Chevy Suburban Reviews

So to anyone thinking of purchasing one of these vehicles. Do some research first. This was my second new Suburban and I really like them. But my next new purchase will not be Chevy due to very poor customer service. They did nothing for my issues, and they seem to be minor compared to the other stories I've seen out there. In a few years after losing all their loyal customers, I think Chevy commercials are going to say, "Who said you can't go back?" But after owning a newer Chevy, and dealing with their customer service, why would you ever want to? I would join class action on my issues if there are any out there.

Problems persisted and culminated in the car lose all power at 60 mph to only seemingly restart causing the engine to rev up and the car to jolt forward. Various lights would also illuminate during these episodes. Air bag, seat belt, trailer brakes, etc. Took it again to AutoNation and now they say my battery cables have too much resistance and I have a bad alternator. To me these sound like the result of the problem, not the initiator, but my service rep refuses to think outside the box and is blaming it on these items all at a cost of over $1200 to me, even though it is a similar issue to what was reported before. Very disappointed as I had a 2003 Chevy Tahoe Z71 for 6 years and it was a great car... as soon as this one gets back from the shop we are trading it in...

#1 - The rear window defroster wire - Whenever it begins to snow in the north east and I turn on the rear window defroster, the wire becomes detached from the rear window. This happens seasonally and so every year since I purchased the vehicle from when it was new, I would bring it in to get fixed after the first or second snowstorm. First the dealer would resolder it, then when that didn't work they would replace the back window. The window was replaced several times and the wire was resoldered back on so many times that I lost track.

Now this past winter in 2013, the wire came off again and my warranty has expired. The dealer wants me to pay to replace the window again. I got in touch with GM customer service and they said they would split the cost with me for replacing the window again. I told them that was unacceptable because of 2 basic reasons. One, they never remediated the problem in the first place after it was improperly repaired by the dealer several times and two, it was obvious to me that the solution to the problem was not in replacing the rear window for the fourth time and that they needed to address what was causing the wire to continuously become detached. It had nothing to do with the wire being too tight and from opening and closing the rear glass separately from the door because I never open the window separately from the door and the wire was not tight. Now being that this is what I believe to be a faulty repair, I am looking into filing a lawsuit against GM and the dealer.

#2 - My door lock does not open or close on my front passenger door.

#3 - All 4 of my exterior door handles have broken off of the vehicle. The first 3 were under the warranty, the last one is my problem and the dealer will not consider this a manufacturing defect. I never ever had a single vehicle's exterior door handle break on any of my vehicles, let alone all 4 of them.

#4 - My cruise control does not work. The light comes on for power but it will not set.

#5 - My navigation loses its memory for its previous destinations and has to be reset for what state I am in every time I turn off the truck and the clock always goes back an hour when I turn off the truck no matter how many time I reset it to the correct time.

#6 - My rear windows will not go up from the rear window controls. They will go down from the rear but I have to return them up from the driver’s controls.

#7 - My "Check Ride Stabilization" light keeps coming on. I have to shut the engine off and restart it to reset it.

#8 - My "Check Suspension" light keeps coming on. I have to shut the engine off and restart it to reset it.

#9 - The truck now has about 83k on it. At about 50k it started losing engine oil at about a quart every thousand miles. I'm not blowing any smoke and there are no leaks. I have always changed the oil every 3000 miles. It’s a mystery!

#10 - My driver’s side mirror gets stuck when I retract it or put it into driving position. I can hear it grinding while it is going in & out. Other than that, everything is fine... lolol

My Verdict: Faulty manufacturing, substandard parts, unfair customer service... They just don't make ‘em like they use to!!

When inspecting under the vehicle, brake fluid was seen dripping at a fast rate from a brake line under the driver side door. A puddle of brake fluid was quickly building up. Later that day I went to the Chevrolet dealer and explained what happened. I was told it's a common problem and there was a repair kit that could be installed. I was not aware of the common instantaneous brake failure problem. A serious accident could have occurred had the brakes failed at some other time.

These documented over aggressive valve lifters are the cause of all the oil consumption issues we have read for this vehicle’s generation. This is also the cause of the now documented failed PCV valve construction in this model as well. PCV valve is embedded in the driver’s side valve cover which over time clogs the PCV vent holes and baffles, causing these plumes of smoke at startup.

When we travel for vacation we have to carry a gallon of oil because of these issues. We just recently in Nov. had work done at dealership costing $1,015.75, dealing with oil pan & transmission area noises. We have replaced 3 of the 4 door lock actuators, the 4th is now broke + the rear liftgate mechanisms will not operate. Right retractable mirror is now inoperable. The cruise control now works about 50% of the time and is probably tied to a Throttle positioning sensor going bad as well.

These are just a few of the major issues we have encountered with this vehicle. I recently submitted a customer care claim requesting assistance on this current repair of $2,950. I spent many emails and phone calls providing GM Customer Care with specific information about my vehicles repair history. It took GM 22 days after the original correspondence to finally give me an answer that they could not help me due to the current mileage being so high, which was the very first thread of information I provided.

Because of this poor experience, we will be trading up this 2008 Suburban to a Toyota. And as soon as my 2012 Silverado warranty comes to a close, I will do the same with it. I have read far too many very similar complaints over the past two years on these vehicles… I know there has to be many more. This has become personal to my Family due to the fact that this last repair was at the sacrifice of our annual vacation. I will not recommend a GM vehicle to anyone that values my opinions going forward starting with our four kids with the oldest just entering the car market. Thank you for your time, and help save another some headache.

First, electrical. THIS TRUCK IS HAVING SIGNIFICANT ELECTRICAL PROBLEMS! Here are the symptoms I wrote about back in 2007-2008: Stabillitrack, ABS, and Traction Control lights, all on. Started out intermittent problem. Now they are almost always on. Attempts were made to correct this last Winter, and again in the Spring. Now, if the truck is started and the lights DO NOT come on immediately, after a short drive, braking for a stop light will nearly always make the lights come on. The three error lights will rotate in succession, one after another. As the vehicle is going down the road, you will often hear an audible click, click, click.... very fast... like a relay firing very quickly. It will often stop, then do it again in sequence. Often this is followed by the audio system powering down, then back up... It's like pulling the plug on a power amplifier, then plugging it back in hearing all of the speakers thump. Then back to normal. This sounds really bad when this happens. Other times, there is no sound at all when the key is turned on. Often you have to power the truck down then restart it. It will sometimes start working for no apparent reason.

Update as of December 29, 2013 - Absolutely no resolution to the electrical issues. Same problems. Currently, I am driving around with ABS, Stabillitrack, and Traction Control lights firing in sequence. Also, messages "Service Traction Control, Service Stabillitrack, and Service ABS," continually sequence. Dealer has replaced a Brake pedal sensor, and a cabin control module. Trucks first showed errors upon leaving their parking lot. Truck was in their shop for nearly a week.

Engine issues. As have been documented by others, we have been experiencing extensive oil burn since about 55,000 miles. Dealer worked with Chevy to determine cause and solution. Problem was burnt oil caking on at least two specific cylinders. Caused by variable displacement issues as I recall. Dealership pulled part top end of engine, re ringed two pistons, sufficed cylinders, and put in a oil deflection shield in pan. Most of the repair was under warranty. No real complaints other than the obvious: Why am I experiencing these MAJOR issues on a $53,000 truck with such low mileage. Truck was in the shop for over a week. Rental was provided, although we still had significant expense in picking up things that were not warranty.

Update December 28, 2013: Truck is currently at dealership and has been for four days. Upon returning home from a family Christmas trip, truck's Check Engine Light came on intermittently. Outside temp: -10F. Pulled over to Quick Shop. Check Oil pressure. Good, but fluctuating slightly, from about 37 to 45 lbs. Oil Light then came on. Shut engine down. Checked oil level. Good. Perhaps 1/4 of 1 quart low. A few ounces maybe. Restarted engine. Read manual about what to do when check engine light intermittently flashes on and off. Determined we could make it home. Temp, Oil pressure, etc all good. At idle engine definitely had a missing sound.

Called dealership the next morning. Upon their advice, determined that I could drive the truck in (about 3 miles) if I had oil pressure. CSR called this morning saying that they had not yet determined what the problem is exactly, but they speculated I was having pushrod issues (??). Or possibly even an oil pump issue. I have to assume they speculated on pushrod? The engine has an obvious missing sound. It is misfiring on at least one cylinder. Dealership told me they could not determine the problem without doing a tear down on the upper end of the engine. Cost, $500-700. Without approval they could not determine the exact cause.

Out of all of the issues I read on the internet relative to 2007 Suburbans, I have them ALL. Electrical. Engine, oil consumption. Top end rebuild at 60,000 miles—adding an oil deflector...which was noted in the service bulletins as a fix for the oil burn problem. Seems to me Chevy realizes they have a problem if this is noted in the bulletins and there is a "fix".

I am ready for a class-action suit on this. I am out many, many thousands of dollars. Not to mention considerable time, and inconvenience dealing with rental cars, etc. This truck has been a lemon in all ways.

To me this is an extreme safety issue where people's lives are put at risk by a corrosion problem. I checked the trade-in value of the vehicle and it's about $5,500. After I paid for the work, I asked how long the new fuel lines would last, and I was told about 6 years. To me the dealership installed inferior parts to fix this problem. If fuel lines last only 6 years, don't plan on keeping a GM vehicle for more than 5 years! I feel that the labor cost of $1,368 was extreme. The parts charge of $861 is excessive due to the limited life of the fuel lines. What do you do when your vehicle is at the dealership and leaking fuel?

I am now afraid to drive the vehicle due to the corrosion problem. Are the brake-lines going to malfunction? Are my wheels going to fall off? To make matters worse, I had a check engine light after the repair. I asked if they dropped the exhaust system to repair the fuel leak. The dealership couldn't tell me. They didn't know. They offered to check the check engine light for no charge. I dropped off the vehicle. After they checked the vehicle, I was told that I needed a new catalytic converter, and the cost was about $1,200.

My son could not get out of the auto without manually lifting the door lock. I could imagine what would happen in an accident. Now I just went to a Hockey Tournament 1.5 hours from my House and the Outside Temperature was 3 degrees. My Oil Pressure light went on again and I had to repeatedly pull over and shut the vehicle off 6 times. My son and I were stranded in the middle of nowhere and we were freezing. The Chevy Dealership Mechanic said they would do an oil consumption test on it and install an oil deflector. Also said that they replace a lot of valve cover Gaskets on these models. I spent $31,000.00 on this Truck and am horrified by what has been happening. With 59,000 miles on this Truck and these type of issues I fear the worse. I have read a lot of blogs about GM not stepping up to help consumers out on these issues. Anyone want to join me in a class action Law Suit... I have a great Attorney.

Customer service rep from GM authorized to pay for 60% of the cost. I was not agreeable to that and wanted to speak to the representative from GM that authorized the repair. I just kept on getting the runaround by their customer service department saying that I could not speak to him. My father worked for GM for 30 years and I have owned and driven 6 different GM vehicles. I believe that the original repair was not done correctly and should be handled under their 100,000-mile warranty. I would just like to hear from the person who makes the decisions.

I have worked with GM customer service at GM and they stated that Hurricane Chevy told them that it did not seem like there were any defects in the brakes. If the brake pads were to the point of damaging the rotors, how could there be any brake pads left to examine (metal to metal damage on the rear brakes)? I would like to see both Hurricane Chevy and GM copied in on this complaint and for them to understand our dissatisfaction with their service and product. Also, I would like the president of GM's email address so that I could advise him of the problem. Here is the best part of the mess. The vehicle is under factory warranty. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

It cost me over 1300 to replace the transmission with a used transmission because i cant afford a new one. I had to miss work because i have no way there and am losing money because of it.

GM has not admitted fault. We are still waiting to hear from the insurance company.

I am going to have to replace the tires, all four at a cost of $100.00 each or more for safety's sake.

I wish to be clear in my complaint, John Elway acted professionally and responsibly. I have no criticism of their work or subsequent actions. In fact, the Service Manager was very forthcoming and concerned about addressing my issue.

When they finally fixed the top of the doors rubbing, apparently the bottoms became so loose that they allowed road dirt to get under the weather stripping. The response has been that the cause is from road dirt entering the bottom part of weather stripping and rubbing but that according to both the dealer and GM this is normal wear and tear.

I was told it is my responsibility to clean and dress this weather-stripping periodically. I have kept and maintained this vehicle in a like new condition, washed it weekly, garaged it and now have a strip of paint coming off at the base of each door. End result will be corrosion of the body.

I told both the dealer and GM this is unacceptable on a $40,000.00 automobile and their design is flawed or this was caused by the dealer adjusting the doors too loose, allowing dirt to get under the strip. I have owned several new vehicles in the past several years and none of these vehicles deteriorated in this fashion.

Both the dealer and GM denied responsibility, nor a solution explaining this happens to Suburbans. I told the dealer if this vehicle can't be repaired, then I would like to have it replaced or they can give me my money back. I think this is a result of a poor passenger door design, factory out of spec. manufacturing flaw or the dealer made a mistake adjusting the doors in the first place when they rubbed the paint off on top. Either way it is not a result of owner neglect.

By the grace of God nobody was killed. I reported this to GM mostly to aid in the prevention of future accidents. All assistance was declined in the repair of the Suburban and bikes. The reason cited was that I did not use a GM-issued part. Can't believe that the integrity of the rack system is impaired by attaching a non-GM bike rack or suitcase or whatever!

Facts are that the Suburban has endured design changes which have impaired the function of the vehicle and those of us who have come to use these vehicles as we have in the past have not been notified of the deliberate change in specifications. Nowhere in the manual are there any specs disclosed for the roof system. Customers will logically asume the new vehicles are to be used as previous models.

I am very offended at the callous dismissal of my modest claim and am humbled by the the horific bullet I dodged on the Throughway. I could very easily be involved in a huge lawsuit today and many innocents could be dead.

Unfortunately, the popping was heard once again as we pulled into our driveway directly after picking up our vehicle from the service dept. Being without a vehicle so many times, with a houseful of children (I run a daycare) has became an issue with my business. I need a large vehicle to transport children to and from school.