Owner-reported complaints naming the powertrain system, filed with NHTSA
Data refreshed
Powertrain reports that are not specifically the engine or transmission — driveshafts, axles, transfer cases and differentials. Every record below is an owner-reported complaint about the 2015 Chevrolet Suburban submitted to NHTSA — not a confirmed defect, not a recall and not a manufacturer bulletin. 46 reports on file name it.
Complaints are reports submitted by owners and drivers to NHTSA. They are not verified and do not establish that a defect exists.
The 25 most recent of 46, in the owner's own words
Pulling off from a stop sign on a hill, the car wouldn't accelerate and rolled back hitting a pedestrian and then jerked forward aggressively burning rubber on the tires. I smell the transmission burning. Luckily the lady didn't want to press charges.
The contact owns a 2015 Chevrolet Suburban. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle lost motive power. No warning light was illuminated. The contact veered to the side of the road and had the vehicle towed to an independent mechanic, who determined that the transmission had overheated and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 167,000.
The contact owns a 2015 Chevrolet Suburban. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed and hauling a boat, the transmission unexpectedly downshifted into second gear. The contact stated that the drive mode indicator light flashed red, and the check engine warning light illuminated. The contact stated that the failure had occurred while driving downhill, and the contact pulled over to the shoulder of the roadway. The vehicle was towed to the dealer, where it was diagnosed with transmission failure. The contact was informed that the transmission needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure but provided no assistance. The failure mileage was approximately 116,816.
transmission failed causing to replace do to the system on CHEVY motor changing from 8 cylinder to 4 cylinder and a thermostat on a transmission line.
The transmission was acting weird and felt like it was revving up and down while going 20-30 mph. After turning into my neighborhood there was a loud clunck like some dropped off the truck and it completely fell out of gear and just rolled to a stop. Shifted it into park, turned the truck off and back on and put it back in drive it went into gear and allowed me to drive to my house but still acted like it was about to drop out of gear completely again. My neighbor has a 2015 Silverado and 2017 Tahoe and both transmissions did the same thing and had to be replaced, all between 100-125k miles. The blind side system constantly goes off when there’s no threat
Transmission gives out after 2 min
Driving down the interstate and the vehicles transmission just stopped working. The D on the dashboard started blinking and would not keep moving. When attempting to accelerate the vehicle’s engine just revved would not move. It was dangerous and no warning prior to this issue.
Vehicle was slipping and losing power. Vehicle was loosing power every time I slowed down on a traffic light and/or stop signs. Vehicle was taken to a local shop and it was determined that vehicle had serious transmission issues. Vehicle was then taken to Richard K Chevrolet. Their report (attached here) states “Found code for pressure control solenoid stuck on. Found large metal debris in fluid. Found transmission suffered mass internal failure. Recommend replacement”. Chevrolet will not take any responsibility for this massive failure and I ended up having to pay $5,500 to fix the issue (documents attached). I’m looking for Chevrolet to reimburse my expenses given that a vehicle just a bit over 100,000 miles underwent such a massive failure. My number is [XXX] . INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
TRANSMISSION GAVE OUT WHILE DRIVING ON HIGHWAY YES NO LIGHTS TILL IT JUST STOPPED IN HIGHWAY
The contact owns a 2015 Chevrolet Suburban. The contact stated that while the vehicle was parked and turned off without the key in the ignition, her daughter bumped into the gear shift selector and inadvertently shifted the vehicle into reverse. As a result, the vehicle began to roll, coming to a complete stop after colliding with another parked vehicle. The air bags did not deploy. No warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, who was unable to duplicate the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. A police report was not filed, and injuries were reported. The contact reported bruising sustained while attempting to stop the vehicle but had not sought medical treatment. The manufacturer was notified of the failure, a case was opened, and the contact was referred to the NHTSA hotline for assistance. The failure mileage was unknown.
In 2022, the transmission experienced a complete failure and required replacement. Unfortunately, the vehicle is now encountering the same issues once more. From various forums, it appears that these issues are prevalent with the 2015 Suburban, including the need for AC condenser replacements. Having had to address both problems, it's clear these repairs are quite expensive for a family vehicle, especially considering regular maintenance.
The transmission has failed several times during driving with no check engine light or maintenance required light appearing. I get monthly reports saying that the engine does not have any problems. My safety and others safety were put at risk because any time during driving the engine can lose power and you will no longer be able to accelerate. This could be dangerous on roads and especially highways if you are traveling at fast speeds and cannot get out the way of others possibly causing an accident. I have recently taken my vehicle to a car mechanic shop and they say this is a common issue in the transmission of similar makes and models around this year. There were no previous warning lamps or messages from the vehicle or the monthly diagnostic reports I receive monthly. The problem started occurring before 150,000 miles.
The contact owns a 2015 Chevrolet Suburban. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle lost motive power. The RPM was elevated. The contact stated that the transmission would inadvertently shift out of gear independently. There were no warning lights illuminated. The local dealer was not contacted. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was contacted and referred to the NHTSA Hotline. The contact stated that the failure was related to NHTSA Campaign Number: 14V374000 (Power Train). The failure mileage was approximately 170,000.
Chevy transmissions for the following years of 2015-2019 have has extensive problems. They include hard shifting, break down, and full blown blowing up on consumers. This has cause consumers to fork out on average $6000 to have a transmission replacement. There is over 2000 people on reddit who have reported this issue and chevy/gm has not opened a recall due to the [XXX] INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
The transmission started shifting hard in second gear and also whines at higher RPMs. The code it’s throwing is a Torque Converter Clutch issue. We were put in danger because it almost stalled on the highway. It has been inspected by a mechanic. There were no warnings prior to the failure.
While traveling on the highway, my dashboard indicated that my transmission was overheating. I had to pull over immediately and turn off the engine to allow it to cool down in the middle of heavy traffic in an unsafe location almost getting hit my multiple vehicles at a high rate of speed. All regular maintenance has been done and it only has 119,000 miles. I purchased it in May 2023 with 113,000 miles from a reputable dealership and this occurred in October 2033, only 5 months later. There is a recall for this model and my vehicle is not included, which seems to be an ongoing issue with other consumers with the same year, make, and model. The transmission needs to be replaced and it’s costing over $6,000.
When I attempt to speed up or slow down my truck hesitates, and it's followed by a significant shake, like a shudder, and sometimes it just jerks, or clunks, like it's doing a very “hard shift” when the automatic transmission changes the gears. Sometimes it shifts so violently, I feel like I got hit by another vehicle. I've also tried to accelerate into traffic, and the truck hesitate and then abruptly and violently jerks into gear. It creates a big traffic safety issue! Other times the transmission shifts gears so hard that it slams the truck forward, and makes feels like I've been rear-ended. Now it barely shifts!
While traveling on a busy highway with cruise control on the rpms would go up about 2,000 then drop back down to normal. This happened all the way home (1hr 30min). No lights on dash or warning went on. Then when I was back in the city, I was at a stoplight turning left and pressed the gas it engaged and started to move and then the rpms shot up to 4,000 and the car didn't go. No warning lights, messages appeared.
The transmission on my vehicle had a catastrophic failure according to the dealership with only 80k miles. This car is driven 10k-15k miles a year. This is completely unacceptable. These need to be recalled as this is happening to more & more of these model vehicles.
The contact owns a 2015 Chevrolet Suburban The contact stated while driving approximately 45 MPH on the highway, there was an abnormal oil odor and an abnormal sound coming from the vehicle prior to the vehicle losing motive power. There were no warning lights illuminated. The vehicle stalled in traffic and the Police arrived to direct the traffic while waiting for the tow truck to arrive and tow the vehicle. The vehicle was towed to a dealer where it was diagnosed that the transmission needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 122,000.
Transmission issue at 160,000 miles and the whole system needs to be replaced. which was told most vehicles from 2014 - 2016 have these issues. such as the suburban, yukon, tahoe, serria, told could cause fire.
Hello, While driving my Chevy suburban last week as I was pumping gas with my two year old son in the back seat. I saw smoke leaking and rolling out from the bottom of my vehicle. I had shift the vehicle off and inspected thoroughly. I couldn’t see and understand where this was coming from. It wasn’t the engine block and no check engine lights had come on. So I let the vehicle cool and started her up. No issue until I was a mile or two from my family summer rental and all of a sudden the vehicle felt as though it slipped out of gear. I was left without any power and realized I was smoking again. I pulled or what I would call drifted to the break down lane and pulled my little man out of the vehicle. This happened on Saturday and after almost a week in the shop, the dealership sprung me a nice $5200 price for a transmission. I am now looking and seeing two different recalls for this vehicle. Ironically the these two issues look exactly like the two recalls they have for the power train. [XXX] Illuminated FX Inc [XXX] INFORMATION Redacted PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).
The contact owns a 2015 Chevrolet Suburban. The contact stated while driving 20 mph, the vehicle decelerated and stalled. The contact stated that the RPM was elevated while depressing the accelerator pedal however, the vehicle failed to respond. The contact stated that the check engine warning light was illuminated. Bystanders assisted the contact in pushing the vehicle to a safe area. The contact stated that he waited for approximately five minutes before restarting the vehicle and continued driving to his residence. The failure recurred and the process was repeated several times before arriving at his residence. The contact stated that an independent mechanic arrived at his residence and informed him that the transmission needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not yet diagnosed nor repaired. A dealer was not contacted. The manufacturer was informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 120,000.
MY 2015 SUBURBAN HAS 103000 MILES ON IT AND THE TRANSMISSION FAILED. IT IS GOING TO COST $5300 TO REPAIR. IT IS JUST OVER THE POWERTRAIN WARRANTY SO THIS WILL BE OUT OF OUR POCKET. SUBURBANS HAVE KNOWN TRANSMISSION ISSUES. WE BELIEVE A $60,000 VEHICLE SHOULD LAST LONGER THAN 6 YEARS AND 100,000 MILES.
TRANSMISSION FAILURE DURING DRIVING INCLUDING HUMMING NOISE AND VIBRATION, INCONSISTENT SHIFTING, DIFFICULTY SHIFTING GEARS AND HARD/SUDDEN SHIFTING WHILE DRIVING.
Higher-selling and older vehicles accumulate more reports. Counts are not failure rates and are not directly comparable between vehicles that sold in very different numbers.
Categories with enough reports to have a page of their own
Data on this page last refreshed .