2003 Chevrolet Avalanche 2500
Safety record from NHTSA: recalls, owner complaints, investigations and service bulletins.
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Vehicles › Chevrolet › Avalanche 2500 › 2003
These records cover every 2003 Chevrolet Avalanche 2500. To see whether one car still needs a recall repair, decode its VIN or check it with NHTSA.
Recalls
1 recall names the 2003 Chevrolet Avalanche 2500. Newest first.
Certain replacement fuel filters, fram brand name p/n g3727, with date codes x52911 through x60801 sequentially or x600141 and a mexico country or origin marking on the fuel filter housing manufactured from october 18, 2005, through march 21, 2006, sold for use on the vehicles listed above and on certain school buses. (to see the school bus engine sizes…
Risk and remedy
Risk
This condition may cause an inadequate seal at the connection, potentially leading to a fuel leak. In the presence of an ignition source, a fire could occur.
Remedy
Honeywell will notify owners and replace the fuel filters free of charge. the recall began on october 18, 2006. owners may contact fram customer service at 1-800-890-2075 (option 1).
Owner complaints
9 complaints
What owners report most
Latest complaints
- Service brakes
Brakes lines broke while in traffic at stop light. Manage to drive in low gear 1/2 block to repair shop. They replaced the lines
- Service brakes
Sitting at a stop light the brakes failed. holding the brake while waiting for the light to change, the pedal all of a sudden went to the floor. when I began moving I had to keep the truck below 30 mph to allow the brakes to work with increased stopping distance factored in. after about a 5 mile…
Sitting at a stop light the brakes failed. holding the brake while waiting for the light to change, the pedal all of a sudden went to the floor. when I began moving I had to keep the truck below 30 mph to allow the brakes to work with increased stopping distance factored in. after about a 5 mile drive home, checked the brakes and noticed a leak from rusted brake lines near the driver's door. truck cannot be safely driven until rusted lines are replaced. no ability to make a regular stop much less an emergency stop in the present condition.
- Service brakes
2003 2500 avalanche brake lines heavily rusted deep pits below driver seat and along left frame rail will replace. *tr
- Service brakes
I have a 2003 truck that IS regularly serviced at gm dealerships and another professional shop. I alternate shops to make sure I am getting the best service and making sure any problems are caught before they are serious. I wash my truck on a regular basis always getting the underbody/chassis…
I have a 2003 truck that IS regularly serviced at gm dealerships and another professional shop. I alternate shops to make sure I am getting the best service and making sure any problems are caught before they are serious. I wash my truck on a regular basis always getting the underbody/chassis washed off. So, the vehicle IS taken care of and kept up.the incident above luckily happened when I was backing up my truck to connect to a trailer. The brake lines burst under the driver side leaking oil all over when the brakes were applied lightly.. Glad it didn't happen fully loaded driving through a school zone on a weekday. Since there are several schools and bus stops near me. When attempting to repair professionally the lines kept developing leaks affecting several lines and different areas. Not once did either of the shops including gm dealership ever tell me there was a problem with my brake lines. If you are supposed to check this as a regular maintenance issue than why don't gm shops do it. There IS no excuse why these lines are failing this soon, other than inferior materials being used. It seems gm used inferior steel material in the early 2000s as can be seen by the corrosion that IS seen on trucks of this era. I have never seen so much corrosion on vehicles of similar age from other years. The scary part IS these trucks usually have several tons of weight behind them, let alone the trucks own weight of over 3 tons. Everyday these vehicles are on our highways and streets driving through residential and school zones. When you lose brakes you are not going to regain control until something stops it and the tons on back of it. *tr
- Service brakes
Brakes suddenly gave out. pedal fell to floor and when I took it to be repaired I was told all the brake lines rotted out. I don't understand this because by vehicle was garage kept. my total bill was $875.00. *tr
- Structure · Visibility
2002-2009 chevrolet avalanche rear removable window (frame). Lower l/h side (passenger side).plastic frame subject to splitting in time with heat and separates and pulls away exposing tempered glass.tempered glass IS now in contact with supporting frame and vulnerable to shattering from road…
2002-2009 chevrolet avalanche rear removable window (frame). Lower l/h side (passenger side).plastic frame subject to splitting in time with heat and separates and pulls away exposing tempered glass.tempered glass IS now in contact with supporting frame and vulnerable to shattering from road vibration or worse, collision,thus injuring passenger(s) including infants in rear seat .my 2003 avalanche frame began cracking early 2007 and IS now has a 1 1/2 inch gap.i along with several thousand owners (research on internet), have brought this matter of defective materials to gm and chevrolets attention only to be told "sorry it's not covered".i am very disappointed and rather angry that gm would not offer to repair or even replace these obviously defective window frame assemblys.according to my research with other owners up to 2009 model year, this defect still exists and owners that were fortunate to have theirs replaced if still under warranty have reported that the replacement has started cracking just the same! This IS proof that gm has done absolutely nothing to improve/replace inferior materials that made this frame. *Tr
- Parking brake
Parking brake cable corroded and failed. went to apply parking brake while parked on a hill and the cable broke at the left rear wheel. the end of the cable fell to the ground and corrosion was very evident. *Tr
- Electrical system › Instrument cluster/panel
Chevrolet avalanche instrument cluster failures. over the past 32 months the instrument cluster on my 2003 avalanche has been intermittently malfunctioning causing the speedometer, fuel, temp, oil pressure and all other gauges to not operate. As of 1/19/2008 all of the gauges on the instrument…
Chevrolet avalanche instrument cluster failures. over the past 32 months the instrument cluster on my 2003 avalanche has been intermittently malfunctioning causing the speedometer, fuel, temp, oil pressure and all other gauges to not operate. As of 1/19/2008 all of the gauges on the instrument cluster failed completely. From what I understand chevrolet has issued a extension of the warranty to 70,000 miles for this single issue but this IS a safety related problem that should be taken care of under a recall of all vehicles with this instrument cluster. *tr
- Structure › Body
Rear window leaked from day 1, reported to dealer, upon lease turn in it was discovered that rubber around window was cracked, they are now charging me for the damage. *Jb
Defect investigations
NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation opened these reviews into vehicles including this one.
- Brake line corrosion failure
On January 11, 2011, ODI opened EA11-001 to investigate allegations of premature brake line corrosion failure in model year (MY) 1999 through 2003 General Motors (GM) full-size pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles sold or registered in the following region of the United States that NHTSA has viewed as salt states…
On January 11, 2011, ODI opened EA11-001 to investigate allegations of premature brake line corrosion failure in model year (MY) 1999 through 2003 General Motors (GM) full-size pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles sold or registered in the following region of the United States that NHTSA has viewed as salt states for investigations of corrosion related issues:Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia and Wisconsin.The subject vehicles represent the first five MY's of GM's GMT800 platform production, of which approximately 2,038,504 vehicles were sold in salt states (the subject vehicles).The GMT800 platform includes the following vehicles:1999-2007 Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra 1500, 2500 and 3500 series pick-up trucks; 2000-2006 Chevrolet Suburban, Chevrolet Tahoe and GMC Yukon sport utility vehicles; and 2002-2006 Cadillac Escalade and Chevrolet Avalanche sport-utility vehicles.General Motors produced a total of approximately 10,427,062 GMT800 vehicles for sales in the United States, including almost 5 million that were sold in salt states.Although there are over 60 different brake pipe routing configuration used in GMT800 vehicles, with the exception of the rear crossover pipes in MY 200x-2007 vehicles that changed from rear disc to drum brakes, all of the vehicles use brake pipes from the same supplier with a common double-wall, brazed steel pipe design with a combination of hot dip Zinc-Aluminum corrosion protection coating and Aluminum paint outer layer known in the industry as AlGal (ASTM-B750). ODI analysis of field data regarding GMT800 vehicles identified a total of 3,645 complaints of brake pipe corrosion failures, including 107 alleging crashes, and 40 injuries.Though only 20% of total GMT800 production, due to age and region the subject vehicles account for a disproportionate share of the failure experience; with 2,702 of the complaints (75%), 88 of the crashes (82%) and 20 of the injuries (50%) reported in those vehicles.Analysis of the complaints showed strong correlations to vehicle age and region.For vehicles with less than 8 years of service, the complaint rates were minimal for all regions.In the salt states the failure rates begin to climb as the vehicles advance in age, particularly in the Northeast corner of the United States.The complaint rates in the salt states go from less than 0.1 incident per thousand vehicles (IPTV) at 7 years in service to over 1.0 IPTV after the 12th year of service for the subject pickup trucks and utility vehicles.Most of the failures reported to ODI occurred in vehicles with more than 10 years in service.ODI?s investigation did not identify any specific defect conditions that were causing or contributing to the brake pipe failures.Nor did the analysis isolate the problem to any subject vehicle sub-populations when analyzed by vehicle type or production range.The investigation found that vehicles experiencing brake pipe corrosion failures were likely to have general patterns of excessive corrosion on the majority of the brake pipe assembly and appear to be occurring due to expected wear out for the brake pipe coating material used in the subject vehicles and the environmental conditions in severe corrosion states.A safety-related defect has not been identified at this time.Accordingly, this investigation is closed.The closing of this investigation does not constitute a finding by NHTSA that a safety-related defect does not exist.The agency will monitor t
Service bulletins
Technical service bulletins and other communications the manufacturer sent dealers about this vehicle. Ask a dealer for the full document by its number.
- 11010544This service bulletin explains how to measure for oil consumption and possible reasons for loss of oil.
- 11007208This Preliminary Information communication provides information to the technician about changing the tire and wheel size on vehicles. General Motors will only support a tire calibration for tires that have been sized, tested and designed for the vehicle in question and its applications. Technician should not use the information that is provided by the antilock braking system tire size selection.
- 11006621Vehicle Wide Programming (VWP) is a new process to update software on GM Vehicles. It provides the ability via a single selection within Techline Connect to first identify which modules need updating and then proceed to updating affected modules (with some exceptions). The updating of modules is completed in parallel instead of the technician needing to update one module at a time. This allows a more streamlined approach for dealers and customers.
- 11006421GM is receiving damaged (cracked or broken) transmission cores returned to the reman facilities. The damage is being caused either in the removal process by the technician, or inadequate packaging or shipping. This bulletin advises the dealers to be more careful not to damage the transmissions during removal and to package the core properly for return.
- 11004761This service bulletin advises of a new fuel injection cleaner kit used for decarbonizing the intake valves to correct conditions of rough idle, Crank no start, extended crank or misfire, MIL with DTCs, and explains how Top Tier fuels should be used to reduce carbon build-up.
- 11004557This bulletin provides information for use on a Product Assistance Claim (PAC), which is formerly known as a Product Allegation Resolution (PAR) claim.
- 11002312This service bulletin provides information for dealers/technicians on Service Programming System (SPS) Error Codes E4398, E4399, E4401, E4403, M4404, M4413, M6954, M6955, E4414, E4423, E4491, E4492, or E6961 and resolution information.
- 11000576This Warranty Administration bulletin provides retail and wholesale service personnel with the policies/procedures and the warranty transaction submission procedures that support the Personal Property Damage process.
- 10252735This bulletin provides information for electrical ground repairs using new General Motors replacement fasteners with conductive finish.
- 10252163XM Audio Traffic And Travel Link Availability And Operation.
- 10251890This technical bulletin advises of a new fuel injection cleaner kit used for decarbonizing the intake valves to correct conditions of rough idle, Crank no start, extended crank or misfire, MIL with DTCs, and explains how Top Tier fuels should be used to reduce carbon build-up.
- 10251887This bulletin advises the technician of possible location of an internal coolant leak from a specific cylinder head and location.
- 10250775This service bulletin provides service information to technicians on guidelines to replace Oil Cooler, Oil Cooler Lines and Oil Tank if the engine was replaced where large amounts of debris has flowed throughout the oiling system.
- 10249590This bulletin provides information for use on a Product Assistance Claim (PAC), which is formerly known as a Product Allegation Resolution (PAR) claim.
- 10249579This PI bulletin advises the technician on the proper way to install the pistons in an engine.
- 10249011This informational bulletin provides information for dealers/technicians on Headlamp, Tail Lamp, License Lamp or Fog/Driving Lamp Damage.
- 10248444Vehicle Recalls
- 10247681Information On Requests To Add OnStar Bluetooth Option.
- 10247552This service bulletin provides information on Concerns or Questions Regarding Installation of Dealer Installed Accessories.
- 10246952Programming And Activation Of Replacement OnStar Modules.
- 10246951Programming And Activation Of Replacement OnStar Modules.
- 10246647Pre-Formed and Pre-Flared Hydraulic Brake Pipe Kits Now Available for Service
- 10246646Pre-Formed and Pre-Flared Hydraulic Brake Pipe Kits Now Available for Service
- 10246645Pre-Formed and Pre-Flared Hydraulic Brake Pipe Kits Now Available for Service
- 10246631Expanded Availability for Remanufacture and Return (R&R) Electronic Control Modules
- 10245951Canadian Customers Unable To Place Calls And Turn By Turn Inoperative In The United States.
- 10245950Canadian Customers Unable To Place Calls In The United States
- 10244274This service bulletin provides information about the Hunter wheel Road Force balancers that should be utilized for all repairs requiring balance and Road Force measurement.
- 10244214This informational bulletin provides information for the IPC odometer programming method quick reference guide.
- 10244201This service bulletin provides information for dealers on how to submit a product information report (PIR) (Canada Only).
- 10242843The service bulletin advises the tech of a normal transmission shift condition and the delay in throttle response when the throttle plate is opened rapidly and advises the customer that it is normal for the delay.
- 10242262This service bulletin provides graphics, information and guidelines for engine component wear to assist service personnel as a guideline to perform necessary engine repairs and prevent unnecessary engine replacement.
- 10242252This technical bulletin provides information and a solution to a condition of Brake Pedal Moves or Self Applies at Full Turns.
- 10240344This service bulletin explains how to measure for oil consumption and possible reasons for loss of oil.
- 10235802This diagnostic tip bulletin provides additional information on how to diagnose a possible valve, lifter or camshaft issue.
- 10235799This service bulletin provides information about the Hunter wheel Road Force balancers that should be utilized for all repairs requiring balance and Road Force measurement.
- 10234141This diagnostic tip bulletin provides additional information on how to diagnose a possible valve, lifter or camshaft issue.
- 10234110This service bulletin provides service information on new torque specification and installation procedure for ACDelco Spin-On Oil Filters.
- 10232287This warranty administration bulletin provides information regarding the field action courtesy transportation policy.
- 10232136This service bulletin provides information for dealers/technicians on Exterior Lamp Condensation and Water Leaks and Replacement Guidelines.
Every Chevrolet Avalanche 2500 model year
Bars are owner complaints, dots mark years with recalls. Select a year to open its report.