2021 GMC SIERRA 1500 — Complaint #2121749
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES:TAILGATE:LATCH filed August 18, 2025
NHTSA complaint #2121749 (ODI reference 11681463) concerns a 2021 GMC SIERRA 1500 and was filed on August 18, 2025. The owner reports the failure occurred on August 17, 2025. The vehicle had 90,300 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to Utah based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as latches/locks/linkages:tailgate:latch, 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 1500 cohort independently describe similar latches/locks/linkages:tailgate:latch 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 2021 GMC SIERRA 1500 shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
The contact owns a 2021 GMC Sierra 1500. The contact stated that while the vehicle was parked, the tailgate opened independently. No warning lights were illuminated. The contact stated that on a separate occasion, while the vehicle was parked at the residence, the contact approached the vehicle and the tailgate attempted to open independently. The contact moved the vehicle and turned off the engine. The tailgate attempted to open independently again. The contact moved the key fob away from the vehicle to prevent the tailgate from opening. No warning lights were illuminated. Most recently, the vehicle was parked at the residence in front of a toolbox, when the tailgate opened independently and dented the tailgate. The contact called the dealer; however, the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. Upon further investigation, the contact related the failure to Manufacturer Recall Number: N232426400. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 90,
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 2121749 |
| ODI Number | 11681463 |
| Date Filed | August 18, 2025 |
| Failure Date | August 17, 2025 |
| VIN | 1GTU9DET9MZ |
Similar LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES:TAILGATE:LATCH Complaints for 2021 GMC SIERRA 1500
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.