Welcome back to our 2015 GMC Canyon long-term test. To read previous updates in the series, click here.
You can expect wear and tear on any vehicle, but pickup trucks tend to take a beating pretty quickly.
While loading my snowmobile into the bed of our long-term Canyon last month, the studs in my track did a number on the edge of the tailgate. I was hoping the snow might protect the truck, but I was sadly mistaken.
Smart pickup truck designs plan ahead for inevitable damage by having replaceable parts in high-risk areas. The very end of your tailgate is a natural place for damage to occur, whether it happens while loading machines or backing into loading ramps. So having the plastic molding right on the edge is a perfect sacrificial lamb to save the damage from getting through to the steel.
That’s exactly the reason why Toyota installs a three-piece bumper on the new Tundra, so if you only damage one corner, you only have to replace one corner.
So as an owner, is it going to break the bank to fix up the Canyon’s tailgate? I e-mailed a Michigan GMC dealership to find out exactly how much the repair would cost. The answer? $58.55 + tax. You could take the part and run, but if you wanted the whole job done by this particular dealer, it’ll cost you another $30. So you’re looking at just over $90 for the replacement.
It’s true, smarter loading could have avoided this headache entirely, but it’s good to know that it’s not going to be prohibitively expensive to replace a piece of the truck that will definitely take a beating throughout its life.