2014–2018 · Platform code K2XX
The generation that introduced the EcoTec3 engine family — a 4.3L V6 and two V8s, all direct-injected and all with cylinder deactivation. The 8-speed automatic arrived on the 6.2L and later spread to the 5.3L, so a mid-generation truck can have either transmission behind the same engine. Bed lengths of 5'8", 6'6" and 8' were offered across three cab styles.
By engine and transmission
Complaint and recall counts from NHTSA, retrieved 2026-08-11. A complaint count is not a failure rate — it scales with how many were sold and how much attention a problem drew.
Community and source review
The alternator charges the battery while the engine runs and powers everything electrical. Both are consumable parts with a service life, and on a used car at least one of them has usually been replaced already — or is due.
The compressor is the pump in the air conditioning loop. When it seizes it can send metal debris through the whole system, which turns a component replacement into a system job.
Bushings, ball joints, link rods and strut mounts are rubber and grease components that wear continuously. They rarely fail suddenly; they get gradually noisier and vaguer, which is why a test drive on a rough road tells you more than one on smooth pavement.
In a direct-injection engine the fuel is sprayed into the cylinder rather than at the intake valve. Nothing washes the back of that valve, so deposits from crankcase ventilation and exhaust gas recirculation accumulate there over time.
GM's eight-speed automatic drew two distinct complaints: a shudder felt at steady speed, and harsh or hesitant shifting. Both were litigated together across nine GM models. The case is worth reading carefully rather than citing loosely — an appeals court described the symptoms on the record, then the same court threw out the class structure a year later.
The pedal goes hard and the truck takes longer to stop. GM recalled 3,456,719 trucks and SUVs for this in 2019, but the recall remedy is a software change, not a new pump — the pump itself is covered by a separate programme that has an expiry date, and on a 2016 truck that date has now passed. Worth checking both before buying.