Brake Hoses, Lines/piping, And Fittings problems of the 2003 Chevrolet Suburban - part 2

Wife just returned from work, backing into the garage. Brake pedal went to the floor (no lights or warnings)? when I crawled under and looked brake lines were ruptured nest to frame.

My brakes did not seem to be operating correctly. Stopping distance was greatly increased. When I checked, most of my brake lines were completely rusted and crumbling. I think it is important to note this is a low mileage, garage kept vehicle which is rarely driven in the winter. Furthermore, it has received undercarriage clean water washing twice a year since 2006 when I purchased it. I understand that brake lines will eventually rust but this case seems extreme, especially since it is a well cared for, garage kept vehicle that rarely sees road salt.

Brake fail with no pressure when brake pedal was pushed and no warning lights, we were going about 65 mph and had to stop for traffic. Had to pull off roadway on to grass area to avoid hitting other cars. Lucky no one was kill. Upon inspection, the driver side brake line was corroded, it was directly under the driver seat area. This is the first time in my life that brake line ever fail due to corrosion. We in north east of the country by the shore area are subject to salt during winter and manufacture should take this into consideration for safety of public.

Brakes completely failed without any warning or warning light. Brake pedal went to the floor with no brakes response. Rolled to a stop going up a hill. Car was towed to the local dealer, who told us the brake lines had corroded and failed. Second time the brake lines failed in two years.

A complete loss of brake pressure with no warning light indicator - when inspected the drivers side line had corroded almost directly under the drivers side door. This is the second time of occurrence, the first being the passenger side brake line in same location.

Brake line failure, brake went to the floor. Brake line corrosion.

Traveling from MA to FL, stopped to eat dinner and change drivers. When we resumed the trip we lost the brakes in the parking lot of the restaurant. A mechanic in nc came out on a Sunday morning to help us. He found the brake line at the left rear axle had ruptured due to corrosion. He said he keeps a coil of brake lines in stock so he can make up a brake line for travelers from the north. When I called him to tell him we lost our brakes, he said you are from the north, right? I thought it was my accent but he said it was because gets enough calls for this that he keeps a coil of material in stock. We are fortunate it was not in city traffic or at a higher speed. When I did a google search I found many others with the same experience and an article that NHTSA was studying this.

Vehicle infront of me stopped quickly. When I applied the brake; peddle went to the floor. I was far enough back to avoid a crash but had no brakes. Brake system failed with out warning. Towing agency told me brake line burst.

We were driving down the highway at 55mph when I saw a deer on the side of the road. I pressed the brake pedal and it didn't respond properly. Instead, the brake pedal went nearly to the floor and the vehicle took a long time to slow to a stop. I began driving again and tested the brakes; they did not work properly. I had to press the pedal to the floor to get the vehicle to brake, and even then it took a very long time to stop the vehicle. It was dangerous to drive the vehicle at this point. I took the vehicle to the nearest Chevrolet dealership and was told that all four brake lines had rusted and ruptured. The vehicle has been stored indoors and driven very little in the winter months. This incident upset me greatly as it put my family in serious danger. I have subsequently learned this is a common problem with gm vehicles of that model year. I have owned 25 automobiles over 45 years and have never had sudden brake failure. I am concerned that someone will be injured or killed, if this hasn't already occurred, and I implore you to consider a safety recall. Thank you. ## VIN passed ## Chevrolet Suburban 2003 ##.

I was coming up on an intersection when the light turned red, I stepped on the brakes and they failed to work. I had no warning, only after I tried to stop the car did the instrument panel light come on and read "service brakes". The car went into the intersection. I called aaa, who came and towed me to a dealership. The dealership said that the brake lines had corroded and I had lost all brake fluid.

I was on my way to the grocery store with my two children and I noticed while going to leave my driveway that when I went to brake there was a lot of play room that was not previously there. I went to test them again and had to push down all the way to the floor to get our vehicle to come to a complete stop. I then parked the vehicle until my husband got home. After having our vehicle looked over a couple times we were able to see that the brake lines were corroded in some areas.

Brakes worked fine driving to lumber yard, after loading lumber, and backing up, the brakes pedal went to floorboard. Was able to drive to olympia Chevrolet dealer about 5 miles away. Brake fluid was about halfway down in the brake fluid reservoir. Left car for dealer service department to determine cause of brake pedal not having any pressure. Pressing on brake would provide slight braking to slow vehicle. Dealer service department called, and said that the brake lines had rusted through, preventing pressure to brakes. I had not noticed any fluid spots in my driveway nor any loss of braking in recent driving. The service department said that all the steel brake lines needed to be replaced and that gm did not have any stock replacement brake lines. This meant that they would have to order brake line tubing and form the brake tubing to fit the vehicle. The cost of this is estimated to be $1,800- $2,000. The vehicle is still at the dealer being repaired. I understand that the NHTSA is investigating over 110 complaints of similar brake failures on other Chevrolet and gm vehicles due to excessive corrosion. Please add this complaint to that list. I purchased this Suburban new in 2003 and it has been maintained by the dealer and has minimal mileage. I feel this failure should be handled as an recall and the costs paid by gm. [xxx] information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

I was driving my Suburban 2500 and pulling a trailer. I hit the brakes to stop at an intersection and the brake pedal went right to the floor. I went right through the stop sign and just missed another car before I could stop. I checked the brakes, a brake line under the truck had burst due to heavy rusting.

Brake flex lines between abs and master rusted and failed, twice, within 2 years, brake lines rusted out between 90-106 k miles, gm does not make the parts anymore, and aftermarket parts are sketchy quality from china! poor design, cheap steel lines, too thin, and no support of their products! clearly gm has a myriad of other recalls and failures, but these are brakes, a critical part and safety component in vehicles that are supposedly their bread and butter- if your going to design safety parts to comport with federal requirements, support the product for reasonable use which is 25 years, better designs. 3 brake failures in 3 years, over $1800 now and no peace of mind it will not fail again.

The rear brake line broke.

The contact owns a 2003 Chevrolet Suburban. The contact stated that there was corrosion in one of the brake lines, causing complete brake failure while driving 30 mph. The dealer was notified of the failure, but denied any assistance with repairs to the vehicle. The manufacturer was not contacted and the vehicle was not repaired. The approximate failure and current mileage was 90,000. The VIN was unavailable.

The brakes failed due to rusted brake lines blowing out in the proximity of the abs motor, which is located on the driver side, along the frame, underneath the drivers seat.

Brake pedal went to floor while wife was driving. Took it to chevy dealership and they said steel brake line had rusted through. Upon inspection they said all steel break lines needed replacing due to outside rust which I had them do. I live in northern michigan. Cant remember cost of chevy dealership replacing all of the steel break lines.

Corrosion on rear driver side brake line caused brake failure, while driving vehicle. Such a failure has been reported by many who own this generation of vehicle.

While driving the car at a relatively slow speed (35 mph), I attempted to apply the brakes as I approached a traffic light turning yellow. The pedal went all the way to the floor without any decrease in speed whatsoever. Essentially, there was no braking power at all. Prior to this, there had been no issues with the brakes and the truck had been routinely serviced at my local dealership (nesenger 112 Chevrolet, 112 medford avenue, medford, NY 11763). I was able to place car in neutral in order to allow it to coast off the road and it was towed to the above named dealership for repair the next morning. Fortunately, it was approximately 10:30 pm on a side road and there were no cars in front of me. The service manager at the dealership told me that all the brake lines were corroded and had to be replaced, as well as the rear backing plates. The repair total was $2457. 01.

On oct. 7, 2011 my wife was driving our 2003 chevy Suburban. In just normal driving conditions she applied the brakes. A warning sound came on and the brake pedal went to the floor. Just that quick !, brake line failure! if she had been driving faster than 40 mph. Their might have been a bad intersection collision. She nervously was able to creep the vehicle to a stop. I researched this condition on-line and was startled to find NHTSA is investigating over 6 million vehicles with the same conditions. It's a travesty that this can go on. It must be the goverments way of not being able to police its own company.

In 2003 I purchased a new Chevrolet Suburban 1500. The vehicle has been garage kept and presently has 26,000 miles on it. Three weeks ago my wife experienced a total brake failure at 30 mph. She used the emergency brake to stop the car without incident. On inspection of the brake system, the front passenger steel brake line was rusted completely thru. On further inspection, all the brake lines were rusty and in bad shape. I have inquired information from 6 Chevrolet dealerships in the state of maryland, all of which have seen and repaired the exact problem many times. I am told that in 2006, gm started annodizing their steel brake lines again. But for the Suburbans built in 2003 and 2004, the problem was never rectified and gm has no recall on them. Since Suburbans are primarily used to transport people, I would think this issue would be of great importance to you. I replaced the brake lines with after market stainless steel lines at my own expense, $1200.

I purchased this Suburban new in 2003. In may of 20011, I suddenly had no brakes when backing up and going forward in parking lot after driving from home to store. Took the Suburban to olympia, washington Chevrolet dealer who said cause of the brake failure was due to rusting of brake lines that were leaking and recommended replacing all brake lines. In the previous weeks, I had driven the Suburban on mountain roads in national forests in the area that were unpaved and had steep inclines, was lucky not to have had a failure on those roads or on paved highway at high speeds on the trip home. All break lines were replaced. This requuired removal of the fuel tank. A few weeks later the service engine check light came on I took the Suburban back to the dealer who determined that the problem was the front fuel tank vent that was also rusted and was not functioning properly. This required replacing the fuel tank since the vent was not sold separately!! the new tank with vent cost $829 dollars bringing the total cost over $3,000 dollars. Note, I also purchased a 2003 Honda accord new, which I still have, and have driven it for over 70,000 miles and in the same environment as the 2003 Suburban, and it has no signs of rust on the brake lines or fuel lines. This seems to be a common problem with Suburbans of other model years and it is a life endangering failure. I feel I should be compensated by Chevrolet for these repairs and a recall issued all Suburbans to check for this rusting of the brake and fuel lines to avoid loss of brakes that could cause an accident and loss of life.

My low mileage 2003 Suburban has been garage kept since I purchased it new. In March 2011 my brake lines failed causing me to hit the stopped vehicle in front of me. Upon taking it to jba Chevrolet for repairs, service manager said they replaced rotted brake lines in 2003 and 2004 gm products all day long. He also said that during these years gm chose not to anodize their brake lines on some models. I asked the dealership if this had been reported to the NHTSA, he told us that car dealers and repair shops are not allowed to file complaints, that complaints must come directly from the consumer. Who else would know better than a car dealer or repair shop about continuing defects found in a certain model vehicle. What does it take to get a recall? how many people must die?.

The contact owns a 2003 Chevrolet Suburban 1500. The contact was driving 5 mph when he applied the brakes and they did not respond. The contact had to engage the emergency brake to stop the vehicle. The vehicle was towed to an authorized dealer where the mechanic advised him that the metal brake line was rusted. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure and current mileage was 38,900.

When I was backing out of a parking space I put on my brakes and they went down to the floor,I had to be towed to a chevy dealer, when the car was put up on the lift they discovered all metal brake lines were rusted,out the dealer claims chevy is not at fault that it was caused by road salt, I have owned cars for over sixty years and I have lived in the same area for seventy years and I have never had metal brake lines rust out, I feel that chevy used inferior metal for there brake lines. They are billing me $4000. 00 to replace brake lines plus whatever has to go with it. If I had been driving on the highway and this happened there would have been serious injures and even deaths.

1) sudden loss of braking power during stop with no warning. 2) pedal travels almost completely to the floor. Braking force is much less than normal. This is not an intermittent condition. 3) examination shows that a hard (steel?) hydraulic brake line has corroded and ruptured.

While driving my 2003 k2500 chevy Suburban, another vehicle pulled out in front of me from a side street while I was traveling about 35 mph and I pressed the brakes very hard - hard enough to lock up at least one wheel, but avoided an accident. I continued on, but just a few seconds later, I approached an intersection, and the brake pedal went to the floor, with very little braking power. I was able to get the vehicle stopped by pumping the brakes quickly and ran slightly into the busy intersection. I pulled into a parking lot to inspect whether I had damaged something. I decided to return home about 1/2 mile away and slowly drove home, with very little braking power. When I got home, I crawled under the vehicle to find brake fluid splattered and leaking all over the underside around the abs unit. The brake lines are extremely corroded, and I suspect one has blown out. The vehicle is in very good and well maintained condition otherwise, but the underside seems particularly rusty. If I were traveling more than the 30-35 mph I was, there would have been no way to stop the vehicle. A serious accident would have occurred. These are very common vehicles, if this is typical, a safety recall must be initiated.

While attempting to stop my 2003 Chevrolet Suburban, the brake pedal went to the floor. Fortunately there was no traffic and I was able to slow the vehicle using the transmission. I took the car in for repairs and was told the brake lines had corroded and sprung a leak. The service station showed me that all the lines were so corroded that they all needed to be replaced. The total cost for this was about $1500. This truck is kept in southern indiana where snow and ice are not extreme and salting of roads isn't done to the extent as in more nothern climates.

When applying brakes to avoid hitting a deer, the pedal went completely to the floor. No abs, no partial pedal, straight to the floor. Vehicle was towed to Chevrolet dealer where it was determined that both front and rear brake lines needed to be replaced due to brake line corrosion. Dealer provided rough estimate of $1500 plus tax to repair.

This was the date a mechanic advised us that the brake lines are severly corroded and that they should be replaced. Our vehicle is garaged in the winter and we bought the vehicle new. The brake lines should last longer than that.