CSR

GMC · NHTSA safety record

2013 GMC Yukon XL

Every safety complaint, recall and defect investigation the US government holds on this vehicle.

22

Complaints

1

Crashes

0

Fires

0

Injuries

0

Deaths

Owners of the 2013 GMC Yukon XL have filed 22 safety complaints with NHTSA between November 2015 and March 2025. The most complained-about system is the body structure, named in 10 of them (45%). The typical failure was reported at 65,000 miles, the median across the 17 complaints that gave an odometer reading.

NHTSA has issued 4 recalls covering this vehicle. A further 1 defect investigation is open and unresolved.

Recalls (4)

AIR BAGS:FRONTAL:PASSENGER SIDE:INFLATOR MODULE

21V054000 · February 5, 2021

The defect
General Motors, LLC (GM) is recalling certain 2014 Cadillac Escalade, Escalade ESV, Chevrolet Silverado 2500, Silverado 3500, Suburban, Tahoe, GMC Sierra 2500, Sierra 3500, Yukon, and Yukon XL vehicles originally sold, or ever registered, in the states of AL, CA, FL, GA, HI, LA, MS, SC, TX, PR, AS, GU, the MP, and VI or "Zone A." Additionally GM is recalling certain 2011-2014 Cadillac Escalade, Escalade ESV, Chevrolet Silverado 2500, Silverado 3500, Suburban, Tahoe, GMC Sierra 2500, Sierra 3500, Yukon, Yukon XL and 2011-2013 Cadillac Escalade EXT, Chevrolet Avalanche, Silverado 1500, and GMC Sierra 1500 vehicles originally sold, or ever registered, in the states of AZ, AR, DE, DC, IL, IN, KS, KY, MD, MO, NE, NV, NJ, NM, NC, OH, OK, PA, TN, VA, and WV or "Zone B." Additionally, GM is recalling certain 2010-2014 Cadillac Escalade, Escalade ESV, Chevrolet Silverado 2500, Silverado 3500, Suburban, Tahoe, GMC Sierra 2500, Sierra 3500, Yukon, and Yukon XL and 2010-2013 Cadillac Escalade EXT, Chevrolet Avalanche, Silverado 1500, and GMC Sierra 1500 vehicles originally sold, or ever registered, in the states of AK, CO, CT, ID, IA, ME, MA, MI, MN, MT, NH, NY, ND, OR, RI, SD, UT, VT, WA, WI, and WY or "Zone C." These vehicles are equipped with non-desiccated passenger frontal inflators containing phase-stabilized ammonium nitrate (PSAN) propellant. These inflators may explode due to propellant degradation occurring after long-term exposure to high absolute humidity, high temperatures, and high temperature cycling.
The risk
An inflator explosion may result in sharp metal fragments striking the driver or other occupants, resulting in serious injury or death.
The remedy
GM will notify owners, and dealers will replace the front passenger air bag inflator with an alternate one, free of charge. Interim letters notifying owners of the safety risk were mailed on February 25, 2021. Second notification letters will be mailed once the remedy is available. Owner notification letters were mailed to 40 VIN owners on May 11, 2021. A second owner notification letter was mailed to all other owners on January 24, 2022. Owners may contact Chevrolet customer service at 1-800-222-1020; Cadillac customer service at 1-800-458-8006; and GMC customer service at 1-800-462-8782. GM's number for this recall is N212328800.

General Motors, LLC · up to 1,778,128 vehicles across all model years covered

AIR BAGS:FRONTAL:PASSENGER SIDE:INFLATOR MODULE

21V053000 · February 5, 2021

The defect
General Motors, LLC (GM) is recalling certain 2013 Cadillac Escalade, Escalade ESV, and Escalade EXT, Chevrolet Avalanche, Silverado 1500, Silverado 2500/3500, Suburban, Tahoe, GMC Sierra 1500, Sierra 2500/3500, Yukon, and Yukon XL vehicles originally sold, or ever registered, in the states of Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands (Saipan), and the U.S. Virgin Islands or "Zone A." Additionally, GM is recalling certain 2010 Cadillac Escalade, Escalade ESV, and Escalade EXT, Chevrolet Avalanche, Silverado 1500, Silverado 2500/3500, Suburban, Tahoe, GMC Sierra 1500, Sierra 2500/3500, Yukon, and Yukon XL vehicles originally sold, or ever registered in the states of Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, District of Columbia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia or "Zone B." Additionally, GM is recalling certain 2009 Cadillac Escalade, Escalade ESV, and Escalade EXT, Chevrolet Avalanche, Silverado 1500, Silverado 2500/3500, Suburban, Tahoe, GMC Sierra 1500, Sierra 2500/3500, Yukon, and Yukon XL vehicles originally sold, or ever registered, in the states of Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, New York, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming or "Zone C."
The risk
An inflator explosion may result in sharp metal fragments striking the driver or other occupants, resulting in serious injury or death.
The remedy
GM will notify owners, and dealers will replace the front passenger air bag inflator with an alternate one, free of charge. Interim letters notifying owners of the safety risk were mailed on February 24, 2021. Second notification letters will be mailed once the remedy is available. Owner notification letters were mailed on May 11, 2021. Owners may contact Cadillac customer service at 1-800-458-8006; Chevrolet customer service at 1-800-222-1020; and GMC customer service at 1-800-462-8782. GM's number for this recall is N212328790.

General Motors, LLC · up to 692,526 vehicles across all model years covered

ELECTRICAL SYSTEM

14V614000 · October 1, 2014

The defect
General Motors LLC (GM) is recalling certain model year 2013-2014 Cadillac CTS, Escalade, Escalade ESV, Chevrolet Suburban, Tahoe, GMC Yukon, and Yukon XL, and 2014 Buick Enclave, Chevrolet Express, Impala, Silverado HD, Traverse, GMC Acadia, Savana, and Sierra HD vehicles. In the affected vehicles, the chassis electronic module may be internally contaminated, resulting in an electrical short.
The risk
If the module experiences an electrical short, the vehicle could stall, increasing the risk of a crash.
The remedy
GM will notify owners, and dealers will replace the chassis electronic module, free of charge. The recall began on December 26, 2014. Owners may contact GM customer service at 1-800-521-7300 (Buick), 1-800-458-006 (Cadillac), 1-800-222-1020 (Chevrolet), and 1-800-462-8782 (GMC). GM’s number for this recall is 14515.

General Motors LLC · up to 106,307 vehicles across all model years covered

STEERING:COLUMN LOCKING:ANTI-THEFT DEVICE

13V001000 · January 2, 2013

The defect
General Motors (GM) is recalling certain model year 2013 Cadillac Escalade, Escalade ESV, and Escalade EXT; Chevrolet Avalanche, Express, Silverado HD, Silverado LD, Suburban, and Tahoe; and GMC Savana, Sierra HD, Sierra LD, Yukon, and Yukon XL vehicles, manufactured between November 7, 2012, through December 18, 2012, for failing to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 102, "Transmission Shift Lever Sequence, Starter Interlock, and Transmission Braking Effect", and FMVSS No. 114, "Theft Protection and Rollaway Prevention." The vehicles may have been built with a fractured park lock cable or a malformed steering column lock actuator gear in the lock module assembly.
The risk
As a result, the vehicle may shift from Park with the ignition key removed or the ignition key in the OFF position. The vehicle may also shift out of Park without application of the brake pedal while the key is off. Either of these scenarios may cause the vehicle to roll away after the driver has exited the vehicle, resulting in a possible vehicle crash and/or injury.
The remedy
GM will notify owners, and dealers will inspect the affected vehicles and replace the steering column as necessary, free of charge. The recall began on January 21, 2013. Chevrolet owners may call 1-800-630-2438. Cadillac owners may call 1-866-982-2339. GMC owners may call 1-866-996-9463.

General Motors LLC · up to 54,686 vehicles across all model years covered

Defect investigations (1)

An investigation means NHTSA has decided a pattern is worth examining. A preliminary evaluation is often closed with no action; an engineering analysis is the stage that usually precedes a recall.

Desiccated Air Bag Inflator Rupture

EA21002

Still open engineering analysis · opened September 17, 2021

the air bags

From 2000 through 2017, Takata produced millions of air bag inflators using two types of phase-stabilized ammonium nitrate ("PSAN") propellant -- propellant 2004 and propellant 2004L. After prolonged exposure to high temperature cycles and humidity, inflators using propellant 2004 can degrade, causing the propellant to burn too quickly when ignited. The rapid burning can cause the inflator to rupture during deployment, potentially causing serious or even fatal injury to vehicle occupants. See 2016 Blomquist Report at www.nhtsa.gov/sites/nhtsa.gov/files/documents/expert_report-hrblomquist.pdf.Consequently, all frontal inflators using propellant 2004 that do not contain a "desiccant" (a substance that traps and holds moisture) in US vehicles are under recall. These "non-desiccated" inflators either have been or are required to be replaced.In some cases, the remedy part for these recalled inflators was, or will be, an inflator using either propellant 2004 or 2004L that does contain a desiccant. None of these "desiccated" remedy parts (which were installed in older model year vehicles) are currently under recall for a degradation concern. Certain subsets of desiccated PSAN inflators using propellant 2004 for use as original equipment, however, have been recalled for a degradation concern. All Takata inflators produced with propellant 2004L contain desiccant, and none of these desiccated inflators using propellant 2004L are under recall for a degradation concern. There have been no reported field ruptures in any non-recalled desiccated PSAN inflators.It is understood that desiccants fully saturate at some threshold, at which point any additional moisture will not be captured. This means the degradation process observed in non-desiccated inflators using propellant 2004 may also occur in non-recalled desiccated inflators using propellant 2004, assuming additional moisture enters the inflator and high temperature cycling occurs. Based on available information, desiccant saturation can occur within the first five years in the worst environments, and the time required for full saturation is affected by multiple factors. While no present safety risk has been identified, further work is needed to evaluate the future risk of non-recalled desiccated inflators using propellant 2004.Three entities -- Takata (now known as TK Global), the Independent Testing Coalition, and Exponent -- have been studying the long-term behavior of Takata desiccated PSAN inflators using propellant 2004L (as well as 2004) in the presence of moisture and temperature cycling. The research efforts, which include development of predictive modeling techniques and field sample analysis, are ongoing. To date, none of the researchers have identified field evidence showing that propellant 2004L is undergoing a degradation process that leads to aggressive deployment and potential rupture. However, the time in service of such inflators remains short compared to that of the inflators using propellant 2004. Further study is needed to assess the long-term safety of desiccated inflators using propellant 2004L.The Office of Defects Investigation is opening this investigation to examine whether a safety defect related to propellant degradation exists in non-recalled desiccated PSAN frontal inflators manufactured by Takata. This investigation will require extensive information on Takata production processes and surveys of inflators in the field. Lists of recall actions that may have used desiccated PSAN inflators as remedy parts, as well as the makes and models originally manufactured with them, is available with the downloadable version of this document (see nhtsa.gov/recalls?nhtsaId=EA21002 -- note this information is subject to change/revision as the investigation proceeds). This investigation does not supersede EA15-001, which remains open.

What owners report

Complaints naming each system. One complaint can name several, so these add up to more than 22.

STRUCTURE 10 45%
UNKNOWN OR OTHER 7 32%
AIR BAGS 5 23%
ENGINE 1 5%
SEAT BELTS 1 5%
SERVICE BRAKES 1 5%
VISIBILITY 1 5%

When the complaints arrived

By the year NHTSA received them, which is not the year the failures happened. They peaked in 2016 at 8.

2015 2016 2025
2015 to 2025

In owners' own words

Quoted from NHTSA's complaint file. These are unverified accounts by the people who filed them, not findings of fault.

SERVICE BRAKES

crash · towed · 70,000 miles

TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 2013 GMC YUKON XL. WHILE THE VEHICLE WAS PARKED WITH THE IGNITION OFF, THE CONTACT HEARD AN ABNORMALLY LOUD POP EMIT FROM THE VEHICLE. THE CONTACT STATED THAT THE VEHICLE THEN BEGAN TO ROLL AND CRASHED INTO A BRICK WALL. THE CONTACT STATED THAT THE FAILURE OCCURRED PREVIOUSLY, BUT SHE WAS ABLE TO GET BACK IN THE VEHICLE AND STOP IT BEFORE IT BEGAN TO ROLL. THE CONTACT STATED THAT THERE WAS DAMAGE TO THE FRONT END AND REAR OF THE VEHICLE DUE TO THE IMPACT OF THE TRAILER THAT WAS HITCHED TO THE REAR OF THE VEHICLE. THE CONTACT STATED THAT THE AIR BAGS FAILED TO DEPLOY. A POLICE REPORT WAS FILED. THERE WERE NO INJURIES SUSTAINED. THE VEHICLE WAS TOWED TO THE CONTACT'S

NHTSA complaint 10794639, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

ENGINE

150,000 miles

The contact owns a 2013 GMC Yukon XL. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, there was an abnormal sound coming from the engine compartment. No warning light was illuminated; however, the "Service Engine" message was displayed on the instrument panel. The vehicle was taken to a dealer where it was diagnosed that the lifters needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired; however, the failure persisted. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer where it was diagnosed that the lifters needed to be replaced once again. The vehicle was repaired however, the failure persisted. The vehicle was taken to a dealer again to be diagnosed; however, the cause of the failure was not

NHTSA complaint 11647881, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

AIR BAGS

156,000 miles

The contact owns a 2013 GMC Yukon XL. The contact stated that the air bag warning light was illuminated. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 21V053000 (Air Bags) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The local dealer was contacted. The dealer informed the contact that should the dashboard get cracked, replacing the dashboard would be at his expense. The contact called another local dealer, Cannon Motors LLC (100 N Thacker Lp., Oxford, MS 38655), who informed the contact about the dashboard possibly being cracked and the associated fees. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a

NHTSA complaint 11594210, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

AIR BAGS
I HAVE A MESSAGE ON MY DASH STATING TO SERVICE AIRBAG I'M AFRAID FOR MY SAFETY OR THE SAFETY OF MY PASSENGER DUE TO THIS MESSAGE INVOLVING THE AIRBAG

NHTSA complaint 11133317. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

AIR BAGS
THERE IS A CRACK IN MY DASHBOARD THAT COULD SERIOUS INJURY OR DEATH IF THE AIRBAGS DEPLOY.

NHTSA complaint 11113880. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

STRUCTURE:BODY
DEFECT CAUSED DASH TO CRACK AT THE PASSANGER AIRBAG, I AM CONCERNED ABOUT MY CHILDREN BEING INJURED FROM THE CRACKED DASH AS WELL AS THE SHARDS FLYING AND INJURING MY CHILD IF I WERE TO BE IN AN ACCIDENT.

NHTSA complaint 11081954. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

AIR BAGS

60,000 miles

DASHBOARD CRACKED BY FRONT PASSENGER AIRBAG. SPONTANEOUS CRACK WITH NO EXTERNAL CAUSE. IT WAS NOT A HOT DAY. STATIONARY VEHICLE.

NHTSA complaint 11055289. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

Compare

Other years of the GMC Yukon XL

Model year Complaints Recalls Deaths
2026 23 3
2025 23 1
2024 62 2
2023 193 4
2022 152 4
2021 202 12
2020 45 2
2019 66 2
2018 52 2
2017 144 1
2016 199 3
2015 306 2
2014 11 3
2012 13 4
2011 47 3
2010 28 3

Other 2013 GMC models

Every GMC on this site — 144 vehicles, 425 recall campaigns and 3 open investigation s.

If this is your car and a dealer keeps failing to fix it, your state's lemon law may require the manufacturer to replace it or buy it back. What each state asks for , read from the statutes.

Where these numbers come from

A complaint is one owner's account and has not been verified by NHTSA or by us. A vehicle with more complaints is not necessarily worse: models that sold in larger numbers collect more of them. How this is counted.

Compiled and maintained by
Independent developer and analyst