1998 Chevrolet Suburban problems
NHTSA has received 299 complaints about the 1998 Chevrolet Suburban, and 26% of them involve brakes. Next are wipers, windshield & visibility (18%) and steering (8%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 299 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Brakes 26% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 11 and 3
- Injuries and deaths
- 10 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 76,000 miles 69 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 | 1 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 9 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 10 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 17 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 15 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 12 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 3 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 1 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 0 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 1 |
| 200k+ miles | 0 |
What the data shows
Of the 69 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 76,000 miles. For brakes specifically, the median reported mileage is about 76,000 miles (17 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 11 complaints mention a crash; 3 complaints mention a fire; 10 injuries reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 1998 ranks 14th most-complained-about out of 35 model years of the Chevrolet Suburban with enough data (187 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 2 safety recall campaigns.
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.
Brakes shake and vibrate when braking. On occasion, brakes failed and pedal went to the floor. Mechanic inspected found "no problem" with brakes. The last incident with the brakes resulted in an accident when more than enough distance was given for stopping.
My vehicle ran head-on into the side of a car that ran a stop sign. My car was so damaged that the insurance adjustor "totaled" it. The impact was so severe that I, the driver, sustained a fracture of the sternum (I was wearing a seat belt with shoulder harness). The air bags of my car did not go off, but the air bags of the car I hit did go off. On impact the brake mastercylinder with the power assist unit was broken off the fire wall by the ABS module.
I own a 1998 chevrolet suburban. The windshield wipers work very intermittently. When on delay they sometimes delay, sometimes work on slow speed and sometimes do not work at all. There is an active recall on other chevrolet models for this exact problem but not this model and year. Chevrolet needs to fix this problem before there is a fatal or debilitating crash. Safety first! *nlm
My 1998 1500, 2 wd chevy suburban lost a bolt in the differential. Bolt held a pin, when the pin worked loose, the rearend locked up, putting my car into a spin. Fortunately I was only going 25 MPH, and no one was hurt.