NHTSA widens its GM 6.2L V8 engine probe to nearly 1 million trucks and SUVs
The 2025 recall was meant to settle it. Since then owners of these trucks have filed more engine complaints with NHTSA than in the four years before it, and regulators now want to know whether GM's fix works.
In August the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened an engineering analysis covering 997,743 Chevrolet, GMC and Cadillac pickups and SUVs from the 2021 to 2026 model years fitted with GM's L87 6.2-litre V8, Reuters reported. The agency will look at engines that failed after the April 2025 recall repair and judge whether that repair is adequate. Reuters put the number of post-repair failure complaints before the agency at 499.
An engineering analysis is the second and deeper stage of an NHTSA defect investigation. It can end with the agency asking for a new or wider recall, or with it closing the file.
How it got here
- January 2025. NHTSA opens a preliminary evaluation into engine failures on these trucks.
- April 2025. GM recalls 597,571 2021–2024 Silverado 1500, Sierra 1500, Tahoe, Suburban, Yukon, Yukon XL, Escalade and Escalade ESV models with the 6.2L V8 (25V-274). The filing says connecting rods and crankshafts may carry manufacturing defects that destroy the engine. Dealers inspect it and repair or replace it; engines that pass get a higher-viscosity oil, a new oil filter and fill cap, and an owner's manual update. GM reported more than 28,000 field complaints and incidents dating back to April 2021, and 12 crashes and 12 injuries that may be linked, according to WardsAuto.
- January 2026. NHTSA opens a recall query (RQ26001) after 36 owner questionnaires describe engines failing on trucks that had already had the repair.
- August 2026. The engineering analysis, now reaching 2025 and 2026 model years that were never part of the recall.
What owners have told NHTSA
Across the eight recalled models, owners have filed 4,393 complaints about the engine for the 2021–2026 model years. 3,088 of them came in after the recall was announced on 24 April 2025. By year of filing:
| Filed in | Engine complaints |
|---|---|
| 2021 | 50 |
| 2022 | 73 |
| 2023 | 86 |
| 2024 | 136 |
| 2025 | 2,178 |
| 2026, to 15 October | 1,867 |
Some of that jump is the recall itself: owners who hear about one file more complaints, and a recall letter sends people looking for the form. What the publicity does not explain is that 2026 is on course to beat 2025, more than a year after the letters went out. A deliberately narrow text search finds 137 complaints that mention the recall repair or the thicker 0W-40 oil it adds, and most of those describe trouble after the repair: knocking, oil loss, engines that stalled and would not restart.
By model, for the 2021–2024 years the recall covers:
| Model, 2021–2024 | Engine complaints | Since the recall |
|---|---|---|
| GMC Sierra 1500 | 956 | 651 |
| Chevrolet Silverado 1500 | 937 | 619 |
| GMC Yukon | 545 | 361 |
| GMC Yukon XL | 452 | 307 |
| Chevrolet Tahoe | 377 | 243 |
| Cadillac Escalade | 263 | 182 |
| Chevrolet Suburban | 247 | 174 |
| Cadillac Escalade ESV | 177 | 122 |
These are every engine complaint on these models, not only the 6.2L: the pickups were also sold with the 5.3L V8, 2.7L turbo and 3.0L diesel. 1,090 of the complaints name the 6.2, the L87, rod bearings or the crankshaft outright. Complaints are unverified owner reports.
If you own one
- Check whether the recall applies and has been done: VIN lookup or nhtsa.gov/recalls.
- If the repair was done and the engine knocks, loses oil pressure or loses power, stop and get it to a dealer, and keep the paperwork. Then report it to NHTSA at nhtsa.gov/report-a-safety-problem: post-repair failures are exactly what this investigation is counting.
- A 2025 or 2026 truck is outside the recall. Failures on those are also in scope of the new analysis.
Sources
- Reuters, via SRN News (21 Aug 2026)
- WardsAuto: NHTSA query into post-recall failures
- NHTSA recall 25V-274 (our copy of the record)
Complaint and recall figures from NHTSA files of 15 October 2026 (complaints) and 9 October 2026 (recalls). Complaints are unverified reports by owners. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.