Body problems of the 2002 Chevrolet Silverado 1500

Rocker panels rusted out.

I was driving on hwy 495 which is a city road towards hwy 19 driving approx 53 mph in crystal river, FL. The vechile ahead of my mine was 3 car lengths ahead when I saw there brake lights on, I applied the usual appropriate brake pressure which is no harder or softer then any other time. Once I slowed down to 40 mph in the back passenger side rear tire felt like it exploded and heard a huge explosive type sound and actually felt the entire back end of my silverado lift up and shift leftwards into the opposite lane causing my truck to also get struck by another truck causing what was a extremely well maintained truck without a single ding or mechanical issues until this occurred. I am a engineer and have never witnessed a tire that looked the way this did , by simply driving . I have all records for maintaince,rotations etc. . Overall I have made multiple complaints and have spent 3500 on tires and repairs and still the truck needs 4500 more . I also have had to replace the rim that the tire were on and these were the recommended tires for my truck.

Frame is rotting out.

I had replaced antilock brake module last year and had brakes worked on this year and last and replaced brake pads. The rotors had been turned before, on a trip to my daughters my brakes started to go out. They were completely out by the time I reached her corner. I had to have all new brake lines and rotors and pads even though there were only 6,000 miles on the pads. I also had rustproofed the the truck including the underbody and carraige when I bought it new in 2002. It's a rust bucket despite the extra protection. The antilock brake module was rusted. The brake lines were completely rusted through. And now the fuel pump is out and they fuel lines are rusted as well. What gets me is I paid so much extra for extra rust proofing. It should not have rusted through this bad at only 125000 miles. The antilock brake module is placed where the rust can get at it right under the chassis part unprotected. So much for safety. That went out at about 75000 miles but just got it replaced at 100000 miles or so. The brake lines and the fuel lines are a joke on this vehicle. I used to make and inspect and test them at a factory and these would have never passed inspection for corrosion test. But they weren't made there. The factory is closed. No union wages either, but we did good work not this garbage. It cost over $500 for module and it cost 2500 for the rest of brake job. And now the fuel lines and pump and filter will cost over $1000. Plus my truck body is rusting through on the rocker panels. I bought a silverado because they hold their value and are dependable. Now my vehicle is only worth about half of what it should be and I'm paying though the nose on top of it! we have a 98 chevy blazer with 195000 and no rust on the rocker panels and the brake lines are just now getting replaced. There was no extra rust protection on it either! when is gm going to be responsible?.

The contact owns a 2002 Chevrolet Silverado 1500. The contact stated that he heard a rattling from under the vehicle. He then inspected the vehicle and realized that the spare tire had separated from the vehicle without him noticing. The contact also mentioned that the cable was corroded. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer and the manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure and current mileage was 176,000. . . Updated 10/21/11 updated 10/26/11.