2019 GMC Yukon XL 1500
This year drew an ordinary 66 complaints for a GMC Yukon XL 1500 — the model's median is 175. What they were about is the unusual part: 48.5% of them mention engine, against 7.4% across the model's other years.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 66 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 175 |
| Involving a crash | 4 |
| Recalls | 0 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 4/5 |
What the complaints were about
- engine — 48.5% of this year's complaints, against 7.4% across the model's other years (6.5×).
- stated driving — 19.7% of this year's complaints, against 2.4% across the model's other years (8.2×).
- catastrophic — 15.2% of this year's complaints, against 1% across the model's other years (14.9×). Owners wrote it as: catastrophic, engine failure, catastrophic engine, messages.
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
Catastrophic engine failure to the GM 6.2L engine. Mechanical issue - cam or crankshaft came apart. Safety to myself and/or others as I was driving on the road in traffic when the issue occurred and had complete loss of power. I was able to avoid traffic and g…
This car had catastrophic engine failure due to the lifters, push rods and camshaft. This car make and model and engine type is notorious for these specific parts to malfunction. This could have left myself and my children stranded on the interstate. The vehic…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
How this was worked out
Every year of the GMC Yukon XL 1500 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 2019 GMC Yukon XL 1500? What happened to yours?
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