GM is keeping quiet about a design feature in the 2021 GMC Yukon that allows it to perform a controlled 180-degree turn via what’s been tagged the ‘Hurricane Turn’.
According to US media site, Motor Trend, the 2021 GMC Yukon is capable of performing an assisted 180-degree which that site has dubbed ‘Hurricane Turn’. GM hasn’t said anything about the vehicle’s ability to perform the turn.
Anyone who’s performed a ‘donut’ will know you simply switch off stability control (on a modern vehicle) yank the steering wheel and floor the gas. The vehicle (rear-wheel drive) will start flinging itself around in a circle. Well, according to the Motor Trend, which was at the launch of the 2021 GMC Yukon, that thing will step it up a level…
Basically, the vehicle’s computer detects when the driver has deactivated stability control, yanked the steering wheel to one side and then slammed on the gas. At that moment, the Yukon will pinch the brakes on the inside to help the thing swing around in an even tighter circle.
According to other US outlets, the feature isn’t listed in the media kit for the Yukon but Motor Trend has quoted unnamed GM engineers who claim if the turn is held long enough, the Yukon will eventually spin around its own midpoint, like the Rivian R1T’s ‘tank turn’.
Obviously, the electric pickup with its four motors can produce the ‘tank turn’ more easily by spinning one side one direction and the other side the opposite direction.
But the question remains, is this sort of feature really one that four-wheelers want or is just a party trick to get the Internet’s attention?
