The GMC Sierra 1500 Denali is one of the most luxurious and capable pickup trucks on the market. It’s a great truck a lot of people would be happy to own. But there’s one major downside that speaks to a larger automotive industry problem that’s hardly talked about: It has a terrible backup camera at night.
The fourth generation of the Sierra 1500 debuted for the 2019 model year, and a refresh came in 2022. It’s a handsome truck, much better looking than its Silverado counterpart, which has seemed to be the case for a while. The Sierra I had to review was a 1500 Denali Ultimate, the most luxurious Sierra money can buy. For an as-tested price of $87,190, you get a handsome but imposing exterior design set off by a dark Vader Chrome grille, a Denali Ultimate exclusive, and big 22-inch aluminum wheels and bright chrome trim.
Inside, the Denali Ultimate has a massive 12.3-inch display for the driver gauge cluster, a slightly more massive 13.4-inch center touchscreen display, a 12-speaker Bose Premium surround sound system, heated and cooled 16-way power front seats, a sunroof and GM’s excellent Super Cruise hands-free driving assistance system. Under the hood, power comes from the familiar 420-horsepower 6.2-liter V8 paired with a 10-speed automatic and a four-wheel-drive system.
This is all in addition to other features that make the Sierra Denali Ultimate such a good pickup, like the excellent MultiPro Tailgate. So for the most part, the tech and capability you want is there. Just not when it comes to the cameras.
In total, there are three exterior cameras on the Denali Ultimate: A front camera set right under the GMC logo, and two cameras at the top of the tailgate. Each camera has multiple angles to aid with things like low towing and parking. During the day, the backup camera is OK. As long as you don’t look at things too close, it’s perfectly acceptable. At night, the backup camera is nearly useless.
The problem, it seems, is twofold. The camera itself appears to have a dark filter on it, making things discolored. Anything with a shadow cast on it is essentially invisible. Then there are the backup lights. Research online indicates that the lights themselves don’t have enough lumen, which essentially means the lights aren’t bright enough. When reverse is engaged, the backup lights should illuminate the surroundings and also help illuminate the backup camera feed.
Owners have been complaining about the issue online for years. This also might point to a design issue with the bed itself. The Sierra’s bed is 71.4 inches wide, or six feet. It’s just over half that length from the reverse light to the camera. The backup lights are set low into the rear tail lights, while the cameras themselves are sat at the very top of the bed. Essentially, the lights aren’t bright enough for how far they are from the cameras. And this isn’t just a problem with the Sierra. Checking other Reddit posts and owner forums, you’ll see people complaining about the low light and quality on some of the most popular pickup truck models on the market, like the Ford F-150, Chevy Silverado and Ram 1500.
Annoyingly, there also doesn’t seem to be any kind of federal mandate of image quality for backup cameras. In 2018, the Federal government and NHTSA mandated that all new vehicles manufactured after 2018 come with a standard backup camera. Digging into the details of the mandate shows that the government didn’t exactly mandate image quality, just the minimums for “distinguishable details observable in an image.”
So it seems that backup cameras on pickup trucks need to get better, and automakers need to install better, brighter backup lights on these trucks to supplement those cameras. The government also needs to get on the ball by mandating that the image quality of these cameras be the highest level possible, with or without proper lighting. Until those changes are made, though, some owners may have to resort to the aftermarket for help with their cameras.
