2002 GMC Sierra

The Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) received Defect Petition DP10-003 on March 2, 2010, requesting the investigation of model year (MY) 2003 Chevrolet Silverado 2500HD 4WD pickup trucks for corrosion failures of the vehicle brake lines.DP10-003 was granted and on March 30, 2010, Preliminary Evaluation PE10-010 was opened on more than six million model year 1999 through 2003 light trucks and sport utility vehicles manufactured and sold by General Motors Corporation (GM).On July 2, 2010, ODI received GM's response to an information request, which included GM's assessment of the frequency and safety consequences of the alleged defect. GM stated that:(1) the brake system of the subject vehicles is split front/rear and should a brake pipe suddenly fail for any reason, the affected vehicle would be capable of stopping with the pressure supplied by the remaining circuit; (2) the subject vehicles were designed to meet the hydraulic circuit partial failure requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards 105 and 135, Light Vehicle Brake Systems; and (3) should a brake fluid leak occur for any reason, the brake system malfunction indicator lamp (MIL) would illuminate and warn the driver before the brake fluid level was low enough to cause a loss of line pressure.ODI's and GM's analysis indicates that 85 percent of the complaints occurred on vehicles used primarily in States that use salt on the roads during Winter months (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).Overall the complaint rates per 100,000 vehicles for Salt Belt States is 43.0 and Non-Salt Belt is 3.0.In approximately 25 percent of the complaints the brake pipe failure occurred suddenly, with no warning (i.e., no MIL, Brake Fluid Loss Warning), and resulted in extended stopping distances.In 30 of these the increase in stopping distance that resulted was a factor in the crash and in 10 others the vehicle was intentionally steered off the road or into another lane of travel in order to avoid a crash.This investigation has been upgraded to an Engineering Analysis (EA11-001) for subject vehicles sold or currently registered in Salt Belt States to further assess the scope, frequency and safety risks associated with sudden failures of corroded brake pipes that can result in decreased brake effectiveness. ODI will continue to gather information on subject vehicles outside the Salt Belt as well.

THE OFFICE OF DEFECTS INVESTIGATION (ODI) OPENED A PRELIMINARY EVALUATION (PE06-016) ON MAY 4, 2006 BASED ON ELEVEN VEHICLE OWNER QUESTIONNAIRES (VOQS) AND EARLY WARNING (EWR) DATA ALLEGING SUDDEN ENGINE SHUTDOWN WHILE DRIVING AS A RESULT OF CRANK POSITION SENSOR FAILURES IN MY 2001-2002 GENERAL MOTORS C/K PLATFORM VEHICLES EQUIPPED WITH 8.1L ENGINES.IN RESPONSE TO AN INFORMATION REQUEST LETTER SENT BY ODI, GENERAL MOTORS (GM) PROVIDED OWNER COMPLAINT INFORMATION, FIELD REPORTS AND WARRANTY CLAIM DATA BASED ON A POPULATION OF 108,338 VEHICLES. THE DATA WAS CATEGORIZED BY ENGINE STALLS WHILE DRIVING, ENGINE STALLS WITH AN UNKNOWN DRIVING CONDITION, NO START CONDITIONS AND CLAIMS WHERE IT WAS INDETERMINATE IF AN ENGINE STALL OCCURRED WHILE DRIVING.GENERAL MOTOR'S RESPONSE INCLUDED 1,213 OWNER COMPLAINTS AND FIELD REPORTS OF WHICH 289 WERE CATEGORIZED AS ENGINE STALLS WHILE DRIVING ALLEGEDLY CAUSED BY CRANK POSITION SENSOR FAILURES. GENERAL MOTORS ALSO SUBMITTED WARRANTY CLAIMS FROM ITS REGULAR WARRANTY (5 YEARS/50,000 MILES) AND FROM ITS EXTENDED WARRANTY DATABASE. FROM THE REGULAR WARRANTY DATABASE THERE WERE 3,140 CLAIMS OF CRANK POSITION SENSOR REPLACEMENT OF WHICH 147 CLAIMS WERE FROM CONSUMERS ALLEGING ENGINE STALL WHILE DRIVING.GM STATED THAT 2,841 OF THE CLAIMS WERE INDETERMINATE IF AN ENGINE STALL OCCURRED WHILE DRIVING.FROM ITS EXTENDED WARRANTY DATABASE, GM SUBMITTED 1,561 CLAIMS OF CRANK POSITION SENSOR FAILURE THAT IT ALSO STATED WERE INDETERMINATE AS TO WHETHER AN ENGINE STALL OCCURRED WHILE DRIVING.IN TOTAL, GM REPORTS 4,701 CLAIMS OF CRANK POSITION SENSOR FAILURE COMBINING REGULAR WARRANTY AND EXTENDED WARRANTY.SIMILAR TO GM'S STATISTICAL ANALYSIS, ODI'S ANALYSIS SHOWED THAT THE FAILURE RATE FOR WARRANTY CLAIMS OF ENGINE STALL WHILE DRIVING AT THREE YEARS IN SERVICE IS LOW (LESS THAN 1%).HOWEVER, FURTHER ANALYSIS DETERMINED THAT THE MY 2001 VEHICLE BUILD PERIOD FROM MAY 2000 THROUGH OCTOBER 2000 HAD SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER (MORE THAN FOUR TIMES) CRANK POSITION FAILURE RATES IN BOTH CONSUMER COMPLAINT DATA AND WARRANTY CLAIM DATA THAN IN THE BUILD PERIOD FROM NOVEMBER 2000 THROUGH JULY 2001.ADDING THE CLAIMS OF KNOWN ENGINE STALL WHILE DRIVING AND CLAIMS WHERE ENGINE STALL WAS INDETERMINATE, THE FAILURE RATE AT THREE YEARS IN SERVICE FOR THIS POPULATION IS OVER 6%.AN ENGINEERING ANALYSIS (EA06-016) HAS BEEN OPENED TO FURTHER ASSESS THE FREQUENCY AND POTENTIAL SAFETY CONSEQUENCES ASSOCIATED WITH THE ALLEGED DEFECT IN VEHICLES BUILT FROM MAY 2000 THROUGH OCTOBER 2000.

ODI'S REVIEW OF COMPLAINT DATA RECEIVED SINCE THE CLOSE OF EA04-011 REVEALED NO INDICATION THAT THE INVESTIGATION SHOULD BE RE-OPENED.MORE DETAILS CAN BE FOUND IN THE FEDERAL REGISTER NOTICE ENCLOSED IN THE DP05-009 PUBLIC FILE.ODI RESERVES THE RIGHT TO REOPEN THE INVESTIGATION IN THE FUTURE SHOULD CONDITIONS WARRANT.

IN A LETTER DATED AUGUST 29, 2005, GM NOTIFIED ODI THAT IT WAS RECALLING CERTAIN MODEL YEAR 1999 THROUGH 2002 C/K PICKUP TRUCKS AND SPORT UTILITY VEHICLES TO CORRECT A PROBLEM WITH ANTI-LOCK BRAKE SYSTEM (ABS) WHEEL SPEED SENSOR CORROSION THAT MAY RESULT IN UNWANTED ABS ACTIVATION AND EXTENDED STOPPING DISTANCES DURING LOW-SPEED BRAKING (RECALL 05V-379).GM'S RECALL COVERS APPROXIMATELY 804,000 VEHICLES CURRENTLY REGISTERED IN THE FOLLOWING 14 SALT-BELT STATES:CONNECTICUT, ILLINOIS, INDIANA, MASSACHUSETTS, MAINE, MICHIGAN, NEW HAMPSHIRE, NEW JERSEY, NEW YORK, OHIO, PENNSYLVANIA, RHODE ISLAND, VERMONT, AND WEST VIRGINIA.THE RECALL PROCEDURE WILL INVOLVE REMOVING THE SENSOR, CLEANING THE MOUNTING SURFACE, APPLYING A RUST INHIBITOR (ZINC-X) TO THE SURFACE, AND REINSTALLING THE SENSOR.IF NECESSARY, THE SENSOR WILL BE REPLACED. THE POPULATION AND FAILURE REPORT DATA GIVEN IN THIS RESUME ARE FOR THE FULL REGION THAT HAS BEEN CONSIDERED BY ODI AS THE SALT-BELT.THAT INCLUDES DELAWARE, IOWA, MARYLAND, MINNESOTA, MISSOURI, WISCONSIN AND THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA IN ADDITION TO THE 14 STATES INCLUDED IN 05V-379.THE STATES COVERED BY GM'S RECALL HAVE THE HIGHEST INCIDENT RATES FOR THE SUBJECT CONDITION, ACCOUNTING FOR 91% OF THE INCIDENTS, BUT ONLY 24% OF SUBJECT VEHICLE SALES IN THE UNITED STATES.ODI'S ANALYSIS DETERMINED THAT 840 OF THE COMPLAINTS, 244 OF THE CRASHES, AND 16 OF THE INJURIES IDENTIFIED IN THIS INVESTIGATION OCCURRED IN THOSE STATES.THE RESULTING INCIDENT AND CRASH RATES ARE 96.2 AND 28.0 PER 100,000 VEHICLES RESPECTIVELY (NOTE:RATES ARE BASED ON VEHICLE SALES, NOT REGISTERED VEHICLES). THE CORRESPONDING NUMBERS IN THE EXCLUDED PORTIONS OF THE SALT-BELT ARE 399,000 VEHICLES, 81 INCIDENTS (20.3 PER 100,000 VEHICLES), 3 CRASHES, AND NO INJURIES.THE STATISTICS IN THE REMAINING 30 STATES ARE 2,406,000 VEHICLES, 168 INCIDENTS (7.0 PER 100,000 VEHICLES), 31 CRASHES, AND ONE INJURY.GM AND ODI ARE CONTINUING TO MONITOR THE PROBLEM EXPERIENCE IN STATES THAT ARE NOT INCLUDED IN THE RECALL.GM WILL PROVIDE ODI WITH UPDATED COMPLAINT, FIELD REPORT, AND WARRANTY DATA IN NOVEMBER 2005.ODI AND GM WILL REVIEW THAT DATA AND ASSESS THE APPROPRIATENESS OF THE CURRENT SCOPE OF THE RECALL AT THAT TIME.

TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 2002 GMC SIERRA. WHILE DRIVING 45 MPH, THE BRAKE PEDAL WAS DEPRESSED, BUT THE VEHICLE FAILED TO STOP. THE CONTACT VEERED INTO A DITCH TO AVOID A COLLISION. THE VEHICLE WAS TOWED TO AN INDEPENDENT MECHANIC WHO DIAGNOSED THAT THE BRAKE LINES WERE CORRODED AND NEEDED TO BE REPLACED. THE VEHICLE WAS REPAIRED. THE MANUFACTURER WAS NOT NOTIFIED OF THE FAILURE. THE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS 100,000.

NHTSA ID

10851061

Incident

Jan 1, 2016

Mileage

100,000 mi

TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 2002 GMC SIERRIA. THE CONTACT RECEIVED NOTIFICATION OF NHTSA CAMPAIGN NUMBER: 15V201000 (ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING); HOWEVER, THE PART NEEDED TO PERFORM THE REPAIR WAS UNAVAILABLE. THE CONTACT STATED THAT THE MANUFACTURER EXCEEDED A REASONABLE AMOUNT OF TIME FOR THE RECALL REPAIR. THE MANUFACTURER WAS NOTIFIED OF THE ISSUE. THE CONTACT HAD NOT EXPERIENCED A FAILURE. VIN TOOL CONFIRMS PARTS NOT AVAILABLE.

NHTSA ID

10825550

Incident

Dec 3, 2015

ON TWO SEPARATE OCCASIONS OVER THE PAST FEW YEARS, THIS TRUCK HAS HAD FRAME DAMAGE CAUSED BY RUST / CORROSION TO THE EXTENT THAT IT EITHER WOULD NOT PASS INSPECTION OR IT COMPROMISED THE OPERATION OF THE VEHICLE. MORE SPECIFICALLY, THE FRAME CROSS-MEMBERS HAVE HAD HOLES ROTTED THROUGH THEM AND THE SHOCK MOUNTS HAVE ROTTED FROM THE FRAME. PRESENTLY, THE TWO CROSS-MEMBERS THAT GO OVER THE FUEL TANK HAVE LARGE RUST HOLES OVER THE FUEL TANK. ALSO, THE REAR CROSSMEMBER HAS ROTTED AREAS ON THE TOP LEFT SIDE.

NHTSA ID

10783594

Incident

Oct 20, 2015

Mileage

73,300 mi

ON THE MORNING OF FRIDAY AUGUST 21, 2015, MY WIFE WENT TO MOVE MY 2002 GMC SIERRA. SHE PULLED OUT OF OUR DRIVEWAY AND PROCEEDED UP-HILL ABOUT 300-400 FEET, AND THEN TURNED AROUND IN A NEIGHBOR'S DRIVEWAY, WHEN COMING BACK DOWN THE HILL SHE TRIED TO BRAKE TO STOP IN FRONT OF OUR HOUSE, BUT THE BRAKES TOTALLY FAILED WITHOUT ANY WARNING. SHE THEN WENT UP A SLIGHT HILL ON THE OTHER SIDE OF OUR HOUSE, BUT STILL COULDN'T STOP, AND DIDN'T THINK TO PUT THE TRUCK IN PARK AS SHE SLOWED. SHE ROLLED BACKWARDS DOWN THE HILL AND WAS ABLE TO STEER INTO A NEIGHBOR'S YARD WHERE THE TRUCK CAME TO REST ON A BERM. AT THE TIME SHE SAID THERE WERE CARS PARKED ON BOTH SIDES OF THE STREET AND HAD A CAR BEEN COMING THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION SHE WOULD HAVE CRASHED INTO IT. HAD THERE BEEN PEDESTRIANS THEY COULD HAVE BEEN HIT AS WELL. WHEN I CAME HOME THAT AFTERNOON, I ADDED BRAKE FLUID TO THE RESERVOIR, AND THEN PUSHED ON THE BRAKE PEDAL. I SAW A HUGE STREAM OF FLUID POUR FROM BELOW THE DRIVER'S SIDE DOOR. I LOOKED UNDER THE TRUCK AND FOUND THE BRAKE LINES SURPRISINGLY CORRODED. IF SUDDEN, IMMEDIATE LOSS OF BRAKES WITHOUT ANY WARNING IS NOT CAUSE FOR A RECALL I DO NOT KNOW WHAT IS.

NHTSA ID

10758880

Incident

Aug 21, 2015

LEFT HOUSE AND ABS BRAKE LIGHT CAME ON, SHUT THE TRUCK OFF AND ABS BRAKE PUMP UNDER TRUCK WOULD NOT STOP RUNNING EVEN WITH KEY OFF. SO HAD TO TAKE FUSE OUT. AT THAT TIME I DROVE BACK HOME, BUT IF YOU PUSH DOWN ON BRAKE IT WILL GO TO THE FLOOR. JUNE 2014 HAD TRUCK IN SHOP TO HAVE ALL BRAKE LINES REPLACED AND FIXED AT AUFFENBERG IN CARBONDALE ILLINOIS DUE TO BRAKES ALL OF A SUDDEN GOING OUT AND ALL LINES RUSTED AND NOW 2,500 MILES LATER THIS HAPPENS ALSO THE EMGERENCY BRAKE IS NOT WORKING EITHER. SO WAS THERE MORE DAMAGE DONE FROM ALL THIS THAT SHOULD BE ON RECALL AND US NOT PAYING THE BILL FOR THESE DEFECTS.

NHTSA ID

10735582

Incident

Jul 21, 2015

Mileage

116,301 mi

THE PASSENGER SIDE REAR EXHAUST MANIFOLD BOLT BROKE OFF. THIS IS A MANUFACTURER DEFECT. THIS IS A VERY COMMON PROBLEM WITH THESE TRUCKS.

NHTSA ID

10721745

Incident

May 27, 2015

Mileage

115,500 mi

APPLIED BRAKES TO STOP AND BRAKE PEDDLE WENT TO FLOOR DO TO ROTTED BRAKE LINE. *TR

NHTSA ID

10693459

Incident

Feb 28, 2015

Mileage

117,984 mi

TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 2002 GMC SIERRA. WHILE DRIVING 60 MPH, THE WHEELS WENT IN A DIFFERENT DIRECTION THAN THE STEERING WHEEL. THE VEHICLE WAS NOT DIAGNOSED OR REPAIRED. THE MANUFACTURER WAS NOTIFIED OF THE ISSUE, BUT THERE WAS NO RESPONSE. THE APPROXIMATE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS 216,000. UPDATED 7/14/15*CN THE CONSUMER WAS INFORMED THE PARTS WERE NO LONGER AVAILABLE TO FIX THE PROBLEM. UPDATED 07/30/15*JB

NHTSA ID

10691194

Incident

Feb 27, 2015

Mileage

216,000 mi

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