The quietest Colorado we cover — and its biggest single complaint is a key that won't come out of the ignition.

The year's one federal safety recall, and it is Colorado-and-Canyon specific. On trucks with a manual passenger seat, the front passenger seat may have a hook attachment that was not properly welded, allowing it to separate from the inboard track of the seat frame. NHTSA's consequence line is that an improperly welded seat frame may not properly restrain the seat occupant, increasing the risk of injury in a crash. Dealers inspect the seat and replace the cushion frame if necessary, free. Owner letters went out in July 2022. Confirm it shows completed by VIN — and note it only applies to manual seats, so a power-seat truck is out of scope.

A smaller cluster than the key but a more serious one. Owners describe the steering wheel occasionally catching, grabbing or getting stuck at low speed in forward or reverse, often with a loud noise, most obviously when turning into a parking space. One describes a notchy feel requiring the driver to balance the wheel back and forth and calls it unsafe. Two report the wheel becoming difficult to turn in either direction with no warning, and one reports it locking up entirely while making a left turn off a freeway with passengers aboard. Another reports a squeaking noise on turns. This is a far smaller cluster than the 2016's power-steering flood and there is no campaign covering it, but the symptom family is close enough that it deserves a long, deliberate test — slow full-lock manoeuvres both ways, forward and reverse, plus a motorway stint.

Worth carrying forward even though it appears only once in this year's file, because of what it does when it happens. An owner of a 2.5-litre 2022 reports that with no prior warning and no lights, the brake pedal became extremely hard and he could barely stop. On the 2021 this is a repeated pattern in which the camshaft-driven vacuum pump seizes, breaks the exhaust camshaft and can put metal through the engine — and there is no recall and nothing in GM's Colorado communications file covering it on any year. One filing does not make a pattern, but the cost of being wrong is a brake failure and an engine, so make pedal feel part of the inspection on any 2.5-litre truck.

2022 caught the semiconductor shortage squarely, and GM's own programmes spell out what got left off. Heated and ventilated front seats, front heated seats and rear heated seats were not functional on certain 2022 and 2023 trucks built from 15 November 2021; park assist was not functional on trucks built from 2 December 2021. GM's wording is that owners should have been told at the point of sale and that once parts were available they would be eligible for a no-additional-cost retrofit. Separately: some trucks were delivered without the accessory package the customer had already paid for, some shipped without the hood insulator, some with 17-inch Ultra Steel wheels got the wrong accessory wheel locks, and some Midnight and Trail Boss trucks were charged twice for wheels — GM's remedy being a reimbursement cheque of $800. There is even a programme for window stickers that understated the truck's fuel economy because of a printing error. None of this is a safety matter. All of it is money, and second and third owners rarely know to ask.

A small but consistent cluster. One owner's gauge "only shows Full regardless of the amount of gas in the tank" on a truck with 12,009 miles bought new; another reports the gauge not moving until roughly 200 miles after filling, with the pump cutting off at ten gallons on a refill at 320 miles. Both make range planning guesswork. Fill it, drive it, and watch the gauge actually move.

Owners report the battery draining and leaving them stranded — "in parking garages and other locations" — and attribute it to a parasitic draw from the infotainment system. GM's own service literature includes a procedure for diagnosing an overnight battery discharge on these trucks by inspecting a specific connector for bent pins, and a separate 2020-onward bulletin on measuring battery drain. If a truck has had a battery replaced early in its life, ask why. If it sits for a week at a time, ask whether it has ever failed to start after doing so.

GM's Customer Satisfaction Program for a front differential housing built with a 12 mm hole in its top surface has a stated scope of 2015 through 2022, so this is the final model year in it. If the hole is there, the dealer rebuilds the front axle with the correct housing at no charge. It costs a phone call with the VIN and it is the sort of thing nobody checks on a truck this recent.