These Are The GMC Yukon Years You Might Want To Avoid (According To Owners)

The GMC Yukon has been apart of the company's lineup for over 30 years now. Although its badge-engineered sister vehicle, the Chevrolet Tahoe, has outsold it for many years now, the Yukon has been around for three years longer, going all the way back to 1991. Even with that internal competition and being such a stalwart, the full-size SUV has been having something of a resurgence, as the last four years have been the best-selling for the Yukon over the last 20 years. This corresponds with the introduction of the SUV's fifth generation. While the newest version may be the hot product, the previous four generations still sold quite well, and they have a good number of model years that are quality vehicles that would make for great options on the used market.

Any vehicle that has been able to stick around for over three decades is bound to have plenty of models to recommend. However, that time also means there are going to be quite a few down years as well. Peppered throughout all five generations of the GMC Yukon are model years that have given owners far more problems than other years, leading to exorbitant repair costs that no car owner ever wants to get. Here, we are going to look at six different model years that should be avoided on the used market. These selections are based on a number of factors, such as the number of problems reported by drivers, reliability and owner satisfaction ratings, and the number of recalls issued.

Going back to the first generation of any vehicle for your next used car is always going to be a little tricky, as its newness will typically bring about some issues that the automaker irons out with each year. You might think that the final year of the first generation GMC Yukon would be its best, but in actuality, the 1999 model year for the SUV is arguably the worst of those early vehicles. This could simply be a symptom of it being a model year that is more likely to have substantial owner feedback because of it being firmly in the Internet era, but even if that weren't the case, there are still plenty of complaints from drivers regarding this Yukon model.

The number of reported issues from drivers on CarComplaints seems quite small at just 17, but when you consider no other model year from this generation has more than three, that is an alarming increase in complaints. They range from doors not closing properly because of poor materials to the interior lights only working intermittently. The 1999 Yukon also has the most complaints of this generation submitted to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration with 96 total. Here, there are two clear issues that stand above the rest. The first is with the driver's seat tendency to break. The second is a variety of issues with the brakes, including brake failure and brake locking. Not helping matters is that none of the seven recalls address these complaints.

We go from a model year late in a generation to a very early one for our next entry. The second generation already got off to a rocky start with the 2000 GMC Yukon, but unfortunately, problems only increased for the 2001 model year. This model year saw a new high in the number of complaints from drivers, and the majority of them all boiled down to one specific area: the brakes. Over on CarComplaints, 14 of the 32 submitted issues from drivers were about problems with the brake system, with most of them being about a total failure. Considering how important braking is in one's driving, this is a pretty major component to have fail this consistently.

The numbers from the NHTSA bear this out even more clearly. In the nearly 430 complaints made to the institution, about one-quarter of them had to do with brake problems. However, the complaints here show there may be much more wrong with the 2001 Yukon than just the brakes. They cover a wide range of problems including poor engine cooling and faulty air bags. This particular model has been the subject of eight separate investigations by the NHTSA and has resulted in 11 total recalls. Only one of those recalls dealt with the brakes, and that didn't even address complaints related to the parking brake. Not only that, but in the NHTSA's own testing, it found the front barrier performed quite poorly for the driver in a head-on collision.

You would hope that the second generation of the GMC Yukon would be able to improve after that 2001 model year, but that was not the case. In fact, the complaints would actually go up, and the peak of those complaints would be for the 2003 model year. With 64 submitted complaints  on CarComplaints, the 2003 Yukon has the third-most of any model year for the SUV. The number of complaints made to the NHTSA also increased, going up to 515 total. The rise in complaints is due to GMC not addressing the issues that had already plagued this generation in conjunction with new issues that drivers found with this particular model year.

According to both CarComplaints and the NHTSA, the brakes were still among the biggest problems for drivers, with many instances of brake failures all around. Despite this being still a prevalent issue, it is not even the number one complaint drivers have with this model. Over on CarComplaints, it was the engine stalling or dying that was the source of the most number of complaints. For drivers reporting to the NHTSA, it was electrical system failures that made up nearly one-third of the complaints, ranging from not being able to turn on the car to the headlights not working. Neither of these top complaints have been addressed by the eight recalls issued for the vehicle.

The second generation of the GMC Yukon came with a lot of complaints, so it is something of a disappointment that the first model year of the SUV's third generation garnered the most complaints from drives thus far. Overall, the 2007 Yukon has the second-most of any Yukon model year, and these are the kinds of numbers you would hope would be avoided a decade and a half into a vehicle's production. If there is one positive, the brake complaints have been drastically reduced, but they have been replaced by a bevy of other issues.

According to drivers on CarComplaints, it is the engine that is causing the greatest number of issues, accounting for 42 of the 97 total complaints. While there are instances of engine failure and difficulty starting, the main problem with the engine is excessive oil consumption, leading to repair costs that the site averages at over $2,000. People start to see this problem before the vehicle hits 72,000, so if you're getting one of these used, you could be in for a world of hurt very quickly.

The 2007 Yukon also has the most complaints submitted to the NHTSA thus far with a whopping 766 total complaints. Unlike the drivers on CarComplaints, it is the air bags that are the overwhelming source of the most complaints with nearly 350. There are so many instances or air bags inadvertently deploying, and while there are two air bag recalls issued for this model, that still doesn't seem to be enough to stop the problems. Look at later years in the third generation and stay away from the 2007 GMC Yukon.

Amazingly, the third generation did not begin with what would be the most problematic model year for the GMC Yukon. That would actually be the first model year of the fourth generation. While the 2015 Yukon does not have the most complaints made by drivers to the NHTSA, it does have the most by drivers submitted to CarComplaints of any model year. With 205 total complaints on the site, it more than doubles the previous high of 97 from the 2007 model. That is a staggering jump in problems, and the over 522 made to the NHTSA still makes it one of the more problematic model years.

One thing the drivers submitting their complaints to both sources can agree on is that there is a serious problem with the taillights. There are hundreds of reports of people's taillights not turning on at all. While this doesn't seem as severe as something like engine failure, these lights not working can be a serious safety hazard on the road. Beyond that, it is a legal requirement to have functioning taillights, and you could get a ticket without it ever being your fault. Despite this being the number one complaint, no recall has been issued for this problem.

Instead, the ten recalls cover other issues including faulty air bags, loss of power steering, and a software malfunction that causes unintended braking. This is also the first model year to get a reliability rating from drivers surveyed by Consumer Reports, which averaged out to a paltry 17 out of 100. The 2015 GMC Yukon is one of the most avoidable GMC models of all time.

For the final entry on this list, we look to one of the most recent model years for the GMC Yukon, and it is once again the first model year of a generation. Ironically, the 2021 model year is when sales started skyrocketing for the SUV, but that just meant that more owners could find problems with their new vehicle. Despite this model only being around for a few years, the NHTSA has issued a rather remarkable 12 recalls for the Yukon. These have been for issues concerning malfunctioning air bag indicator lights, failing rear wheel driveshaft assemblies, leaking fuel tanks, and more. There have even been three separate recalls for poorly built seat belts.

Overall, the NHTSA has received 88 complaints from drivers. That doesn't seem like a lot compared to the other models on this list, but when you consider how little time this model year has been on the road, that is quite a lot. Some of these complaints have been addressed by the dozen recalls, but some haven't. There are cases of accelerators not working, engine failure, motor failure, air bag failure, and transmission slipping. These are the kinds of problems you would more likely expect to see with a car with a lot of wear and tear on it, but this 2021 GMC Yukon is showing itself to be an immensely unreliable vehicle. Making that even more clear is the truly abysmal 5 out of 100 reliability rating from drivers surveyed by Consumer Reports. Despite SlashGear's initial positive review, time hasn't been kind.

With over 30 model years of the GMC Yukon to choose from, the six that ended up on this list came down to the opinions of actual drivers. First and foremost was the number of complaints drivers have faced with each model year. These numbers were taken from sources such as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the government institution tasked will collecting driver complaints and issuing recalls for vehicles, and CarComplaints, a website where drivers can submit their vehicular issues. The more complaints levied against a model year meant it was more likely to end up on this list.

Beyond the number of complaints, there were the reliability and owner satisfaction scores from drivers collected from publications like Consumer Reports, which survey actual owners of vehicle for their opinions on a variety of different elements. Lastly, the number of recalls a certain model year underwent was important, because many recalls show a consistency in the poor build quality of the SUV.