This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
I was pulling into a parking spot and when pressing the brake pedal to stop it got really hard, had no brake pressure to stop, thankfully I had no concrete barriers or light posts in front of me to cause any damage just grass on a hill to help me stop. Second time this happened I was backing up to my garage that was on a slight hill and the brakes got hard but I was able to stop by putting the truck in park and using my emergency brake. Third time I was driving down the highway going approximately 65mph as I was slowing down to get off of an exit I noticed my brake started to get hard thank goodness I have a tow haul botton and I used that to help me slow down to get off the exit. Everytime my brakes have gotten hard is when I have to back down a hill, pull down a hill, park in a parking spot or have to press the brakes constantly to slow down.
Breaking system vacuum pump failure. Common and known problem. Brakes sporadically require substantially more effort to slow vehicle and increases breaking distance significant with no warning. Increases likelihood of crashes. Mine failed while driving 30 miles an hour on an exit ramp almost causing a collision. GM refuses to cover this under warranty and despite knowing that this is a common problem, has not issued a recall.
Brake peddle randomly becomes hard to push and will not stop the vehicle after otherwise normal functioning. This occurs generally at low speeds in forward and reverse. This has occurred on numerous occassions but randomly
Brake pedal in the truck will occasionally go to the floor when the truck is in reverse. The problem seems to happen more when backing a boat trailer down a ramp at a boat launch where the truck is at an angle. Have lost brakes multiple times when doing that. Fluid is full in the reservoir and the mechanical portion (brake pads, rotors, calipers) checked out as fine.
- Bloomington, MN, USA
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Was pulling into a parking stall slowly and truck would not stop when applying the brake pedal. Brake pedal was very hard to press and used both feet to press on the pedal to eventually make the truck come to a stop. Caused a minor (cosmetic) scrape on passenger side front bumper (scraped concrete wall) due to the inability to stop when brake were being pressed.
Brakes failed exactly as described in Nov 26 consumer report article and exactly as currently being investigated by NHTSA. Brakes failed while in motion at our local transfer station (dump) while turning - backing up and pulling forward. Brakes failed when the trucks RPM fell below 800 RPM and the vacuum assist failed. The vehicle was difficult to stop and I am a large man. Have copy of repair bill from dealer dated 10/03/18. Dealer was familiar with the issues and had serviced other Chevrolet vehicles with the same problem. Contacted Chevrolet div/GM. Made a call, send and -mail and wrote a letter. No response to letter or E-mail asking for a refund. Received a call in response to my call. Chev rep stated they had no knowledge of the problem.?? told the caller than only need to check the internet to find many complaints. Consumer reports that only 111 complaints have been received. I strongly suggest there are many more. I suspect the number of complaints will increase not that the "cat is out of the bag" so to speak. Please insist on a recall I think it will save lives. No need to wait until someone dies.
While driving on the highway approx 40 mph, traffic in front of me stopped suddenly and I applied as much force on the brake pedal as I was physically able to. The truck began slowing but not nearly fast enough and I collided with the vehicle in front of me. The brake performance seems to have declined over time and I was unable to stop in time to avoid the accident. There appeared to be plenty of room to stop but the truck did not perform as expected. I am reporting because I read an article regarding a probe into issues with the brakes on the year truck that I own. At the time I did not think too much about it but now I believe that this braking issue may have directly resulted in the collision.
I purchased my 2015 Silverado pre-owned with 2,000 miles in October 2016. In may of 2018 I was traveling through multiple states. I was stuck in slow traffic for multiple hours due to an accident on the highway. It was then that I first experienced an issue with my brakes. When moving at a very slow pace, the brakes seemed to lose the power assist. I took the truck in for it's oil service at castroville Chevrolet on 6/22/2018. I mentioned this issue to the service writer who was not aware of any issues with the Silverado brakes. At the time it was cost prohibitive for me to have it investigated and could not lose the vehicle for an extended time. It has happened multiple times since then, again only at very low speeds, such as parking. I have an appointment on 11/28/2018 with castroville Chevrolet to have it looked at. All of these incidents happened while in motion. I believed it to be a vacuum issue as it only happened at low speeds.
I was driving at slow speed driving straight while parking my truck and the brakes became rock hard and could barely stop which I came inches from hitting the car in front of me. I was traveling under 5mph just coasting with my foot off the gas and when I hit the brake nothing was happening which I had to put a lot of force to just barely stop my truck in time. The dealership I visited told me the vacuum pump for the brakes was going out and replaced it since I have a 4 month old baby and need a reliable car. My truck only had around 50K miles on it and all the Chevy cars my family has owned have never had an issue with brake boosters or vacuum pumps. Apparently this is a common enough problem that Chevy has a bulletin for hard brake pedals during low speed. Running a search online for this issue comes back with many people having the same issue and quite a few having repeated repairs with the problem only recurring. The brakes are not just hard but pretty much non functional when this issue occurs and really is pretty scary when I am driving around my baby that this could happen again with no warning. For such a key component of vehicle safety, this issue really needs a close look and a recall to remedy this known defect. There is no reason this component should go out in a 3 year old truck.
Truck has become very hard to stop latley. Brake pads look new. Dealer says nothing is wrong. Almost rear ended multiple cars this month. Thinking of just trading it in on a Ram. Truck doesn't want to stop!!!
Brake pedal gets very hard while in traffic especially while towing a trailer. Dealer initially couldn't find an issue but eventually replaced the brake vacuum pump, it got better but still intermittently does it. When it happens you have to stand on the pedal with everything I have to get the truck to stop.
2015 Silverado 1500, 4X4, 41,000 miles on odometer. At slow speed on city street driving straight (under 5mph), complete loss of all power assistance of brakes. Driver needed to apply extreme manual pressure at pedal to get the vehicle to stop and not roll into the car in front of it. Immediately parked, came back issues persisted in parking lot, but then went away when after speed of approx 10mph reached. No warning lights or display indicators triggered during incident. Issue has not occurred again. (approx 70 miles since issue first occurred)
I applied the brakes firmly for a car stopping short unexpectedly on the highway. I released the brake for a second or two to allow room for the car behind me to stop in time. When I reapplied the brake the second time, there was little to no braking action. The pedal did not more and did not travel all the way to the floor. There was no power assist. I was able to recreate the problem later at low speed when there was no traffic. I brought the truck to the dealer who could find nothing wrong but replaced the brake vacuum pump. The condition has not re-occurred since the repair was made in May. I have included a copy of the service invoice. I am reporting this because I see on the news you are investigating brake issues.
Brake pedal becomes very hard and brakes ineffective if the pedal is pushed and released at idle. Brake do not start working properly again until the accelerator has been pressed. "service brake assist" message is displayed on the diagnostics screen. Definitely a problem with the vacuum pump.
At low speeds my brakes are very hard to press. The pedal gets really tight and will not press down. The longer you try to press the tighter they get. The truck will barely stop before I almost hit something. Does not do it every time, but it seems to be more frequently. It seems to happen when I go from a stop, then accelerate slowly and then try to slow down to a stop (ex. When parking).
While backing up when brakes are applied the pedal has very little travel and is hard to push down causing vehicle to continue backing with little stopping power or effect. This takes effect only when backing after restarting vehicle. System checked at Firestone tire center and result indicated brake vacuum power was not working properly. This occurs almost daily when backing up.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Sykesville, MD, USA