspecified, forward collision avoidance, electrical system. Of those, 1 involved a crash, 2 a fire, 1 reported injuries. Complaints are unverified owner reports, so treat the pattern as a signal and the individual report as an anecdote.

Are there service bulletins for the 2026 GMC Terrain?

The manufacturer has filed 173 service bulletins and related communications with NHTSA for the 2026 GMC Terrain, most often covering unknown or other, electrical system, structure. The most recent is dated 2026-10-17. A bulletin is not a recall: it is the repair procedure a manufacturer sends its dealers for a condition it knows about, and the work is not automatically paid for. It is still worth knowing — if the symptom matches, quoting the bulletin number at the service desk can save a diagnosis. The document numbers and summaries are listed above.

What we hold, and what an empty row means

Paid vehicle-history reports will not tell you the difference between “nothing happened to this car” and “we never received that record” — both of the big two say as much in their own help pages. Most of what is on this page comes from complete federal registers, so we can tell you which is which, row by row.

Data	Held	Source	What it covers — or what empty means
Fuel economy & configurations	3 configurations	EPA certification records	Every configuration the EPA certified for sale, with its own test figures.
Emission certificates	none	EPA emission certificates	The EPA published no certificate we could match to a configuration on this page.
Recalls	1	NHTSA recall campaigns	A complete federal register: every campaign covering this model year, with severity and advisory flags.
Owner complaints	33	NHTSA complaint database	Also complete, but unverified: these are reports owners filed, not findings. Counts scale with how many were sold.
Crash ratings	2 tested	NHTSA NCAP	Only the configurations NHTSA chose to crash-test, which is never all of them.
Service bulletins	173	NHTSA manufacturer communications	Everything the manufacturer told its dealers about a defect or malfunction, short of a recall.
Investigations	none	NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation	No defect investigation has been opened.
Driver-assist crash reports	none	NHTSA Standing General Order 2021-01	No report has been filed. Only entities named in the order report, and only crashes they hear of — so this is also what an unequipped car, or a manufacturer without telematics, looks like.
Specifications filed with NHTSA	none	NHTSA vPIC, decoded from VIN patterns	We had no VIN pattern to decode for this model year, or the manufacturer filed nothing usable.
Trims, pricing & equipment	4 trims	Manufacturer press kit	Transcribed from the manufacturer's own press material, every value carrying the document it came from.

Rebuilt nightly; this page was generated 2026-10-26. Every figure above is traceable to the source named beside it, and the JSON for this page carries the same values with their identifiers.

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). The most serious recall counts in full and each further one counts 85% of the one before, because a vehicle sold in millions is recalled more often than a rare one without being more dangerous — and because a flat subtraction bottomed the scale out, scoring a vehicle with 22 recalls within a point of one with six. A ≥ 90, B ≥ 80, C ≥ 70, D ≥ 60, otherwise F. Read it as what it counts: recall campaigns on the federal record, weighted by severity. The damping reduces the sales bias by roughly 40% but does not remove it: like our complaint counts, this is not normalized by how many were sold, so a best-seller still scores somewhat worse than an obscure model with the same real risk. NHTSA crash ratings, do-not-drive and park-outside advisories, and the crash, fire, injury and death counts in owner complaints are reported separately on every page and never blended into the letter — a vehicle can hold five stars and a poor letter at once, and where that happens we say so rather than leave you to notice. Because the scale subtracts from a clean sheet, a model year too new to have been recalled, complained about or bulletined scores full marks on an empty record; we label those grades provisional rather than present them as earned.

EPA figures come from fueleconomy.gov vehicle records. Recalls, complaints, investigations and crash ratings come from NHTSA's public flat files, refreshed nightly. Trim-level specifications and pricing are transcribed from the manufacturer's official press kit; every value carries its source in the data file.

JSON for this page · API