Table 1 shows one common parking brake related problems of the 2003 Chevrolet Avalanche.
| Problem Category | Number of Problems |
|---|---|
| Parking Brake problems |
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.
(2003 chevy Avalanche 1500 ~ 67,000 miles) 1. This was a spontaneous failure - that is to say, there was no event leading up to it. 2. There is a spring-clip that retains the emergency brake shoe. This spring-clip (on the driver-side, rear wheel) came apart, allowing the e-brake shoe to come loose. This had 2 results: 1) the e-brake shoe fell out of position, wedged itself somewhere inside of the drum, and then the brake-shoe & drum ground against each other until they were both extensively damaged and/or destroyed, 2) the entire emergency-brake system was rendered completely useless. 3. The damage from the failure can be repaired by replacing the emergency brake shoe, brake rotor and spring-clip. (I will pro-actively replace the spring-clip on the passenger side which has not yet failed). The old parts are still available. I do not know if this spring-clip has been redesigned or not.
Premature emergency (parking brake) failure.
The position and design of the parking brakes could cause serious injuries to the drivers lower left leg if the vehicle was in an frontal collision.