2005 Chevrolet Suburban problems
NHTSA has received 161 complaints about the 2005 Chevrolet Suburban, and 24% of them involve electrical system. Next are brakes (16%) and body & structure (7%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 161 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Electrical system 24% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 5 and 1
- Injuries and deaths
- 6 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 85,000 miles 110 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 | 12 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 3 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 14 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 22 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 20 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 13 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 11 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 1 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 4 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 4 |
| 200k+ miles | 6 |
What the data shows
Of the 110 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 85,000 miles. For electrical system specifically, the median reported mileage is about 69,000 miles (28 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 5 complaints mention a crash; 1 complaint mentions a fire; 6 injuries reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2005 ranks 26th most-complained-about out of 35 model years of the Chevrolet Suburban with enough data (66 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 6 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.
The driver was sitting at the stop light for approximately one minute. Both the driver and passenger heard a revving noise. The driver's right foot remained on the brake. She never put her foot on the gas pedal, yet the vehicle accelerated forward into the intersection. The suburban was struck on the driver's side by a truck, spun and was hit again on the front of the vehicle. The driver sitting at the light behind our suburban agreed that our car was at a complete stop when it suddenly went into the intersection.
Tl* the contact owns a 2005 chevrolet suburban. The contact stated that while driving approximately 30 MPH, she crashed into the rear of a trash truck. Upon impact, the air bags did not deploy. The driver sustained injuries to the left arm and left leg. The police were contacted and a report was filed. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic where they deemed the vehicle as being destroyed.
Smelled gas in garage and moved vehicle outside garage to investigate. Found puddle of gas on garage floor where vehicle had been parked. Crawled under vehicle and found two braided fuel lines crossing each other and resting on one another. They had worn a hole in the braided fuel line and was leaking a substantial amount of fuel. Took to local repair shop for repair. Mechanic had to custom rebuild fuel line to avoid criss-cross route originally installed.
I was driving on the expressway when I had to apply a strong force to the brakes in order to avoid hitting a vehicle. Simultaneously, the surburban brakes became very stiff and I lost power steering at the same time. After applying an extreme excessive amount of force I was able to stop the vehicle and avoid an accident. I had to find the nearest exit and while doing so it was extremely hard to make a 15 degree turn and also extremely hard to come to a complete stop.