Transmission failure on 2002 Tahoe.first failure around 17,000 miles. Fixed under warranty. Second failure little over a year later. Fixed under warranty. Third failure little over a year later. Dealer fixed, but said they paid for it. Fourth failure little over 2 years later. I have read about defective sun gear in transmission and that they were never taken out of service. GM would not replace the transmission and would only rebuild I have had 4 failure's in about 75,000 miles. I don't think this is normal service.

- Lenoir, NC, USA

1) no events leading to trans failure 2) no reverse, no 3rd or 4th gear 3) rebuild transmission.

- Stony Point, NY, USA

I have had my Chevy Tahoe for just over 2-1/2 years. During this time, my transmission has failed twice. The same part also broke prior to my owning the vehicle. Three times the same part has failed yet my vehicle has little over 55,000 miles on it. It had approximately 40,000 the last time it was repaired. I have sought assistance from GM to get the transmission fixed but was flat denied any type of support. I feel this is a problem with their transmission that should be addressed by GM, not the unsuspecting owner.

- Nappanee, IN, USA

I had a maintenance service performed on my 2002 Chevy Tahoe at the carl Chevrolet dealership in san jose, ca. A minor transmission service was included with this service. They replaced the filter, performed a visual inspection of the transmission and replaced 4.5 quarts of transmission fluid that was removed for filter replacement. I picked-up my SUV and drove it home. There was a slight delay in shifting, but this was only noticeable intermittently. The next day, I was leaving on a family camping trip and my transmission went out approximately 1/4 of a mile from home. We were making a right turn and I heard a loud "clunk" which was followed by a spinning or high RPM winding sound. Since we were about to start down a steep hill, I tried to turn around. As I was in the process of making a Y-turn, I put the car into reverse. I had lost my reverse gear, so I was unable to complete the turn. This left my car stranded in the lane of oncoming traffic. Fearing for my families safety, I put the car into neutral and pushed the car forward into a driveway to prevent blocking the lane. I had my Tahoe towed back to the carl Chevrolet dealership. The transmission tech stated that the sun shell gear had worn out and caused the transmission to fail. He also stated that there was no connection between the previous day's service and the transmission failure the following day. The service manager stated that this is a common problem with the 4L60E transmissions that are standard equipment in the Tahoe. The transmission tech also stated that the Chevrolet distributed a technical bulletin within the company advising the mechanics that the sun shell gear was faulty due to a lack of proper heat treating. Chevy has been aware of this problem since the year 2000. I asked Chevy customer service for financial assistance and they offered to pay 10% of the bill. My family was put at risk due to this known part defect in the transmission.

- Cupertino, CA, USA

I purchased a used 2002 Chevy Tahoe from grand auto, northglenn co, at the end of May 2005. I drove the car for 4 months, putting on ~11,000 miles. On Oct 16, 2005 I was headed to dinner with two other people in the car. I turned right on to 95th St heading South. There were cars coming behind me, but there was plenty of room for a proper acceleration to cruising speed without in-convincing the other drivers. As I accelerated through first gear, all was fine, then the car tried to shift into second gear. As it tried, there was a popping sound, the motor rpms increased to red-line, and there was a squealing sound. I let off the accelerator, and tried to get over out of traffic to see what happened. Luckily there was enough shoulder and enough time to get out of traffic and try to figure out what the problem was. As it turned out, the transmission had lost 2nd gear, 4th gear, and reverse, leaving the vehicle close to useless, and unsafe to drive. While I was able to safely exit traffic, no all may be so lucky. If you pull out into traffic, or try to cross traffic and the transmission fails, losing 3 of 5 gears, you could easily have disastrous consequences. After getting home and researching this problem I found that this is covered in a GM tsb, 00-07-30-022 Nov 00 A/T. I also found many stories of this failure mode, indicating that this is not an isolated incidence, nor is this a one in a million failure mode. I believe this problem should be re-classified from a tsb to a recall, because of the probable safety issues.

- Erie, CO, USA

Power train - transmission 2002 Tahoe 1) upon starting the vehicle, will not engage in reverse and engine revs as if still in park or neutral. Place back in park several times -- or wait 30-60 seconds to engage. 2) intermediate slippage in low gear upon acceleration at low speeds or from stop. Engine briefly revs then engages.

- Poulsbo, WA, USA

Transmission will not shift into reverse, had vehicle towed to Chevy dealer, where they repaired. Said it was caused by defective sun gear sheild / reaction shield. Drove fine for approximately 11 months, then same exact problem once again.

- Brandon, FL, USA

Hear a klunking noise everytime the transmission shifts, then a whining noise when pressing on the gas, and a noticeable change in the transmission... then you realize you have no reverse.

- Rowley, MA, USA

Chevrolet Tahoe 2002, transmission failure. The consumer purchased a vehicle that once had a transmission problem, the consumer was told the transmission problem had been fully corrected. The consumer then found out that the transmission was never fixed and the vehicle has been in the shop for a total of 3 times. Not only was the vehicle slipping, slow to shift and exhibiting a noise when shifting from park to drive, there were other problems such as not being able to turn the key in the ignition, the seat warmed light illuminated when the button was pushed, the speakers were cracking loudly, the A/C light came on by itself, the moon roof rattled and was leaking, the cargo power switch did lock the doors within 5 seconds of the cargo door being closed, the handle on the third row seat fell off, the cigarette lighter was missing, and the rubber stripping on the cargo door was loose.

- San Leandro, CA, USA

While driving 40 mph up a hill the planetary gear failed. As a result, the vehicle produced a loud pop and grinding noise from the transmission. The consumer states the gear will no longer engage into reverse. Please provide additional information.

- Macon, GA, USA

Vehicle turned off at 15 mph, causing the steering wheel to lock, and consumer was unable to control the vehicle. Taken to dealer for inspection, and it was determined that the transmission needed top be replaced for the third time.

- Hampshire, IL, USA

Consumer complained about a transmission problem. Consumer had transmission replaced on 3 separate occasions. Consumer contacted the manufacturer, who offered a GMC loyalty certificate in the amount 0ff $1000 towards a new vehicle purchase. The consumer stated that her transmission was removed 6 times and replaced 3 times. The transmission slipped and the vehicle stopped. GM was uncooperative to resolving the transmission problem.

- Hampshire, IL, USA

Approximately 10K miles on 2002 Tahoe, vehicle would not go into reverse, and transmission, failed, was told by dealer that only part of transmission needed fixed. Now at 40K miles roughly 2 years later and out of warranty, same problem happened, what will GM do for me"?"

- Covington, KY, USA

The consumer was unable to place the vehicle in reverse. The dealership informed the consumer that the transmission failed.

- Grayling, MI, USA

Consumer stated transmission failed three times.. first year that consumer had the vehicle he had to replace transmission. Then, exactly one year later the same thing happened. Currently, transmission failed again. When consumer stopped at a traffic light vehicle moved a little and started to shake. Finally, it stopped doing anything. Consumer felt he purchased a lemon.

- Lakeview Terr, CA, USA

I was stopped at a red light in the afternoon on the day in question. Once the light turned green, I pushed the accelerator on to hear a whining/slipping feeling out of the engine area. This has happened at least 2 times on different days.

- Jacksonville, AR, USA

Vehicle service record-VIN #[xxx]purchased '02 Tahoe Oct. 2001 & in Dec. '01-problems began 12/5/1 mi. 968 vehicle to connell chev. Hard to move shift lever thru positions; very stiff. Rt. rear of vehicle sits higher than left. Rear. 2/28/2-mi. 3,432 vehicle in for various problems. Told service writer transmission would shift into second gear while sitting at stop light. You press on throttle to accelerate, vehicle would pull away very sluggish, suddenly shift back down into 1st gear & take off in an uncontrollable manner. Would have to remove foot from accelerator to compensate. Problem when shifting from gear to gear in accelerating. Will not shift up until you take your foot off throttle. Shifts hard when shifting thru gears. P/up vehicle. Explained they could not find anything wrong with transmission. 7/17/2-mi. 6,668 same problems with transmission. Next day, said they couldn't find anything wrong w/transmission. 4/14/3-mi. 12,434 transmission is not operating properly. Will shift into 2nd gear when sitting at a stop, & will not shift up thru gears unless you remove your foot from throttle. 2/6/4-mi. 23,776 back for prior problems & new ones. Transmission will shift into 2nd gear at a stop, drops back into 1st gear upon acceleration & when reaches shift point for gears makes load squealing sound, like metal-to-metal. Vehicle has suspension noises, like something is hitting against part of suspension when braking and/or turning. 2/10/4-mi. 23,800 transmission is malfunctioning & developing new noises. Sometimes there is a clunk when put in reverse. 2/11/4-mi.-23,800 returned to P/U Tahoe. Explained to us that a data recorder had been put in to monitor operation of transmission, explained operation of recorder. 3/8/4-mi. 25,031 returned to have recorder removed. Service writer said that as soon as they do a print out from recorder they will contact me & let me know outcome. Never been contacted about it. Information redacted pursua

- Fountain Valley, CA, USA

Transmission disengaged from engine while driving. On several other occassions the vehicle failed to move upon depressing the accelerator, after a few seconds the vehicle would jerk and take off.

- Kensington, MD, USA

Transmission shifting hard, only 26,000 miles. Ttook to dealership and was told second and third gear was gone. They rebuilt those gears. Pick Tahoe up and within a hr it was doing the same thing. Return to dealership next day, was told it was pump sticking. Replace that. Pick back up and within a hr did the same thing. Return vehicle and they decided to replace for new transmission. A week later it has now starting to have a problem with the power sterring. There appears to be a leak in the lines. This 2002 Tahoe has had problems starting within months of purchase. Sterring colum making clunking nose, required lube twice. Headlights filling with water. Nose in the front drivers side around shock area. They had different repairs such as replacing shocks, greasing. After over a year the dealership added bushings to the shocks, so far ok. Have replace Firestone tires at 25,000 miles for wearing on inside of tire.

- Commerce, TX, USA

When vehicle was in over-drive between speeds of 40 - 43 mph, there was a vibration in the front end. Although the dealership has serviced the truck several times the cause of the noise is still undetermined. There was a loud vibration when the vehicle was in 2 wheel auto drive and at speed of 40-45 mph/1200 to 1400 rpms shifting into over-drive going uphill and or pull on engine. May be a torque converter problem. This was an ongoing problem which had not been resolved.

- Cincinnati, OH, USA