Brakes lines broke while in traffic at stop light. Manage to drive in low gear 1/2 block to repair shop. They replaced the lines
The worst 2003 Chevrolet Avalanche 2500 problems
Ranked by number of owner complaints. Mileage and cost come from what owners wrote.
- Brakes6
- Body2
- Electrical1
- Visibility1
Problems by type
Tap a problem to see which part fails, at what mileage and in which other years.
- Brakes6
- Body2
- Electrical1
- Visibility1
Recalls
No recalls on record for this model year.
Defect investigations
Brake line corrosion failure
On January 11, 2011, ODI opened EA11-001 to investigate allegations of premature brake line corrosion failure in model year (MY) 1999 through 2003 General Motors (GM) full-size pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles sold or registered in the following region of the United States that the federal safety agency has viewed as salt states for investigations of corrosion related issues:Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia and Wisconsin.The subject vehicles represent the first five MY's of GM's GMT800 platform production, of which approximately 2,038,504 vehicles were sold in salt states (the subject vehicles).The GMT800 platform includes the following vehicles:1999-2007 Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra 1500, 2500 and 3500 series pick-up trucks; 2000-2006 Chevrolet Suburban, Chevrolet Tahoe and GMC Yukon sport utility vehicles; and 2002-2006 Cadillac Escalade and Chevrolet Avalanche sport-utility vehicles.General Motors produced a total of approximately 10,427,062 GMT800 vehicles for sales in the United States, including almost 5 million that were sold in salt states.Although there are over 60 different brake pipe routing configuration used in GMT800 vehicles, with the exception of the rear crossover pipes in MY 200x-2007 vehicles that changed from rear disc to drum brakes, all of the vehicles use brake pipes from the same supplier with a common double-wall, brazed steel pipe design with a combination of hot dip Zinc-Aluminum corrosion protection coating and Aluminum paint outer layer known in the industry as AlGal (ASTM-B750). ODI analysis of field data regarding GMT800 vehicles identified a total of 3,645 complaints of brake pipe corrosion failures, including 107 alleging crashes, and 40 injuries.Though only 20% of total GMT800 production, due to age and region the subject vehicles account for a disproportionate share of the failure experience; with 2,702 of the complaints (75%), 88 of the crashes (82%) and 20 of the injuries (50%) reported in those vehicles.Analysis of the complaints showed strong correlations to vehicle age and region.For vehicles with less than 8 years of service, the complaint rates were minimal for all regions.In the salt states the failure rates begin to climb as the vehicles advance in age, particularly in the Northeast corner of the United States.The complaint rates in the salt states go from less than 0.1 incident per thousand vehicles (IPTV) at 7 years in service to over 1.0 IPTV after the 12th year of service for the subject pickup trucks and utility vehicles.Most of the failures reported to ODI occurred in vehicles with more than 10 years in service.ODI?s investigation did not identify any specific defect conditions that were causing or contributing to the brake pipe failures.Nor did the analysis isolate the problem to any subject vehicle sub-populations when analyzed by vehicle type or production range.The investigation found that vehicles experiencing brake pipe corrosion failures were likely to have general patterns of excessive corrosion on the majority of the brake pipe assembly and appear to be occurring due to expected wear out for the brake pipe coating material used in the subject vehicles and the environmental conditions in severe corrosion states.A safety-related defect has not been identified at this time.Accordingly, this investigation is closed.The closing of this investigation does not constitute a finding by the federal safety agency that a safety-related defect does not exist.The agency will monitor t
EA11001
Technical service bulletins for the 2003 Chevrolet Avalanche 2500 336
Bulletins tell dealers how to fix known problems. A warranty extension means the manufacturer pays for that repair for longer.
- This PI communicates the requirement to provide a pico file to receive diagnostic assistance from TAC.
- This service bulletin explains how to measure for oil consumption and possible reasons for loss of oil.
- Unknown or other
- Vehicle Wide Programming (VWP) is a new process to update software on GM Vehicles
- GM is receiving damaged (cracked or broken) transmission cores returned to the reman facilities
- This service bulletin advises of a new fuel injection cleaner kit used for decarbonizing the intake valves...
- This bulletin provides information for use on a Product Assistance Claim (PAC), which is formerly known as...
- This service bulletin provides information for dealers/technicians on Service Programming System (SPS)...
- This Warranty Administration bulletin provides retail and wholesale service personnel with the...
- This bulletin provides information for electrical ground repairs using new General Motors replacement...
What 2003 Chevrolet Avalanche 2500 owners say
Most recent owner complaints, unedited.
Sitting at a stop light the brakes failed. Holding the brake while waiting for the light to change, the pedal all of a sudden went to the floor. When I began moving I had to keep the truck below 30 MPH to allow the brakes to work with increased stopping distance factored in. After about a 5 mile drive home, checked the brakes and noticed a leak from rusted brake lines near the driver's door. Truck cannot be safely driven until rusted lines are replaced. No ability to make a regular stop much less an emergency stop in the present condition.
2003 2500 avalanche brake lines heavily rusted deep pits below driver seat and along left frame rail will replace.
I have a 2003 truck that is regularly serviced at gm dealerships and another professional shop. I alternate shops to make sure I am getting the best service and making sure any problems are caught before they are serious. I wash my truck on a regular basis always getting the underbody/chassis washed off. So, the vehicle is taken care of and kept up.the incident above luckily happened when I was backing up my truck to connect to a trailer. The brake lines burst under the driver side leaking oil all over when the brakes were applied lightly.. Glad it didn't happen fully loaded driving through a school zone on a weekday. Since there are several schools and bus stops near me. When attempting to repair professionally the lines kept developing leaks affecting several lines and different areas. Not once did either of the shops including gm dealership ever tell me there was a problem with my brake lines. If you are supposed to check this as a regular maintenance issue than why don't gm shops do it. There is no excuse why these lines are failing this soon, other than inferior materials being used. It seems gm used inferior steel material in the early 2000s as can be seen by the corrosion that is seen on trucks of this era. I have never seen so much corrosion on vehicles of similar age from other years. The scary part is these trucks usually have several tons of weight behind them, let alone the trucks own weight of over 3 tons. Everyday these vehicles are on our highways and streets driving through residential and school zones. When you lose brakes you are not going to regain control until something stops it and the tons on back of it.
Brakes suddenly gave out. Pedal fell to floor and when I took it to be repaired I was told all the brake lines rotted out. I don't understand this because by vehicle was garage kept. My total bill was $875.00.
2002-2009 chevrolet avalanche rear removable window (frame). Lower l/h side (passenger side).plastic frame subject to splitting in time with heat and separates and pulls away exposing tempered glass.tempered glass is now in contact with supporting frame and vulnerable to shattering from road vibration or worse, collision,thus injuring passenger(s) including infants in rear seat .my 2003 avalanche frame began cracking early 2007 and is now has a 1 1/2 inch gap.I along with several thousand owners (research on internet), have brought this matter of defective materials to gm and chevrolets attention only to be told "sorry it's not covered".I am very disappointed and rather angry that gm would not offer to repair or even replace these obviously defective window frame assemblys.according to my research with other owners up to 2009 model year, this defect still exists and owners that were fortunate to have theirs replaced if still under warranty have reported that the replacement has started cracking just the same! This is proof that gm has done absolutely nothing to improve/replace inferior materials that made this frame.
Parking brake cable corroded and failed. Went to apply parking brake while parked on a hill and the cable broke at the left rear wheel. The end of the cable fell to the ground and corrosion was very evident.
Chevrolet avalanche instrument cluster failures. Over the past 32 months the instrument cluster on my 2003 avalanche has been intermittently malfunctioning causing the speedometer, fuel, temp, oil pressure and all other gauges to not operate. As of 1/19/2008 all of the gauges on the instrument cluster failed completely. From what I understand chevrolet has issued a extension of the warranty to 70,000 miles for this single issue but this is a safety related problem that should be taken care of under a recall of all vehicles with this instrument cluster.
Rear window leaked from day 1, reported to dealer, upon lease turn in it was discovered that rubber around window was cracked, they are now charging me for the damage.
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Questions about the 2003 Chevrolet Avalanche 2500
Is the 2003 Chevrolet Avalanche 2500 reliable?
Owners have filed 9 complaints about the 2003 Chevrolet Avalanche 2500, close to a typical Avalanche 2500 model year.
What is the most common problem with the 2003 Chevrolet Avalanche 2500?
Brakes, with 6 complaints, typically around 120,000 miles. Next is body (2).
How many recalls does the 2003 Chevrolet Avalanche 2500 have?
No recalls on record.
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