Parking Brake Problems of Chevrolet Suburban - part 1

The contact owns a 2002 Chevrolet Suburban 1500. The contact stated that while attempting to park with the trailer attached to the vehicle, the brake pedal was depressed to the floorboard and the emergency brake also failed. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer to be diagnosed or repaired. The failure and the current mileage was 135,000. . . Updated 10/19/11 the consumer stated the problem was with the emergency brake only. The brake shoes for the emergency brake, drag and wear out completely, even if the emergency brake pedal is never used. Updated 10/21/11.

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Brake pedal suddenly and rapidly went to the floor with little to no braking effectiveness. Front brakes retained minimal braking while rear appeared to have no braking effectiveness. Was able to bring vehicle to stop and looked under vehicle and observed brake fluid running onto the ground from under the left (driver side) rear passenger seat along the frame rail by the gas tank. Upon investigation found the main brake line from the abs unit to rear axle hose connection was severely corroded and blown. The repair required replacement of the affected brake line and the system required bleeding.

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The contact owns a 2001 Chevrolet Suburban 1500. Upon inspection of the vehicle, the emergency brake did not function and the vehicle failed inspection. There is an open and closed investigation regarding this failure. The VIN and investigation number were unknown. The failure mileage was 68,000.

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2002 Suburban parking brake has failed for the second time at 77k mile. Now they have begun lock and have to be reset a couple times to get them to release. A loud squeal accompanies before it releases. Parking brake pedal is to the floor. Truck still has original disk brakes all around.

I own a 2001 Chevrolet Suburban 1500 2wd 5. 3l v8 with automatic transmission. This vehicle was bought new and from day one, the emergency brake has been completely ineffective in holding the vehicle when applied. A cursory check on the internet reveals that this is a widespread and very well-known problem for owners of similar gm vehicles. Visits to two separate gm dealerships in dallas confirm that the dealers know of this as a widespread and well-known problem as well. Oddly, the NHTSA had a chance to review this vehicle safety defect at the request of the north carolina consumer council back in 2005, yet the NHTSA decided at the time that this defect did not warrant a safety recall. The summary concludes that for auto-transmission-equipped vehicles, the presence of a "park pawl" serves as sufficient holding power for these vehicles and therefore the appeal for a safety recall was denied. There is at least one major problem with this conclusion -- no state is going to allow a vehicle without a working parking brake to pass a state safety inspection. I know this first hand, at least in texas I do. It of course makes no sense for the NHTSA to have a different standard of vehicle safety than the constituent states do. Either this is an issue worthy of a national safety recall, or the lack of a working parking brake should not serve as a vehicle for failure of a state safety inspection.

The contact owns a 2002 Chevrolet Suburban 1500. When the contact first purchased the vehicle, he noticed that the parking brake would not hold. The vehicle continued to roll when the brake was engaged. He took the vehicle to the dealer and they tightened an unspecified component. The vehicle passed inspection, but the failure worsened afterwards. The dealer could not determine the cause of the failure. The issue occurred every time he attempted to apply the parking brake. The manufacturer was not notified. The current mileage was approximately 75,000 and failure mileage was approximately 65,000.

I was unable to have my 2002 Suburban inspected. The parking brake band on the drivers side had to be replaced as well as the brake drum this December. My vehicle only has 92k miles. My father-in-law has the same year/make vehicle and he had to have his parking brake replaced, but on the passenger side. His vehicle only has 76k miles. Chevrolet has a service bulletin out that this model vehicle is prone to this problem, yet will not take responsibility for repairs or replacement.

This in reference to a closed NHTSA action # dp05009. After a parking brake failure that occurred on this 2002 chevy Suburban with 54,000 miles on it, in November, I looked into similar situations with other Suburban owners and of the 3 I found, 2 in south carolina, and one in indiana, all had similar parking brake problems. When I brought my vehicle to the dealer for repair, I was told there were no recalls or safety notices regarding this problem. After reviewing your NHTSA site, I see that this problem was addressed and closed but only applied to vehicle with manual transmissions, even though the problem was in automatic models too, which was apparently glossed over because of the percentage of roll away incidents. This problem is still out there, and chevy denies it. Chevy needs to acknowledge this as a series wide problem and fix it on a recall basis. The insulting thing about this is the dealership acts like it is something new, and perhaps I was leaving the parking brake on all the time. It is not new, and I have never driven away with the parking brake on in my life. And we wonder why the american auto industry is failing to attract customers.

The parking brakes have failed and unable to restrict movement of the vehicle. This was discovered while a safety inspection was performed. The cost to repair the parking brake system is extensive.

: the contact stated the vehicle's parking brake was not working. The contact never used the parking brake. The vehicle was inspected by the dealership, who informed the contact that the parking brake would go bad if it was never used. Updated 9/13/2006 -the vehicle failed state inspection because the parking brake did not work.

Emergency brake went out for no reason. We have never used emergency brake since owning the car in 2001.

Emergency brake failure on my 2002 Chevrolet Suburban. The same thing happened on my son-in-law's 2002 chev. Suburban. Neither of us knew this until we took our vehicles in for a state inspection sticker & it failed inspection. Was told there was a service bulletin on this problem but GMC did not take any responsibility. We both, had the repair done at our expense.

Parking brake failure. Appears parking brake system defective which has caused brake to be inoperable and triggered a failed state inspection on 4/7/06. This will have to be fixed in the next 15 days in order to obtain inspection. Have been told the defect in the parking brake system will necessitate another repair at the 15k mark from the date of original repair, as the system eats the brake shoes due to the defect. This problem is in no way related to use of the parking brake.

The contact owns a 2002 Chevrolet Suburban 1500. The contact stated that while the parking brake was engaged, the vehicle began to roll; the contact stated that the parking brake would not hold and could result in a crash. The brake was replaced once by the dealer but the failure continued. The contact referenced recall 05v161000 but the year, make and model was not included. The failure mileage was 90,171.

Failure of parking brake discovered by state inspection. Parking brake was in total failure and had to be replaced before vehicle could be passed. Parking brake was stuck in the open position causing brake rotors to excessively wear. Repair/replacement of parking brake was required along with new brake rotors. The parking brake was never engaged from time of purchase at new dealership to time of failure at inspection station.

Emergency brake failure,went to have Suburban inspected ,had no brakes ,had brake pads and both drums replaced,never even used emergency brake once since I owned the vehicle since 2001.

Failed texas inspection due to parking brake not holding vehicle on 2002 Chevrolet Suburban; told by inspector 99% of chevy's fail for this reason; widespread problem; I am scheduled to have fixed this weekend so I can pass inspection.

I purchased a 2000 Chevrolet Suburban new in July of 2000. Within 2 years of purchase the emergency brake would not hold very well. Living in houston, texas. This seemed odd since the emergency brake was rarely used. I noticed it gradually getting worse. In August of 2005 we moved to a part of texas with hills and needed the parking brake, but it would not hold even if fully depressed. Repairs at the Chevrolet dealer totaled $485 plus tax. How could the lining, rotors, shoes, and retainers of the parking brake need replacing if the brake just holds the vehicle in place when and if used? this seems like a defect to me.

: the contact stated while on an incline, the parking brake did not hold. This parking brake has only been used twice since purchase. The dealership determined the parking brake lining was worn out and the parking brake shoes need to be replaced. The wear occurred because the brake shoes do not fully release after use.

Have a 2002 chevy Suburban 1500 LS. Took vehicle in for inspection, but failed due to emergency or parking brake would not hold in drive. It does hold in reverse. I contacted my dealer and they know all about this problem, they say it can not be adjusted, but must replace brakes, maybe rotors, etc at a cost of ~$800. I searched web, there is not a recall, but lots of complaints. There is also a class action suit out of TX? what should I do?.

Went to get my 2001 chevy Suburban inspected and it failed because the emergency brake would not hold. The inspector said this is a extremely common problem in these vehicles and if he got 100 Suburbans in to be inspected 90 would fail because of this problem.

2002 Chevrolet Suburban, full size, 1500 half ton, 4x4, lt the emergency/parking brake has failed for the second time. The emergency/parking brakes do not hold even on a slight incline. The first emergency/parking brake failure was noted on 8/29/2003 at 25,930 miles. The repair ticket noted that the parking brake shoes were improperly adjusted, and gm repaired the problem at no charge under warranty. The second emergency/parking brake failure was noted around 11/1/2005 at appx 40,050 miles. The second failure was the exact same problem as the first failure. This time the gm dealer said that the emergency/parking brake shoes were worn out and charged us $273. 18 to repair the problem. The repairs for the second failure consisted of total replacement of the emergency/parking brake shoes. We have kept the replaced failed brake shoes. Note: in normal usage of this vehicle, the emergency/parking brakes are rarely engaged. The vehicle is normally parked in a level, heated garage, transmission set in park, emergency/parking brake never set/engaged. With the first failure at 25,930 miles and the second failure just appx 15,000 miles later, we suspect that there is possibly some design or component fault and a very pre-mature failure problem. Also given the available facts, it looks like the original warranty repair for the first failure was possibly substandard in that the emergency/parking brake shoes were merely re-adjusted, when they should have been replaced. In addition, in the owners manual there is no mention of the emergency/parking brakes ever needing adjustments.

For the second year in a row my 2000 Chevrolet Suburban has failed the texas safety inspection because the parking brake failed. A Chevrolet dealership repaired it last year and it failed again. I have been told the brake has to be used regularly to keep it working and was charged for the repair. There are no instructions in the manual stating this.

Emergency brake wasn't working when I purchased the vehicle. I didn't know it at the time. I was told that there was a problem with the emergency brakes and that there may be a recall to fix the problem. I purchased it on 10-15-2005. The mileage was 64095. Mileage now is 70129. I would always use the brake with my grandkids in the vehicle so it wouldn't move. Now I found out that I never had one for some reason. Need it fixed if all possible.

Complaint regarding safety recall warning of corrosion defect in 2002 Suburban. This could cause front hub/bearing assembly and wheel speed sensor to fail. Recall campaign#05v379000. The consumer experienced exactly what the recall described. The consumer requested reimbursement. The consumer found that the rear brake backing plates would not hold. The rear brake backing plates were completely corroded along with the rear emergency brake and they needed replacement. Updated 02/13/06.

The parking brake on our 2001 Suburban has failed for the 3rd time in 4 years. From discussions with repair shops and other Suburban owners, it is apparent that gm has a real design flaw in the parking brake mechanism for the 2000 plus Suburbans. We live in a very hilly part of the state of texas and a good parking break would normally be considered essential. I hope that the NHTSA opens an investigation and gets this bad design recalled before one of these large SUV's accidentally breaks loose when parked on a hill and kills some child.

2001 Chevrolet Suburban, parking brake (emergency brake) has never worked. I thought this was a simple adjustment and since this vehicle is normally driven only on long trips--rather than daily use I was not too concerned. Did not bother to report to dealer because too much hassle over other defects under warranty. Recently consulted my mechanic friend (former gm) and have found this is a significant manufacturing flaw--wrong parts installed at date of manufacturer. A service bulletin was issued to dealers on this problem. Because the vehicle now is four years old and has approximately 58000 miles the dealer will not address the problem without significant expenditure on my part. I believe this is a problem that should be addressed at the manufacturers expense. I have talked to other owners of similar vehicles experiencing the same problem. Time and mileage should not discharge the manufacture from this safety issue.

Parking brake on 2001 Chevrolet Suburban won't hold. When pedal is depressed to the floor, the vehicle can still roll.

Emergency brake failure on my 2000 Chevrolet Suburban , I never used it, inspection time came and I spent eight hundred dollars getting brake fixed. Bad e-brake design on tahoe and Suburbans, need to have recall gm.

I own a 2002 Chevrolet Suburban with a little more than 50,000 miles. I have just had my third set of parking brake shoes installed on my car. The first pair were replaced when the car was under warranty! this car has its own unique parking brake pads and rotor. There must be something wrong with the design of this system, I have never had another car that required the rear brake pads to be replacedthis frequently! if I was every enovlved in an incident where I would have needed the emercency brake(parking), I don't think it would be capable of stopping this vehicle. Y recommondation is that you issue a recall to correct the inherrent defects in the Suburbans parking/emergency brake system.

2002 chevy sububran 1500ls. The parking brake is ineffective and has been since purchased the vehicle. Bought this used, but about a week later after purchase. Did take to a dealer from where it was purchased. The dealer thought that the brake was examined, and that the parking brake was okay, and should hold a vehicle on a slope. Over the last few months have decided the parking brake was a problem. There was a slope in driveway, tested, and found that it did not work. Did not take back to dealer, but owner felt it was a design defect.

Park brake failure on my 2002 Suburban. I attempted to have my vehicle inspected and it failed due to the inability of parking brake to hold the vehicle. Investigation on the web shows that this is a wide-spread problem on many Suburbans. Although all of the dealerships I spoke with constantly see and repair this problem, gm apparently doesn't consider it a safety issue. Neither warranty nor recalls will cover this defect.

I have a 2001 Chevrolet Suburban 1/2 ton with 39,000 miles on it. The emergency (parking) brake is defective. It will not hold the vehicle. I have never used my emergency brake, and was told by various repair people that it was a known defect and a recall should be ordered. This is a safety issue, as I am sure there are many unknowing owners with an unusable emergency brake. There was a service bulletin issued: # 02-05-26-002a.

Park brake failure on my 2002 Suburban. Have never used the brake went to engage it and the truck rolled away. Investigation on the web shows that this is a problem on a couple years of Suburban's and gm dealers do not recognize it.

: the contact stated after jacking the vehicle up while changing the oil the parking brake failed and the vehicle rolled off the jack. The vehicle was taken to the dealership but no repairs were made. The manufacturer has been alerted. Phone interview update (April 5, 2006): mr. Sutton said that the transmission was in 'n' when he lifted the front end of the vehicle with a floor jack. The garage floor had a 5 degree incline and the vehicle rolled off the jack.