General Motors confirms there will soon be a recall affecting GM truck and SUV owners, and you’re hearing about it here first. The issue stems from a transmission control valve that could wear out prematurely. In cases where it does, it literally puts the skids on whatever is happening with the affected truck or SUV at that moment.
We first heard rumblings of this from our friends north of the border. A blog there revealed a Canadian recall of 52,220 trucks and SUVs. Among that population are several late-model vehicles including the Cadillac Escalade, GMC Sierra, and Chevrolet Tahoe. According to the actual recall itself on the Canadian government’s website, the problem with the control valve directly leads to a skidding condition.
“Over time, the transmission control valve could wear and lose pressure. If this happens, the transmission could shift harshly and could cause the rear wheels to lock up,” says GM. That sounds terrifying, and would likely result in skids in the driver’s underpants to match the fresh stripes on the road. Notably, the Canadian recall included only diesel-equipped vehicles per GM.
After a little research through NHTSA.gov and GM’s pressroom it was clear that there isn’t a current US market recall that matches the one in Canada. To see if there was any evidence that US customers were having a similar issue, we went hunting and sure enough, we hit skid dirt.
One complaint on NHTSA.gov is particularly damning.
“The transmission has a defect. While towing 8,000lb trailer going up a small grade, the truck shuddered then immediately downshifted violently, causing the truck to skid and almost jack-knifing the truck and trailer. . The dealership has confirmed the issue as a valve body failure in the transmission. The dealership has the vehicle for diagnosis and repair. No codes or warnings were displayed at the time of the incident. The dealership updated the software which produced a powertrain failure code, the valve body failed.”
It’s not the only one of its kind either. Here’s another.
The contact owns a 2021 Chevrolet Silverado 2500. The contact stated while driving at various speeds, the vehicle downshifted from 8th to 7th gear or from 8th to 6th gear, and the wheels locked up, causing the contact to lose control of the vehicle. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact was able to regain control of the vehicle and continued driving. The contact stated that the failure recurred several times while driving. The contact stated that the safety risk was more severe while towing a trailer because the failure caused the trailer to fishtail while driving. The contact stated that he had pulled to the side of the road on one occasion. The vehicle was taken to the dealer but was not diagnosed or repaired. The contact related the failure to TSB Number: 21-NA-275. The manufacturer was notified of the failure, but no assistance was provided. The failure mileage was approximately 94,000.
And for good measure let’s peek at one more.
The contact owns a 2021 Chevrolet Silverado 2500. The contact stated while driving uphill at an undisclosed speed with a trailer hitched to the vehicle, the vehicle downshifted inadvertently, which caused the trailer to fishtail. The contact stated that he lost control of the vehicle, and he was able to slowly regain control of the vehicle. The contact stated that the failure had been recurring while driving. The vehicle was taken to an unknown dealer, where the cause of the failure could not be determined. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 110,000.
Clearly, all of those experiences are less than great and far from what most road-goers would consider safe. Interestingly, owners report similar experiences on forums too. In a thread on GM-Trucks.com titled “2021 Silverado 1500 rear tires randomly lock up and skid tires at highway speed,” the poster reports a very similar experience to the ones posted above. “I’d be driving at highway speed doin’ 100kmh and out of nowhere I hear a big clunk and the rear tires lock up, smoking both tires down the highway then instantly it rolls freely again.”
Another thread on the same forum actually garnered GM’s attention. The owner and original poster explained his situation and how his rear tires locked up while hauling a fifth-wheel trailer. “We travel full-time and I baby this truck because I need it to last. Any thoughts?” he said. GM Customer Service popped into the comments on that thread to offer assistance so it’s clear that the brand knew about the concern as of April, 2023.
With all of this information in hand we were surprised no U.S. market recall had happened so we reached out to General Motors directly. Here is exactly what the automaker told The Autopian.
“General Motors is voluntarily recalling certain model year 2020-2022 Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra 1500/2500/3500s, and 2021 Cadillac Escalades, GMC Yukons, Chevrolet Tahoes and Suburbans for a transmission control valve that may be susceptible to excess wear over time. Dealers will install a software remedy that monitors valve performance and detects excess wear. The safety and satisfaction of our customers are our highest priorities, and we’re working to resolve this matter as quickly as possible.”
That obviously falls in line with the recall from Canada so if you have one of these diesel trucks or SUVs be on the lookout. As of this writing, we still don’t know exactly how many cars are included and what the mix is among the different models.
What’s clear is that the fix (at least in Canada) comes down to valve-condition detection software and valve replacement if necessary. Should the new software detect a problem, it’ll actually limit the truck to fifth gear until a dealer can actually fix the gearbox. If you’re a GM diesel owner with a truck or SUV from 2020-2022 maybe go get that thing checked out sooner rather than later. Until NHTSA posts the recall there’s no way to know which trucks have the issue and which ones don’t – unless the truck lays down thick skid marks on the highway, that is.
I suspect the scale of the issue involves backorders, like many other manufacturers today. By the end of this generation and beyond, the backorders should be reduced to some extent…
So in spite of GM saying that the transmission is “locking up” it is just an abrupt downshift? It’s not two gearsets activated at once?
So that the truck is going 50 mph and the wheels are turning 40? If there is a load in the bed and you have reasonable traction does it blow the engine or is traction really that bad in Chevy trucks?
Aside form confirmation that automatic transmissions are generally unsafe with a bunch of added on bandaids, this seems so typical of GM just figuring that if a scenario is unlikely it should be ignored.
It reminds me of the stupid Cobalt design where the engine would stall at speed and turn off the power steering and brakes but there was no way to restart the engine while the car was moving and people died as a result. Actually this is the opposite I guess
Not at all like how my Muncie m22 with the crap linkage could get into two gears at the same time but more like how my 914/6 with the crap linkage would shift from second to first rather than third and blow up the engine.
Wait, don’t these have a torque converter?
So many questions.
Anyway, a torque converter would at least help the problem. Nowadays its probably just a bunch of computer-operated clutches.
People died ALSO because they hung too heavy things in the keychain. So, even if you DO NOT believe , it was 50 percent a design issue and 50 percent a person’s fault.
That scandal was NO different from Toyota’s accelerator problem that killed 80+ people…(yes they do not sell as much cars).
Now, the new transmission issues are concerning with the valve body failures and etc…6.2s locking up randomly (again, considering the hundreds of thousands they sell yearly, 10-30k units can fail (not taking the recalls into consideration). By the end of the generation they likely will reduce these issues to lower levels…
The fact that the weight of something hanging off of a keychain would make in difference at all is a design defect. Using a key and lock to do anything other than determine that the key is authentic and determine that the key is has turned to a particular position is insane. Allowing any movement of the key other than turning it to turn the car off is grossly negligent. How an engineer could have a state where the car is running, the lock cylinder is turned to on and unlocked mean any thing other than ignition is on is unbelievably stupid. “The key seems to have spontaneously disappeared from the on position” is an obviously impossible event. Shutting off the engine, brake booster and power steering until the driver can put the car into park and restart the engine is 100 percent the manufacturer’s fault. Once you are driving why should the car be checking if the key is still there? My Toyota has a transponder keyless fob thing, and it it is physically possible for the car to loose track of the key but all that happens is a message “key not detected” comes up on the dashboard. If you drive away without the key it doesn’t shut down in traffic.
If the heavy key chain broke the switch and you couldn’t start the car it would be arguably a 50/50 situation, but the fact that no other manufacturer seems to have had this problem says a lot.
Really the fact that power accessories don’t work when the engine isn’t running is unacceptable, plenty of cars don’t do that , and making a restart while moving impossible is just dangerous and wrong.
Comparing it to the Toyota carpet or the space shuttle or anything else is irrelevant.
It’s 100% a design flaw.
Still, it is up to the owner as well. They should KNOW not to do it….Yes, it may be a design flaw, but it was MADE WORSE by the fact that owners did not weigh that factor…yes I am a child and APPARENTLY stupid according to you, but that also had a MUCH bigger role in the issue than you think. Keychains have limits to how much they can handle…
Toyota carpet…was not really a carpet. It was the throttle getting stuck. And there was a massive lawsuit for that…
I don’t know where I have asserted that you are a child or are stupid.
If indeed you are a child you are remarkably precocious.
Why should the owners know not to do that? Was there a warning on the dashboard? Since the invention of ignition keys it was not an issue. On other brands of cars it was not an issue.
Oh, and turning the airbags off while the car was in motion. How stupid is that? Knowing about the problem for ten years and doing nothing?
Really the problem is a lack of imagination and failure to ask what happens if the ignition is momentarily interrupted and design accordingly.
The real problem is not that the ignition switch was a piece of crap, but that the consequences of it’s failure were severe and unrecoverable.
The issue is not that things should never fail, but that their failure should not cascade into a spiral of failures that kills people. Because that is stupid.
As I said, it may be weak design + owner fault as well…and improper warning.
The same is for Toyota’s stuck throttles…No difference. Both companies had to pay the price.
Great. Our main family hauler is a 2020 Suburban. The current “fix” seems like BS so this should be fun! Went through something similar with Subaru several years back and after I sold that car we ended up being paid about $1500 per year for the privilege of driving it, so it worked out. In that case the transmission would downshift but not engage, so it would red-line with zero power. Not exactly the same but still potentially very dangerous. The 100,000 mile transferable warranty that we got in the lawsuit made it easy really to sell the car too. Crazy thing was that the 2001 suburban I replaced it with got 19MPG average on trips from Austin to South Padre Island, but the Subaru Impreza with a roof rack got 17MPG (base 2.5L 2009). Wild. So now we’re on our second Suburban 🙂
I have a rough shifting issue in the GMT900 as well..when downshifting and upshifting. If yours had the 6 speed, the TC could have gotten destroyed , but a thermostat bypass would have reduced the issue….
I have no choice but to live with it given the price point on the used market, which is the only thing in the budget of people like us….
Get ready for more of this when Elmo X is in charge of “Government Efficiency”
Canada and other countries will get recalls, but the US won’t – because nobody will be left to call for and enforce product defect recalls, as it will be considered “too burdensome” for business.
Caveat emptor.
Crickey! What’s involved in replacing the valve? This sounds like a really pricey recall. Software ain’t gonna fix those valves.
The software update will probably just enable the TCM to tell you there is a problem, so YOU can pay to have the transmission repaired.
Probably just drop the transmission pan and replace the valve, and if it’s software controlled make an adjustment to preclude these sorts of downshifts.
Autopian with the scoop! Kudos team!
And the skidmark joke was solid, too.
Oh what a mangled trans we receive,
When seeking from having to shift a reprieve.
Save the manuals!