GM Stops Sales of Midsize Trucks to Fix Software Issues
General Motors hasn’t had the smoothest time with its move to “in-house” the infotainment software in its vehicles. The Chevrolet Blazer EV has seen a stop-sale in recent months while the automaker gets its ducks in a row, and now, we’re talking about the GMC Canyon and Chevrolet Colorado. GM voluntarily paused sales of its popular midsize trucks to fix issues with their software.
“Certain Colorados and Canyons displayed intermittent software quality issues, identified during our rigorous validation process,” GM’s VP of global tech communications, Brandee Barker, told Automotive News. “A fix has been identified and implemented into vehicles that have begun shipping to dealers this morning.”
The automaker’s issues with software quality and user experience have become pressing enough that GM has created a software validation team to address them. Chevrolet’s Blazer EV pains and the issues experienced with the company’s recent midsize trucks may be a benefit to future customers because of the refinement and usability gains with the infotainment systems, but it isn’t the most positive omen for GM.
The Detroit company recently announced a shift from a full-on EV strategy to one that includes hybrids and plug-in hybrids. Buyer demand has grown, but not as quickly or as intensely as automakers and the government had hoped. The not-so-hockey-stick growth curve has led to pull-backs in some automakers’ investments, though there hasn’t been a significant withdrawal from overall electrification plans.
[Image: Chevrolet]
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Chris grew up in, under, and around cars, but took the long way around to becoming an automotive writer. After a career in technology consulting and a trip through business school, Chris began writing about the automotive industry as a way to reconnect with his passion and get behind the wheel of a new car every week. He focuses on taking complex industry stories and making them digestible by any reader. Just don’t expect him to stay away from high-mileage Porsches.
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The only CEO who can save Boeing, GM, and Ford is Alan Mulally. Mulally is largely credited with saving both Boeing and Ford. The other alternative is to follow a failed Jack Welch business model. We have all witnessed what Jack Welch did to GE, and what happened to Boeing when it was taken over by GE-trained businessmen. Below is an interesting article on how Jack Welch indirectly ruined Boeing.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-boeing-was-set-on-the-path-to-disaster-by-the-cult-of-jack-welch
Why is Alan Mulally on many business pundits best CEO of all time lists. Read about what Harry Stonecipher and the GE crowd did to Boeing. It will make your blood boil
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"GM has issued a new Customer Satisfaction Program. The Customer Satisfaction Program was released in February of 2024 and is tagged as N232415060, Block Main Oil Gallery Hot Core Pin Casting Defect. This particular Customer Satisfaction Program only applies to units of the Chevy Silverado 1500 produced for the 2023 model year. It’s currently unclear exactly how many units are affected, however, the Customer Satisfaction Program also applies to units of the 2023 Chevy Colorado, as GM Authority covered previously."
Ford has the same problem - they don't know software either. Ford should have kept Philco in business and moved them into computers. GM once owned GM-Hughes electronics, and could have developed a software team for automotive applications decades ago. They screwed up, er, "lacked vision" too.