NHTSA Complaint #11596471 — 2018 GMC SIERRA 1500

We purchased our 2018 GMC Sierra 1500 z71 brand new at Fairway Buick GMC in Las Vegas, NV. Pretty much off the lot we noticed some hard shifting, but over the last year/around 60,000 miles it has become progressively worse. Come to find out GM is aware of a known defect in the transmission used in this make/model and several others by GM which causes hard shifting and jerking while upshifting and down shifting primarily between 1st and 2nd gear. This malfunction has caused the vehicle to activate "limp mode" which doesn't allow the vehicle to move out of 1st gear, while driving on the road, putting the safety of the occupants and others on the road at risk. This first happened in January 2024 while we were moving and towing a 6' U-Haul trailer. Luckily we were within a few miles of our destination and made it there safely. Upon taking it to Autonation Buick GMC, we were told they had seen this issue before and the only solution would be to replace the transmission and would cost roughly $6,000-$8,000, and that's with the generous 20% discount they were willing to offer. We opted to have the transmission flushed instead and it seemed to fix the problem temporarily. Then on [XXX] while decelerating and coming to a stop light it hard shifted from 2nd to 1st then the check engine light came on and limp mode was activated. It was 110 degrees on this day in Las Vegas when my husband was driving home from work, and again by the grace of God, he was only 5 minutes from home and made it there safely. However, what if this had occurred with our two young children in the vehicle and we were no where near home? We would have been stranded in dangerous conditions potentially putting our safety as risk. This KNOWN defect in GM transmissions is 100% a safety risk and this needs to be investigated and recalled immediately. There is an ongoing class action lawsuit against GM regarding this issue and I will be looking to get involved as well. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(