Federal investigation opened into Colorado and Canyon trucks after 50 power steering complaints.

Posted in Investigations

2015 Chevrolet Colorados and GMC Canyons Losing Power Steering
Federal investigation opened into Colorado and Canyon trucks after 50 power steering complaints.

— Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon power steering problems are under federal investigation to determine if a 2016 recall should have included more trucks.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) says a "recall query" is necessary after receiving 50 complaints about power steering problems in 2015 Chevrolet Colorado and 2015 GMC Canyon trucks that weren't included in the 2016 recall.

The previous recall included about 3,000 model year 2015 Colorado and Canyon trucks, but NHTSA wants to determine if another 115,000 trucks should have also been recalled.

The 2016 recall was issued after General Motors found what it believed were minor problems with 2015 Chevrolet Colorados and GMC Canyons that lost their power steering and reverted to manual steering.

At the time, GM was receiving a large amount of warranty claims related to steering gear assemblies with damaged electrical connectors, a problem that was blamed on changes made at the supplier. NHTSA says the trucks can suddenly lose power steering because of faulty electrical connections within the torque sensor harness connectors.

Truck owners complain about losing electric power steering, seeing warning lights on the instrument panels and being forced to shut the trucks off to be able to get the power steering to work again.

Chevy and GMC truck owners also routinely report they know about the 2016 recall, but their specific model year 2015 trucks weren't included.

"The power steering assistant on this car is turning off while driving. I already took the car to a dealer they charged me $1000 for a cable and the car still doing the same thing and you have a recall on this car but this one is not in the months that the recall was made." - 2015 GMC Canyon owner

Owners also typically complain that shutting off the trucks just once may not be enough to regain power steering.

"Having multiple problems with power steering failure. This has happened on multiple occasions. I have to stop the truck turn it off to get it to reset. Some days it may take turning off the vehicle 15 to 20 times before it will reset." - 2015 GMC Canyon owner

Safety regulators say they are trying to determine if any crashes or injuries have occurred, as well as how many complaints and warranty claims GM has received since the 2016 recall.

That recall included 2015 Canyon and Colorado trucks built between January 6, 2015, and March 19, 2015, but the investigation will determine if about 115,000 trucks built outside those manufacturing dates should be recalled and repaired.

CarComplaints.com will update our website with results of the investigation.

Read what owners say about losing power steering in their trucks.

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