10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
0 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
0 miles

About These NHTSA Complaints:

The NHTSA is the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints can be spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem. See the Back button — blue bar at the very top of the page — to explore more.

Get notified about new defects, investigations, recalls & lawsuits for the 1996 Chevrolet Tahoe:

Unsubscribe any time. We don't sell/share your email.

problem #5

Dec 122001

(reported on)

Tahoe 4WD

  • miles
I sent the follwing to GM>>>I own a 96' Chevrolet Tahoe. I love my truck but I have a major concern. My brakes are horrible, I thought it was the pads, so I had them replaced, then my rotors warped... so I had them replaced also, my brakes still felt soft so I kept driving it like that for about 5000 miles, next I'm driving on a flat road and come to a stop. I take off from this country road and see a deer, I hit my brakes and nothing!!!! the brake fade is so bad that I go back to the dealer again. He suggests a master cylinder (ouch) so I foolishly give him my money. Next day I'm going down a slight hill and again major brake fade. I am really upset and honestly frightened of your vehicle. In reading some of the news groups on the internet, I find that many folks have contacted GM and alerted you to this problem, please fix our brakes before one of us and/or an innocent bystander gets seriously injured or killed. Please help save lives, don't be like Ford and deny an obvious problem with your 92-99 Tahoe, Suburban, and pickups.

- Prairie Du Sac, WI, USA

problem #4

Sep 221998

Tahoe 4WD

  • miles
The discs and the cylinder have been replaced twice and now need to be replaced for the third time. If we drive in the nearby smokey mountains the brakes begin to smoke soon after starting downhill where more braking than usual is required. We have been told by the GMC dealer where we purchased the Tahoe that the brakes on the 1996 vehicle were too small and have since been upgraded on later vehicles. Yet they charge us to replace the brake discs or cylinder. We basically can not drive in any mountain areas with just passengers, much less pulling anything.

- Knoxville, TN, USA

problem #3

Sep 241999

(reported on)

Tahoe

  • miles
Front disk brake pads wear out in as little as 12,000 miles. My other vehicles have gotten 50-70,000 miles on a set of pads.

- Ramona, CA, USA

problem #2

May 311999

Tahoe 4WD

  • miles
Calipers operate improperly, causing uneven pad wear/premature wearout. One pad (on the same caliper) would be completely gone (down to rivets)and the other having more than half its life left. This happened on both front calipers. This caused excessive wear to rear shoes because the front brakes were not fully opetational and the rear brakes were primarily stopping the vehicle. The dealer replaced pads first, later did a caliper rebuild kit, later after vehicle out of warranty, refused to replace calipers, or fix problem. I had calipers replaced at my expense (bendix calipers). I am currently waiting to see if this fixes the problem. Have contacted GM and they now refuse to fix the problem as vehicle is out of warranty(even though problem has occurred repeatedly since vehicle was new).

- Concord, NC, USA

problem #1

Sep 101998

Tahoe

  • miles
Brake rotors and pads had to be replaced every 5000 miles of wear and the brakes would squeak all the time. Vehicle been in/out of dealer shop on numerous occasions. Dealer informed consumer that they could not find anything wrong or duplicate the problem.

- Newcastle, OK, USA