2009 GMC Yukon Denali: what breaks, and at what mileage
What breaks on the 2009 GMC Yukon Denali
On the 2009 GMC Yukon Denali, the failure owners report most often is other body or interior problem, and the reports cluster around 75,000 miles. Across every failure mode on this year, half the dated reports were filed before 72,500 miles. Overall it scores 67 out of 100, high risk for a 2009.
High risk for a 2009 — 214th riskiest of the 295 2009 vehicles we can rate. 59 owner reports; fleet size borrowed from other years of the same model.
The failures owners actually file about
Owners have reported 7 named failure modes on the 2009 GMC Yukon Denali, and the three most-reported carry 51% of everything filed.
Other body or interior problem leads with 14 reports, about 139 per 1,000 vehicles and with the middle half of reports between 64k to 100,000 miles.
Airbag inflator rupture follows with 10 reports, median 35,000 miles.
Steering column or shaft failure follows with 6 reports, median 125,000 miles.
By system, the reports fall mostly into body (14), airbag (11) and steering (6).
The mileage the reports cluster at
41 of the reports on the 2009 GMC Yukon Denali came with an odometer reading, and half of those were filed before 72,500 miles.
Cumulatively, 22% by 50,000 miles and 73% by 100,000 miles of the dated reports had been filed.
The busiest stretch is between 60,000 and 70,000 miles, which alone holds 20% of the dated reports.
17% of the dated reports were filed below 36,000 miles.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
How reports accumulate
Every report with an odometer reading, cumulative, from 0 to 200,000 miles. A curve that climbs early is a car with early problems, whatever its total.
- Line share of reports filed by that mileage
- Dashed the median reported mileage
How bad it is when it goes
Across the named modes, 1 mentions a crash, 1 a fire and 1 an injury. Those are the words owners used in their own complaints, and NHTSA does not verify them, but they are the closest thing in this data to a measure of what a failure actually did.
The average severity weight across every report on this year is 3.73, where a stalled engine or a failed airbag weighs many times more than a rattling trim panel, and a figure this high means the reports are dominated by failures with safety consequences rather than annoyances. The weighting is set out in full on the methodology page.
What the top failures cost to put right, as editorial estimates for an independent US shop rather than figures from NHTSA: other body or interior problem at $200–$2,000, airbag inflator rupture at $0–$0, steering column or shaft failure at $600–$2,500 and other electrical problem at $250–$2,000. Dealer labour, a seized bolt or a part that is no longer made can push any of these past the top of its range.
Every reported failure mode
| Failure mode | System | Reports | With reading | 25th | Median | 75th | Per 1,000 | Typical repair | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Other body or interior problem | body | 14 | 12 | 64k | 75k | 99k | 138.6 | $200–$2,000 | Moderate |
| Airbag inflator rupture | airbag | 10 | 2 | — | 35k | — | 99.0 | $0–$0 | Critical |
| Steering column or shaft failure | steering | 6 | 4 | — | 125k | — | 59.4 | $600–$2,500 | Critical |
| Other electrical problem | electrical | 3 | 3 | — | 16k | — | 29.7 | $250–$2,000 | Moderate |
| Instrument cluster or gauge failure | infotainment | 2 | 1 | — | 60k | — | 19.8 | $350–$1,400 | Moderate |
| Fuel pump failure | fuel | 1 | 1 | — | 80k | — | 9.9 | $600–$2,600 | High |
| Seat belt or retractor failure | airbag | 1 | 1 | — | 148k | — | 9.9 | $200–$900 | High |
| Unclassified problem | other | 22 | 17 | 60k | 73k | 90k | 217.8 | — | Moderate |
This year had no usable recall paperwork, so the fleet-size estimate is the median of other years of the same model. Repair costs are typical independent-shop ranges for the failure, not figures from these reports.
How often, against how many were built
Scaled by an estimate of how many of these cars exist, the 2009 GMC Yukon Denali draws about 584 per 1,000 vehicles, which puts it in the 99th percentile of complaint rates among 2009 vehicles we can rate.
That denominator is the weakest number on the page and it is fair to say so plainly. This year had no usable recall paperwork, so the fleet-size estimate is the median of other years of the same model.
The working figure is 101 vehicles. If the true number is twice that, every rate on this page is half what it says; the ranking against other 2009 vehicles, which is what the risk score uses, is far more robust than the rate itself.
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The odometer reading is the one the owner gave.
Other body or interior problem
Tl* the contact owns a 2009 yukon denali. The contact stated the vehicle would independently lock and once the vehicle was locked, the contact was unable to open any of the doors with the keyless entry or manually. The contact would then call a towing company to come and unlock the vehicle. In addition, the rear door hatch would open and close independently. The vehicle was taken to the deale where the dealer was unable to diagnose the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 85,000. The VIN was not available.
Tl* the contact owns a 2009 gmc yukon denali. The contact stated that the vehicle locks were not operating. The vehicle was taken to the dealer who diagnosed that the door sensors were defective and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and offered no other assistance. The failure mileage was 49,928. And the current mileage was 49,992.
Airbag inflator rupture
The problem on my 2009 yukon, in less then 2 weeks my dashboard cracked in 3 places. 2 by the air bags and 1 by the steering column. I'm thinking the ones by the air bags are a safety problem. If the air bags would happen to go off , with the cracked dashboard. Will the dash explode in to pieces, like shrapnel. Cause more damage to human life? This should be a safety recall. It stays under a breezeway when not in use. We where driving an herd a pop in the dash. Then the next thing we know we have 3 cracks. I know I'm not the only one with this problem.. *tr
The problem on my 2009 yukon, in less then 2 weeks my dashboard cracked in 3 places. 2 by the air bags and 1 by the steering column. I'm thinking the ones by the air bags are a safety problem. If the air bags would happen to go off , with the cracked dashboard. Will the dash explode in to pieces, like shrapnel. Cause more damage to human life? This should be a safety recall. It stays under a breezeway when not in use. We where driving an herd a pop in the dash. Then the next thing we know we have 3 cracks. I know I'm not the only one with this problem.. *tr
Steering column or shaft failure
The past few days while driving on interstate and highways at all different speeds, I have experienced my radio powering off and on every few minutes, the warning light to have my tire pressure serviced, traction control light has lit up and a stabilitrak warning message. I am concerned about the safety of my vehicle. What if my vehicle totally shuts down while I am driving? There are no recalls according to gmc's website. I also want to report that my dashboard is cracked and starting to separate, which worries me since the crack is near my airbags, and cracked over my steering column. Gmc has no recall for this either and I have learned that it's a very common problem with owner's of yukons and tahoes around my year model. I have 119k miles on my vehicle so I am sure gmc will not repair anything unless I pay for it myself, which doesn't seem right to me, especially when I feel my family's safety is at risk.
The past few days while driving on interstate and highways at all different speeds, I have experienced my radio powering off and on every few minutes, the warning light to have my tire pressure serviced, traction control light has lit up and a stabilitrak warning message. I am concerned about the safety of my vehicle. What if my vehicle totally shuts down while I am driving? There are no recalls according to gmc's website. I also want to report that my dashboard is cracked and starting to separate, which worries me since the crack is near my airbags, and cracked over my steering column. Gmc has no recall for this either and I have learned that it's a very common problem with owner's of yukons and tahoes around my year model. I have 119k miles on my vehicle so I am sure gmc will not repair anything unless I pay for it myself, which doesn't seem right to me, especially when I feel my family's safety is at risk.
How it ranks in the 2009 field
The score at the top of the page, placed among its peers. The zones are the same thresholds the scorer applies, read out of the scorer itself, so the picture and the band word cannot disagree.
Scores are ranked within the model year, never across years, because an older car has had longer to accumulate reports.
- Left fewer and less serious reports
- Right more, or worse
- Marker this vehicle
Where 2009 sits in the model line
High risk for a 2009 — 214th riskiest of the 295 2009 vehicles we can rate. Because the ranking is against the same model year only, age cancels out of it.
Across the 18 model years of this car that carry enough reports to score, 2013 comes out best at 64 and 2016 worst at 72, with 2009 itself at 67.
No other year of this model scores meaningfully better than 2009, so if this generation is what you want, the year is not the lever.
Within the 2007–2013 generation specifically, 2013 is the strongest year at 64 and 2007 the weakest at 69.
Scores compare each year against other cars of the same model year, so a low number on an older car is a real result and not an artefact of age.
Shorter is better. Years with too few reports to score are shown without a bar rather than as a zero, because no data is not good news.
Within the 2007-2013 generation, 2013 GMC Yukon Denali scores best at 64 and 2007 GMC Yukon Denali worst at 69.
Where to spend the inspection money
The mileages below are where the first quarter of reports for each mode had already been filed, which makes them the point at which a fault is worth looking for rather than the point at which it happens: other body or interior problem from about 64k.
On a 2009 GMC Yukon Denali with more miles than that on it, the useful question to put to a seller or a mechanic is whether other body or interior problem has been dealt with, and if so with what parts and at whose expense. A car that has already had the repair is in a different position from one that has not.
None of this is a diagnosis. It is a list of what other owners of the same model year reported, ordered by when they reported it, which is a good place to point an inspection and a poor place to stop.
What this page cannot tell you
59 owner reports; fleet size borrowed from other years of the same model. Every count on this page is therefore a floor: it is the number of owners who went to the trouble of filing with a federal agency, which is a small and self-selected fraction of the owners who had the fault.
Of those 59 reports, 41 carried an odometer reading, so the mileages here describe 69% of the sample rather than all of it. Owners also round: readings pile up on multiples of ten thousand, which is why this site publishes "about 90,000 miles" and not "91,438".
Named failure modes come from matching phrases in the complaint text, so a badly worded complaint can land in the wrong bucket. The effect washes out across hundreds of reports and does not wash out across five.
And nothing here predicts what one car will do. These are other people's complaints, filed years apart, on cars maintained by strangers. Read the page as a map of where this model year has previously gone wrong, then have the specific car in front of you inspected.
Questions this page answers
What are the most common problems with the 2009 GMC Yukon Denali?
The most-reported failures are other body or interior problem (14 reports, median 75,000 miles), airbag inflator rupture (10 reports, median 35,000 miles) and steering column or shaft failure (6 reports, median 125,000 miles). Counts come from owner complaints filed with NHTSA, which are voluntary, so they show what owners bothered to report rather than every fault that occurred.
At what mileage do 2009 GMC Yukon Denali problems start?
Other body or interior problem is the earliest failure mode to show up, with a median reported mileage of 75,000 miles and a quarter of reports before 65,000 miles. Across all failure modes on this year, the median report sits at 72,500 miles.
Is the 2009 GMC Yukon Denali reliable?
It scores 67 out of 100 on our risk index, which is high — 214th riskiest of the 295 2009 vehicles we can rate. The score is a comparison against other 2009 vehicles, not a prediction about any individual car, and it is built from complaint rates, severity and how early failures appear.
Which year of the GMC Yukon Denali is best?
Within the 2007–2013 generation, 2013 scores best at 64 out of 100 and 2007 worst at 69. Same body, same engines, different luck.
Where this comes from. Every figure above is computed from NHTSA owner complaints and recall records for this exact make, model and year. Complaints are voluntary and self-selected, so treat counts as a floor. The methodology page writes out each formula, and the same numbers are available as JSON.
What breaks at my mileage Compare with another car
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed