A bad transmission can turn a dependable pickup into a very expensive lesson, and a few model years have drawn lawsuits or unusually large repair bills. The figures below come from a class action report and owner submissions to a complaint database. Here are ten pickups whose gearboxes earned the most notorious reputations.
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1. Chevrolet Silverado 1500 (2015-2019, 8L90/8L45): Shudder, Jerk, Hard Shift
A lawsuit described by an Autoblog legal report says GM knowingly sold over 800,000 eight-speed transmission vehicles that shudder, jerk and hard-shift, and the 2015-2019 Silverado 1500 sits at the center of the claims.
The 800,000 figure is the claim of lead counsel rather than a finding, and allegations in a lawsuit are not findings. Still, the sheer size of the affected group explains why this gearbox became shorthand for modern transmission complaints among truck owners. Owners weighing a used example should read the open recall and bulletin history before trusting any seller’s claim that the issue was fixed long ago.
2. GMC Sierra 1500 (2015-2019): Class Status Achieved
Sierra buyers of the same era are covered by the suit, and the case’s certification news notes that it won class status with 39 plaintiffs across 26 states, a notable step for litigation of this kind.
Certification does not decide who is right, but it lets the case proceed on behalf of many owners at once. The Sierra shares the same eight-speed hardware as its Chevrolet twin, so the complaints about it read almost identically. Because the hardware is shared across several nameplates, a buyer comparing trucks from the same corporation should expect similar behavior from each.
3. GMC Canyon (2017-2019): Thirteen Bulletin Revisions
The smaller Canyon pickup joins the action for model years 2017-2019, and the lawsuit’s service bulletin claim says GM issued thirteen versions of a bulletin on the shifting problem.
Repeated revisions suggest that dealers kept searching for a fix, which owners point to as evidence the trouble never fully went away. GM has not conceded that reading, and the court has yet to resolve those arguments. Anyone considering one of these trucks should test drive it for long enough to see the gearbox move through every gear when cold and when warm.
4. Ford F-150 (2019, 10-speed): Hard Shifts Arrive Early
Ford’s 2019 F-150 with the ten-speed automatic shows up in CarComplaints owner data, where hard shifting appears at about 32,000 miles and costs an average of $7,400 to repair.
Averages built from owner submissions can skew toward people with bad experiences, so the number is a warning rather than a failure rate. Even so, a repair bill that large at such low mileage is what lands this truck here. A pre-purchase inspection by an independent shop, including a scan for stored transmission codes, is cheap protection against a repair bill of this size.
5. Ford Ranger (2021): Banging Well Before Its Time
Reports on the 2021 Ranger describe transmission banging, and the CarComplaints Ranger page puts the average repair at $10,000 by roughly 51,000 miles.
That would be a painful bill on a midsize truck, and the figure ties for the highest on this list. Buyers eyeing a used example should look for service records and ask whether any software updates were performed. The lesson for shoppers is to ask for dealer records showing software updates or fluid service, since both can change how a troubled gearbox behaves.
6. Ram 1500 (2016): Jumping at Stops
Owners of the 2016 Ram 1500 complain that trucks jump at a stop, and CarComplaints Ram reports list an average cost of $10,000 at around 35,000 miles.
A fault that surfaces this early may fall within a powertrain warranty, which would soften the blow for a first owner. Later owners who miss that coverage could face the full amount. Extended coverage, where available, is worth pricing carefully on a model with a documented pattern like this, because one claim can repay its cost.
7. Toyota Tundra (2012): Failure Almost Immediately
The 2012 Tundra is an outlier because the CarComplaints Tundra page shows transmission failures averaging $5,500 at just 9,000 miles, among the earliest breakdowns anywhere on this list.
At that mileage, many trucks would still be under warranty, so what owners actually paid may differ from the reported average. The Tundra’s broader reputation for durability makes this one an exception. Treat the figure as one data point among many, alongside recall notices, owner forums and professional reviews, rather than a verdict on every truck sold that year.
8. Nissan Frontier (2005): Coolant Where It Should Not Be
The 2005 Frontier has a distinct failure, and the CarComplaints Frontier page describes radiator coolant leaking into the transmission, with an average repair of $3,700 at 103,000 miles.
Anyone shopping for an older Frontier should ask whether the cooling system was checked when the gearbox was repaired, since a fix that ignores the source of contamination may not last. Older trucks carry additional risk simply because fluid, seals and cooling parts have aged, so records of previous service matter even more than the mileage.
9. Chevrolet Colorado (2016): Won’t Shift, Won’t Wait
Complaints about the 2016 Colorado center on a transmission that will not shift, and the CarComplaints Colorado page reports an average repair of $3,500 at only 13,000 miles.
That mileage is barely past the break-in period, which makes the problem hard to blame on wear. The cost is the lowest among the dollar figures here, though it remains a significant outlay for a nearly new truck. Shoppers should compare the model year in question with neighboring years, because changes to software or hardware can make adjacent trucks behave very differently.
10. Toyota Tacoma (2016): Power Train Complaints Pile Up
The 2016 Tacoma drew 132 NHTSA power-train complaints at an average of just 10,638 miles, according to a CarComplaints power train summary that mirrors the federal data.
Power-train complaints cover more than the transmission alone, so this entry points to a cluster of problems rather than one clear defect. The low average mileage is the detail that stands out for a model with a strong reputation. Complaint counts rise with sales volume and public attention, so context matters, but a cluster this early in a truck’s life is still worth noticing.
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