2009 Chevrolet Avalanche 1500 problems
NHTSA has received 27 complaints about the 2009 Chevrolet Avalanche 1500, and 33% of them involve air bags. Next are body & structure (11%) and drivetrain & axles (7%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 27 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Air bags 33% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 0 and 0
- Injuries and deaths
- 0 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 84,000 miles 21 complaints with mileage
Source: NHTSA owner complaints
Where the complaints are
Share of this model year's complaints by the part of the car involved. One complaint can name more than one part, so the shares can add up to more than 100%.
When problems show up
View the numbers
| Mileage | Complaints |
|---|---|
| 0k to 20k miles | 2 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 4 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 0 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 4 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 3 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 2 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 3 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 0 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 0 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 3 |
| 200k+ miles | 0 |
What the data shows
Of the 21 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 84,000 miles.
None of these complaints report a crash, fire, injury or death. Its complaints are less severe on average than those of 100% of model years in our database.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2009 ranks 10th most-complained-about out of 10 model years of the Chevrolet Avalanche 1500 with enough data (5 complaints in that window).
What owners wrote
A few complaints as filed, shortened and with personal details removed. The first ones are among the most serious reports for this model year; the rest are typical.
09 chevy avalanche the drive shaft or ball joint was undersized by 5/1000 to make the 6 speed transmission shift correctly/thus causing slack which makes noises from a jar to sounding like you were hit in the rear. 3 times to dealer--3/30/10 at3,788 mi, 10/28/10 w/8,185 mi to3/3/11 w/14,000 mi. They tell me now its no fix, but has 100,00 mi warranty. It is getting worse and could finally twist and break which may cause an accident w/ bodily harm,it is getting much worse and affects late 08 models thru 2011.
Cracked rim flange in 2 locations. Info as follows: wheel 20x8.5jx; made in china; t-DOT GM; cracks are at 12 o'clock and 2:30, full length of the flange where the tire mounts, on the inboard (mounting) side of the wheel. No other significant damage to the rim and no tires were damaged as removal was performed prior to a rapid air loss - TPMS system provided early warning of diminished air pressure.
I was driving to a church function with my wife and about 30MPH under acceleration, my truck started lugging like it was in 6th gear. It started shaking then the tachometer was fluctuating up and down about 500 rpm's. I checked the transmission fluid and looked good. I have a very important business trip tomorrow morning and now I am stuck. I took it for another drive to see if the problem occurred at a higher speed and it does.
Crack in dash next to the airbag. Dash board becomes un attached between molds, causing the airbag deployment area to bounce and become unstable which may lead to improper deployment since the shifting and deterioration of supportive moldings and plastics can not support the deployment of the air bag. The crack happened while the vehicle was stationary at a stoplight on a full sun day, warm day. My vehicle has only 18000 mies.
Engine dies, door locks start opening and closing, all dash lights go off, radio goes off,car starts on own 3 to 6 seconds, did this at 60 MPH and at 15 MPH.