CarComplaints.com Notes: The 2002-2007 Chevrolet Trailblazer is known for many things, but perhaps it is most famous for its faulty fuel gauge.
This gauge flip-flops more than a politician during election season. Some report that the gauge says "empty" after a fill-up, while others report the gauge says "full" when they're running on fumes. Either way, there's one thing everyone seems to agree on: the darn thing is just wrong.
Following hundreds of complaints and a few accidents allegedly caused by the malfunction, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) opened an investigation into the issue in May 2011. Unfortunately for frustrated owners, no recall has been announced.
7.9
pretty bad
Typical Repair Cost:
$500
Average Mileage:
73,450 miles
Total Complaints:
86 complaints
Most Common Solutions:
not sure (56 reports)
replace instrument cluster (22 reports)
use a GPS on the dash (5 reports)
not fixed, too expensive (1 reports)
replace stepper motors on gauges in instrument cluster (1 reports)
05 Trailblazer Speedometer Repair - A good site about this apparently very common problem, talks about the common symptoms you see when your speedometer starts acting weird and how to fix it for 03-06 Trailblazers.
2005 Trailblazer speedometer periodically sticks until accelerating, than speed appears to increase on the speedometer but never comes down when decelerating. After a bit you can be driving 60 or so and it shows you going 80+mph. Only temporary fix I've found is to turn car on and off. Each time it is re-started, the speedometer goes down 7 mph, and you must continue to turn on and off until back to zero. Than it may work fine for a few days or weeks and the the problem reoccurs.
Started my car up and put it into reverse. The speedometer read 90mph. I cannot afford to replace the speedometer so I had to drive watching the RPMs. Santa Claus brought me a GPS until I can afford to have it replaced.
Continue to be disgusted with this vehicle. Sometimes my speedometer works, sometimes it doesn't.........Fix your sh*t Chevy and do a recall. WORST CAR EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This car has been the WORST car purchase EVER!!! This is the first of many problems. Car poorly made. I'm convinced it was assembled on a Friday before a long weekend.
- Laurie C.,
Wilmington, NC, US
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with all the speed traps out there bound to get a ticket not to mention it should just f*cking work right...Chevy needs to get their sh*t together, as soon as i pay the f*cker off everything screws up. go figure, and they will not fix their errors sorry ass f*ckers. sorry so bitter but I was barely able to afford this piece of sh*t that i thought was reliable and now i am stuck. Chevy should really help out those who support them and keep them with a job, we are the ones who put food on their table and a roof over their heads. we are stuck with a piece of sh*t vehicle while they are probably driving a top notch BMW that they didn't even make,any guess to why they aren't driving their own product?
The dealer quoted me at $400.00 to fix the problem by replacing and installing a new cluster. I'm thinking about trading it before something else happens. I feel GM should pay for the total cost to replace as this is not something that should have gone bad with normal wear and tear and apparently it is a common problem with the 2005 model.
Speedometer stopped working - at first was stuck on 65, but gradually increased until the needle is straight down. Seems to be a common problem with this year's model.
My gas gauge went on me last year. I did not have the money to fix it until they offered to pay 50% of the cost. All of sudden the speedometer just quits on me. It is all over the place so I am unable to even estimate my speed. I am furious over this. I lived with the gas gauge problem for months last year and it was more tolerable than the speedometer going. It seems to be happening to a lot of trailblazers out there and I feel that this should be a recall as this is definitely a safety issue. I have read people have paid up to $800 to fix this. I am still making payments on this car and I am unable to fix the car at this time. With so many having this issue Chevrolet should be recalling this vehicle and fixing the problem. I will never buy a Chevy AGAIN!!!!!!
my trailblazer is 2005 an it has 35,000 miles on it. Last week the speedometer started malfunctioning and not accurately reading the correct speed. It was all over the place. It mostly stayed on the 100 side, 120 mph. Sometimes it would point to the actual mileage of the the car. Some people said it was the speed sensor, the vehicle is in a car shop now waiting for repair the cluster.
What a piece crap car. The whole thing should be recalled. What a money pit. I was driving home when my suv said it was going 20 mph and my gps said 70 mph. The speedometer actually went below the zero line when completely stopped.
Our Chevy Trail Blazer has 102,000 miles on it. Last week the speedometer started malfunctioning and not accurately reading the correct speed. It was all over the place. It mostly stayed on the 100 side, 120 mph. Sometimes it would point to the actual mileage of the the car. Some people said it was the speed sensor, which if it would fix it, it would cost like $30. Most people said it would probably not fix it, that it was most likely the dash, which would prob cost like $300 to $500, and if you took it to a dealer they would charge like $800 to fix it. As many complaints I have seen about this problem, I can't believe it hasn't been recalled. I know they had recalled the silverados along with the other bigger trucks for almost the same reason. Why haven't they recalled the trail blazer? Chevy needs to get their act together. The quality of their cars has decreased over the year, along with their service. Seriously thinking of looking else where when I purchase my next car.
We did manage to read somewhere that you could reset the speedometer by taking the fuse out, while the car is switched on, and waiting a few minutes and then putting the fuse back in. It took about three tries but it did go back to zero. How long its going to last, well we just don't know that.
We where going down the road and it showed us going 120mph ( we may have been going 40mph) Very aggravating.... and I dont see any recall but that several have had the same issue !
When I'm driving and set my curse control and have to slow down for anything,When i go to out the curse back on the speedometer keeps going up and up , I have it set on 55 ,and it looks like i'm doing 190, then once you shut it off you have to play with the key to get the speedometer back down, I'm getting tired od doing this at lease once or twice a day.
I have a problem with the speedometer for over a year. Do not have a clue what it is. Not only that my gas gauge quit working too and that has been out longer than the speedometer.I am about to pull my hair out trying find the problem.
Ok, now my speedometer doesn't work!! It is stuck at 60 and only goes from 60 to 120 and that is it. It's a good thing I have a GPS or I would be getting an awful lot of tickets that of course my "American" made cars company isn't gonna pay for!!
No, officer, actually I DONT know how fast I was going!! It goes haywire and then every time I turn off the truck it resets itself -5mph until it eventually gets back to 0mph sitting still. Then it will work for a little bit, then I will glance down and I am doing 12.mph at a red light!!
Our speedometer will frequently show that we are going 120 mph when we are really going 45, etc. Occasionally when you turn the truck on the speedometer will reset and work correctly, but more often than not it doesn't work correctly. We currently use our GPS as a speedometer because the cost to repair this problem was going to be appx $450.
When it got cold out the stupid speedometer quit working. Pretty awesome when you can go 40 mph in park still quits working now and then have to unhook the battery every time it does it pain in the ass.......
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
2005 Trailblazer speedometer periodically sticks until accelerating, than speed appears to increase on the speedometer but never comes down when decelerating. After a bit you can be driving 60 or so and it shows you going 80+mph. Only temporary fix I've found is to turn car on and off. Each time it is re-started, the speedometer goes down 7 mph, and you must continue to turn on and off until back to zero. Than it may work fine for a few days or weeks and the the problem reoccurs.
- Mark V., Kentwood, MI, US