Mechanical Parking Brake Problems of Chevrolet Avalanche

On 9/5/01, I purchased a 2002 Chevrolet Avalanche. The parking brake has failed 3 times since purchase. I have had the dealer repair it on 7/12/02, 8/14/02, and again on 12/20/04. The latest failure is today, 1/20/05. The brake either will not hold the parked vehicle or it will stick and not release, causing the vehicle to be immovable. The last repair also included replacing both rear axles and rear axle bearings. This has been a recurring problem and I have heard other Avalanche owners with the same complaint.

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The parking brake shoes wore through both rear top hat drum rotors of my 2002 chevy Avalanche. I first noticed this problem when the parking brake did not function for the vehicles annual inspection. I do not use the parking brake, so I know that wear was not the cause of the failure. I then found this problem in TSB # 02-05-26-002 and a correction which changes the design of the clip retaining the parking brake shoe so it will not scrape without the brake being applied. The people at the inspection place as well as where I had it repaired said this was a common problem with the newer chevy trucks, suburbans, tahoes, etc. My vehicle was in the chevy shop for unrelated repairs and they did not mention or perform this TSB, nor did they notify me to have it repaired. The parking/emergency brake failed to function without warning and chevy knew about it yet chose not to inform me.