2017 Yukon Denali Brakes Apply While Driving

Brian Behan · November 4, 2018

I had a single experience where the brakes on my 2017 Yukon Denali applied by themselves while driving. I was driving downhill through a subdivision at approximately 10-15 MPH with my foot lightly on the brakes preparing for a turn into a driveway. The brakes began to lock up on their own while turning. The condition continued until I turned the vehicle off. It sounded as if the brakes in the rear were locking up so I believe the parking brake was the culprit. I briefly saw the "Hill Assist" message on the DIC.
GM sent a tow truck and took it to my local dealership. The service department worked diligently for over a week to replicate the problem and could not. GM could not find any other instances where this situation has been reported. I have driven the car for the past couple days with no problems, but am concerned about it happening again at higher speeds. I am looking for anyone else who may have had or heard of this issue.

The Zip · November 4, 2018

5 hours ago, Brian Behan said:

The service department worked diligently for over a week to replicate the problem and could not. GM could not find any other instances where this situation has been reported. I have driven the car for the past couple days with no problems, but am concerned about it happening again at higher speeds. I am looking for anyone else who may have had or heard of this issue.

I've been on the forum for a few years and have not read any instances as you describe. My Hill Assist only kicks in during high speed downhills. Instead of replicating the issue, did they check to see if there was a problem with Hill Assist?

Brian Behan · November 5, 2018

Yes they did. They spent 8 days going through every possible cause. Service manager at my dealership is a very experienced and thorough professional. He took control of the investigation personally and used every means at his disposal to identify the problem. They drove over 200 local miles trying to replicate the problem under the same conditions that I was in when it occurred to no avail. I'm hoping it was a one time freak occurrence, but am still uncomfortable with not knowing what caused it.