Consumer Complaints
| Fail date | miles | occurences | Purchase date |
|---|---|---|---|
| ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | |||
| 11/02/2012 | 195000 | ||
| Just finished driving vehicle for 1 hour at highway speeds without incident. parked car for 5 minutes, upon trying to restart, the car displayed reduced engine power on the driver information console. approximately 8 restarts and the message did not display. drove car 5 minutes and parked it for 1 hour, upon restart displayed same message, car was virtually undriveable. 3 restarts later message no longer displayed. this message has now intermittently occurred ever since seemingly without any pattern. the message is related to a failure in the drive by wire system that allows for the elimination of a physical cable from the gas pedal. it causes the car to be completely undriveable until seemingly randomly fixing itself. | |||
| 06/17/2012 | 139575 | ||
| 2003 chevrolet suburban hvac blower not fully functional on all blower speeds..service bulletin 11046, april 2010..chevrolet has known defect wiring connector and electrical terminals of relay resistor module as described in service bulletin which results in blower motor not functioning on certain or all blower speeds setting. gm has issued special coverage adjustment for up to 10 yrs per bulletin but refuses coverage purportedly based on my vehicle not being in the special coverage vin: two phone calls to customer service resulted in a hang up, put on hold and not returning to the call, and upon escalating the call to joy, the supervisor refusing to further assist...and refusing to escalate the call further explaining no manager is likely available, we've told you your answer....gm case #71-107-8244378 2nd issue with electrical; instrumentation cluster fails to work properly and digital display which indicates whether you are in park, reverse neutral drive (gear) dims or goes out completely. same problem i had on 2005 chevrolet suburban 1500. both vehicles they have refused to fix. 2003 had special coverage 07187 to repair this condition but the previous owner was not properly notified to fix this condition during the manufacture special coverage period.l they know it exist but once again are using any excuse to do the proper thing and fix the problem. also reported under 71-107-8244378 request nhtsa and appropriate agencies further investigate these matters and hold gm accountable do not let gm continue to skirt recall repairs for known problems by narrow defining which vehicles they have to fix. recalls should cover all vehicles that have identified safety issue and gm should facestiff punishment to encourage them to voluntarily fix problems rather than stonewall, stall, avoid, and make it more difficult than fixing the problem. | |||
| 03/19/2011 | |||
| Reduced engine power light comes on and truck slows to less than 10 mph and the power steering stop working. this has happened six times in the last year. 1st incident i took it to the dealer and they said nothing was wrong with it. diagnostics performed and nothing came back wrong. i think the wiring to the throttle is possibly to blame. if i hit a bump in the road or cross railroad tracks, the reduced engine power can come on. i have a hunch after researching online & finding that several other people have the same problem, that leads me to believe that chevy knows about it & is doing nothing about it. typical!! i am very displeased, especially because i love my suburban. i suggest an investigation & recall of this problem.i ask that chevy takes responsibility for poor quality & repairs the problem pronto! oh, and the power seating fuse caught fire and exploded the little fuse in the fuse box, now the seats won't work & neither does the passenger side windows. the wiring done on this truck is cheap! the parts are cheap! not a happy customer! | |||
| 03/21/2010 | 69000 | ||
| Tl- the contact owns a 2003 chevrolet suburban 1500. while driving the contact noticed the speedometer reading began to fluctuate erratically. the failure was intermittent and became constant with time. the vehicle was taken to the dealer where the technicians were unable to duplicate the failure. the vehicle was not repaired. the approximate failure mileage was 69,000. ds | |||
| 09/27/2010 | 100000 | ||
| Tl* the contact owns a 2003 chevrolet suburban 1500. the contact was driving approximately 25 mph when the speedometer suddenly failed. in addition, the gear shifter indicator light would not illuminate and the rear center seat belt would not function. when the left turn signal was engaged, the hazard warning lights would illuminate sporadically. the vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic where the contact was awaiting a diagnosis of the failure. in addition, the contact stated that the fuel kit had to be replaced twice as well as a fuel injector cleaning. the failure mileage was approximately 100,000. | |||
| 09/27/2010 | 100000 | ||
| Tl-the contact owns a 2003 chevrolet suburban 1500. while driving approximately 25 mph, the speed odometer suddenly failed to operate. in addition, the gear shifter indicator light would not illuminate; and the rear center seat belt would not function. the contact stated when the left turn signal was engaged the hazard warning lights operated. the failure occurred sporadic.the vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic for diagnosis. the vehicle had not not been repaired for the malfunctions. also, the fuel kit was replaced on two different occasions with the cleaning of the fuel injectors. the failure mileage was approximately 100,000. js | |||
| 11/20/2010 | 125000 | ||
| We are having serious electrical issues with our 2003 chevrolet suburban 1500 z71. it started with the seat warmers only workiing occasionally, then when i was trying to start it one day the ds automatic power seat deployed me and smashed my chest and legs all the way into the steering wheel and dash i was pinned against the steering wheel and dashboard until my husband heard me screaming and came to get me - it did this on its own, i hadn't touched a thing other than turn the key to start position. then the ds power seat buttons starting working in reverse i.e. pushing forward on the button sends you backwards and pushing back sends you forward, then the service 4wd light came on the dic and stayed on for awhile, the seat warmers started to work again on occasion and then quit altogether...again., now the cluster panel ...speedometer, rpm and other gauges are incorrect more often than not. we are having to use a gps to maintain speed limits. | |||
| 11/01/2010 | 18000 | ||
| Got a 2003 chevorlet surburana.the rear door be showing open n the oil gague,temperture gague,rpm, n sppedomete not working | |||
| 11/29/2010 | 85219 | ||
| I was driving to a store in my city when it felt like i was not doing the speed limit and going slower than normal. when ii got to the store and turned off the car, i saw that the speedometer was registering 20 mph. i started the car back up and it dropped the speed reading by 5 mph. i did this 3 more times till it registered zero mph. when driving home, i noticed that i was still driving slower than normal and when i got home and turned off the car the speedometer reading was showing 25 mph. i looked online and saw that others are having the same problem. this problem continues to occur every time ii am driving my 2003 chevrolet suburban. i have not taken it to get fixed yet and have contacted chevrolet to see if they will fix the problem for free since it should not be happening. this could possibly affect the vehicle speed control when set. | |||
| 12/10/2006 | 55000 | ||
| I got a 2003 chevrolet surb.the rear door keep coming open on it own,the speed o meter does not work,oil gauge,and the temperture gauge not work.it had start now when start to cranked it the brake booster light come the battery light come saying not charging. | |||
| 11/30/2009 | 65000 | ||
| 2003 chevy suburban i think it is called the cluster where the speeodometer and the fuel gage are located. fuel gage does not work and speedometer is stuck . air bag light has gone on twice took to vehicle to dealer they changed front sensor and the light came back on a month later 06/20/2010. | |||
| 05/06/2003 | 43000 | 1 | |
| Speedometer fluctuates, indicates various speeds other than actual speed. never a standard offset from actual speed. might indicate 20 mph at 55 mph actual as measured by gps one time, then 10 mph at 60 mph actual another time. *tr | |||
| 03/15/2009 | 85000 | 1 | |
| The speedometer on our 2003 chevrolet suburban randomly stops working. we understand that it is a defect and that it will only be replaced by chevrolet if the vehicle has less than 70,000 miles. our suburban has 85,000 miles on it. since it is a defect in the instrument cluster, and not because of wear and tear, chevrolet should replace it free of charge. we can't afford to pay the $550+ to have it replaced so we will drive it without the speedometer working, which is unsafe. *tr | |||
| 09/07/2006 | 65000 | 1 | 09/07/2003 |
| Speedometer has failed. shows 120 mph, even when shut down. it slowly began to go from zero at startup, to 35 at startup, to 70 at startup and now to 120. apparently, there is a known defect in the instrument cluster which chevy and dealers are aware of. *nm | |||