2004 Chevrolet Tahoe problems
NHTSA has received 551 complaints about the 2004 Chevrolet Tahoe, and 39% of them involve electrical system. Next are brakes (16%) and engine (8%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 551 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Electrical system 39% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 30 and 10
- Injuries and deaths
- 30 and 1
- Typical mileage
- 71,000 miles 460 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 | 48 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 44 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 87 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 90 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 53 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 46 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 34 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 20 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 7 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 10 |
| 200k+ miles | 21 |
What the data shows
Of the 460 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 71,000 miles. For electrical system specifically, the median reported mileage is about 68,000 miles (180 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 30 complaints mention a crash; 10 complaints mention a fire; 30 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 2004 ranks 9th most-complained-about out of 32 model years of the Chevrolet Tahoe with enough data (325 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.
GM vehicles trucks and full size suv's when key is in, one click forward , able to put into gear without the brake being applied. When key is in and car is running, you cannot get it into gear unless you apply the break 3 old child died april 12th, 2004 because of this problem in a 1997 chevy tahoe. I'm making the complaint on my 2004 tahoe
During a side impact/roll over motor vehicle accident, no automatic safety features deployed. Full side impact to the passenger side resulted in no airbag deployment. This vehicle was equipped at additional cost, side impact airbags. In contrary to national advertising the on-star feature was also a null response. This vehicle was a total lose and non-repairable.
Tl*the contact owns a 2004 chevrolet tahoe. The contact set the cruise control at 60 MPH when he noticed the speedometer increased to 120 MPH. He deactivated the speed control and pulled off the road. When he turned off the vehicle, the needle remained at 120 MPH. The following day, the speedometer fluctuated from 100 to 0 and began working normally for over one year before the failure recurred.
The hinge that holds the rear lift gate window onto the vehicle has broken/separated from the glass due to stress or improper installation. The window is in tact, but the window part of the lift gate cannot be opened and closed properly and when closed, it is not seated in the proper position. This part of the lift gate has probably been used about 5 times in the life of the truck which now has about 53,000 miles on it.