be aware: cupholder design flaw

jagabom (Esquire) · April 23, 2015

This is the best picture I can make. Not good at that stuff. I just left the truck in the sun to warm up the rubber. Start pulling the greyish cupholder part up. You can see where my finger is where to start pulling. It feels like plastic but is just hard rubber. There are also two prongs under holders 1 an3 that hold the rubber at the bottom. Little tug and these will come off. As you get around by the tabs, the rubber ring will have a split. Just keep tugging and the tabs will cone off, They are like a hard rubber but didn't break.

ember1205 · August 21, 2015

certainly better than filling your seat with coffee huh?

I wonder if they've changed this in the 2015s.. (probably not.) This seems like a big oversight.

They have not. I'm extremely displeased with the complete lack of oversight about the ensuing problems to the truck this can and will cause.

No, it is not an oversight. It was CHEAPER to make it this way.

Cheaper why and how? because of the immensely small amount of material that wasn't consumed to make the item? That's a pretty small amount of money per and it likely was MORE than offset with the extra material that they had to put into the mold and the process to make them.

It's a cup HOLDER not a cup. It's to hold the CUP not it's contents. The CUP holds the liquid, the HOLDER holds the cup. Simple.

Yes, it's a cup holder. And yes, the liquid is supposed to stay in the cup. McDonald's coffee cups are notorious for leaking through the glued seam, however, and all it takes is ONE TIME to completely ruin your armrest. Maybe someone that has had damage should submit this as a warranty claim and see what comes back.

The answer has already been stated. Cost.

Manufacturing the cup holder assembly as they did may have saved $0.025 per unit as compared to sealing it. Multiply $0.025 x all K2 trucks sold over a typical 7 year model cycle, and you've got yourself a sizable sum of money.

Is an unsealed cup holder an inconvenience? Yes. Will it be a deal breaker for prospective buyers? No.

In the long run, GM saved hundreds of thousands of dollars and doesn't have to deal with any downsides, save for having to field a couple customer hotline phone calls.

It won't be a deal breaker because A) the dealers aren't even aware of the issue and B) if they were, they won't talk to the prospective customers to make them aware. I had no idea until AFTER I bought the truck, and I was pretty irritated. Would it have stopped me from buying had I known before? No. But, I could have gotten the issue heavily documented as PART OF THE SALE.

Trying to save a few pennies on substandard quality cup holders is just the tip of the iceberg of insatiable greed. GM is doing the same thing on every part on these trucks, including critical assemblies such as differentials and transmissions. I simply do not trust any GM new car or truck made after 2013 and unless I see a quick turnaround and reinstatement of proper quality control, I will not buy any more vehicles from this company. And I owned quite a few GM vehicles in my life.

Here's an idea... Instead of trying to save portions of a penny when building my truck, how about getting rid of the RIDICULOUS rebates and over-pricing. Price the truck correctly right from the start and make up that portion of a penny's cost by selling more trucks.

2016 Sierra Owner · August 21, 2015

Here's an idea... Instead of trying to save portions of a penny when building my truck, how about getting rid of the RIDICULOUS rebates and over-pricing. Price the truck correctly right from the start and make up that portion of a penny's cost by selling more trucks.

They tried that already. When I bought my 14 back in Sept of 13 they were not offering much in the way of discounts if any. i think I got $1500. I used supplier pricing and actually got a good deal. A month or 2 later they raised the prices and then started offering discounts on them. The American public wants a "discount" on everything we buy. Looking at my truck now price wise I could not afford it as I only buy what I can comfortably afford to pay for.

Shredzy · March 20, 2017

Bringing this thread back up as I was looking to see what I could find about the cup holders in the center fold-down seat back in the 40-20-40 front seats as they don't allow a 12oz can to sit down into the holder as one would expect, and then I come across this issue of leaking fluid, either of the drink or condensation.

Anyone know if the '17's have the same design or did GM get their act together and change the rubber insert to be a solid piece with NO openings to allow the potential of liquids to leak into the storage area or seat material?

Looked on some online GM Parts sites and it shows the cup holder liner is no longer available for the '14-'16 Silverado/Sierra center seat. Was unable to find any info on parts for the 2017 models. Going to stop in at a local dealer to check out a '17 out of curiosity.

Enough · March 29, 2017

Not a problem here in Lower Alabama. Yeti cups and clones thereof seem to be a birthright. God forbid a McDonald's cup should be seen in one's hand much less the Z-71 cup holder ! Just be sure to consistent with the placement of drink and spit cups ! Think before you drink !