Just finished a 300 mile trip towing a 24 foot race trailer. Next morning left to put the trailer in storage and the pedal went to floor on the way out of the subdivision. Luckily the speed was slow and the trailer had brakes so I could get stopped by using the omg switch on the brake controller. There was cross traffic that would have resulted in a bad accident had I entered the intersection. Judging by the number of complaints of rusted brake lines on this vehicle it is only a matter of time before someone is killed. Further inspection of the vehicle shows that all the lines need to be replaced. This truck is maintained in like new condition and brake lines should go many more years than this.
2004 Chevrolet Silverado 2500 brakes complaints
Page 3 of 7: complaints 41 to 70 of 168, newest first, as owners wrote them.
On saturday, august 11, 2012 I experienced a brake failure. After looking underneath my 2004 chevy silverado 2500hd brake fluid was dripping from a rusty brake line below the driver seat area. It appeared I lost the rear brakes so I was able to get the truck to the chevy dealership the following monday august 13, 2012. This truck only had 49,364 miles on it and was approximately 8 years old. The chevy dealer later called me with the bad news that all of the brake lines were bad and needed replaced. They also discovered the fuel lines were rusty and needed replaced too. They later notified me the calipers were rusty as they could not bleed the brakes properly so these also had to be replaced. The total of this august 21, 2012 invoice was $2,772.28 and this was with a 10% discount. Please note the rear brakes were just replaced 1207 miles earlier on april 30, 2012 for my required state vehicle inspection. During this state inspection (mileage 48,157) in april 2012 they also had to replace a speed sensor as the truck was going into ABS at low speeds. The invoice states this sensor ?came apart? And they also had to clean the other one. There is was no indication of rusty brake lines or fuel lines brought to my attention during the april 2012 state inspection and on august 11, 2012, just over three months later I experienced total rear brake failure. I certainly feel this was a sudden loss and could certainly lead to future collisions, injury or potentially death if something is not done to try to correct this brake line corrosion problem. I am thankful I was not towing a heavy trailer when this occurred and that no one got hurt but it could have been much worse. I?m glad they found the fuel line problem as this could have caused a vehicle fire or a house fire if the truck was parked in the garage if this fuel line corrosion was not corrected. Thank you for listening.
I was driving and went to stop the brake pedal went to the floor. I put the shifter into low 1 and hit the emergency brake to come to a stop just short of hitting the honda civic in front of me with the baby in the back seat. I put my hazards lights on and checked the truck. Under the bed was wet with brake fluid. The brake line was rusted through and is snapped letting all of the fluid out. So, no brakes!
I was planning on heading up to the mountains to my cabin today (8/10/2014). I stopped for diesel at king's quick stop, about 3 blocks from my house. After I filled up, I put it in drive and the brakes failed completely. By the grace of god I was only going 5 MPH in the gas station parking lot or I could have easily hit cars or pedestrians causing injury or loss of life. I drove home using the emergency brake which is not in a great place for emergency stopping. After arriving home I took a look and discovered that the brake lines in one particular section were completely corroded and one of them had burst. This is a vehicle that I frequently drive to the mountains and I cannot fathom how this could happen on any truck, let alone a heavy duty truck. No warning light came out to inform me that my brake pressure was low although I figured that out quickly when my foot went all the way to the floor. After diagnosing the problem, I did some searching on the web and discovered this is a common problem in the salt belt states. But I live in north carolina so this is quite a surprise. I will be scheduling repairs tomorrow but my understanding is that gm is not assisting in any way and that the repairs can run up to $2000. I've owned 20 cars in my lifetime, many with excessive mileage and have never had brakes fail before. So this is quite unsettling and clearly gm has a faulty and dangerous design here.
Pulling boat trailer up out of the boat ramp and brake peddle went to the floor and leaked out all the fluid had it towed to garage and found brake line had rusted through on one of the 4 others were in bad shape lucky I wasn't towing the boat down the highway and had to stop I could have killed someone or myself gm needs to address this problem now I hear there has been a lot of complaints.
While driving under good conditions, sunny, dry road surface, approximately 65 degrees, asphalt conditions excellent, not in traffic, no cars in front of me, no cars behind, the truck was empty and had only one person, the driver. I started to slow for an intersection and the brakes did not respond. The pedal went all the way to the floor. I was at least 400 ft from a traffic light equipped intersection at the time. I was able to down shift. The truck is equipped with some very low gearing for towing and by shifting down through the gears I was able to stop before the intersection. The brakes had very little stopping power left. There was no indicator that I was losing brake fluid pressure. However had I been on a highway, the truck fully loaded, in heavy traffic or on a big hill this could have turned out much worse. Reviewing the brake lines you could see that they were uniformly corroded on all exposed lines.the corrosion is heavy and it makes it difficult to determine the surface condition of the brake line. A leak had developed at a bend, in the line, just under the master brake cylinder. You really cannot see the leak due to the surface condition. You know it is there due to the visually seeing the brake fluid spurting out. All of the brake lines on the front end of the truck must be replaced and due to what I would consider defective brake line material I will have all of the lines replaced. I state that I feel they are defective or of extremely inferior quality do the fact that other lines in the truck show no corrosion at all, such as the AC lines, the lower transmission lines, lower gas line, these while tarnished are not corroding. This is the first failure of this type on the truck. Previously I had an exhaust gasket break and the alternator fail all other work has been maintenance type work such as oil changes. I purchased the truck new.
A badly rusted brake line burst while I was stopping for a stop sign. I managed to stop the vehicle without incident and get it home, but upon inspection, I found that all of the metallic brake lines which run to the rear of the vehicle are rusted to some degree. The line which burst runs along the frame in the vicinity of the gas tank. I own a 1971 jeep commando which still has its original metallic brake lines, and they are not the least bit rusty. It is disturbing to me that a modern vehicle would be constructed with materials inferior to those used more than 40 years ago.
Brake lines rusted through leaking all brake fluid while traveling 65+ on the new jersey turnpike. I am making this report to confirm brake problems on 2004 suburbans as was recently reported in the new york times. Cost to repair was in excess of $1000. General motors should seriously consider a recall and possibly consider usually stainless steel tubing for the brake lines!
Driving a 2004 chevrolet 2500hd 4x4 6 liter crew cab with 143005 miles. Traveling at 55 MPH as I approached my turn onto a side street at approximately 100 yards out I applied brakes to reduce speed to 15/20 MPH to make 90 degree downhill right turn. I experienced a very spongy brake for a couple of seconds followed by the brake pedal going completely to floor. I pumped brakes several more times with the same brake pedal response and zero braking. My speed had only dropped to about 40 MPH, too fast to negotiate my turn. I continued on the hwy to the next street using my parking brake and down shifting. Safely parked, I got out of truck and noticed a large amount of fluid was running on the ground, drivers side forward part of cab, resulting in a complete loss of brakes. My left front steel brake line located on top of frame under driver side at firewall had burst. All 4 brake lines in that 4" long area were badly rusted. Removed all the brake lines and that appears to be the heaviest area of heavy rust.
I was leaving my home to do an errand, while nearing an intersection I applied pressure to the brake pedal when it dropped to the floor . I had to apply serious pressure to get it slowed enough to turn around to head uphill towards home. Notice I said slow down, not stop. Had I gone seconds further I would have been in far worse shape as there is a steep decline for about 3/4s of a mile just past the intersection where the line gave out. I have had brake lines go bad before in other vehicles but was always able to stop the vehicle within a reasonable distance. I think if I had been on a main road with traffic and a generally faster speed allowance there would have been an accident. Something should be done to better supply the use of front brakes when the rear brakes fail and vice versa.
Tl* the contact owns a 2004 chevrolet silverado 2500 hd. While the vehicle was being serviced for routine maintenance, the mechanic noticed that the entire front end of the vehicle was defective. The mechanic replaced the steering box, pitman arm, outer tie rod on both ends and the upper ball joint. The contact also stated that the brakes were leaking. The brake leak failure had not been repaired. The manufacturer was not notified. The VIN was unavailable. The approximate failure mileage was 200,000.
While in traffic I pushed my brake pedal down hard to stop and it went to the floor. Some braking resistance was felt by the vehicle but I still hit the car in front of me. There was only a minor scratch on the car I hit because I also hit the parking brake one the brake pedal didn't do anything. There was no warning light to indicate a problem but when I pulled off the road the brake line going to the rear brakes was squirting fluid. All of the brake lines on the car showed heavy signs of rust.
While applying moderate brake pressure in heavy morning traffic on clean dry pavement, the brake pedal collapsed to the floor, followed by rear brake lock-up. I swerved to avoid a collision. I was forced to use the parking brake to move to safety. Inspection revealed a metal brake line failure. In fact, all brake lines were severely rusted. I thought this was highly unusual. However one work colleague and one neighbor immediately revealed that they had suffered the same failure on other gm trucks of that age. My mechanic reported doing several dozen brake line replacements on gm trucks in the 2000 to 2006 era. Surely this is a major class safety problem.
While stopped in a parking lot the brake pedal went to the floor. Closer inspection revealed that the hard brake line had burst above the fuel tank on the line that runs between the ABS module and rear axle.
Driving home from my wife's parents hose on rt 40, the traffic light changed. And when I depressed the brake pedal, the pedal went to the floor. I started to pump the brake pedal, and was lucky to stop my truck before I went throught the light. I was able to nurse my truck home. The next day I called my mechanic and had the problem taken care of.
The brake line to the rear brakes failed due to rust (ruptured). This is the third chevy truck, of this generation, that I have owned; all three have experienced this failure. All three failed with no warning. I cannot believe people have not been killed; I was left with very little effective braking in all three events.
I was traveling on a two-line road nearing the city and near the top of a hill when a line of cars slowed quickly in front of me. I had to get onto the brakes quickly to maintain a safe following distance, but when I did the pedal went completely to the floor. Having very little time to react, I noticed the traffic in the oncoming lane had stopped or slowed greatly about 100 yards in front of me, so I was able to swerve into the left lane to avoid rear ending an entire line of cars with my 6000lbs truck. Fortunately the driver at the front of the oncoming traffic saw me and stopped. I was then able to barely manage my way back into the right lane as some of those cars started moving again. At this point I was just cresting a large hill at approximately 40mph. A police officer in the oncoming lane had already seen me and activated his lights and then started working to turn around in the road to chase me. When I was back in the right lane I finally had a second to try to locate the parking brake, but activating it had absolutely no effect. I coasted nearly 1/2 mile down the road and forced the truck into a parking lot, over a large set of railroad ties and into a yard with an upsloped hill. If I couldn't have gotten it stopped there I could have coasted down an even steeper hill and into a very busy multi-lane intersection and killed someone. The police officer ended up being understanding of my situation and called a tow truck for me and I had it towed to a shop. The shop said that all of the brake lines were rusted out completely and both the front and rear sets of lines were leaking. I did not have any dash light indicating that the fluid was slow either before or after the incident. The shop owner also told me that these trucks do not have a proportioning valve in order to allow one of the front or rear brakes to continue working in the event of a failure.
To:[xxx], acting director of the national highway and traffic safety administration please open the link- http://www.wxyz.com/money/auto-news/rusty-brake-lines-cause-concern-for-gmc-chevy-truck-drivers I am writing this email because after the experience I had driving my 2004 chevrolet 2500 silverado 4wd truck to work without brakes due to the fact that general motors installed defective brake lines in their gmc and chevy trucks. (open and read the link above) the last time I had driven my 2004 chevrolet 2500 silverado 4wd truck, my wife and I had just return from a hagerstown, md campground towing our 5th wheel rv trailer, I disconnected the rv from the truck and parked 10 feet in front of the rv. Thank god, that the brake failure did not happen while we were driving the 2004 chevrolet 2500 silverado 4wd truck while towing the 5th wheel rv trailer, it may have a caused a very serious accident, and possible serious injury or death. I wonder how many american families suffered with the stress, injuries, or even death due to the indifference from general motors and the national highway and traffic safety administration? Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6).
Returning from performing a drill operation and towing our drill machine back to the office. Attempted to engage the brakes and all failed at approx. 60mph. I utilized the trailer brakes to bring the truck and trailer to a stop where I found a main brake line had split. Having it repaired the mechanic advise me the entire brake system should be replaced due to corrosion/rust on all lines including the fuel line which could also fail. It was so bad that they did not attempt to bleed the lines as the bleeder may brake off. After that the truck has been stored until it can be repaired at over $2100.00 for only the brakes and does not include the fuel line.
Tl* the contact owns a 2004 chevrolet silverado 2500 hd. The contact stated that he started the vehicle and when the brake pedal was applied it was inoperable. The brake fluid was leaking underneath the vehicle. The contact took the vehicle to the dealer who indicated that the brake lines were corroded. The brake lines were replaced along with the master cylinder. The contact indicated that on january 8, 2013 he started the vehicle and the failure recurred. The vehicle was taken to the dealer who indicated that the brakes hydro boost system malfunctioned. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and offered no solution. The failure mileage was 122,000.
After placing my foot on the brake to shift into gear the pedal went to the floor and I got a brake warning light. I opened the master cylinder cap and saw no brake fluid. I filled it up and the level kept dropping so I looked under the car and saw a puddle of fluid. I traced the fluid to the metal brake lines and noticed that they were all massively corroded to the point of having flakes of metal peeling off the lines. One of the lines had ruptured and was spraying fluid onto the engine making smoke and continued to drip even without the brake pedal being pressed.
My truck was at a complete stop while in drive; at idle; with my foot on the brake pedal to prevent the vehicle from moving forward. Without warning, the brake pedal went completely to the floor and the truck began moving forward. Repeated attempts to push the brake pedal did not have any effect on stopping the truck. As the truck continued to move forward, I pushed down on the emergency brake pedal which did bring the vehicle to a stop. Upon exiting the vehicle, I observed what appeared to be brake fluid dripping from underneath the driver side where 2 brake lines are located along the truck's frame. The leak of brake fluid is coming from the brake lines which are severely rusted. Doing a simple google search reveals this is an extremely common, pervasive and persistent issue with gm pickup trucks since 1999, with some reports indicating it has continued to affect model years annually through the 2009 model. The repair cost appears to be running close to $2000 to replace the oem lines with stainless steel. Why gm and the federal safety agency have allowed such a dangerous situation to continue for so long, with so many complaints, is simply remarkable.
My wife had just left our house and as she went to stop at a stop sign the brake pedal went to the floor and she had to use the emergency brake to stop. The brake lines had rusted and blew a hole in the lines.
I got in the truck to leave my house. After starting the truck and putting my foot on the brake pedal I shifted into reverse to leave my driveway. At that time the brake pedal went all the way to the floor. I was able to shift back to park as I had not release the parking brake yet. I opened the hood and the master cylinder was empty. After looking under the truck, drivers side inside frame rail, I discovered a burst brake line where it leads into the ABS module. All of the brake lines were extremely corroded and had to be replaced with stainless steel at a chevy dealer. I had the dealer perform other routine maintenance items at that time as well. They discovered that I needed to replace a chain guide in my transfer case, and repair a hole that the loose chain had caused. I find it hard to believe that chevy used stainless steel for the exhaust system, which looks great after almost 10 years, yet they used plain steel for the brake lines. I was lucky this occurred in my driveway, and not while I was towing my boat on the highway. The transfer case problem also seems like an engineering failure.
While driving I saw a deer, it started toward the road I was traveling at 50mph the deer started to run to cross my path. I applied my brakes (I should have stopped in plenty of time but....) the pedal went down approximately halfway as normal and held firm, then the pedal continued to the floor, the brakes no longer slowed my truck impacting the deer. A similar incident happened two weeks prior. The first time the left rear brake line failed over the fuel tank. The instant incident the left front brake line failed two inches from the wheel flexible brake line joint. An automobile that is 9 years old should not have brake lines failing, this vehicle has just recently rolled over 100,000 miles mark and is used to pull the family rvs it is not a daily driver. Why is steel used for brake lines? It rusts! Why is it not coated? Why not stainless steel? Why put people's lives at risk using cheap materials that rust in a vital safety component such as brakes.
Had no brakes. Discovered ruptured brake line.
Brake lines all rusted out and fuel lines 21,300 miles on it are there any recalls out yet or coming out very soon.
Driving to work pushed on the brakes and the pedal went to the floor. Inspected to find a rusted brake line broken just under the drivers side front door. Also the brake lines have major rust at rear wheel. All of the lines are rusting and need replaced.
A brake line ruptured as I attempted to stop at the end of my driveway (I was traveling downhill) on 1/3/2013. I experienced a loss of brakes without warning (no dashboard warning light). I was able to stop by using the emergency brake. I had the line replaced at this time. On 8/15/2013 I again experienced a complete loss of brakes when a brake line ruptured. Again, I was traveling downhill on a driveway/farm lane and was able to use the emergency brake to stop. Again, there was no warning from dashboard lights. I have had that line replaced also. I am now planning to replace all of the original brake lines. I have not had to do this on any other vehicle I have ever owned.
Brake failure on city street. This is the second time in a year I lost brakes due to brake failure. Front brake line was replaced , now back line went. Line is very rusty.
VIN decoder
See the problems and recalls for an exact car
Buying a used 2004 Chevrolet Silverado 2500?
Check the exact car before you pay: accidents, salvage or flood titles, odometer readings and previous owners.
Check its history