2016 Gmc YUKON DENALI XL 1500 - Ratings, Complaints and Recalls

The 2016 GMC Yukon Denali XL 1500 has received an overall safety rating of 4 out of 5, indicating above-average safety measures. It scored well in the front and side crash tests, with a perfect 5-star rating in the overall side crash category. Although it received a 3-star rating for rollover, it is notable that this vehicle comes equipped with standard electronic stability control, which can help prevent rollovers and skidding, and it also offers optional forward collision warning and lane departure warning systems to enhance safety.

In terms of complaints and recalls, there have been 432 complaints reported for this model, along with 5 recalls. Despite these numbers, the overall safety features and ratings of the GMC Yukon Denali XL 1500 make it a good choice for those looking for a safe and reliable SUV option.

Top stats at a glance

Complaint Count

432

Recall Count

5

Investigation Count

1

Safety Rating

4/5

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Safety Features

2016 GMC Yukon Denali XL 1500 SUV 4WD Safety Features

Here are the safety features that come as standard on the 2016 GMC Yukon Denali XL 1500 SUV 4WD

Electronic Stability Control (ESC)

ESC is an advanced safety feature in vehicles designed to help drivers maintain control during challenging driving conditions. By continuously monitoring various factors such as steering angle, vehicle speed, and individual wheel speeds, ESC can detect and reduce the risk of skidding or loss of control. It achieves this by automatically applying brakes to specific wheels to stabilize the vehicle.

Standard
Forward Collision Warning (FCW)

Forward Collision Warning (FCW) is a safety feature in vehicles that helps prevent frontal collisions by alerting the driver of an imminent collision with a vehicle or obstacle ahead. Using sensors such as radar or cameras, FCW monitors the distance and speed of vehicles in front, and if it detects a potential collision, it provides visual and/or auditory warnings to prompt the driver to take evasive action.

Optional
Lane Departure Warning (LDW)

Lane Departure Warning (LDW) is a safety feature in vehicles that alerts drivers when their vehicle unintentionally drifts out of its lane without signaling. Utilizing cameras or sensors to monitor lane markings on the road, LDW detects when the vehicle crosses these lines and triggers visual, auditory, or haptic alerts to notify the driver of potential lane departure.

Optional

2016 GMC Yukon Denali XL 1500 SUV 4WD Safety Ratings

Here we have the crash and rollover ratings for the 2016 GMC Yukon Denali XL 1500 SUV 4WD Where possible we've included the ratings for the oldest and latest models of this car so you can compare how the safety ratings have changed over time.

Frontal Crash Ratings

Combines Driver and Passenger star ratings into a single frontal rating. The frontal barrier test simulates a head-on collision between two similar vehicles, each moving at 35 mph.

Test 2012 Score 2016 Score 2017 Score
Overall Front Crash Rating 5 4 4
Front Crash Driver Side Rating 5 4 4
Front Crash Passenger Side Rating 5 4 4

Side Crash Ratings

Combines Side Barrier and Side Pole Star Ratings into a single side rating.

Test 2012 Score 2016 Score 2017 Score
Overall Side Crash Rating 5 5 5
Side Crash Drivers Side Rating 5 5 5
Side Crash Passenger Side Rating 5 5 5
Combined Side Barrier Pole Rating - Front 5 5 5
Combined Side Barrier Pole Rating - Rear 5 5 5
Overall Side Barrier Rating 5 5 5

Rollover Ratings

The Rollover Resistance test measures the risk of rollover in a single-vehicle, loss-of-control scenario.

Test 2012 Score 2016 Score 2017 Score
Rollover Rating 3 3 3
Rollover Possibility % 0% 0% 0%
Dynamic Tip Result No Tip No Tip No Tip
Side Pole Crash Rating 5 4 4

Complaints for the 2016 Gmc YUKON DENALI XL 1500

This chart show the number of complaints for each car component. A Higher number of complaints could indicate that this car might have a common fault. Something to look out for when purchasing one.

Component Complaints

Choose a component to see what complaints people have made about them.

Complaint:
"the rear taillights both went out due to a design issue with the led circuit board - where the connections on the board crack and cause the lights to fail"
Components Involved: EXTERIOR LIGHTING
Date of incident: 2024-03-06

Complaint:
"the oem led taillights can fail due to a manufacturing deficiency. a metal strip that connects the led's to the cars taillight circuit develops a crack and interrupts current flow to the taillight led's. the above is common knowledge to the car community and is searchable on line. concerns: 1) if both taillights are failed at the same time the vehicle doesn't have any of the required visible markings, especially at night. 2) from an economic point of view, unlike vehicles that use incandescent light bulbs that are easily replaced when burnt out, these led light assemblies have to be completely replaced to the cost of several hundred dollars plus labor which could/will lead to the neglecting of this repair because of the economics. 3) unlike incandescent bulbs, led's are should last much longer to the point of outlasting the life of the vehicle. this isn't the case when there is a manufacturing defect. in my case on 10/21/21 the defective taillight assemblies was replace under a defective taillight extended warranty agreement. i requested to have both replaced because of the odds of the second one failing. they refused. so when the opposite side assembly failed recently i was out of the extended warrant date resulting in a cost to me of $392.88 labor included. in conclusion, the well documented failure of the above taillight assemblies leads to vehicles being non conforming to fmvss."
Components Involved: EXTERIOR LIGHTING
Date of incident: 2023-09-08

Complaint:
"passenger taillight goes out. replaced it twice now and now i have to do it again a 3rd time. they know of this issue but have done nothing to fix it or offer anything to help cover cost"
Components Involved: EXTERIOR LIGHTING
Date of incident: 2022-08-07

Complaint:
"both rail lights went out at the same time. no reason whatsoever"
Components Involved: EXTERIOR LIGHTING
Date of incident: 2025-06-01

Complaint:
"the taillights, which included both the brake lights and running lights, quit working or only worked intermittently. safety was put at risk because anytime we drove the vehicle in the dark (which is often!) the rear of the vehicle could not be seen, and the brake lights would not be activated when braking would occur, either day or night. this made us more likely to be in an accident, in my opinion, though thankfully we were not. our regular mechanic did confirm that the lights were only working only intermittently, thought he did not have a solution but for replacing them, which would cost $800 a piece. there was no warning for this problem, the issue first appeared a year ago and we've been dealing with it since. i was finally able to purchase remanufactured taillights."
Components Involved: EXTERIOR LIGHTING
Date of incident: 2021-01-09

Complaint:
"r rear taillight and brake light does not work and no indicator light to warn me. do not know how long its been out. afraid to drive. had it checked and found special policy n182180270 . i contacted dealer and they said it would be $69.00 to just verify issue. contacted manufacture and was told it was out of coverage by less than 100 days. the vehicle has less than 40,000 miles and stays in garage. case # 9-8269822 they said it had to be inspected by dealer that is a 40 mile round trip though traffic with no brake light , not safe especially when the instructions on the policy states just to turn light on and verify if it works ,if not replace unit."
Components Involved: EXTERIOR LIGHTING
Date of incident: 2024-06-08

Complaint:
"left tail light flickers, after reading internet comments learned that tail light board connections are made of very flimsy metal material, they crack with normal vehicle operations. led lamps are fine but the power connections to the lamps breaks therefore it renders taillights useless. replacement cost of those lamps are $700-$800 parts alone. on the internet there is some information i’ll attach that pdf"
Components Involved: EXTERIOR LIGHTING
Date of incident: 2022-08-08

Complaint:
"the contact owns a 2016 gmc yukon. the contact stated that she was notified by a police officer that the passenger’s side taillight was inoperable. additionally, the driver’s side taillight was flashing. the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. the dealer was contacted and stated that the vehicle was not under recall. the manufacturer was not contacted. the failure mileage was 81,000."
Components Involved: EXTERIOR LIGHTING
Date of incident: 2022-01-04

Complaint:
"the contact owns a 2016 gmc yukon. the contact stated that while driving at various speeds, he was notified by other motorists that the brake lights were inoperable. upon inspection, the contact discovered that the brake lights were intermittently inoperable while depressing the brake pedal. the dealer was notified about the failure and scheduled an appointment. the manufacturer was not notified of the failure. the vehicle was not repaired. the failure mileage was approximately 77,000."
Components Involved: EXTERIOR LIGHTING
Date of incident: 2022-12-07

Complaint:
"passage tail, brake light works when it want. one day it work the next day it don’t! i’m scared that i will get pulled by the police or somebody hit me in the back."
Components Involved: EXTERIOR LIGHTING
Date of incident: 2022-01-06

GMC Overall Complaint Ranking

This table shows the ranking of car manufacturers when it comes to most complaints and recalls. The manufacturer with the most complaints is at the top. However this doesn't necassarily mean they should be avoided. Some manufacturers might just have more popular or affordable cars which a lot of people have bought. Which means there's more scope for a complaint to be made. Use the ranking table below as a part your wider research into buying a car.

GMC ranks 8 out of 44 in the complaints ranking table.

Manufacturer Complaint Count Recall Count Ranking
FORD 208,358 3,259 1
CHEVROLET 111,306 2,082 2
TOYOTA 81,019 1,852 3
HONDA 61,937 1,268 4
NISSAN 56,226 930 5
DODGE 45,756 827 6
HYUNDAI 44,150 649 7
GMC 34,441 1,410 8
KIA 29,832 501 9
CHRYSLER 27,698 254 10
TESLA 26,230 730 11
BMW 24,890 1,877 12
VOLKSWAGEN 23,125 829 13
MERCEDES-BENZ 19,066 2,925 14
SUBARU 18,513 703 15
MAZDA 10,599 364 16
PONTIAC 10,430 138 17
CADILLAC 9,434 444 18
AUDI 7,865 1,093 19
BUICK 7,851 279 20
SATURN 7,672 84 21
MERCURY 7,374 135 22
LEXUS 6,373 408 23
LINCOLN 5,897 423 24
ACURA 5,722 382 25
MINI 5,585 366 26
INFINITI 4,000 187 27
MITSUBISHI 3,912 397 28
VOLVO 3,875 727 29
PORSCHE 2,646 1,231 30
SUZUKI 2,272 123 31
FIAT 2,205 80 32
SAAB 1,536 76 33
JAGUAR 1,195 198 34
SMART 528 17 35
GENESIS 436 42 36
ISUZU 249 37 37
ALFA ROMEO 161 37 38
MASERATI 76 46 39
BENTLEY 46 159 40
POLESTAR 42 2 41
LUCID 14 6 42
CODA 4 2 43
MAYBACH 0 0 44

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