AutoUtility currently tracks 266 official NHTSA owner defect complaints for the 2016 GMC Yukon. Exterior Lighting issues are the most frequently reported category, appearing in 104 complaints (39.1% of submitted records). Among these NHTSA complaint records, 4 filings cite a crash, 4 report one or more injuries.

Key Problem Findings
  • Total NHTSA Complaints: 266 reports
  • #1 Reported Problem Area: Exterior Lighting (104 reports • 39.1% of submitted complaints)
  • Secondary Problem Areas: Brakes & Traction Control (57), Electrical System (53)
  • Crash-Citing Complaints: 4 filings
  • Fire-Citing Complaints: 0 filings
  • Complaints Reporting Injuries / Fatalities: 4 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
266
Submitted to NHTSA ODI
Crash-Citing Complaints
4
Filings citing a collision
Fire-Citing Complaints
0
Filings citing smoke or fire
Complaints Reporting Injuries
4
Filings citing one or more injuries
Complaints Reporting Fatalities
0
Consumer filings citing fatalities

Most Reported Problems for 2016 GMC Yukon

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

#1 Problem Area 39.1% of complaints

Exterior Lighting

104 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
✓ 0 crashes or fires cited
#2 Problem Area 21.4% of complaints

Brakes & Traction Control

57 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.
⚠️ 2 crash reports 🩹 1 injury report entry
#3 Problem Area 19.9% of complaints

Electrical System

53 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
✓ 0 crashes or fires cited
#4 Problem Area 12.8% of complaints

Powertrain & Transmission

34 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
✓ 0 crashes or fires cited
#5 Problem Area 10.9% of complaints

Engine & Cooling

29 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
✓ 0 crashes or fires cited
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%.

Recent NHTSA Owner Reports for 2016 GMC Yukon

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

Brakes & Traction Control NHTSA ODI ID: #11759054
Filed: 08/24/2026

"The contact owns a 2016 GMC Yukon. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the brake pedal was depressed; however, the vehicle failed to stop as intended. The contact stated that there was an abnormal sound coming from the vehicle and the ABS warning light was illuminated...."

Incident Date: 08/22/2026 • Raw NHTSA Component: SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC
Steering System NHTSA ODI ID: #11751501
Filed: 07/20/2026

"Power steering intermittently and unexpectedly stops working."

Incident Date: 07/17/2026 • Raw NHTSA Component: STEERING
Powertrain & Transmission NHTSA ODI ID: #11747485
Filed: 06/30/2026

"The contact owns a 2016 GMC Yukon. The contact stated that while the vehicle was at the inspection station for an inspection, the accelerator pedal was depressed; however, the vehicle failed to accelerate as intended. The contact stated that the transmission had seized, and the vehicle failed to..."

Incident Date: 06/30/2026 • Raw NHTSA Component: POWER TRAIN
Brakes & Traction Control NHTSA ODI ID: #11740130
Filed: 05/26/2026

"The contact owns a 2016 GMC Yukon. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the brake pedal became inoperable and failed to engage properly, with no warning lights illuminated. The contact also stated that while the vehicle was parked, excessive force was needed to engage the..."

Incident Date: 05/26/2026 • Raw NHTSA Component: SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC
Powertrain & Transmission NHTSA ODI ID: #11734891
Filed: 04/30/2026

"Transmission went out very early. Had to get it replaced whenever I reverse. I have to really smash on the break in order for it to stop if it does stop so somethings wrong with the breaking whenever I hit a bump the left side suspension feels like I’m a lose control and sometimes my radio works..."

Incident Date: 02/01/2026 • Raw NHTSA Component: POWER TRAIN,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,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 GMC Yukon

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

Model Year NHTSA Complaints Crash Reports Safety Recalls Detailed Report
2015 GMC Yukon 546 10 10 View 2015 Problems →
2016 GMC Yukon Current Page 266 4 5 Current
2017 GMC Yukon 196 10 3 View 2017 Problems →
2018 GMC Yukon 69 2 3 View 2018 Problems →
2019 GMC Yukon 53 0 2 View 2019 Problems →
2020 GMC Yukon 35 0 4 View 2020 Problems →
2021 GMC Yukon 305 9 13 View 2021 Problems →
2022 GMC Yukon 168 1 5 View 2022 Problems →
2023 GMC Yukon 217 1 4 View 2023 Problems →
2024 GMC Yukon 155 0 3 View 2024 Problems →
2025 GMC Yukon 50 0 2 View 2025 Problems →
2026 GMC Yukon 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 GMC Yukon

Complete distribution of consumer defect reports across all 59 granular NHTSA system and subsystem classifications

Vehicle Component / System Total Complaints Crash Reports Fire Reports Reported Injury Entries Reported Fatality Entries
EXTERIOR LIGHTING 80 0 0 0 0
Service Brakes NHTSA category: SERVICE BRAKES 24 2 0 1 0
Powertrain NHTSA category: POWER TRAIN 21 0 0 0 0
Engine NHTSA category: ENGINE 18 0 0 0 0
Electrical System NHTSA category: ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 15 0 0 0 0
Other / Uncategorized NHTSA category: UNKNOWN OR OTHER 14 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,EXTERIOR LIGHTING 12 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,EXTERIOR LIGHTING,SERVICE BRAKES 4 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,SERVICE BRAKES 4 0 0 0 0
ENGINE,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 4 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,ENGINE 4 0 0 0 0
Steering NHTSA category: STEERING 4 0 0 0 0
Air Bags NHTSA category: AIR BAGS 3 2 0 3 0
EXTERIOR LIGHTING,SERVICE BRAKES 3 0 0 0 0
SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 3 0 0 0 0
UNKNOWN OR OTHER,SERVICE BRAKES 3 0 0 0 0
Fuel & Propulsion System NHTSA category: FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 2 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,UNKNOWN OR OTHER 2 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,SERVICE BRAKES 2 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL 2 0 0 0 0
Service Brakes NHTSA category: SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC 2 0 0 0 0
STEERING,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE 2 0 0 0 0
Suspension NHTSA category: SUSPENSION 2 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,AIR BAGS,LANE DEPARTURE 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,EXTERIOR LIGHTING,UNKNOWN OR OTHER 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,SEAT BELTS,SERVICE BRAKES 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,SERVICE BRAKES,ENGINE 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,SERVICE BRAKES,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,STRUCTURE 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,STRUCTURE,UNKNOWN OR OTHER 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,UNKNOWN OR OTHER,ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL (ESC) 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,UNKNOWN OR OTHER,SERVICE BRAKES 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,SEATS 1 0 0 0 0
Equipment & Accessories NHTSA category: EQUIPMENT 1 0 0 0 0
EXTERIOR LIGHTING,LANE DEPARTURE 1 0 0 0 0
EXTERIOR LIGHTING,STRUCTURE,UNKNOWN OR OTHER 1 0 0 0 0
EXTERIOR LIGHTING,UNKNOWN OR OTHER 1 0 0 0 0
EXTERIOR LIGHTING,UNKNOWN OR OTHER,SERVICE BRAKES 1 0 0 0 0
LANE DEPARTURE,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 1 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE 1 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,UNKNOWN OR OTHER 1 0 0 0 0
SERVICE BRAKES,ENGINE 1 0 0 0 0
STEERING,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 1 0 0 0 0
STEERING,POWER TRAIN,WHEELS 1 0 0 0 0
STEERING,SUSPENSION,UNKNOWN OR OTHER 1 0 0 0 0
STEERING,UNKNOWN OR OTHER 1 0 0 0 0
Structure & Body NHTSA category: STRUCTURE 1 0 0 0 0
SUSPENSION,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,SERVICE BRAKES 1 0 0 0 0
SUSPENSION,ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL (ESC) 1 0 0 0 0
SUSPENSION,STRUCTURE 1 0 0 1 0
SUSPENSION,UNKNOWN OR OTHER,ENGINE 1 0 0 0 0
Tires NHTSA category: TIRES 1 0 0 0 0
UNKNOWN OR OTHER,ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL (ESC) 1 0 0 0 0
Vehicle Speed Control NHTSA category: VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL 1 0 0 0 0
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,SERVICE BRAKES 1 0 0 0 0
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 1 0 0 0 0
VISIBILITY,UNKNOWN OR OTHER 1 0 0 0 0
Visibility & Wipers NHTSA category: VISIBILITY/WIPER 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 (266). 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 →
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.