Nothing but PROBLEMS with the 2024 GMC Denali Ultimate 2500

[ShibaPauly]

I was excited last April 2023 when my dealer received the 2024 Denali Ultimate 2500 into inventory. My wife and I took it for a test drive and bought the truck that day. Now it's been nearly one year since we bought it and it's done nothing but disappoint. The truck has been at the dealer for repairs for nearly 3 months with every defect related to electrical or software problems and many of these defects haven't been repaired. I'll start off with some of the benign defects, though for what these trucks cost today these defects shouldn't exist:

1. Infotainment system glitches, it will randomly switch between satellite radio and Android audio, the satellite radio loses the signal repeatedly in the suburbs around Chicago (no mountains here).

2. The tailgate Kicker Audio will not disconnect from my phone when the tailgate is closed and the Kicker radio is supposed to be off. The Kicker radio will occasionally play audio when the tailgate is closed. The dealer says to just unpair the Kicker radio from my phone because they can't explain why this is occurring. 

3. The wireless charger in the center console is finicky and slow to charge.

4. The now infamous multipro tailgate drop that has caused body damage to the truck's tailgate on 2 occasions and GM still doesn't have a fix to prevent this from happening. The tailgate dropped on us several times as the truck was being driven down the highway and no warning or indication of an open tailgate was ever displayed on the dash.

5. This truck will occasionally suffer the "dead pedal" syndrome; lack of throttle response. Nothing more worrisome than towing a 10,000lbs trailer and having to pull out of a blind driveway on a mountain road and the truck literally will not accelerate. The truck's ECM has yet to record these events. GM's protocol for recording these types of incidences must be very lax.

6. The truck constantly loses communication with the trailer's brakes, resulting in nothing less than loss of trailer brakes. Oh joy, as you're traveling down Vail Pass (7% grade) and your trailer brakes stop working. The dealer blamed a faulty module for this and states they replaced it. Haven't pulled the trailer since this repair so I can't confirm that the defect still exists or not. 

7. The traction control on this truck malfunctions occasionally. The traction control will stop working even though it was not manually turned off. As with the dead pedal, the truck's ECM has not recorded these incidences.  

8. The truck will consistently die if it is parked for a period of 9 days or less, dependent on the outside temperature. The dealer states that there is nothing wrong and that this truck has to be, at the very least, started everyday and allowed to idle for 20 minutes in order to keep the batteries charged. The dealer has also stated that GM's testing equipment that they must use in order to verify a warranty claim is predisposed to finding no faults. The math for how long a battery should stay charged enough to start this truck is simple; it's an 80 Ah battery and assuming a minimum electrical draw of 50mA to maximum electrical draw of 80mA while the truck is parked the battery should be able to start this truck anywhere from 44 to 67 days. GM corporate has stated to me that they can't validate that my truck has died on multiple occasions, which I find disingenuous, since one of the times it died it sat in the dealership's lot awaiting unrelated repairs and OnStar was notifying me to start the truck in order to recharge the batteries. Apparently GM doesn't find OnStar credible.  

GMC is refusing to make this right and thinks that having a new truck out of service for nearly 3 months to date is acceptable. 

Wondering who else may have been experiencing problems with their 2024 Denali Ultimate.

 

[Billh913]

Sorry to hear of your troubles.  I've had mine (Ultimate) since July 2023 and no issues.  Only have 5k miles on it.  The battery drain on yours sounds odd & the need to start it every day to charge sounds ridiculous.  

[ShibaPauly]

When I leave the truck parked for any extended time now, I bring out my trusty voltmeter and check the battery's state of charge. Every day the battery voltage drops an abnormal amount and consistently by the 9th day the battery drops to 11 volts or just under. The dealership will not confirm my findings with a voltmeter when it's there for service; they instead have a mechanic? go out to the truck every 5 days and start my truck, stating there's nothing wrong because the truck started. For one they fail to listen to the parameters that precipitate the battery draining and though they will concede that a voltmeter could indicate an abnormal rate of battery discharge while parked, GM requires them to only test the vehicle with GM's proprietary testing equipment, which like Vegas appears to be stacked in GM's favor. It's just incredibly frustrating how patronizing the dealers and GM can be. 

[KARNUT]

25 minutes ago, ShibaPauly said:

When I leave the truck parked for any extended time now, I bring out my trusty voltmeter and check the battery's state of charge. Every day the battery voltage drops an abnormal amount and consistently by the 9th day the battery drops to 11 volts or just under. The dealership will not confirm my findings with a voltmeter when it's there for service; they instead have a mechanic? go out to the truck every 5 days and start my truck, stating there's nothing wrong because the truck started. For one they fail to listen to the parameters that precipitate the battery draining and though they will concede that a voltmeter could indicate an abnormal rate of battery discharge while parked, GM requires them to only test the vehicle with GM's proprietary testing equipment, which like Vegas appears to be stacked in GM's favor. It's just incredibly frustrating how patronizing the dealers and GM can be. 

You don’t say how long is extended or if it starts after. I’ve had two vehicles that wouldn’t start after two weeks sitting. One I had 12 years the other I still have after 24 years. Two different brands with aftermarket alarms. Even with the alarms off two weeks no start. The one I still have I solved with a tender. That increased my battery life so far from 2 to 4 years. My lawnmower had the same problem the tender solved the problem. These new vehicles are awake even off. You go by with your key fob they get alerted. My vehicle is in contact with my phone it knows where I am. Your vehicle is never completely off.

[Crazy Canuck]

Should be good for quite a while to park it without starting/charging.  What if you go to the airport and park it for a few weeks?  I have been out of town for work and hadn't used my truck since Feb 28th (stored it in my unheated detached garage) and it fired right up yesterday not plugged in, no tender.  I would say there is either a parasitic draw or a bad battery which may be causing some of the other issues. Also have a '24 Denali Ultimate I picked up last May.

Edited March 20 by Crazy Canuck
Fixed error

[bruceb58]

5 hours ago, ShibaPauly said:

When I leave the truck parked for any extended time now, I bring out my trusty voltmeter and check the battery's state of charge. Every day the battery voltage drops an abnormal amount and consistently by the 9th day the battery drops to 11 volts or just under. The dealership will not confirm my findings with a voltmeter when it's there for service; they instead have a mechanic? go out to the truck every 5 days and start my truck, stating there's nothing wrong because the truck started. For one they fail to listen to the parameters that precipitate the battery draining and though they will concede that a voltmeter could indicate an abnormal rate of battery discharge while parked, GM requires them to only test the vehicle with GM's proprietary testing equipment, which like Vegas appears to be stacked in GM's favor. It's just incredibly frustrating how patronizing the dealers and GM can be. 

Do you happen to keep an extra key fob in the truck or nearby? If you do, that could be the issue. Make sure you keep all key fobs out of the truck. If they happen to be stored nearby, wrap them in foil as a test. It would be worthwhile measuring the standby current of your truck after it sits for a few hours to see what your standby current drain is.

[Crazy Canuck]

When I park for extended periods at home in the garage, my key is usually in the truck.  That shouldn't be the issue.   Agree totally about checking for parasitic drain though.  You can do that with a multimeter and a good pair of leads.  It should be fairly easy to see if you have it.  Finding out where it is sometimes not so smooth.

[Pryme]

You have a bad battery, or you need some type of software update to stop the drain. 
my daily driver didn’t start and just clicked and I checked the battery and it was dead. Car had 135mi. Charged it and drove it to the dealer there was an update it needed. All has been good now for 25k miles. 

[bruceb58]

4 hours ago, Crazy Canuck said:

When I park for extended periods at home in the garage, my key is usually in the truck.  That shouldn't be the issue.   Agree totally about checking for parasitic drain though.  You can do that with a multimeter and a good pair of leads.  It should be fairly easy to see if you have it.  Finding out where it is sometimes not so smooth.

How often are you driving and what is the voltage at the end of an extended storage? This is a real issue with many cars/trucks.

[Crazy Canuck]

I have periods like late last year when i didn't drive the truck from late November until January due to business travel and Christmas.  I just had a period of 18 or 19 days when I didn't drive it so long enough stints here and there.  I have never checked voltages but could after the next 'storage period'.  Neither my '24, '22 nor '21 have ever exhibited any hesitation starting in these conditions and in my opinion shouldn't.

[rdonarski]

I mostly park mine in the winter. In N WI it's plenty cold. While I have not checked voltages, it has never failed to start.  I have had more problems with my 2 Hondas. I have put a battery maintainer on it a couple of times. I do own a bunch of those that I keep on just about everything I have parked except the truck. Oops...wrong post.....old age!

Edited March 22 by rdonarski
Posted on wrong post

[ShibaPauly]

So here's some food for thought. I went to a different dealer and not with my truck, because they had a new Ultimate 2500 on their lot. I chatted it up with the sales manager and told him that I was contacted by GM and that they were going to buy back my truck because of all the problems I'm having and I would like to get back into an Ultimate that was built in 2024 and not one of the first ones off the assembly line in 2023 like I have. The sales manager opened up to me and said that GM was having problems with the first run of 2024 Sierra HD trucks because they were pirating or cannibalizing electronic components from other GM vehicles and some of which were not intended for this chassis application, just so they could get these trucks to the dealers. The pathetic thing is that GM has retracted their offer to buy back my "LEMON". My truck continues to have the problems I originally posted and GM is unwilling to help in any way. GM is a black mark on what is entailed in the phrase "MADE IN AMERICA" 

[TripleBGM]

My late 2023 has been flawless.

[BCGM]

21 hours ago, ShibaPauly said:

So here's some food for thought. I went to a different dealer and not with my truck, because they had a new Ultimate 2500 on their lot. I chatted it up with the sales manager and told him that I was contacted by GM and that they were going to buy back my truck because of all the problems I'm having and I would like to get back into an Ultimate that was built in 2024 and not one of the first ones off the assembly line in 2023 like I have. The sales manager opened up to me and said that GM was having problems with the first run of 2024 Sierra HD trucks because they were pirating or cannibalizing electronic components from other GM vehicles and some of which were not intended for this chassis application, just so they could get these trucks to the dealers. The pathetic thing is that GM has retracted their offer to buy back my "LEMON". My truck continues to have the problems I originally posted and GM is unwilling to help in any way. GM is a black mark on what is entailed in the phrase "MADE IN AMERICA" 

That's not good and I sure hope I don't end up with a truck like that ! Have you sought legal help ?

 

Edited March 22 by BCGM

[sstoner911]

Trade it and move on.