Consumer Complaints
| Fail date | miles | occurences | Purchase date |
|---|---|---|---|
| DIGITAL INSTRUMENT PANEL | |||
| 07/01/2009 | 130000 | ||
| Tl*the contact owns a 2003 chevrolet avalanche 1500. the contact stated that while driving at approximately 65 mph, the speedometer seemed to be defective. the speedometer failed periodically which caused the cruise control to fail. the vehicle had not been inspected but the dealer, when called, stated that the contact would be responsible for any repair expenses. the contact called the manufacturer who offered no assistance. the failure mileage was approximately 130,000. the current mileage was approximately 155,000. | |||
| 11/18/2009 | 1 | ||
| When driving my chevrolet 2003 avalanche my speedometer would stick and eventually fall to zero. after further investigation i have found that a majority of this model from 2003 -2004 have this problem. *tr | |||
| 01/10/2010 | 91726 | 1 | |
| Speedometer stopped working. *tr | |||
| 01/06/2010 | 102000 | 1 | |
| Speedometer stuck at 52 while stopped. will not accurately measure rate of speed. speedometer zero's at 52. odometer appears to function correctly. no apparent cause other than defective equipment. car make: chevrolet year: 2003. model: avalanche 1500 4 door. mileage 102,000. *tr | |||
| 04/25/2009 | 90000 | 1 | |
| Speedometer on 2003 chevrolet avalanche not working, stuck at 120mph. complete cluster needs to be replaced. i never received any recall notice after purchasing vehicle in 2003. gm will not correct problem because it is out of warranty. *tr | |||
| 02/03/2009 | 1 | ||
| My speedometer isn't working properly. it gets stuck while i drive and i don't know the speed of my truck when i drive and i seen that this is a known issue to chevrolet. *tr | |||
| 01/06/2008 | 118673 | 1 | |
| Speedometer failure on 03 chevy avalanche. apparently there was a lawsuit against gm because they used inferior parts within the instrument cluster that are prone to fail. they have since settled the suit in late 2007 and agreed to fix all vehicles with less than 70k miles. however, what about the rest of us with more than 70k miles that are driving without a speedometer because gm is charging $500 to repair the most important instrument in the car, the one that should last the life of the vehicle according to the lawsuit...... i've even gone so far as to try to find the parts for the speedometer, but they are not available. you have to purchase the entire instrument cluster as a unit. if that is not enough, i can purchase the cluster for $275 and install it myself, but the unit has to be programmed to the vehicle in order to work. this programming will cost $150.00 by the dealership. so basically, gm has everyone in my situation hostage for negligence on their part. it is only a matter of time before i get a speeding ticket or worse, hurt somebody in an auto accident because i am not aware of my speed of travel. *tr | |||
| 12/30/2007 | 75000 | 1 | |
| Shortly after 75, 000 miles the speedometer in my 2003 chevrolet avalanche started to register incorrect readings. at a idle it would register that i was going 60 mph. at approximately 65 mph it would register that i was going 0 mph. there was no rhyme or reason. *tr | |||
| 11/19/2008 | 70075 | 1 | |
| Speedometer does not read zero while vehicle is stopped. it reads approximately 60 mph. *tr | |||
| 07/19/2008 | 118000 | 1 | |
| The instrument panel to include the speedometer, oil pressure, and battery gauge have stopped working on my 2003 chevrolet avalanche. being unable to tell the speed of my vehicle is a safety issue that i have been unable to get gm to resolve. the vehicle has not been involved in any type of accident the speedometer just started going from 10 miles per hour to 100 miles per hour. i called gm service, went to the local dealership and called the dealership where the vehicle was purchased. i received no help even when i tried to explain that not being able to tell the speed of the vehicle was a problem. *tr | |||
| 01/05/2008 | 1 | ||
| I have a 03 chevy avalanche and the speedo is not functioning properly. it does not register the right mph on the gauge, sometimes it registers at different speeds example is that when you are doing the speed limit it will register 120 mph and when you are stopped it says your are going 50 mph. this is a product defect and i think gm should recall this problem. the only thing that they have done is extend the warranty on this to 70,000 miles, so if you are over this mileage then you have to buy a new cluster for 300+ dollars. this is not right gm should stand good for their defect...they have recognized this problem by extending the warranty so they know this is a problem and should stand good for it. *tr | |||
| 07/18/2007 | 75000 | 400 | 08/08/2006 |
| Tl*the contact owns a 2003 chevrolet avalanche 1500. while driving at any speed, the speedometer is slow to react to the change in speed. it would also remain at a speed and then jump to another or display a lower speed with the cruise control activated. the vehicle was taken to the dealer, but was not serviced. the current mileage was 110,000 and failure mileage was 75,000. | |||
| 04/06/2008 | 85000 | 1 | 07/12/2003 |
| All of a sudden i realize that my speedometer is not working and other gauges on my panel are not working correctly. i can not understand why there are only complaints and no defect investigations on this website. since this is a safety issue i would have though there to be more of a concern. thus we question why there are so many deaths on our highways. i also received a service issue from chevrolet but my avalanche is over the mileage specified. like many of the other complaints i read. there is an obvious defect with the part so why is the no investigation? does someone have to die first? *tr | |||
| 02/01/2007 | 71000 | 20 | 02/21/2006 |
| The speedometer does not work right. there was a recall on this from chevrolet, however, it was only for vehicles with less than 70000 miles. we had taken our vehicle in to get fixed and our warrant would not cover this. this is a safety issue. you do not know how fast you are going as the speedometer is over 120 miles. *tr | |||
| 07/11/2006 | 30000 | 50 | 02/23/2003 |
| Defect speedometer. the speedo records 100 mph at 20 mph. does not return to zero. *tr | |||
| 12/10/2007 | 69047 | 4 | 09/07/2007 |
| My speedometer in my chevrolet avalanche has started to malfunction. it will often read 40 mph when at idle and during driving speeds on the freeway it extends much over 120 mph and will stick there as i decelerate. this has caused me to get multiple speeding tickets as i have no accurate reading of my speed. i called the local chevrolet dealership as well as gm direct and they stated that since it was not a defect that is related to safety issues that they have not recalled it and expect upwards of 400$ for a replacement gauge cluster. there are numerous other consumers throughout the internet who have reported identical problems with this same vehicle. *tr | |||
| 04/13/2006 | 1 | ||
| The rpm gauge and speedometer is constantly malfunctioning on my 2003 avalanche. so that i don't know how many rpms i'm turning or how fast i'm going. we had the same problem at work with all of our 2003 and 2004 cheverolet pick-ups. they were all fixed by the cheverolet dealership where they were purchased because they were all purchased there, but since i am an individual i can't get any service! *tr | |||
| 01/15/2008 | 100000 | 1 | |
| My 2003 chevy avalanche has a known defect with the instrument cluster. all gauges on the vehicle can stop functioning without notice. this results in the driver begin unable to see the vehicles speed or any other information about the vehicle including what gear the vehicle is in or even whether the vehicle is in park. in my case the gauges failed during a snow storm in colorado, which made difficult driving conditions much more dangerous. this is a serious safety issue which could result in both injury and property damage. apart from the obvious issue of not seeing essential vehicle information, drivers could inadvertently put their vehicle in the wrong gear such as reverse rather than park. gm acknowledges that this is a know defect with these vehicles but refuses to correct it unless the vehicle has less than 70,000 miles. gm represents that your office concurs with their approach, which would be a surprise to me since this is not a wear part, is known defect with these vehicles, and presents s serious safety issue. gm has certainly done a calculation is exclude as many vehicles as possible from their proposed fix and is appallingly unconcerned about the safety risks associated with this defect. *tr | |||
| 01/18/2008 | 65000 | 100 | 05/08/2003 |
| The speedometer will stop working after a short time of driving. the needle will either slowly fall to zero or not work all together. cruise control is not affected by this failure. chevy has issued a warranty extension, but it ends at 70k miles. my truck has 78k. i would like a recall to be issued after reading that many other owners of the same model truck are reporting the same problem. *tr | |||
| 11/01/2007 | 1 | 03/01/2004 | |
| All the gauges on my tec are going crazy. you can not tell how fast you are going or how much gas you have left or if your oil is okay or if your radiator is hot or not. gm sent a letter advising they had extended the warranty to 7 year or 70,000 miles, guess what my avalanche is 80,000 and they will not fix it. *tr | |||
| 02/24/2006 | 92152 | 500 | |
| Tl*the contact owns a 2003 chevrolet avalanche 1500. the contact stated that the instrument panel cluster was defective. he received a letter from the chevrolet dealer that stated his vehicle had a defective component (the cluster), which could cause the meters to malfunction and display inaccurate readings. the contact stated that he would be driving 10 mph and the speedometer would display 100 mph. the oil meter within the cluster also malfunctioned. the dealer set a mileage stipulation and stated that the vehicle would not be replaced if the mileage was out of the warranty limit. the purchase date was unknown. the current mileage was 111,833 and failure mileage was 92,152. | |||
| 11/10/2007 | 40200 | 1 | 06/05/2007 |
| Speedometer started jumping all over until it finally quit one week later. *tr | |||
| 01/03/2008 | 72600 | 10 | 11/21/2007 |
| Speedometer started sticking, wouldn't reset to 0, shows between 40 - 80 mph when sitting still. *cn | |||
| 12/15/2007 | 124000 | 5 | 05/05/2007 |
| Problems with instrument cluster. speedometer stuck at 30. other problems have occurred with oil pressure reading incorrectly. today, the speedometer is stuck at 30 and it won't move. *tr | |||
| 12/03/2007 | 70000 | 1 | 05/29/2004 |
| I have a 2003 chevy avalanche. it has about 70,000 miles on it. just last week the speedometer started going haywire. it will read anywhere from 20 to 60 mph when stopped. when driving it will read anywhere from 70 to 110 mph. it is constantly changing so there is no way of knowing how fast you are really going. it is very dangerous to drive if you do not know haw fast you are going. i looked all over the internet to see if it was something simple i could fix. there seems to be alot of people with the same problems not only with the avalanche but with gm models in general for the 2003-2006 years. if it is such a problem there should be a recall. i will be printing the complaint forums and taking it to the dealer to see what they will do. *tr | |||
| 09/01/2007 | 48000 | 10 | 09/23/2003 |
| Tl*the contact owns a 2003 chevrolet avalanche 1500. while driving approximately 30 mph, the speedometer displayed 100 mph. the contact stated that the speedometer decreased from 100 to approximately 5 to 10 mph. the failure has occurred several times since september of 2007. the vehicle has not been repaired. the current mileage was 50,000 and failure mileage was 48,000. | |||
| 11/12/2007 | 104000 | 10 | 07/01/2003 |
| I have a 2003 chevrolet avalanche that i purchased new from the dealer. it has approximately 104,000 miles on it. the problem is that my speedometer is acting erratically. some times it will say i am doing 120 mph on the highway or city street and sometimes it will not move at all. when i turn off my vehicle, it is often stuck at some speed such as 65mph. i can hear a physical grinding noise in the speedometer itself. this does not seem to adversely affect the odometer. i cannot reliably tell what speed i'm going, and my vehicle will not pass the texas state inspection with this problem. i contacted the dealer, and was told by the service advisor that this was extremely common, but that there is no recall. they said it will cost over 500.00 to fix this problem. i researched it on the internet and found literally hundreds of cases of this exact same problem. i pointed this out, and the dealer said basically that chevrolet will not address this issue. *tr | |||
| 10/01/2007 | 1 | 10/01/2007 | |
| Faulty speedometer and gas gauge. *tr | |||
| 01/22/2007 | 52000 | ||
| Speedometer failure, it registers the wrong speed all the time. | |||
| 06/02/2007 | 40000 | 30 | 07/15/2003 |
| 2003 chevy avalanche speedometer fails. fuel gauge fails. no way to know how fast you are going. don't know how much fuel is in vehicle. have to reset system numerous times throughout the year. dealer quoted $700.00 plus to fix. problem started soon after warranty expired. too many failure instances to recall accurately. *tr | |||
| 04/12/2007 | 49000 | 1 | 05/23/2003 |
| The cluster which provides for the temperature gauge and speedometer went out, and washington and oregon had recalls on this, but not california, and i would like to know why in those states and not california. *ak | |||
| 05/05/2007 | 89354 | 08/02/2003 | |
| Speedometer displays erroneous speeds. most of the time less than what the vehicle is actually traveling which creates a public safety hazard. there is no indication to the driver of a problem. all other indications are normal. it was not until a gps with speed indicating capability was installed in the vehicle that the erroneous speedometer indication was known. further investigation reveals the speedometer operates correctly until the dash/instrument panel heats up. at this point the indicated speed can gradually vary, sometimes drastically from actual vehicle speed unknowing to the driver. after reviewing the nhtsa site, this does not appear to be an isolated incident and because of the public safety implication of a speeding vehicle, at the minimum i recommend a notice be sent to all current owners of this type of vehicle advising them this condition may be present or occur in the future. this vehicle is currently awaiting repair parts. | |||
| 03/18/2007 | 49000 | 06/23/2003 | |
| My 2003 chevy avalanche speedometer with 49,000 miles has stopped working. it either sticks at 40mph or registers 0. | |||
| 03/15/2007 | 50000 | 25 | |
| Instrument cluster went bad at about 50,000 miles speedometer gives false reading. *jb | |||
| 12/01/2005 | 130000 | 90 | |
| The speedometer on my 2003 avalanche went bad. it would work for a while and then would fail to show the true speed, usually recording 10-20 mph when i was going 70. this was a daily occurrence. i finally had it replaced in feb, 2006. it started in december, 2005. *jb | |||
| 03/02/2007 | 54614 | 1 | 06/17/2003 |
| Speedometer showing 50 mph at a complete stop. inaccurate speed indication. vehicle has 54634 miles on it. *jb | |||
| 08/15/2006 | 58200 | 1 | |
| Speedometer not indicating speed, will stay stuck on number and do not move even when vehicle its off. *jb | |||
| 01/01/2007 | 65000 | 55 | 02/16/2006 |
| Speedometer failure on a 2003 chevy avalanche. the speedometer is pegged out at top speed at a constant. occasionally it will bounce around, but it is never accurate. *jb | |||
| 02/17/2007 | 58000 | 4 | 04/11/2006 |
| My speedometer in my 2003 chevy avalanche is very erratic. it sticks, it says that i am going 40 to 50 mph higher than i am and sometimes it works just fine. i have read about over 400 other owners of gm trucks with the same problem. *nm | |||
| 02/02/2007 | 102900 | 1 | 08/10/2006 |
| 2003 chevy avalanche where speedometer just quit and is now pegged at 120 mph when parked. this is a safety issue because really have no idea of what speed i am going. based on many other gm owners i know that have had this problem, gm needs to put a recall on the instrument cluster. two people i know have had it quoted as a $600 fix. this is insane. *jb | |||
| 12/04/2006 | 58000 | 50 | 01/21/2006 |
| Speedometer is very erratic. when i am at a dead stop the speedometer says 70 mph and it tops out at 120 mph when i am doing only 30 mph. *jb | |||
| 01/05/2007 | 52500 | 1 | 09/15/2004 |
| Speedometer reads incorrect or not at all. *jb | |||
| 11/01/2006 | 85000 | 1 | 06/29/2003 |
| The speedometer on my 2003 avalanche went out. it registers up to 120 mph sitting still. the tachometer recently went out, also. very dangerous for my wife (who drives the vehicle) and my children. i have seen hundreds of similar complaints on the internet. why is there no recall? *jb | |||
| 12/26/2006 | 89000 | 1 | 04/26/2003 |
| Speedometer and fuel gauges not functioning correctly. *jb | |||
| 11/02/2006 | 43000 | 12 | |
| Speedometer failure on our 2003 chevrolet avalanche at 43,000 miles. speed does not register whatsoever or displays,for example, 20 mph when traveling in excess of 60 mph. it is a dangerous situation; a distraction and not knowing one's rate of travel. gm should address this problem. *jb | |||