Second row door lock/unlock buttons do not function properly. The vehicle may be locked from this position but is unable to be unlocked. This allowed a small child in a car seat to lock themselves in the car but unable to unlock the vehicle using the corresponding button on the door. This is a serious issue which left the child trapped and required rescue from the fire department. This is a known issue for all GM/Chevy SUV from model year 25&26
Chevrolet Suburban 1500 door locks problems
53 of the 1,439 owner complaints about the Chevrolet Suburban 1500 describe doors won't lock, open or latch, most of them for the 2008 model year.
- owner complaints
- 53
- worst model year
- 2008
- typical mileage
- 62,500
Is there a fix? No recall or service bulletin covers this area of the car yet.
By model year
Often reported together
Loss of power 2Stalling 1Oil consumption 1Engine failure 1Airbag light 1
What owners say
The windows would go down all by themselves and not roll up . The infotainment system will flash on and off telling you to start strip all by itself. The door locks will lock you out and in not letting unlock the truck . The key fob is the only way to unlock it. I have taken it to the dealer five times to be repaired and they say GM software is not capable of finding the electrical problem. They just keep replacing parts. I filed a complaint with The State AG office and GM said they were not going to address the complaint because the vehicle was still under warranty.
On three (3) separate occasions in the past year, the vehicle enters what appears to be an "electrical system reset" of sorts. This has occurred on long distance trips during operation at highway speeds. The entire electrical system will suddenly power off and on repeatedly, the electric door locks will unlock and relock, the engine will lose power (quite scary at highway speeds) and the vehicle must be removed from the road, powered down, let sit idle for 5-10 minutes and then can be restarted to a normal operating condition. It is almost as if the computer system is resetting itself while the vehicle is in operation and moving. This has happened three (3) times in the past year - all on long trips - march, july, and november. The most recent, instance occurred about three hours into a return trip home and recurred again about 1-1/2 hours later (10 minutes from home) during the same trip. By restarting/resetting the vehicle, I was able to get home. I took to advanced auto and the diagnostic came up negative - no codes, battery and startup all good. I have a large family and use this vehicle to transport them around town and for vacations and such. This is quite a dangerous situation when it occurs and I am afraid it may leave us stranded at some point in time, or worse.
Vehicle has just over 200,000 miles. At about 150,000 miles had drivers side door unable to open from inside, had to roll down window to open from ext'r handle. At same time back passenger door and window would not open. Spent way too much $ with chev dealer to fix, this is a safety issue. Now at 200k miles same thing again with driver side door, won't open from inside, and driver side window will not go down (failed at same time). Am writing this on behalf of my 89 y/o mother and 93 y/o father who own the vehicle in aurora, mo. Mom got trapped in the car and had to have help getting out through passenger side - when you are 89 years old it is difficult to crawl over a console. Will be contacting gm to see if they will offer to help or blow us off. If latter can guarantee I will never buy another gm product; had similar issues with 1995 gmc 4wd pickup I had owned, driver side door handle failed, inside and out, and cost several hundred dollars to repair. No relief from gm either.
Door lock/unlock actuators are failing to operate, which poses safety concern for children in these vehicles. I've had two fail. This is a common and wide-spread issue with many 2007-2013 gm trucks and suvs. Just for my particular vehicle (2009 suburban) I counted 13 other complaints (with the federal safety agency id #s) on this website for this issue. Apparently the electric motor in the actuator module for each door lock is poor quality and prone to failure. Given the safety risk and number of vehicles involved, I'm surprised that a recall has not been issued.
Door handles chrome plating peels off on interior door handles. I have cut my fingers multiple times opening the door.
The passenger side rear door lock failed in the locked position. The auto locks do not affect it nor can the lock be manually unlocked from the inside. The door cannot be opened at all from inside or out. No indication of breakage occurred, it just froze up one day with normal use.
Have replaced all 4 door handles due to plastic breaking
3 door latches have stopped working and will not allow the door to stay shut. This can obviously be very dangerous if they were to give out when driving and it seems to be a very common problem from what I have heard.
Upon exiting the vehicle I was sliced by the chrome coating peeling away from inner door handle. Finger was sliced about 3/4" long and bad enough to bleed. I then took notice of other inner door handles and found passenger side front inner door handle also having the chrome coating peeling from handle. Further research found this problem on earlier gm models.
Related recalls
No recalls on record for this model year.
Questions about the Chevrolet Suburban 1500 door locks
Which Chevrolet Suburban 1500 years have doors won't lock, open or latch problems?
The model years with the most reports are 2008 (21 complaints), 2007 (19 complaints) and 2009 (5 complaints).
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