GM Rear Sliding Window Recall

[Joe98]

Thanks for your post RJV.  Where abouts are you in Canada?  I’m just outside Toronto, Ontario.  Haven’t booked my appointment yet .  So the dealership has an outside company or widow installer come in to perform the job ?  I guess they’re gonna be busy ....

[ajimt]

My entire back window has to be replaced..  My dealer has had the glass for over a week now but they have to have a glass shop do the work as they don't have a glass tech on staff.. GM does not pay enough to have the glass shop do the work so here I sit waiting for this deadlock to be broken..  GM has failed badly with this problem as far as I'm concerned..

I'm an unhappy customer caught in an internal squabble between GM and their network..  I will be calling Transport Canada today to see what can be done ..

 

If this is the way they treat customers I guess after many many years of GM I will be changing brands for my next vehicle..

[Nitrousbird]

On 9/11/2019 at 9:13 AM, dieselfan1 said:

I had an 07 Silverado LTZ with the heated washer fluid. I can't remember if they sent a check for $100 to reimburse you for the inconvenience or not.

I'm not even sure if there was a recall on those but If you took it in to the dealer for anything , they just disabled it .

Sad if they can't figure out how to fix these exploding windows.

I'm glad I park in the garage. I don't think I've ever used my rear defroster. I don't think I've had the back window open more than a couple times.

They paid a $100 and removed your pump.  An aftermarket company came up with a better pump, which is what I installed on my Escalade EXT to replace the removed pump.  Cost $85 and a few minutes of my time.

[Badgerfan]

2015 GMC Sierra 1500

We are victims of the rear window defogger, sliding window issue. Last winter my husband was driving, heard a sizzling noise and smelled a burning wire smell.  He pulled over fearing an electrical fire behind him.  After opening the rear door to look, the rear window broke, shattering through the entire window.  We called the dealership, they offered NO HELP with regard to trying to have the issue covered by GM or our extended warranty.  They claimed we must have had some ice on it, weather related.  That WAS NOT the issue. We explained the whole event to them when we scheduled the appointment to have the truck looked at.  We had an extended warranty but this was not included as glass is not covered, we asked the warranty company to reconsider, they did but based on the response from the service tech, they would not allow.  The electrical system is a covered item, the window has a defroster, they still did not covered.  We went round and round with the service department.  The rep even got very rude and aggressive toward us.  We felt the dealership service did a very big disservice to us.  In the end we had to file an insurance claim due to the large expense of the window. (we had to go without  vehicle then had to get a loaner vehicle)  The insurance agent advised us that this is a known problem, but no one is doing something to rectify it. The company replacing the glass was aware of the problem and said they have seen this plenty of times.  Same statement, no one is doing anything, their opinion was GM knows they have problem but is not fixing it or  making it right with all who purchased their vehicles.  Again, we were upset.  Just today my husband contacted a different dealership for some service work and found out there now is a recall related to this exact issue.  How interesting!!  Everything we said, they ignored and we were absolutely correct.  They have a problem, we did not do a thing wrong.  We were lucky the truck didn't start on fire.  We will be contacting GM to file a complaint for the money we had to pay for an issue that they clearly were aware of but hid from the public.  ANGRY AND NOT GOING TO BE QUIET!!

Edited January 15, 2020 by Badgerfan
added more info

[Pt187]

Wow I never heard of this before. I recently bought a 2018 Sierra Denali with the sliding rear glass. The other day I dropped something that rolled under the rear seat. 
 

lifted the rear seat up and on the floor I found a couple of pieces of shattered glass. I thought ok might had had a window broken but now I’m wondering if it had to do with this issue. 
 

I will be calling in in the morning. 

[grafik]

Thanks for the info here guys. For anyone with the higher trims (maybe all models?) there is a setting under either remote start, or convenience, that says turn rear defrost on auto. Perhaps many should turn this setting off and only use the rear defrost when needed, or sparingly, until we get more info.

 

I noticed one morning that while it was cold, my windows were clear, that the rear defrogger was on. So I putzed around in the settings and sure enough it was on auto-on. Could be related to having it run 10-20-30 min every startup 

[mikeyk101]

4 hours ago, grafik said:

Thanks for the info here guys. For anyone with the higher trims (maybe all models?) there is a setting under either remote start, or convenience, that says turn rear defrost on auto. Perhaps many should turn this setting off and only use the rear defrost when needed, or sparingly, until we get more info.

 

I noticed one morning that while it was cold, my windows were clear, that the rear defrogger was on. So I putzed around in the settings and sure enough it was on auto-on. Could be related to having it run 10-20-30 min every startup 

I just pulled out the fuse from the underhood fuse block. I know on mine that when the rear defrost is activated manually, it also activates defrost for the sideview mirrors. I am guessing but dont know for sure that with remote start, with the rear defrost auto option, it will also turn on defrost for the sideview mirrors. I really could care less about the rear window defrost because I have a topper on the bed so rear defrost doesnt do much for me anyway. It came with thr sliding rear window and that option I definitely wanted...

[HDMechanic]

I have a 2015 sierra hd (had since brand new) with the rear slider and the recall/repair was done before Christmas, its been around -40c with the wind chill this past week in Alberta, Canada and on Wednesday I came out to my truck after it had been remote started. I opened my back door to put my bag in the truck and my left window panel was shattered, still held in with my window tint luckily. I contacted my local dealer immediately and they told me to come in the next day to see the service manager, talked to him and I guess they have to contact GM directly and hoping it will be covered. Was also told these windows are back ordered currently and it could be weeks or a month or so before I can get one. They handed me some strong tape and pulled the fuse again and sent me on my way...I'm glad I didn't have anyone else in the truck and its still holding itself in place.

 

I was told they haven't had other people report this issue since the recall repair was done, I will see what they plan to do with it.

I looked in my settings as well and I can't turn my auto defrost with remote start off unfortunately

Kinda wish I didn't take it back in for the repair and just left the fuse out.

Edited January 16, 2020 by HDMechanic

[mikeyk101]

Not very encouraging...

[kjscott723]

New owner here, just purchased my 18 Sierra last week. It did take a week for me to take delivery on the truck, as it had the open recall for the rear defroster and the dealership replaced the whole back window (i do have the power sliding window as well). They had to order the glass, took about 5 days to arrive to the dealership and then the install took them about 2 hours. I have not seen any issues since the install granted I've only had it for a few days now though. Just thought I'd share my experience with this issue.

[Salarin]

I've got a 2015 Silverado that is currently experiencing this issue. Right now, as mentioned previously, there is no recall in the USA and the vehicle is not covered under warranty because the 100k warranty only covers powertrain.

 

Tracking number assigned by NHTSA for this issue is 11301052.

 

 

 

Edited January 22, 2020 by Salarin

[grafik]

That is silly. I can't believe they won't cover this while there is an open recall next door. We need to keep letting them know this is unacceptable.

 

 

FWIW, I did turn auto-defrog OFF in my settings menu, however I notice whenever I use the remote-start on fob or app, the rear defrog is ON when i get to the truck and turn the key on. Sometimes I don't notice until 10 min later and I look down and the rear defrog is on on a clear day. I wonder if that could have anything to do with it, having it be on unnecessarily so frequently..?

[purplehorse]

I own a 2019 GMC Sierra Denali 1/2 ton with 4000 miles on it and Tuesday evening, sometime overnight, after putting my truck in the garage the rear power glass shattered. I didn't realize it until the morning when shutting the truck door I heard what sounded like falling ice and then noticed the massive hole in the glass and shattered glass all over the back seat and in the bed. When I started it I notice the rear defroster light on. It was frigid Tuesday evening and freezing rain on my drive home and I can only assume this was the cause.

 

When I confidently took my truck to the local GMC dealership expecting them to cover it under warranty they said GMC is "funny about how they handle glass breakage" and had to talk with the district manager for GM. That was two days ago and I've still not heard an answer. Meanwhile I'm driving my new truck with crash wrap over the rear glass. They said they have never seen this happen on this year/model of truck and made me feel as if I did it or "maybe you got hit and didn't know it" Really? When I called another GMC dealer two hours away they told me the same thing, that this is common business practice for GM. 

 

Tonight I emailed GMC corporate with my total frustration and disappointment with their lack of service and concern. I'm not going to let this go. I did not spend this much money on this truck to take this lying down, especially now that I'm reading that there is a known issue!

[HDMechanic]

After talking to the service manager at my local dealer he sent a request to GM for the window to be replaced, they called me the next day to book it in for the replacement. From start of claim to repair was only a couple days. They originally told me they wouldn't have stock on a window but they were able to get one that was supposed to go on another truck (I guess the other trucks window wasn't broken so they prioritized my truck first). They replaced it for free, and I just had to have it re-tinted on my dime. The service manager here has always been awesome when it comes to issues like this so I am grateful for that and hopefully I won't have anymore issues.

 

Hopefully anyone else with this issue can get it rectified easily as well.

[purplehorse]

On 2/6/2020 at 11:22 PM, purplehorse said:

I own a 2019 GMC Sierra Denali 1/2 ton with 4000 miles on it and Tuesday evening, sometime overnight, after putting my truck in the garage the rear power glass shattered. I didn't realize it until the morning when shutting the truck door I heard what sounded like falling ice and then noticed the massive hole in the glass and shattered glass all over the back seat and in the bed. When I started it I notice the rear defroster light on. It was frigid Tuesday evening and freezing rain on my drive home and I can only assume this was the cause.

 

When I confidently took my truck to the local GMC dealership expecting them to cover it under warranty they said GMC is "funny about how they handle glass breakage" and had to talk with the district manager for GM. That was two days ago and I've still not heard an answer. Meanwhile I'm driving my new truck with crash wrap over the rear glass. They said they have never seen this happen on this year/model of truck and made me feel as if I did it or "maybe you got hit and didn't know it" Really? When I called another GMC dealer two hours away they told me the same thing, that this is common business practice for GM. 

 

Tonight I emailed GMC corporate with my total frustration and disappointment with their lack of service and concern. I'm not going to let this go. I did not spend this much money on this truck to take this lying down, especially now that I'm reading that there is a known issue!

Updating my previous post: I got a call from the local GM dealership today saying they had received the go-ahead from GM to fix my glass under warranty and said they will have the glass next week. I was thrilled to hear they are going to stand behind it.