Brake lines heavily rusted. Looks like they will soon fail.

- Gregory, MI, USA

I was approaching a stop light and applied pressure to the brake pedal. My foot went to the floor and the truck did not stop. I was able to activate the parking brake and safely stop the truck. On inspection, it was discovered that the factory installed steel brake lines failed due to corrosion. The vehicle is well cared for and has no signs of body rust but the brake lines are almost completely rusted away front to back.

- West Milford, NJ, USA

The contact owns a 2005 GMC Sierra. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, she applied the brakes and the vehicle slid a small distance. The contact then pumped the brakes and the brakes functioned normally. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic for diagnosis and the contact was informed that the flex hoses lines from the master cylinder and the ABS pump to the rear calipers would all need to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was unknown and the current mileage was 70,000.

- Montrose, PA, USA

All brake lines badly rusted. Line above fuel tank rusted through and leaked while driving. Pedal went to floor. To avoid colliding with vehicle in front of me went off road. No damage to my truck.

- Tilton, NH, USA

The contact owns a 2005 GMC Sierra. The contact stated that while driving 35 mph, the brakes failed. The contact applied the emergency brake to stop the vehicle. The vehicle was inspected by the contact, who was a certified mechanic and the failure was diagnosed as a fractured brake line. The manufacturer was notified and informed him that there were no recalls for the vehicle. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure and current mileage was 117,000.

- Tullahoma, TN, USA

Vehicle was driven on a driveway and the brake pedal lost complete resistance and went flat to the floor. Total brake failure occurred without any warning indicators. Inspection of the metal brake lines positioned near the left front wheel revealed that all four lines showed severe signs of corrosion and one of the lines had produced a hole therefore leaking brake fluid.

- Long Valley, NJ, USA

The problem is a totally rusted-out set of steel brake lines throughout the GMC truck. The burst brake line is in the engine compartment. It is the line that runs from the antilock brake distribution point (attached to the frame beneath the driver seat). It runs along the frame, above the frame rail and past the steering box, and then makes a right turn beneath the radiator to the passenger side of the truck, where it exits into the wheel well and connects to the flexible brake hose on the passenger side. The steel line burst in the area adjacent to the steering box, so that it sprays brake fluid all over the steering box whenever the brake pedal is depressed. This quickly emptied the reservoir on the master cylinder leaving almost no brakes at all. There is very minimal braking available with the pedal fully depressed the floor. I initially examined the system to see if there is any chance of a do-it-yourself repair but quickly abandoned that idea. All of the brake lines are badly corroded and covered with scale, so there is no chance of cutting out the bad segment, double flaring the ends, and splicing-in a short segment to replace the rusted-out portion of the brake line. All of the brake lines throughout the truck are badly rusted and likely will fail again if left in place (according to the GMC service manager). The brake line that failed burst in a part of the engine compartment that would seem to not even be exposed to road salt, since it is inside the engine compartment and relatively shielded from salt spray and road grime by the body, wheel well and frame rail. The dealer service manager in murphy, nc estimates that it will take one of his mechanics almost a full day to remove all of the bad brake lines and fabricate replacements (these lines are not available in prefabricated form from GMC.

- Hayesville, NC, USA