2016 GMC YUKON XL Complaints

When accelerating from a stop, the engines revs up to really high RPM's before shifting hard into 2nd gear, and again while shifting hard into 3rd gear. This started in the last week. The engine/trans currently have ~133,000 miles. Accelerating slowly, not exceeding 1,500-1,700 RPM will reduce this occurence, but it takes significantly longer to get up to speed, which is a problem when entering 55 MPH traffic. We've had to pull off the road to avoid causing an accident while merging with traffic since the transmission seems like it won't shift, causing me to have to let off the accelerator to try and allow the transmission to shift so I can continue accelerating.

After leaving a car wash on 12/19/22, the engine began sputtering and did not seem to be able to get any gas. After pressing gas pedal, the vehicle slowly moved forward, but was shifting hard. Pulled over in gas station parking lot and turned vehicle off. Checked Engine. Vehicle would not restart. Vehicle was towed to dealership. They uncovered a broken valve spring, which also caused the catalytic converters to fail. Total bill was over $7500

Driving a company vehicle [XXX], heavy smoke started coming from under the drivers side dash. Unhooked battery, the smoke stopped. I had vehicle towed to a local garage. They advised the engine wiring harness and other wiring had caught on fire. They couldn't repair it. On [XXX]. I had the vehicle towed to the local GMC dealer in Bedford, VA. At first they said they could fix it, then around 7/3/24 they said the couldn't fix it, charging several hundreds of dollars. On July 5/2024 I had the vehicle towed to a GMC dealership in Lynchburg, VA who I had check with and said they could fix it. The first part of September 2024, this dealership advised me the couldn't fix the vehicle. I had the vehicle tow to our companies office in Lynchburg. The dealerships are saying they can't get the needed wiring harnesses. Our insurance company had sent an adjuster to the GMC in Bedford, VA. No warning lamps came on before the smoke. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

Driving back from Las Vegas for a family trip, traffic was heavy, a lot of stop-and go. I started to feel the brakes delay to stop. After a few minutes I was able to pick up a little speed and again traffic was built up. This time the brakes failed and got stiff. I had to slam on the brakes and practically stand up on the brakes in order for the car to stop. I barely avoided wrecking into the car in front of me. I was a few hours away from home and had to drive all the way with this problem. When I got home I took it in to the nearest dealer shop to get the brakes checked . I looked online and found out about the recall on the brakes.

Loses power randomly. More prominent at low speeds and turns. Has lost power going down the road, will turn back on. Stabilitrak lights and jerking steering wheel are more common. Will not always start right back up when it shuts all the way off/loses power. Loses clock but keeps radio stations. Had it scanned. Asked dealer about issues/recalls and information with nothing more than “this is not common” and “we need to schedule a time for you to bring it in”. Times were not soon and they made it seem like it is not an urgent/emergent situation. Would not agree to me being able to talk with a tech. Looked into this as it seems common but nothing definite. Bad battery cables seem prominent, grounding issues, electronic steering module, and a few others. Seems like a GM problem that is known but not being handled. Greatly disappointed after reading up on it. Many vehicles with similar problems had recalls. Not sure how that process works. I was told it depends where it was manufactured/assembled. Wife was able to get a video of it the other day.

Having to replace an engine at one hundred and three thousand miles…not something I would expect

Transmission constantly jerks taking off under normal operating conditions from a stop, has a hard time staying into gear (hunts for gear) while cruising at highway speeds.slips/slams into gear when attempting to pass.

Code P0711 appeared during a scan after noticing some roughness during acceleration. Code shows transmission temperature sensor failure which is a known issue and recall for this vehicle model.

The paint delaminated from the clear coat in certain locations (mainly hood and roof) although the vehicle body has been well maintained. This has caused a foggy scratched appearance to the affected areas where the rest of the car looks great. This problem is well known across many GM vehicles in the 2015-2019 range and has led to significantly decreased value of the vehicle itself

I purchased a used 2016 Yukon xl may 20 2024. Over the last month only put 2k miles on it. I continue to receive a message to service trailer brake system. I dismiss this and it continues to chime and be a nuisance popping up blocking my dash from seeing important things like speed etc and the noise is extremely distracting as a driver. I’m unable to use the hands free talking through Bluetooth as it interrupts quite frequently. This makes driving an extremely dangerous and unpleasant ride