2003 Chevrolet Silverado problems
Owners have filed 852 complaints about the 2003 Chevrolet Silverado with NHTSA. Service brakes, hydraulic account for 17% of them — narrowly the most common, ahead of service brakes at 14.6%.
Complaints852
Crashes49
Fires19
Injuries30
Deaths5
What owners report breaking
Service brakes, hydraulic 17.0% · 145
Service brakes 14.6% · 124
Electrical system 14.2% · 121
Steering 10.0% · 85
Power train 9.9% · 84
Suspension 3.5% · 30
Vehicle speed control 3.4% · 29
Tires 3.2% · 27
Severity
Of those complaints, 49 describe a crash, 19 describe a fire, 30 report an injury and 5 report a death.
Reading the numbers
Across the 19 model years of the Chevrolet Silverado in this data, 2003 sits 5th by complaint volume. 1999 draws the most.
Filings have fallen off, 101 in the last three years against 134 in the three before. That is normal as a generation leaves the road.
The median odometer reading at the time of complaint was 38,875 miles.
In owners' own words
2Oo3 Chevrolet Silverado, brakes are spongy, will not stop quickly, pedal needs more force than any other vehicles I have driven, dealer says nothing wrong, they appear normal, I disagree, this has been an ongoing complaint on this truck, date is when truck was 2 weeks old as reference. Trucks right rear wheel will also lock up on damp road upon trying to stop. Intermittent problem, dealer could do nothing. Service brakes, hydraulic
The anti-lock brakes on my 2003 chevy Silverado with 19,000 miles on it were activating when stopping in normal conditions resulting in the loss of braking power. The first few times the problem happened, it almost resulted in rear ending the vehicle in front of me. The problem was corrected by replacing the front wheel bearings. Gm refused to pay for the repair in spite of well documented problems. Service brakes, hydraulic · reported at 18,906 miles
The contact owns a 2003 Chevrolet Silverado 2500. The contact stated that they experienced a brake failure while driving. The vehicle had not been inspected but the contact crawled under the vehicle and could see that the brake lines were rusted and corroded. The vehicle was not repaired. The vin was not available. The failure and current mileages were 63,000. Updated 10/18/11*lj updated 3/30/12 Service brakes, hydraulic · reported at 63,000 miles
Verbatim from NHTSA filings. Complaints are unverified owner reports.
Safety recalls
Checking NHTSA for open recalls…
Other Chevrolet Silverado years
2000 1,614 complaints · 30.4% service brakes, hydraulic 2001 1,048 complaints · 31.6% service brakes, hydraulic 2002 853 complaints · 32.2% service brakes, hydraulic 2004 723 complaints · 22.4% electrical system 2005 361 complaints · 18.0% electrical system 2006 223 complaints · 37.2% service brakes