10.0
really awful- Crashes / Fires:
- 1 / 0
- Injuries / Deaths:
- 0 / 0
- Average Mileage:
- 33,555 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.
On Feb 21st 2013 my transmission broke and it lost 2nd, 4th, and reverse, but was still drivable. I took it to a local independent transmission shop and they said it was a well-known problem. After doing extensive research I found that GM has known about this weak sun gear shell since at least 1998. The problem is that GM didn't remove the faulty parts from their inventory, although they updated the part sometime IN2000 GM mixed the new parts in with the old so that their statistics would show that not all 4L60E transmissions failed. Transmission rebuilders say you can only tell the faulty shell from the updated version by the serial number inside the faulty sun gear shell. Many engineering accomplishments in transmissions have been made in the past two decades with materials and lubricants. There is absolutely no reason for such a massive GM transmission failure. What makes it so bad after the ten dollar part fails GM charges $3,000 for a rebuilt transmission. If the faulty sun gear shell was replaced before total failure the price is less than $1,000. I watched as my transmission was being rebuilt and there was no visible wear on any other parts. It looked like brand new except this faulty sun gear shell. If this problem is so widely known for so many years throughout the industry why wasnt there a forced recall? if there was just one related death the government would have been all over this, what a shame. I for one would like some of my money back, now knowing that GM fraudulently covered up this massive problem.
- Grand Prairie, TX, USA
While driving my 02 Silverado Z71 (49900 miles) on the freeway at 65/75 mph, I noticed that the truck was slowing down and my foot was still on the gas pedal. The tachometer jumped to 6000-7000 RPM and I was going at 30-40 mph. My truck got towed to a Chevy dealer and cost me $3600 to install a new/reman transmission. The dealer could not specify why the transmission failed.
- Elk Grove, CA, USA
Many of the problems took several times in the shop to fix. The castrophic failures in the engine & transmission have never been fixed. The truck has lunging, dead spots & surges & the transmission clunks (shifts hard, jerky) the auto may or may not accelerate on demand & will later accelerate when you need to apply the brakes.
- Ridgecrest, CA, USA
Consumer noticed that while driving down hill in snow he was unable to down shift vehicle because the gear shift was stuck due to ice.
- Yuba City, CA, USA
The drive train was defective, when the vehicle reached a speed of 70 mph it lost power and had become uncontrollable. There was a slippage in the drive train, made excessive noise when shifting up or down, and is easy to come apart. On several occasions, the transmission appeared to lose contact with the rear end. (alt no. For the consumer daytime is: 334-301-9766) scc
- Jack, AL, USA
- Point Pleasant, PA, USA