The vehicle failed state inspection due to the emergency brake being inoperative. Took vehicle to dealer who diagnosed a manufacturer's design flaw with the emergency brake. The design of the emergency brake placed it in contact with the rotors which caused premature wear.
2001 Chevrolet Suburban brakes complaints
Page 7 of 7: complaints 161 to 178 of 178, newest first, as owners wrote them.
The rear brake pads experienced premature wear.
I am writing to complain about the second failure of the "power assist" feature on my 2001 chevrolet suburban. The first failure occured during january of 2002, and the power steering pump was replaced at fox chevrolet dealership in laurel, md. In the 2002 event, I experienced a high pitch whining and vibrations in the steering, as well as the brake pedal. In effecting this repair, chevrolet replaced the power steering pump. During the latter part of november 2002, the high pitch whining and vibration returned. I took the vehicle to bill seidle's chevrolet in clermont, fl in november of 2002, and was told that there was nothing wrong with the steering or braking system. Unfortunately, they were wrong. On tuesday evening, 2/4/2003, while driving with my seven year old, the same high pitch whining, and pulsing in the brake pedal returned. This time it resulted in the total loss of power steering and brakes while exiting a local highway system in the orlando area. Fortunately, I was driving as it took quite a bit of strength, to steer and stop the vehicle after the loss of the power assist system. At what point does the failure of such a critical part of this vehicle get labeled as a defect in this system. The failure of this system, could have caused injury to me and my family (son). Had my wife been driving this truck, the result may have been gravely different. I purchased this vehicle because of the reputation for durability in the industry, with the expectation of purchasing a quality vehicle. I am now fearful of putting my family in this vehicle after a second failure of this critical system. I am requesting that I be contacted as soon as possible by someone that can address my concerns. I am concerned about placing my family in a vehicle that has had the power steering/braking system fail twice.
We bought a 2001 chevy suburban , brand new. Since we owned it, the air conditioner motor failed the first month, front left shock pops when turning, driver's seat warmer doesn't work (possible faulty switch), the 5.3 liter engine knocks and pings like crazy even when using 93 octane fuel on a steady basis. The front passenger seat was found to have cracked seat rails but dealer had no replacement rails, have to order them. Gas gauge doesn't read right (when on the red line it still has 6 gallons in the tank or 20% fuel left) the thing is a piece of crap! Gm didn't give a darn either. If you call to complain you get the run around. This is their top of the line passenger truck (suburban lt) and definitely not something they should be proud of. I definitely will not buy another, my parents just bought a new ford expedition since they saw all the crap breaking on this thing. Other friends have also not gm after seeing first hand my brand new lemon. Another friend of mine is on his 3rd replacement motor for his camaro window. He bought AC delco motors each time and they all stopped working within one year. All of these products, including my suburban are being made in mexico I just found out. I think that they must have a big problem with quality control down there or their sampling size is nil. Well I hope gm has made a bundle of profits off nafta because they've definitely lost at least 7 sales that I know of due to my $40,000 piece of crap. I wouldn't recommend this car to anyone. I have heard of others complaining of the same pings/knocks in their 5.3 liter gm engines. Does anyone know of a class action lawsuit regarding this? Oh and the emergency brake is way too loose.
Consumer stated had problems with the emergency brake. Also stated that vehicle would not pass the inspection on his state. Dealer and manufacture was contacted and also said that since their was no recall consumer will have to pay for it. Ts dealer found park brake shoes worn to metal. Dealer replaced park brake shoes and left rear rotor.
Consumer noticed failure of the emergency brake retainer clip. Dealer has been notified, please provide further information.
While the consumer was driving the ABS brake pedal goes to the floor without warning resulting in total brake loss.
Consumer states that the brakes on the vehicle are not working properly. Please provide further information.
Vehicle delivered with 305 miles. Noticed parking brake would intermittently not hold vehicle when parked on slight incline after about 1000 miles. Initially, parking brake pedal had a different feel to the last 2 to 3 inches of pedal travel, as if it were 'giving way' due to excessive pressure on pedal. However, whether the pedal was pushed all the way to floor or stopped before it had that strange 'give way' feel did not seem to affect the failure of the parking brake to hold vehicle when applied. Eventually, after about 10000 miles, the strange 'give way' feeling ceased. Also noticed that over time the parking brake would fail to hold the vehicle more often than not, and around 14000 miles, quit altogether. I took the vehicle to dealer and was adviced this problem was common with the new suburban body style (2000). Service advisor said would have to disassemble parking brake unit to see if pads needed adjustment or replacement and more than likely would be needing replacement and thus not covered by warranty. I told him this was happening from the beginning and he said the pads for the parking brake on the new body styles were very small and wore out very quickly especially if used on an incline or driven with parking brakes applied. This being the case, it did not seem cost effective to bother replacing the pads as he was going to charge me about $150. Is this a design defect or an intentional scheme to rip customers off with frequent brake pad changes?
While trying to apply brakes the brake pedal went down to the floor.*ak
Major safety problem- upon light and medium brake application ABS is engaging, causing loss of braking control and increased braking distance. Chevrolet dealer was unable to duplicate problem until 12/13/2001. They observed the problem, opened a case with chevrolet and they advised that the rear brake proportion valve was engaging and the action was normal. This is very unsafe, chevrolet refuses to fix problem!!
Front brakes malfunctioned causing the vehicle to swerve to the right approximately two feet, this event occured on smooth, dry, clean asphalt.
When applying brakes pedal fade appears to be be locked up requiring extended stoppping distance. *ak.
Vehicle has shut off several times while traveling at highway speed. After coasting to the shoulder and several attempts, the truck restarts. The truck also sputters during acceleration. The dealer has replaced the crankshaft sensor several times and has replaced four warped rotors that caused the brakes to be spongy. Two of the power window motors have been replaced due to inoperative windows. The oil level in the truck drops between (frequent) visits to the dealership. The low oil indicator light first illuminated when the truck had only been driven 3900 miles. The dealership can't find a leak.
Simultaneous failure of brake and power steering system while towing a 25 foot trailer.. Both systems run off same belt. Power steering seized and broke belt.
# 1. The day after I first puchased and picked up my vehicle it smoke us out of the parking garage on our vacation in oceanside, ca. #2 the brakes were very spongy and not anything like the one I demoed when I found this vehicle. I almost had an accident on route to oceanside. The last two trips in this has not been fixed and I had to rent a car again. # 3 about the 3 rd. Day into our new vehicle I noticed the parking brake wouldn,t always hold the vehicle, even after putting it in gear, with the brake fully applied it would fail but not all the time. # 4 after reporting the smoking problem, (still on-going) I had a no oil pressure warning and notice the gage didn't respond for about 10 seconds after starting the engine, then I had pressure but a constant low oil warning kept appearing on the message center. This is when it only had 1400 miles on it. I noticed some oil spots forming where I parked, I crawled under near the right rear side of the motor to find oil dripping from the engine and off the suspension near the engine. Its now been in 3 times for smoking, leaks and various other engine noises (lifters, right bank). # 5 the vehicle has pulled to the right since new. I called them, they said wait till you get a few miles on it so everything breaks in. Wrong answer. I checked the tire pressure. It was uneven on all tires, mind you they were supposed to check this before I purchased the vehicle. Average psi 30, should be 40-44psi cold. It helped but still pulled to the right. At 5000 miles I personally rotated the tires, this still didn't fix it. Upon bringing it in for all the formentioned and last problem which by the way required renting a car twice they finally took a look at it and know it pulls to the left and the steering wheel is no longer level. # 6 the right bucket seat won't lock in at the hinge point properly. They said there was a fix coming for the engine and the seat from the factory but as of yet nothing from chevy or the dealership.
When applying brakes intermittently pedal will fade, resulting in extended stopping distance. This happens at any speed.taken to dealer 3 times, cannot duplicate problem, and said it was normal for this vehicle.
While driving at 25 MPH/apporaching a stop sign, and when applying brakes pedal went to the floorboard, causing extended stopping distance. Brakes failed to respond. Consumer has contacted dealer. Dealer was unable to determine cause of problem. Please provide any further details.
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