2003 Chevrolet Suburban problems
NHTSA has received 361 complaints about the 2003 Chevrolet Suburban, and 26% of them involve brakes. Next are electrical system (23%) and air bags (6%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 361 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Brakes 26% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 39 and 5
- Injuries and deaths
- 77 and 1
- Typical mileage
- 71,000 miles 276 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 | 49 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 26 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 51 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 25 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 34 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 22 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 18 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 22 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 12 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 6 |
| 200k+ miles | 11 |
What the data shows
Of the 276 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 71,000 miles. For brakes specifically, the median reported mileage is about 102,000 miles (87 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 39 complaints mention a crash; 5 complaints mention a fire; 77 injuries reported; 1 death reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2003 ranks 12th most-complained-about out of 35 model years of the Chevrolet Suburban with enough data (215 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 5 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.
Tl* the contact owns a 2003 chevrolet suburban. The contact stated the vehicle was parked in the driveway with the key in the ignition while she and her two small children, ages 2 and 4, were watching a movie. The battery died during the movie and the contact momentarily left both children in the vehicle while she went to retrieve jumper cables. The youngest child was able to move the shifter out of gear and the vehicle proceeded to move, knocking the youngest child out of the vehicle.
Vehicle: 2003 chevy suburban crash: as vehicle was slowing down to an approaching intersection with a stop sign (in a neighborhood) speed limit approx 25, the vehicle suddenly accelerated to high rate of speed (cruise control activated) causing driver loss of control, vehicle left the road hitting a mailbox, telephone pole and final impact (t-boned) with a parked ford f150 extra cab pickup truck sitting in a driveway with a lawn trailer attached.
Consumer purchased 2003 chevrolet suburban has repeadedly taken vehicle to dealer due to the vehicle suddenly pulling into on coming traffic when mild winds occur.
Tl* the contact owns a 2003 chevrolet suburban. While driving at 50 MPH, the gauges on the instrument panel failed. A month later, the failure recurred and all the meters, gauges, and warning lights on the instrument cluster panel failed. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 125,000.