39 problems related to brake hoses, lines/piping, and fittings have been reported for the 2004 Chevrolet Suburban. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
Total brake failure (vehicle has 95,387) miles) at 40 mph in motion. Stabil-trac light indicated at the time of failure, service brake indicator on display information console. . Deployed 4wd low, dropped to lower gear and hit emergency brake to stop the vehicle on shoulder of road. Got out of vehicle saw brake fluid all over the skids and frame. Cause: towed to local shop indicated that brake lines on driver side and lines going to front wheel were completely rusty and "like paper". This was unsettling I don't live near saltwater but drive the vehicle a lot in winter. Had I been in a densely populated area, there certainly would have been loss of life. This vehicle weighs over 6000 lbs and no brakes is like to trying to stop a train. Please investigate similar failures as this failure in similar vehicles/any vehicle could cause loss of life.
Steel brake lines: directly under drivers feet beneath vehicle is cluster of four brake lines held in place by a plastic bracket. These brake lines are hidden by a large corrugated black wiring harness. All four lines are extremely corroded at bracket and at least one of them failed completely and instantaneously. Unlike gm reports that it's a dual brake system and vehicle will retain braking capabilities in our case this is false . Word needs to go out about these vehicles but preferably a recall. My 15 year old newly issued permit holder was at the wheel and we were one left turn from descending a 200 foot tall 6% grade hill with a busy intersection and stop light at the bottom. Also living in minnesota knowing classic car owners with original steel brake lines with no issues I'm led to believe design is a contributing factor in these brake failure issues. Thank you for your time.
2004 chevy Suburban - sudden & complete loss of brake pressure at highway speed. Vehicle brakes were inspected in July through the va state inspection program - no issues found - today on 8/30/16 while exiting a freeway ramp at 60mph traffic came to sudden stop. When the service brake was applied in what would be considered a stab/emergency braking maneuver there was a complete and sudden loss of brake pressure - pedal went to floor without warning, brake would not pump up adequate enough to slow vehicle. I had to use a combination of parking brake application and utilizing the soft shoulder and ditch to stop the vehicle. The brake warning indicator (red) and service indicator did not illuminate until after the third or fourth application of the brake pedal. Suburban was towed. Causative factors = ruptured brake line.
Brake lines between the area of the brake fluid reservoir and abs modulator heavily corroded. One or more lines failed on 7/10/2016 requiring vehicle tow. Vehicle was operational aside from the failure of braking system. When depressed, vehicle brake peddle had little resistance and traveled completely to floor panel under normal pressure from foot. The incident/failure occurred during normal travel and during an attempted stop at red light. Brake system failure prevented a safe stop and the vehicle continued through the intersection running a red light. Fortunately, the intersection was clear and no accident occurred. The vehicle was parked immediately afterwards and a tow vehicle called. The vehicle is currently parked until repairs can be applied. Towing expense- 125. 00 parts expense- 85. 00 (replacing all affected lines, front braking system. ) labor- 100. 00 approx.
Tl- the contact owns a 2004 Chevrolet Suburban. The contact stated that while driving at 25 mph, when the brake pedal was depressed and the brakes seized with the service brakes warning indicator illuminating after the brake failure. The contact stated that the emergency brake was engaged in order to stop the vehicle. The contact also stated that brake fluid was coming from under the vehicle. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic where it was diagnosed that the brake lines had failed due to corrosion and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 114,000. Wh.
Brake line failed while towing boat on city street normal braking lost 3/4 braking power, pedal went almost to the floor, just stopped in time before rear ended someone.
Brakes failed under hard stop (highway, in motion). Intermediate steel brake line failed to rear brakes in a mode of rupture due to corrosion. All other steel lines were corroded and contacted gm. 2 other silverado line vehicles owned also failed this year due to corrosion. Gm response was that no recall existed. Replaced all steel brake lines in vehicle with stainless aftermarket lines. After multiple contacts with gm customer service, I was told to save my receipts for repairs. This is an incorrect material specification, latent defect and gm needs to be held accountable. Saved brake lines from this vehicle for any potential use. 3 vehicles that I own with the same repair in 8 months. Inexcusable!.
Tl- the contact owns a 2004 Chevrolet Suburban. The contact stated that while driving at approximately 55 mph, the brakes did not engage when the brake pedal was depressed. The contact was able to pull over to the road side. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic where it was diagnosed that front brake lines was corroded and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 170,000. Jo.
I was driving down a two lane highway at 50 miles per hour a dog ran out in front of my SUV, I hit the brakes hard and noticed the pedal went to the ground. Drove the car home carefully. When I got it in the garage found rusted through brake lines going to the rear of the car leaking. There is excessive rust on the lines and an electrical harness that goes to the gas tank has rubbed a hole in the line.
The brake line from the front to rear rusted and ruptured resulting in virtually no braking. Upon further inspection the brake lines are all badly rusted and in need of replacement. Very unfortunate gm chose to use such an inferior material for such an important component. Very dangerous situation gm should be making owners aware of.
I was driving to pick my son up from school when I lost brakes. We barely avoided an accident and had to swerve off the road to avoid the vehicle in front of us stopping at the light. I had just redone my front and rear brakes/rogers. After inspecting the brake lines we noticed my lines are completely rusted and will not hold any fluid. I live in florida. No snow, no salt on my roads. It disgusts me that gm isn't taking care of this known issue. This is my 4th Suburban and will be my last. I will now be looking toward the Ford, Toyota, or Nissan SUV. Gm should be making this right. Maybe after a few more deaths they'll see how serious this is. How many deaths do they need on their hands to see it's a problem? absolutely disgusts me!.
Went to back out of the driveway, brake pedal went to the floor, no brakes had to take extreme steps to stop the vehicle and all I was doing was backing out of a flat driveway onto the street. Towed vehicle to auto shop - brake lines before safety valve broke causing the entire braking system to fail. Previously I had a brake line burst, however it was post the safety valve which allowed me to stop safely. The lines busting before the safety valve is extremely dangerous and would have resulted in severe injuries had we been driving down the road at normal driving speeds. Gm has an issue and prior to this I was not happy with them saying it isn't an issue, now that it broke in a place that does not have any safety mechanism I consider it extremely poor of gm to cover their face and say there isn't an issue.
I was two blocks from home when I applied brakes as I approached a curve. Brake pedal went to the floor boards. Using low gear and parking brake I managed to get the Suburban home with no incident. Brake lines front to back were replaced by service center. Cause ,rust thru.
Obvious corrosion on brake lines of 2004 chevy Suburban. By just applying the brake for few times, the brake fluid is gushing underneath the driver side (between the front and rear wheels). Also notice rusting brake lines up to the engine hood (this thing should definitely not happened, I never had a problem like this before in any vehicle I had owned, brake lines should last even beyond the lifetime of the vehicle!). I also informed chevy (tel: 800-222-1020)about this life safety failure, this is a very serious defect and chevy must issue a recall on this corrosion problem on brake lines.
Complete failure of brakes while driving, coasted to stop with assistance of parking brake. Upon inspection it was found that all brake lines are severely rusted to a failure point, the one line that failed was for the rear brakes from the block device under the drivers side inner frame rail (asb unit or booster) for a very well kept family vehicle with low miles and no substantial rust anywhere else but the brake lines, and this one area that gets constant road spray directly at the lines and block/booster/abs on the inner frame drivers side. This was a shock to find, and now after looking online that nhsta has the longest open case with chevy for 99-02 and seems like it will spread to 07 something needs to be done for public safety. This Suburban weighs like 6000 pounds, a tank, and will crush anything in its way if the brakes do not work. I have had several other makes/models of cars & trucks and the only time I have ever needed to replace a brake line was on my old 1984 Dodge ram pickup I plow snow with all the time and it was 25yrs old at that time not 10yrs old like the chevy. We need immediate action to ensure the safety of all of the thousands with this same issue on chevy trucks/SUV's. Purchased new in manchester CT for over $36,000 in April 2004. . I do not have the $1000+ on hand to have this repair completed at this time with 2 children in college and 2 more soon to be.
Brake line failed due to rust corrosion. Depressed brake pedal in the driveway and brake line broke below driver's door and caused brakes to fail.
Brake pedal went to the floor. Cause was corroded brake line that had leaked.
The brake line under the driver's door ruptured and caused a complete brake failure. All the brake lines are severely rusted, compromised, and all must be replaced. Fortunately the failure happened in parking lot and my son was able to get the car home without having an accident but that was merely fortuitous. There is absolutely no reason that permanent brake lines should fail. The truck is used very infrequently and is well maintained. Had I or a member of my family been driving on the interstate someone most likely would have been severely injured or killed. I am 60 years old and have owned cars since I was 17 and I have never experienced a brake hard line rupture. With the non-corrosive metals available for brake tubing it is inexcusable from a safety perspective. The government needs to take action against gm to prevent clearly foreseeable injuries and deaths.
I was driving at highway speed just starting to exit off ramp brakes went to the floor and dash lights came on for brakes,also stability loss message came on. Could have been killed or had serious accident. Lucky did not but is a very serious issue. Brought to shop and was told and shown all brake lines were rusted real bad and one broke open while I was exiting that off ramp. I called gm but they did nothing! I was very upset with this and feel this should be brought to the attention of someone who will really look into this for the safety of all. Also my 1997 chevy conversion van,and my husbands 2005 chevy silverado the same thing happened to those brake lines while driving broke open due to rust,losing brakes while driving. Van mileage was 70000,and silverado mileage was 75000. This is so dangerous I urge you to please check into it before someone gets killed. I recently saw on the news that suburu recalled cars in northern states for rusted brake lines same as this. Gm should be doing the same.
Severe brake line corrosion under vehicle.
I live near frederick, maryland and today I drove my 2004 Suburban down to the cul DE sac at the end of our street going around 20mph, but when I pressed the brakes, I felt them go almost to the floor, so I pumped/pressed them again twice and each time they then went fully to the floor but the truck was not stopping. I managed to put the vehicle in neutral and press the emergency brake to get the vehicle stopped with the front tires just 3 feet from my neighbors lawn. I then got out and looked under the vehicle and there was brake fluid everywhere along with a trail of it about 30-40 feet up the street from where I first pressed the brakes. I towed the truck back to my driveway and looked underneath and can see that all of the steel brake lines are heavily rusted along the frame below the drivers door area. I could see that one of the lines clearly ruptured and sprayed brake fluid everywhere. I started looking on the internet and see the same symptom/problems are already listed as under investigation for 1999-2003 chevy trucks under NHTSA action number : pe10010. Mine is a 2004 model year but it may have been built in late 2003. In any case, I was extremely lucky that it happened in my neighborhood at 20mph and not on the highway or while towing. Clearly gm has a problem and these trucks that needs to be recalled as this problem could kill people very easily!.
I turned on my engine with my kids in the car and put the SUV in reverse. The car immediately started to move even with my front on the brake while putting it in reverse and I tried to press the brake and it went straight down to the floor. I put the car back in park and this stopped the vehicle. Had I been on the road I would have crashed. There was no warning about brake fluid being low and the car had been driven the night before at 8:30 pm. My husband looked near the driver side rear tire and saw the brake line dripping all the brake fluid out on the driveway all rusted. Why wasn't this made with stainless steel? this is a car for families which means more than likely it will have a child in the car when it is being driven. This needs to be recalled and fixed.
Brakes failed while driving. . . . Noticed slight brake pedal loss , then total failure within minutes. . . Mechanic said that the brake lines failed because they were corroded and would all have to be replaced. . Thank you for looking into this and all other brake line failures of any GMC made vehicles.
Complete brake failure without any warning. Another brake line completely corroded ad inoperable. Had same issue on another brake line 6-months earlier. No replacement parts available to connect to remaining lies. The vehicle had been running errands picking up and dropping off children when failure occurred.
Started driving and within 5 min, I lost all brakes. Was able to get to a local service station where they discovered that the brake lines had rusted and drained nearly all fluid. Had lines replaced with stainless steel lines for mega bucks. Rusted lines burst at one point, however, rust/corrosion was present at several points in the system. Did not see any recall or notice to the defective or substandard brake lines in 2004 chevy Suburbans. Old lines appeared to be cheap pot metal. I am the only owner of this vehicle and have done all required maintenance.
While driving in an urban area I noticed that my brake pedal was going down more than usual and went down even more as I waited for the traffic signal to change. When I got home I checked the brake fluid reservoir and found the level about an inch lower than normal. I looked under the vehicle and saw a small pool of brake fluid forming on the drive under the drivers seat. Further search showed that a brake line was leaking and all the lines were badly corroded. I called a local chevy dealer and carefully drove the car to the dealership after adding fluid to the reservoir. The dealer confirmed my finding and indicated that all the lines were so badly rusted that they would probably fail soon. While the vehicle was on the lift they allowed me to see the lines in their current condition. The labor to replace the lines was $1,200.
The contact owns a 2004 Chevrolet Suburban. While parked, the driver depressed the brake pedal but the brakes would not respond. The parking brake was applied in order to stop the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to the dealer for diagnostic testing. The technician advised the contact that the brake lines had corroded from the inside and would have to be replaced along with the brake pads and rotors. The vehicle was repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 39,000.
The brake lines on my 2004 Suburban have now failed three times. The first time one of the lines had to be replaced at a cost of over $1000, the second time a separate line was patched, and now the third time the same second line that was patched has failed again. All of the brake lines are incredibly corroded, so much so that a friend of mine wondered if it had been submerged during hurricane katrina. But now upon reading up on the subject it appears that is is all gms of that time frame that live in saltier air. While gm appears to think that these are components that should wear down over time, this is only the second time in the 30 years that I have owned cars to find this problem.
The brake lines on my Suburban were rotted (I did not know this until after) and they ruptured while I was on the highway towing a trailer. I only avoided a crash by downshifting and using my ebrake. This is a widespread issue from searching the web and I am shocked this is not already a recall.
The steel brake line failed on the drivers side below the door.
The contact owns a 2004 Chevrolet Suburban 1500. The contact stated that the brake lines fractured while the brakes were applied on the highway. The manufacturer was notified, but denied any assistance with repairs of the failure. The dealer was not notified. The vehicle was repaired. The failure mileage was 84,905 and the current mileage was 85,049. Updated 5/7/12 the consumer stated her husband discovered the front brake line had ruptured. There was a hole in the brake line in the engine compartment near the driver's side front wheel and the brake line was severely corroded. Updated 05/25/12.
I was traveling north on rt. 1 in delaware I seen a car rolled over on its side and off the road I applied my brakes hard to stop and help that is when my brakes failed. After checking on the driver I limped my truck to the nearest gas station and discovers my brake line had rotted out under my truck by the front wheel. The clips that secure the brake line to the frame seem to be the problem.
Steel brake lines on vehicle are severely corroded with obvious section loss. Based upon my experience with a similar vehicle, a line failure due to rupture is imminent and all lines need to be replaced. This will be neither an easy nor an inexpensive task. Adding insult to injury is that gm does not offer replacement line sets; it's roll your own or buy an (incomplete) aftermarket set (no one offers complete set for jl4 rear brake arrangement). This really is ridiculous given the cost, age, mileage and otherwise excellent condition of the vehicle.
My 2004 Suburban is extremely well cared for. The vehicle has only 51,000 miles and is kept in perfect running and physical condition. On 10/8/2011 I was performing an extensive visual check of the brake line on the vehicle after reading of some issues with similar vehicle. Upon inspection, I saw that the braking systems hydralic lines are severely corroded in multiple areas. These lines must be replaced to aviod catastrophic failure. On a vehicle of this age and limited mileage this is highly worriesome. I have mutiple other vehilces of considerably greater mileage and of older vintage that have not had this corrosion issue. I mention them because they have spent their entire service life, to date, in the same weather/driving condtions. There is no questions that the materials used for these brake lines are of an inferior material. A recall is absolutely in order as this is an expensive and time consuming repair that is the result of poor quality parts.
Backing up snowmobile trailer when brake pedal went to floor. Large puddle underneath truck right below where the 4 brake lines exit the abs and go over the frame rail.