2021 GMC Yukon XL
This year drew an ordinary 201 complaints for a GMC Yukon XL — the model's median is 151. What they were about is the unusual part: 65.7% of them mention engine, against 13.3% across the model's other years.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 201 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 151 |
| Involving a crash | 2 |
| Involving a fire | 1 |
| Recalls | 12 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 4/5 |
| EPA combined | 16.5 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- engine — 65.7% of this year's complaints, against 13.3% across the model's other years (5×).
- oil — 28.9% of this year's complaints, against 10.4% across the model's other years (2.8×). Owners wrote it as: oil, change, rod, consumption.
- vin — 19.4% of this year's complaints, against 4.8% across the model's other years (4×).
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
What owners wrote
Low engine oil message keeps flashing after less than 2,000 miles of driver. Excessive oil consumption. Took vehicle to GMC dealership and it was confirmed that an engine replacement or replacement of the pistons and rings is necessary. Only 77,000 miles on th…
Right as I was coming up on my powertrain warranty, I began to have lifter issues. I had two repairs of the original lifters that ultimately were not successful. I ended up replacing all lifters with the updated version that apparently repaired previous lifter…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 21V455000 STEERING Fixed free of charge.
- 22V036000 POWER TRAIN Fixed free of charge.
- 20V792000 SEAT BELTS Fixed free of charge.
- 20V811000 SEAT BELTS Fixed free of charge.
- 20V735000 SEATS Fixed free of charge.
- 21V739000 FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE Fixed free of charge.
- 21V421000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 21V190000 SEAT BELTS Fixed free of charge.
Showing 8 of 12. The rest are on NHTSA's site.
How this was worked out
Every year of the GMC Yukon XL was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2021 GMC Yukon XL? What happened to yours?
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