Help: "Service Theft Deterrent System" light is on.

CbrownGT · June 28, 2016

As the title states, this light came on this morning and my truck wouldn't start. After shutting door and letting everything turn off I got it to start, but the light was on my whole drive. After it sat at work for 10 minutes I fired it back up and light is gone. I've read about it before, and that sometimes it won't ever start again unless you go to dealer.

Any insight on this? Is it a possible battery issue?(I have HIDs hooked to the battery as well)

20feetup · June 28, 2016

lol here we go.....check your battery cables and ground points....I've been going through this for months. GM will not help. Your truck could possibly shut off while driving, or start flashing codes, it will also whip the steering wheel out of your hands while turning ....watch out. Turns out this problem is more common than GM would like to admit.

drg6654 · June 28, 2016

As the title states, this light came on this morning and my truck wouldn't start. After shutting door and letting everything turn off I got it to start, but the light was on my whole drive. After it sat at work for 10 minutes I fired it back up and light is gone. I've read about it before, and that sometimes it won't ever start again unless you go to dealer.

Any insight on this? Is it a possible battery issue?(I have HIDs hooked to the battery as well)

What's on your keychain? There is something on it messing with the Fob that is setting off your theft deterrent system

CbrownGT · June 28, 2016

lol here we go.....check your battery cables and ground points....I've been going through this for months. GM will not help. Your truck could possibly shut off while driving, or start flashing codes, it will also whip the steering wheel out of your hands while turning ....watch out. Turns out this problem is more common than GM would like to admit.

Hmmm. Sounds crazy. It didn't come on on my drive home. I will monitor it. If it happens again I'll mess with the battery cables. I'm not gonna act surprised that GM won't help or admit to a problem...kinda like the vibration issues. I think there's BCM issues with my truck too. Having issues with fuel gauge accuracy (dealer replaced sensor in tank and nothing changed).

What's on your keychain? There is something on it messing with the Fob that is setting off your theft deterrent system

Only things on my key chain are a grocery store scan card, gym scan card, and 4-5 keys. 34k miles and this is the first time it's happened. I have 7k miles on it since it got 26k in repairs done from a crash.

20feetup · July 1, 2016

I had it happen months ago, had it happen yesterday as well. Have also had issues with the truck consistently starting, and the steering wheel whipped out of my hands twice while driving in reverse. I've had the truck shut off, flashes multiple codes; service stabilitrac, service theft deterrent system, roll window down and back up, trailer brake system etc....my truck in particular is a wreck. I'll trade it in within a month hopefully . There are some other threads on here to search: steering wheel whipped out hand, trouble starting consistently, etc. Some members have had issues while driving, it's a lawsuit waiting to happen. I hope it doesn't take someone dying for the greedy, lazy assholes at GM to do something about it.

Ravenkeeper · January 26, 2018

Mine has done that a few times, mostly during the summer months, chalked it up to the heat. My horn would go off, in alarm mode, but no one was around it. I would go to remote start it, no go. Had the same message displayed, but was able to clear it, before rolling down the driveway.

Cjmooch · February 2, 2018

it happens to me every time my truck doesnt start and the battery is dead (had a bad battery for too long and just kept jumping it lol) but after driving and turning the truck off it'd go away

KBoy420 · September 14, 2018

Has anyone ACTUALLY solved this?

Yotaman · January 13, 2019

On ‎9‎/‎14‎/‎2018 at 2:17 PM, KBoy420 said:

Has anyone ACTUALLY solved this?

Do a search for G218 ground some have reported that doing this simple repair fixed the issue. I get the Service brake assist and Stabiltrac together and it did not work for me but I never had anything worse than that nuisance alarm.

Linda Ragsdale · October 19, 2019

Has Anyone gotten any answers to this issue ? I’m having the same thing happen with my GMC . Please, any Anybody ! Thank you for your response .

JimCost2014 · October 19, 2019

3 hours ago, Linda Ragsdale said:

Has Anyone gotten any answers to this issue ? I’m having the same thing happen with my GMC . Please, any Anybody ! Thank you for your response .

Welcome to the site.

Any more info about your truck you can provide is always a great place to start for finding answers.

First question, original battery?

RACERX7775 · October 21, 2019

On 1/13/2019 at 4:21 PM, Yotaman said:

Do a search for G218 ground some have reported that doing this simple repair fixed the issue. I get the Service brake assist and Stabiltrac together and it did not work for me but I never had anything worse than that nuisance alarm.

Stabilitrac and those issues are 99% solved by exactly what you posted. Takes like 3 mins to check it out. Never heard about theft deterrent issues associated with the g218 issue though.

Kummie · November 4, 2019

I've had this issue with the Theft Deterent coming on with my 2015 Siverado 2500HD, replaced the battery, dealer replaced 4 of the 5 starter relays, also the positive cable on the battery and it still does it periodically! I can clear it! Then truck will start! Sometimes the Theft insignia will come on when this happens and will clear after starting it up again. Frustrated with this! Dealer said he'd call GM, no call back yet!

Ozer · November 4, 2019

I had this happen just as you described, battery was under a year old at the time. I let it go, then after a while i started getting the random shut off WHILE DRIVING!!

I tightened the already tight cables and connections but still did it.

What finally solved my issues was adding another battery ground from the NEG to the ground bolt by the brake booster. This solved everything, which points to my negative cable being the issue, most likely.

I haven't replaced that yet, this is just temporary. I also did the ground bolt fix under the front left dash cover but not sure if that did anything towards all this.