2003 Chevrolet Suburban 1500 problems
Owners have filed 223 complaints with NHTSA about the 2003 Chevrolet Suburban 1500. Brakes is the most reported problem area, at 29% of complaints. Next are electrical system (27%) and body & structure (7%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 223 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Brakes 29% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 6 and 3
- Injuries and deaths
- 4 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 90,000 miles 193 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 | 14 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 10 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 25 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 30 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 30 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 30 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 14 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 12 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 8 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 13 |
| 200k+ miles | 7 |
What the data shows
Of the 193 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 90,000 miles. For brakes specifically, the median reported mileage is about 102,000 miles (58 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 6 complaints mention a crash; 3 complaints mention a fire; 4 injuries reported. Its complaints are less severe on average than those of 82% 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 2003 ranks 3rd most-complained-about out of 15 model years of the Chevrolet Suburban 1500 with enough data (90 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.
Was hit on the passenger side and the side impact airbags did not deploy. Truck then flipped and no airbags deployed.
We are having serious electrical issues with our 2003 chevrolet suburban 1500 z71. It started with the seat warmers only workiing occasionally, then when I was trying to start it one day the ds automatic power seat deployed me and smashed my chest and legs all the way into the steering wheel and dash I was pinned against the steering wheel and dashboard until my husband heard me screaming and came to get me - it did this on its own, I hadn't touched a thing other than turn the key to start position.
"reduced engine power" light comes on and truck slows to less than 10 MPH and the power steering stop working. This has happened six times in the last year. 1st incident I took it to the dealer and they said nothing was wrong with it. Diagnostics performed and nothing came back wrong. I think the wiring to the throttle is possibly to blame. If I hit a bump in the road or cross railroad tracks, the reduced engine power can come on.
I have a 2003 chevrolet suburban which has experience several episodes of speedometer malfunction while driving on the interstate. Usually, the speedometer will malfunction when disengaging the cruise control, speeding up or stopping. After 1-2 days the speedometer will gradually return to baseline. The malfunction has caused me to assume that I was driving slower than I was which has resulting in a high risk for accidents.
The speedometer on our 2003 chevrolet suburban randomly stops working. We understand that it is a defect and that it will only be replaced by chevrolet if the vehicle has less than 70,000 miles. Our suburban has 85,000 miles on it. Since it is a defect in the instrument cluster, and not because of wear and tear, chevrolet should replace it free of charge. We can't afford to pay the $550+ to have it replaced so we will drive it without the speedometer working, which is unsafe.