2024 Chevrolet Tahoe: What to check before buying

Sudden shutdowns while driving, often at highway speed, dominate these reports. Power steering and brake assist go with the engine, and many will not restart. Several cases end with a seized engine, spun connecting rods, or a dealer saying the 6.2-liter needs replacing. Other reports describe heavy oil use, low-oil alerts between changes, clanking noise, and low oil pressure lights. Some engines still fail after passing the recall inspection and switching to thicker oil. One stall led to an injury. Failures show up between about 5000 and 21,709 miles.

Most of these reports are about engine recall campaign 25V274000 and repair parts that are not available. Some owners got the notice as early as April 2025, and dealers confirm there are still no parts. Several vehicles stall while waiting. Reports describe knocking, ticking or rattling, hesitation on acceleration, and loss of power, including a highway failure where codes showed the engine needs replacement. One stall at about 14,000 miles happens during a slow turn and nearly causes a crash. Intermittent audio loss is also reported.

Stalling while driving or at stops is common, sometimes with the transmission dropping into neutral and warnings lighting up for the engine, ABS, steering column and traction control. Total audio loss is the second pattern. The radio, Bluetooth, turn-signal clicks, seat belt chimes and blind-spot alerts all go silent, then return after a later restart. Other reports describe key fobs that are not detected, exterior lights and wipers cutting out at night, and a wiring harness on back order. Dealers often cannot find the cause or fix it.

Complete brake failure while driving, often on highways, is the core complaint. A brake system failure message appears, and the pedal either sinks to the floor or must be stood on. Drivers coast to a stop, swerve, or run off the road to avoid crashing. Dealers give different causes: a bad battery, a failed brake system motor that lost communication with the steering, transmission and engine modules, or a brake module that needs full replacement. Some failures come back after a dealer says the brakes were repaired.

Shifting stops or the vehicle drops into limp mode, with a reduced acceleration warning and a check engine light. In two reports, at 11,000 and 13,464 miles, dealers blame the transmission valve body, and the replacement part is on back order. Another report describes the engine shutting off and shifting into neutral in stop-and-go traffic at 5700 miles, followed by clanging and guttural engine noise. These failures leave families stranded on long trips.

Brief lockups and sudden jerking of the wheel make up these reports. The wheel locks for 2 to 3 seconds during turns at 25-30 MPH, a no-start comes with a service steering column lock message, and the wheel jerks left and right at 65 MPH. In the jerking case, sheared bolts turn up at about 1,000 miles, and the problem continues after the rear anchor arm is replaced. Each of these creates a real risk of losing control.

In a rollover crash, the driver airbag fails to deploy while the curtain and seat airbags do, and a mechanic confirms the malfunction. The driver's face hits the steering wheel and is injured. A separate report pairs an airbag light and service safety restraint message with repeated engine shutdowns that drop the vehicle into neutral in traffic. In that case, the dealer initially finds nothing wrong.

Sudden highway shutdowns with no warning appear here, traced by a dealer to a failed fuel system control module that gets replaced. That failure happens at just 320 miles. A second report describes a check engine light after refueling and a fuel gauge stuck on full while the app shows 85%. With only two reports, no broader pattern is clear.