Owners have filed 39 complaints on the GMC Vandura, covering 1994–1996. The system named most often is Service Brakes (16 reports). Worst years by volume: 1995, 1994, 1996; cleanest: 1996, 1994, 1995. 5 reports describe a crash, 1 a fire. On average the car was 3.3 years old when the problem happened.
What breaks on GMC Vandura
Grouped by the system owners named — percentages are shares of all 39 Vandura complaints. Open any row for the full reports in owners' own words.
Service Brakes 16 Read
Poor ABS brake performance, when the brakes are applied on a panic stop situation they will begin to stop then release, causing an accident. *ak vehicle was taken to dealership and it was discovered that low brake fluid was in the reservoir
Consumer was traveling about 25mph from wet concrete to dry asphalt. An animal ran out in front of vehicle. Brakes were hit suddenly, vehicle jerked and brakes failed. Consumer veered around & hit a tree & mail box. Also, airbags didn't deploy. Dealer said problem did not meet the criteria of recall 99i00600/…
ABS problems; driving on normal road conditions during normal braking when applying the brakes there is extended stopping distance. The pedal is very soft and goes close to the floorboard. This condition has caused driver to have 2 accidents. This problem has been reported to dealer 24 times in a one year period. The…
Steering 3 Read
No summary
While driving down the street steering wheel broke in half. If steering had broken toward the column there could have been an accident, but it broke toward the driver
Steering locked, causing accident
Power Train 3 Read
Vehicle at dealer's to check for roaring noise. Mechanic noticed axle not on a hard surface. Had pitted where bearings located by wheel. This caused the axle to become weak & make noise
Reoccurringtransmission failure, causing vehicle to lose power. 1st. Failure and repairs were done by dealer in november ,1998 at 32,000 mile.s. Currently, at 47,000 miles problem has reoccurred, and dealer refused to correct it unless consumer would pay $1,000 for cost/labor
Carrier sheared, differential gears ruined. Qcaw
Seat Belts 3 Read
Rear seat belt buckles failed when rear sofa seat was reclined for bed. Mjs
Experienced intermittent shoulder/lap belt failure, when belt won't pull out or retract, belt becomes twisted, rendering it inoperative
Would be driving at different speeds, and seat belt buckle would come undone. When trying to relatch it, it would fail to lock. Will be taken vehicle to dealer when time permits
Air Bags 2 Read
Upon impact, during frontal crash at approx. 35mph, 12:00 on front bumper, airbag failed to deploy
Electircal short, causing the air bag reading to stay on the dashborad
Visibility 2 Read
Side window shattered causing glass fragments inside the vehicle
Vehicle experienced a problem with the windshield wiper motor. Windshield wipers work intermittently, causing poor vision out of the windshield when raining. *ak gcm acknowledes that it has the same problem with its trucks. Enclosed recall noticed the reason they won't repair or acknowledge the problem twith their…
Latches/locks/linkages 1 Read
The spring inside the locks do not function properly, has disconnected, resulting in locks interimttently not functioning
Electrical System 1 Read
When driving after dark, the daytime running light module (with automatic headlight turn on after dark) shorts out turning off the headlights and instrumention panel without warning. Manually turning on the headlights corrects the problem. The problem occurs at both low speed or highway speed
Vandura years to avoid — and the clean ones
Complaints per model year. More reports usually means more cars on the road as well as more trouble, so read the crash and fire columns alongside the count.
| Model year | Complaints | Top system | Crashes | Fires |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Electrical System,interior Lighting | — | — | |
| 1995 | Air Bags | 4 | 1 | |
| 1994 | Air Bags | 1 | — |
The same model year, different builds
Every complaint carries the first 11 characters of the VIN — plant, year, body and engine. That is a production series, and complaints are spread across them very unevenly.
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Distinct production series | 31 |
| Average complaints per series | 1.3 |
| Worst single series | 4 complaints |
| Average age at failure | 3.3 years |
A model average of 1.3 hides a worst series at 4. Enter a VIN above to see the numbers for that exact build instead of the model as a whole.
Owners reported these. Find out if yours is one of them.
- Complaints matched to the exact production run, not just the model
- What the car is worth given what tends to fail on it
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How we count
Every figure here comes from complaints owners filed with NHTSA — 1,100,006 of them, covering 1,982 models built between 1981 and 2026.
A complaint is an unverified report: someone wrote down what happened to their car. It is not a confirmed defect and not a recall. What makes the volume useful is the pattern — when thousands of owners of the same build describe the same failure, that is a signal no marketing brochure will give you.
Two things we do that the source does not. First, we compute the age of the car at the moment of failure from the incident date and the model year. Second, we group complaints by the first 11 characters of the VIN — the production series — so a bad plant run does not disappear into a model-wide average.
Frequently asked questions
What are the worst years for the Vandura?
By complaint volume, 1995, 1994, 1996 drew the most owner reports. Bear in mind that popular years put more cars on the road, so check the crash and fire columns too.
Which Vandura years are the cleanest?
1996, 1994, 1995 have the fewest complaints on file. For recent years that can simply mean the cars are young.
How many complaints does the GMC Vandura have?
39 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, covering 1994–1996. Of those, 5 describe a crash and 1 a fire.
Are these complaints verified?
No. They are unverified reports from owners. NHTSA publishes them as filed and investigates only a fraction. The value is in the pattern, not in any single report.
Can I check complaints for one specific car?
Yes — enter its VIN above. We match the first 11 characters, which identify the plant, year, body and engine, so you get complaints on that exact production series rather than the whole model.