2015 GMC SIERRA 2500 — Complaint #1853595
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about VISIBILITY:DEFROSTER/DEFOGGER/HVAC SYSTEM:REAR WINDOW:ELECTRICAL HEATING ELEMENT filed November 14, 2022
NHTSA complaint #1853595 (ODI reference 11493456) concerns a 2015 GMC SIERRA 2500 and was filed on November 14, 2022. The owner reports the failure occurred on November 13, 2022. The vehicle had 131,000 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to Iowa based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as visibility:defroster/defogger/hvac system:rear window:electrical heating element, one of NHTSA's standardized taxonomy codes used to group defect patterns across make, model, and year.
The filer flagged the following severity indicators: crash: no, fire: no, injuries: 0, fatalities: 0. No crash, fire, or fatality was associated with this report, which places it in the early-warning stream rather than the priority-review stream. Because a VIN was supplied, this complaint is tied to a specific vehicle and not just a model-year cohort.
Individual complaints are consumer-submitted and unverified by NHTSA engineers — the agency's role at this stage is to collect, index, and make them searchable. What matters for federal action is the pattern: when many owners of the same GMC SIERRA 2500 cohort independently describe similar visibility:defroster/defogger/hvac system:rear window:electrical heating element failures, defect investigators have grounds to open a PE and request manufacturer data. Related filings for the same vehicle and component appear below, and the detail page for the full 2015 GMC SIERRA 2500 shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
The contact owns a 2015 GMC Sierra 2500. The contact stated while driving 35 MPH with the rear defroster activated, there was smoke coming from the window before the window cracked. The contact had taken the vehicle to a certified mechanic who determined that the rear defroster needed to be replaced. The vehicle had not been repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and confirmed that there was no recall or warranty coverage for the repair. The approximate failure mileage was 131,000.
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 1853595 |
| ODI Number | 11493456 |
| Date Filed | November 14, 2022 |
| Failure Date | November 13, 2022 |
| VIN | 1GT120EG7FF |
Source: NHTSA Vehicle Complaints Database. Component taxonomy and severity codes are standardized by NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.
Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.