I own a 1999 Chevrolet Suburban K1500 with a 6.5L turbo diesel engine. I recently went through numerous instances where the engine shut off immediately as if the ignition were shut off. Several instances were not life threatening as they occurred in parking lots or not when in traffic. Several instances were more dramatic. When merging into city and highway traffic, I was suddenly left with no steering or brakes as the engine had died. This is a large heavy vehicle and does not respond well without power input from those components. Luckily none of the instances resulted in a accident. I now have a newborn son and always have a concern with him in the vehicle that another shut down could occur at any point. The vehicle was brought to the dealer and the injection pump was replaced. Doing research on this revealed countless incidents of similar occurances with vehicles having the same electronic injection pump. While fixing the problem temporarily has helped, it appears as if only a matter of time until it occurs again. Had I been aware of these persistant problems prior to purchasing the vehicle, I likely would have purchased another. As it is now, I am stuck with this dangerous issue.

- Muskegon, MI, USA

Vehicle is a 1999 Chevrolet Suburban K2500 with GM 6.5 liter turbo-diesel engine. The vehicle stalled in interstate traffic (I-270) multiple times on October 21, 2003. I called the dealer, and was informed that the likely cause was the electronic fuel injection pump, which GM has warranted for 10 years or 120,000 miles. The dealer thereafter replaced the injection pump under warranty. While I am pleased that the part was replaced at no cost to me, I believe that this represents an unacceptable defect. GM is obviously aware that the part is defective, or it would not have agreed to replace it for free after the rest of the vehicle warranty had expired. In this case, there was no harm, but these engine are often used in trucks and large SUVS that are designed for towing and hauling. For example, we purchased this vehicle to tow a horse trailer that is weighs over 5000 lbs. When the vehicle stalls, it loses power steering and braking. The potential for disaster when towing a large trailer is very high, and the stalling occurs without warning.

- Washington, DC, USA