2008 Chevrolet Suburban problems
NHTSA has received 276 complaints about the 2008 Chevrolet Suburban, and 35% of them involve air bags. Next are body & structure (11%) and engine (10%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 276 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Air bags 35% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 4 and 0
- Injuries and deaths
- 13 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 87,000 miles 159 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 | 10 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 30 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 26 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 26 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 14 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 20 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 17 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 3 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 7 |
| 200k+ miles | 4 |
What the data shows
Of the 159 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 87,000 miles. For air bags specifically, the median reported mileage is about 100,000 miles (25 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 4 complaints mention a crash; 13 injuries reported. Its complaints are less severe on average than those of 83% 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 2008 ranks 24th most-complained-about out of 35 model years of the Chevrolet Suburban with enough data (82 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 4 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.
Passenger's side handle of our 08 suburban kept cutting people's hands on exit. Finally had dealer replace for $120+. Now, about a month later, my side (driver) is doing the same thing. This is obviously a quality/design defect and I don't feel I should have to pay for these repairs when I've found so many online with the same problem. Currently I'm typing this with a sliced index finger that hurts like sin. Thanks for any help.
Tl* the contact owned a 2008 chevrolet suburban. The contact stated while driving at 55 MPH, the rear axle fractured. As a result, the brakes would not engage when the brakes were suppressed causing the contact to crash into a concrete barrier. The air bags failed to deploy. A police report was filed.the contact sustained a broken wrist and neck soreness. The contact did not seek any medical attention. The vehicle was not drivable and was towed to her home address. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired.
Door lock actuators fail causing doors to remain locked and inoperable. Several accounts on the internet claim multiple failures at the same time and or replaced actuators failing a second time. Vehicle can not be entered or exited easily in an emergency causing a safety issue.
The dashboard has a series of major cracks forward of the steering wheel and a number of cracks around the passenger front airbag. The dashboard seems extremely brittle and is now quite "flimsy" and vibrates and/or bounces up and down while driving. This has happened over time. We have not physically been in the vehicle when a crack formed or propagated. It appears that the dashboard would likely shatter upon impact thus throwing shrapnel throughout the vehicle.