NHTSA Complaint #11517338 — 2015 GMC TERRAIN

During a long distance trip, the timing chain tensioner failed. There were no obvious signs of this condition when driving at highway speeds. No warning lights or reduced engine performance! After traveling over 200 miles, we stopped and discovered the engine was running very rough. We decided to stay overnight in a hotel and check the condition of the Terrain in the morning. The next day the car, started briefly and then stalled. It didn’t start again. We had the vehicle towed and the repair shop determined the the timing chain tensioner broke at some point on our trip. This caused the chain to come partially loose and that in turn “chewed up” the gear teeth. The metal fragments from the gears spread throughout the entire engine. This resulted in the engine to be declared unrepairable. If we hadn’t stopped, the engine could have creased up, and the almost assuredly would have resulted in a serious car accident. This was an expensive repair, approx $8000 and we incurred the cost of staying in a hotel for a week.