The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has opened a preliminary probe into more than 877,000 trucks and SUVs built by General Motors. The agency’s Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) has received 39 complaints of engine failure due to a problem linked to faulty connecting rod bearings.
Launched in January 2025,
the probe includes an estimated 877,710 vehicles powered by the 6.2-liter V-8 L87 engine. The following vehicles built from the 2019 to 2024 model years are under investigation:
NHTSA documents describe one problem for all of these vehicles: at least one connecting rod bearing fails and either causes the engine to seize or results in a thrown rod. Owners of affected models who have experienced an engine failure told the NHTSA there’s no warning that the engine is about to fail.
“I was driving up a hill passing a semi at 60 mph. The engine suddenly stopped running without warning,” the owner of a 2022 Escalade
wrote in a complaint sent to the NHTSA in June 2024. “The vehicle was towed to the dealer, and the next day I was told the engine had seized and would need to be replaced. The Escalade only had 25,000 miles on the odometer and I had purchased it new 2021,” the owner added.
The NHTSA notes that it’s opening a preliminary evaluation “to determine the scope and severity of the potential problem and to fully assess the potential safety-related issues” it can cause. An evaluation isn’t a recall; if the ODI decides the bearing problem isn’t a safety risk, General Motors won’t legally have to recall the vehicles included in the probe. However, a recall is likely if the ODI finds that the issue makes these vehicles unsafe. The documents point out that an engine failure can increase the risk of a crash.
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