Consumer Complaints
| Fail date | miles | occurences | Purchase date |
|---|---|---|---|
| SERVICE BRAKES | |||
| 02/01/2013 | 58500 | 1 | |
| As i was backing my vehicle from my driveway i noticed a puddle of brake fluid where the vehicle was parked. upon closer inspection i noted that the front brake line leading from the master cylinder to the rear abs controller was leaking fluid onto the roadway. the vehicle is no longer safe to drive until the brake lines are replaced. all of the brake lines on this 2003 suburban are heavily corroded and look ready to fail at any moment. *tr | |||
| 02/01/2013 | 58500 | ||
| As i was backing my vehicle from my driveway i noticed a puddle of brake fluid where the vehicle was parked. upon closer inspection i noted that the front brake line leading from the master cylinder to the rear abs controller was leaking fluid onto the roadway. the vehicle is no longer safe to drive until the brake lines are replaced. all of the brake lines on this 2003 suburban are heavily corroded and look ready to fail at any moment. | |||
| 12/28/2012 | 86420 | ||
| I was driving on a paved highway, when the upcoming intersection light turned red. when i applied the brakes the brake pedal was very soft and just kept going all the way to the floor. after the pedal was all the way to the floor then the red warning light came on. i was able to stop the vehicle before entering the intersection and luckily there was no one in front of me. if there had been, i would have hit them. i drove to a nearby truck stop and got some brake fluid, the vehicle took the whole container. i had no fore-warning of any problem with the brake system. i carefully drove home and by the time i got there, approximately 12 miles, my brake fluid was down again and the brakes were failing as i pulled into my drive. again, the warning light did not come on at any time until i pushed the brake pedal all the way to the floor. my husband looked at the car the next morning and the rear brake linings were corroded and leaking. | |||
| 10/27/2012 | 86000 | 1 | |
| Vehicle infront of me stopped quickly. when i applied the brake; peddle went to the floor. i was far enough back to avoid a crash but had no brakes. brake system failed with out warning. towing agency told me brake line burst. *tr | |||
| 10/27/2012 | 86000 | ||
| Vehicle infront of me stopped quickly. when i applied the brake; peddle went to the floor. i was far enough back to avoid a crash but had no brakes. brake system failed with out warning. towing agency told me break line burst. | |||
| 09/04/2012 | 73350 | 1 | |
| We were driving down the highway at 55mph when i saw a deer on the side of the road. i pressed the brake pedal and it didn't respond properly. instead, the brake pedal went nearly to the floor and the vehicle took a long time to slow to a stop. i began driving again and tested the brakes; they did not work properly. i had to press the pedal to the floor to get the vehicle to brake, and even then it took a very long time to stop the vehicle. it was dangerous to drive the vehicle at this point. i took the vehicle to the nearest chevrolet dealership and was told that all four brake lines had rusted and ruptured. the vehicle has been stored indoors and driven very little in the winter months. this incident upset me greatly as it put my family in serious danger. i have subsequently learned this is a common problem with gm vehicles of that model year. i have owned 25 automobiles over 45 years and have never had sudden brake failure. i am concerned that someone will be injured or killed, if this hasn't already occurred, and i implore you to consider a safety recall. thank you. ## vin passed ## chevrolet suburban 2003 ## *tr | |||
| 07/28/2012 | 1 | ||
| I was on my way to the grocery store with my two children and i noticed while going to leave my driveway that when i went to brake there was a lot of play room that was not previously there. i went to test them again and had to push down all the way to the floor to get our vehicle to come to a complete stop. i then parked the vehicle until my husband got home. after having our vehicle looked over a couple times we were able to see that the brake lines were corroded in some areas. *tr | |||
| 07/28/2012 | |||
| I was on my way to the grocery store with my two children and i noticed while going to leave my driveway that when i went to brake there was a lot of play room that was not previously there. i went to test them again and had to push down all the way to the floor to get our vehicle to come to a complete stop. i thrn parked the vehicle until my husband got home. after having our vehicle looked over a couple times we were able to see that the brake lines were corroded in some areas. | |||
| SERVICE BRAKES, AIR - DISC - ROTOR | |||
| 06/28/2007 | 1 | ||
| I had to have all 4 rotors replaced at 40,000 miles. they were full of rust and down to the metal. most of my miles are highway and this repair was expensive. | |||
| SERVICE BRAKES, ELECTRIC | |||
| 03/01/2011 | 110000 | ||
| Experiencing unwanted antilock brake system (abs) activation on my 2003 suburban particularly at slow speed stops. | |||
| 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. | |||
| 01/14/2006 | 15000 | 365 | |
| 1.speedometer faied s daily. it will read 90 mph when i have just began accelerating. other times it will read 10 mph when i am driving with traffic on the freeway. problem has not been corrected, dealership advised it was not covered under a recall although they have received numerous complaints. 2. second row middle seat belt failed to retract. second middle seatbelt fastener got stuck and unable to unfasten seat belt without force. has not been corrected. 3. paint on radio controls & dashboard is peeling off - paint was originally grey and now some areas are black and other clear with the bright light shining through when the radio is in use. 4. brakes squeek excessively, replaced brakes & pads noise ceased for a month and then began again. 5. rear access door rattles constantly 6. rear access door plastic molding on inside of door cracked 7. front passenger seat belt plastic cover cracked and broke off 8. left rear passenger door light casing cracked and fell off 9. steering makes an abnormal noise when turning. *ak | |||
| SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC | |||
| 11/30/2011 | 60502 | ||
| The brakes failed due to rusted brake lines blowing out in the proximity of the abs motor, which is located on the driver side, along the frame, underneath the drivers seat. | |||
| 10/07/2011 | |||
| On oct.7, 2011 my wife was driving our 2003 chevy suburban. in just normal driving conditions she applied the brakes. a warning sound came on and the brake pedal went to the floor. just that quick !, brake line failure! if she had been driving faster than 40 mph. their might have been a bad intersection collision. she nervously was able to creep the vehicle to a stop. i researched this condition on-line and was startled to find nhtsa is investigating over 6 million vehicles with the same conditions.it's a travesty that this can go on.it must be the goverments way of not being able to police its own company. | |||
| 08/06/2011 | 106995 | ||
| Upon backing into the driveway after returning from a short errand, the brake pedal went to the floor with no braking action. no damage occurred since the emergency brake stopped the car at low speed. all instrument panel lamps for the braking system were lighted and the message service brake system came on. upon inspection, the brake fluid reservoir was empty and the fluid was dripping from the underside a little forward of the driver's side of the car. after having the car towed to the auto repair shop it was found to have rusted out steel brake lines in a cluster of four leading from the master cylinder back toward the rear of the car. luckily this total loss of braking occured at the very end of the trip since there was no warning of any problem beforehand. six lengths of the rusted steel brake lines needed to be replaced. | |||
| 07/15/2011 | 26000 | ||
| In 2003 i purchased a new chevrolet suburban 1500. the vehicle has been garage kept and presently has 26,000 miles on it. three weeks ago my wife experienced a total brake failure at 30 mph. she used the emergency brake to stop the car without incident. on inspection of the brake system, the front passenger steel brake line was rusted completely thru. on further inspection, all the brake lines were rusty and in bad shape. i have inquired information from 6 chevrolet dealerships in the state of maryland, all of which have seen and repaired the exact problem many times. i am told that in 2006, gm started annodizing their steel brake lines again. but for the suburbans built in 2003 and 2004, the problem was never rectified and gm has no recall on them. since suburbans are primarily used to transport people, i would think this issue would be of great importance to you. i replaced the brake lines with after market stainless steel lines at my own expense, $1200. | |||
| 06/25/2011 | 90000 | ||
| Tl- the contact owns a 2003 chevrolet suburban 1500. the contact stated while driving approximately 35 mph approaching a stop sign, the brake pedal traveled rapidly to the floor upon engaging and the vehicle failed to slow down. the contact shifted into neutral gear in order to apply the parking brake and stop the vehicle. the failure was not diagnosed or repaired. the manufacturer was notified of the failure. the approximate failure mileage was 90,000. the vin was unavailable. rk | |||
| 06/25/2011 | 90000 | ||
| Tl-the contact owns a 2003 chevrolet suburban 1500. the contact stated while driving approximately 35 mph approaching a stop sign, the brake pedal traveled rapidly to the floor upon engaging and the vehicle failed to slow down. the contact shifted into neutral in addition to applying the parking brake to stop the vehicle. the vehicle had not been diagnosed or repaired. the manufacturer was notified of the failure. the approximate failure mileage was 90,000. the vin was unavailable. js | |||
| 11/28/2007 | |||
| 2003 chevy suburban 1500 4wd 5.3l, gm has a known issue with braking on these trucks where it takes too long to stop. i have replaced all pads, rotors, and calipers. also preformed abs brake bleeding to see if air was in the abs module/pump assembly. truck still at times seems to not want to stop. it always takes a long distance to stop. there is no abs activating during this time. this has been an issue since i bought the truck in 2007. | |||
| 05/02/2011 | 108643 | ||
| Break lines rusted out. breaks gone ! | |||
| 01/08/2011 | 84432 | ||
| Corroded brake lines on 2003 chevrolet suburban caused a front end crash when brake line burst at corrosion. i was lucky to have had a snow bank in my path and not another car. i applied thebrakes coming to a stop light when the brake pedal went to the floor. myself and my wife went through the red light, unable to stop, with no traffice coming from the cross street, luckily. i was able to get home slowly and found the brake line corroded and brake fluid squirting from the break when pressure applied upon inspection. | |||
| 12/06/2010 | 38900 | ||
| Tl-the contact owns a 2003 chevrolet suburban 1500. while driving 5 mph he engaged the brakes and the brakes failed. he stated he engaged the emergency brakes to stop the vehicle. the vehicle was towed to an authorized dealer. the mechanic advised him that the metal brake line had rusted out. the vehicle had not been repaired. the failure and current mileage were 38,900. vwb | |||
| 08/29/2010 | 79900 | ||
| 1) sudden loss of braking power during stop with no warning. 2) pedal travels almost completely to the floor. braking force is much less than normal. this is not an intermittent condition. 3) examination shows that a hard (steel?) hydraulic brake line has corroded and ruptured. | |||
| 03/14/2010 | 100000 | ||
| 2003 chevy suburban requiries too much pressure on brake pedal to stop | |||
| 03/10/2010 | 35241 | ||
| When applying brakes to avoid hitting a deer, the pedal went completely to the floor. no abs, no partial pedal, straight to the floor. vehicle was towed to chevrolet dealer where it was determined that both front and rear brake lines needed to be replaced due to brake line corrosion. dealer provided rough estimate of $1500 plus tax to repair. | |||
| 01/01/2008 | 40000 | ||
| Tl* the contact owns a 2003 chevrolet suburban 1500. when approaching a stop sign and depressing the brakes, the anti-lock braking system would engage unnecessarily and the brake pedal would fall to the floorboard. whenever the failure would occur, the brakes would not engage and the vehicle would fail to stop. the dealer was notified and would offer no assistance. the contact has experienced the failure for approximately two years. the failure mileage was 40,000 and the current mileage was 59,000. | |||
| 12/01/2009 | 80000 | 1 | |
| Abs would incorrectly engage when stopping at low speeds (< 5 mph). increases stopping distance since abs starts pumping instead of just applying brakes. this happens on ideal road conditions and at low speed/non skidding stops. *tr mechanic replaced wheel hub assembly on both front left and front right wheels (wheel hub included new abs speed sensor). problem was fixed. this is obviously a safety issue. gm has already recalled 99 - 2002 (mine is a 2003) suburbans for this. mechanic indicated that abs sensors were badly corroded (presumably) from salt getting into contact with the sensor. mechanic also indicated that he has fixed this in *many* suburbans and in many cases that came after owners had unsuccessfully tried to get dealers to fix the issue. mechanic said dealers were replacing the abs computer, at a cost of thousands of dollars, and problem still wasn't fixed. important note: it appears that regardless of whether a recall is done, dealers should at least be aware of this common safety problem with suburbans from this time period. *tr | |||
| 06/10/2008 | 68250 | 1 | |
| Based on nhtsa #05v379000, our 2003 chevrolet suburban has exhibited the same problem of engaging the abs system when coming to a stop at a light or intersection. this only happens on a slow stop. the referenced recall does not include year 2003 and chevrolet will not repair at no charge. this problem happens intermittently, sometimes three times in one day and then not at all for a couple of days. my auto mechanic has confirmed the problem is a corrosion of front wheel speed sensor. *tr | |||
| SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC - ANTILOCK - WHEEL SPEED SENSOR | |||
| 02/15/2008 | 55000 | 100 | 09/30/2003 |
| 2003 chevy suburban is having the same abs problems that led to the recall of 99-2002 suburbans in the salt belt. i have talked to the dealer as well as gm, but to no avail. the 2003 needs to be recalled as well. thank you. *tr | |||