AutoUtility currently tracks 256 official NHTSA owner defect complaints for the 2016 Chevrolet Tahoe. Brakes & Traction Control issues are the most frequently reported category, appearing in 93 complaints (36.3% of submitted records). Among these NHTSA complaint records, 17 filings cite a crash, 1 cites a fire, 8 report one or more injuries.

Key Problem Findings
  • • Total NHTSA Complaints: 256 reports
  • • #1 Reported Problem Area: Brakes & Traction Control (93 reports • 36.3% of submitted complaints)
  • • Secondary Problem Areas: Powertrain & Transmission (47), Electrical System (31)
  • • Crash-Citing Complaints: 17 filings
  • • Fire-Citing Complaints: 1 filings
  • • Complaints Reporting Injuries / Fatalities: 8 injury filings • 0 fatality filings
Reporting Methodology: Statistics describe unverified consumer submissions voluntarily filed with NHTSA. Complaint volume is not normalized for vehicle sales volume or miles driven. Multiple components can be cited within a single owner complaint submission.
Total Complaints
256
Submitted to NHTSA ODI
Crash-Citing Complaints
17
Filings citing a collision
Fire-Citing Complaints
1
Filings citing smoke or fire
Complaints Reporting Injuries
8
Filings citing one or more injuries
Complaints Reporting Fatalities
0
Consumer filings citing fatalities

Most Reported Problems for 2016 Chevrolet Tahoe

Top automotive subsystem defect categories ranked by unique owner complaint volume in federal records

#1 Problem Area 36.3% of complaints

Brakes & Traction Control

93 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
⚠️ NHTSA Recall Context

NHTSA records list 2 official safety recall campaigns for this model year involving the same broad component area:

*Component overlap means an official recall exists for the same broad vehicle system. It does not establish that an individual owner complaint was caused by, covered by, or resolved through that recall.
⚠️ 9 crash reports 🩹 5 injury report entries
#2 Problem Area 18.4% of complaints

Powertrain & Transmission

47 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
⚠️ NHTSA Recall Context

NHTSA records list 1 official safety recall campaign for this model year involving the same broad component area:

*Component overlap means an official recall exists for the same broad vehicle system. It does not establish that an individual owner complaint was caused by, covered by, or resolved through that recall.
⚠️ 1 crash report 🔥 1 fire report
#3 Problem Area 12.1% of complaints

Electrical System

31 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
✓ 0 crashes or fires cited
#4 Problem Area 7.8% of complaints

Steering System

20 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
⚠️ NHTSA Recall Context

NHTSA records list 1 official safety recall campaign for this model year involving the same broad component area:

*Component overlap means an official recall exists for the same broad vehicle system. It does not establish that an individual owner complaint was caused by, covered by, or resolved through that recall.
⚠️ 2 crash reports 🩹 2 injury report entries
#5 Problem Area 7.4% of complaints

Suspension

19 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
⚠️ NHTSA Recall Context

NHTSA records list 1 official safety recall campaign for this model year involving the same broad component area:

*Component overlap means an official recall exists for the same broad vehicle system. It does not establish that an individual owner complaint was caused by, covered by, or resolved through that recall.
🩹 1 injury report entry
Domain Share Note: Share percentage represents the proportion of unique complaint filings referencing each vehicle system. Because single complaints may cite multiple systems (such as engine and electrical simultaneously), domain percentages represent individual category incidence and may sum to over 100%.

Symptoms Mentioned in NHTSA Owner Reports for 2016 Chevrolet Tahoe

Specific mechanical, electrical, and driver-assist defect symptoms identified via deterministic narrative analysis

AutoUtility uses deterministic phrase matching to identify recurring symptom descriptions within consumer-submitted NHTSA complaint narratives.

Brakes & Traction Control 2.7% of complaints

Reduced Braking / Brake Pedal to Floor

7 complaint narratives describe this symptom
Powertrain & Transmission 2.3% of complaints

Loss of Motive Power While Driving

6 complaint narratives describe this symptom
Symptom Identification Method: A complaint may describe more than one symptom, so percentages may sum to more than 100%. Symptom identification reflects text contained in consumer-submitted complaint records and does not establish a confirmed mechanical diagnosis.

Recent NHTSA Owner Reports for 2016 Chevrolet Tahoe

Representative defect filings submitted by owners to the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation

Air Bags & Restraints NHTSA ODI ID: #11753832
Filed: 07/30/2026

"On 7/28 while driving my vehicle, the ABS and traction control light came on unexpectedly (the symbol with the car and squiggly line in front of it). Nothing is wrong with the vehicle for these lights to come on as I keep up with all maintenance and repairs to this suv seeing that im the only..."

Incident Date: 07/29/2026 • Raw NHTSA Component: AIR BAGS,VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,UNKNOWN OR OTHER
Brakes & Traction Control NHTSA ODI ID: #11752862
Filed: 07/25/2026

"I have been having issues with the brakes on my 2016 Chevy Tahoe for as long as I can remember. When going very slow, such as in a parking lot or pulling into a parking space, my car feels like I am driving on ice when I brake. I am not sure if I am actually going to stop or hit a car/person. The..."

Incident Date: 07/21/2026 • Raw NHTSA Component: SERVICE BRAKES
Steering System NHTSA ODI ID: #11750510
Filed: 07/15/2026

"The contact owns a 2016 Chevrolet Tahoe. The contact stated that while driving approximately 10 MPH in sand, the vehicle stalled, and the steering wheel seized. The contact turned off the vehicle, jiggled the steering wheel, and waited approximately 10 minutes before restarting the vehicle to..."

Incident Date: 04/15/2026 • Raw NHTSA Component: STEERING,ENGINE
Body & Structure NHTSA ODI ID: #11747435
Filed: 06/30/2026

"THERE IS DELAMINATION HAPPENING ON THE HOOD AND ROOF OF MY CAR AND IS PUTTING THE INTEGRITY OF THE CAR AT RISK WITH BARE METAL BEING EXPOSED TO THE ELEMENTS THUS CAUSING RUST AND BREAK DOWN OF THE STRUCTURE OF THE VEHICLE."

Incident Date: 06/25/2026 • Raw NHTSA Component: STRUCTURE
Other / Miscellaneous NHTSA ODI ID: #11727362
Filed: 03/26/2026

"I live in Lake Charles Louisiana. I have a 2016 Tahoe LTZ my transmission went out ."

Incident Date: 03/23/2026 • Raw NHTSA Component: UNKNOWN OR OTHER
Consumer Narrative Notice: Excerpts are sanitized text descriptions submitted by vehicle owners to the federal ODI database. They reflect the reporting consumer's observations at the time of filing and have not been independently confirmed by vehicle manufacturers or government investigators.

Complaint History for Chevrolet Tahoe

Reported defect complaint volume across sibling model years (2015–2026)

Model Year NHTSA Complaints Crash Reports Safety Recalls Detailed Report
2015 Chevrolet Tahoe 661 30 14 View 2015 Problems →
2016 Chevrolet Tahoe Current Page 256 17 8 Current
2017 Chevrolet Tahoe 173 3 4 View 2017 Problems →
2018 Chevrolet Tahoe 102 6 3 View 2018 Problems →
2019 Chevrolet Tahoe 103 8 2 View 2019 Problems →
2020 Chevrolet Tahoe 55 4 3 View 2020 Problems →
2021 Chevrolet Tahoe 435 9 16 View 2021 Problems →
2022 Chevrolet Tahoe 179 3 4 View 2022 Problems →
2023 Chevrolet Tahoe 207 3 5 View 2023 Problems →
2024 Chevrolet Tahoe 60 1 3 View 2024 Problems →
2025 Chevrolet Tahoe 43 1 1 View 2025 Problems →
2026 Chevrolet Tahoe 0 0 3 View 2026 Problems →
Comparative Disclaimer: Complaint totals are unadjusted historical counts and are not normalized for vehicles sold, active fleet size, or total road mileage. Newer model years naturally have had less calendar exposure time to accumulate owner filings.

Detailed NHTSA Component Breakdown for 2016 Chevrolet Tahoe

Complete distribution of consumer defect reports across all 67 granular NHTSA system and subsystem classifications

Vehicle Component / System Total Complaints Crash Reports Fire Reports Reported Injury Entries Reported Fatality Entries
Service Brakes NHTSA category: SERVICE BRAKES 66 7 0 4 0
Powertrain NHTSA category: POWER TRAIN 29 1 1 0 0
Other / Uncategorized NHTSA category: UNKNOWN OR OTHER 28 2 0 0 0
Engine NHTSA category: ENGINE 10 0 0 0 0
Electrical System NHTSA category: ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 9 0 0 0 0
Suspension NHTSA category: SUSPENSION 8 0 0 0 0
Fuel & Propulsion System NHTSA category: FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 7 0 0 0 0
Air Bags NHTSA category: AIR BAGS 6 2 0 5 0
Structure & Body NHTSA category: STRUCTURE 6 1 0 1 0
Service Brakes NHTSA category: SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC 5 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,UNKNOWN OR OTHER 4 0 0 0 0
EXTERIOR LIGHTING 4 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,ENGINE 3 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 3 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,UNKNOWN OR OTHER 3 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 2 0 0 0 0
ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL (ESC),SERVICE BRAKES 2 0 0 0 0
ENGINE,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 2 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,SERVICE BRAKES 2 0 0 0 0
Seat Belts NHTSA category: SEAT BELTS 2 0 0 0 0
STEERING,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE 2 0 0 0 0
STEERING,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,SERVICE BRAKES 2 0 0 0 0
STEERING,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,UNKNOWN OR OTHER 2 0 0 0 0
STEERING,SERVICE BRAKES 2 0 0 0 0
STRUCTURE,UNKNOWN OR OTHER 2 0 0 0 0
SUSPENSION,UNKNOWN OR OTHER 2 0 0 0 0
Tires NHTSA category: TIRES 2 0 0 0 0
Visibility & Wipers NHTSA category: VISIBILITY/WIPER 2 0 0 0 0
AIR BAGS,SEAT BELTS,SEATS 1 0 0 0 0
AIR BAGS,SEAT BELTS,STRUCTURE 1 1 0 1 0
AIR BAGS,VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,UNKNOWN OR OTHER 1 0 0 0 0
CHEST CLIP, BUCKLE, HARNESS 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,EXTERIOR LIGHTING 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,LANE DEPARTURE 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,SERVICE BRAKES 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,VISIBILITY 1 0 0 0 0
EXTERIOR LIGHTING,ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL (ESC),SERVICE BRAKES 1 0 0 0 0
Forward Collision Avoidance NHTSA category: FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 1 0 0 0 0
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE,LANE DEPARTURE 1 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 1 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 1 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,ENGINE,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 1 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,STRUCTURE,SERVICE BRAKES 1 0 0 0 0
SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC,POWER TRAIN,ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL (ESC) 1 0 0 0 0
SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC,SERVICE BRAKES, AIR,ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL (ESC) 1 0 0 0 0
SERVICE BRAKES,LANE DEPARTURE,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 1 1 0 0 0
Steering NHTSA category: STEERING 1 0 0 0 0
STEERING,AIR BAGS,SERVICE BRAKES 1 1 0 1 0
STEERING,AIR BAGS,WHEELS 1 1 0 0 0
STEERING,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 1 0 0 0 0
STEERING,ENGINE 1 0 0 0 0
STEERING,EQUIPMENT 1 0 0 0 0
STEERING,POWER TRAIN,ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL (ESC) 1 0 0 0 0
STEERING,SUSPENSION 1 0 0 0 0
STEERING,SUSPENSION,BACK OVER PREVENTION 1 0 0 0 0
STEERING,SUSPENSION,UNKNOWN OR OTHER 1 0 0 1 0
STEERING,SUSPENSION,VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL 1 0 0 0 0
STEERING,SUSPENSION,WHEELS 1 0 0 0 0
SUSPENSION,BACK OVER PREVENTION,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 1 0 0 0 0
SUSPENSION,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 1 0 0 0 0
SUSPENSION,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,SERVICE BRAKES 1 0 0 0 0
SUSPENSION,POWER TRAIN 1 0 0 0 0
UNKNOWN OR OTHER,SERVICE BRAKES 1 0 0 0 0
UNKNOWN OR OTHER,SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 1 0 0 0 0
Vehicle Speed Control NHTSA category: VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL 1 0 0 0 0
Visibility / Glass NHTSA category: VISIBILITY 1 0 0 0 0
WHEELS,SERVICE BRAKES 1 0 0 0 0
Data Attribution & Reporting Methodology: Complaints are unverified voluntary submissions to the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI). Because multiple vehicle components can be cited within a single owner complaint submission, component-level rollups may sum to more than the unique complaint count (256). Injury and fatality entries in the detailed table reflect raw values entered by reporting consumers across individual submissions; they are not deduplicated casualty statistics and may include duplicate or unverified entries. Complaint volume is not normalized for sales volume or vehicle mileage and does not represent an audited component failure rate.

Official NHTSA Defect Investigations (1)

1 CLOSED

Formal safety defect inquiries and engineering analyses opened by the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI)

Official Federal Inquiries: NHTSA opens a defect investigation when safety screening or consumer defect trends indicate a potential unreasonable safety risk. An open investigation is a formal inquiry and does not by itself confirm a defect or result in a mandatory recall.
CLOSED Preliminary Evaluation (PE) ODI Action #PE18012
Opened: 2018-11-20 • Closed: 2022-04-10

Brake Vacuum Pump Failure

Affected Component: SERVICE BRAKES

On November 20, 2018, the Office of Defects Investigations (ODI) opened PE18-012 to investigate instances of sudden onset of a hard brake pedal that could result in extended stopping distance due to an issue with the brake assist vacuum pump in model year (MY) 2014 through 2016 GMC Sierra 1500 and Chevrolet Silverado 1500 series pickup trucks and MY 2015 through 2016 Cadillac Escalade, Chevrolet Suburban, Chevrolet Tahoe, and GMC Yukon SUVs.If th...

✓ Resulted in Safety Recall Campaign: 19V645000 Official NHTSA File →

Related Official Reports for 2016 Chevrolet Tahoe

Cross-reference safety recalls, crash test safety ratings, and EPA fuel economy for this model year

Official US Government Data Provenance

The complaint records on this page are retrieved directly from the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) public database.

Local Production Store Compiled: August 2026 • Deterministic Audited Dataset • Zero Dynamic External API Runtime Latency.