CarComplaints.com Notes: It didn't take long for the cladding to fade, discolor, and in some cases crack. Cladding is the protective plastic piece that runs along the outside of vehicles, and exposure to both heat and UV rays give the Avalanche's cladding a chalky, faded appearance.
Owners have said the problem is especially bad on the panels near the cargo bed. Eventually, GM agreed to a one-time treatment of ArmorDillo, a protective treatment similar to what you find in any auto shop. Unfortunately, that would only help for 6 months (on average).
Eventually, GM offered another coating solution for owners within the 3 year / 36,000 mile original warranty under TSB:04-08-111-001C.
2.6
hardly worth mentioning
Crashes / Fires:
0 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
56,268 miles
About These NHTSA Complaints:
This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
2005 Chevy Avalanche with less than 60K miles, has a transmission failure. No warnings of any type. Vehicle was maintained according to manufactures specifications (transmission fluid changed at 30K miles). Vehicle is in the shop currently being worked on. 2nd and 4th gear cause the vehicle to "come out of gear" causing a loss of power.
At highway speed, service 4 wd light came on, stated vehicle lost speed/power and the 4 wd selector shifted on its own into 4 wd hi.....very dangerous situation...to lose speed and power in highway traffic.
Car started jerking as if it was going to cut off then once I got on the highway it would not go over 50 miles per hour. Took car to the dealership, and later found out that transmission was gone.
I bought a 2005 Chevy Avalanche. 3 year 36,000 mile warranty, at 40,000 miles the transmission disintegrated. $3,000 out of pocket........ I expect a little more than 40,000 miles out of a $35,000 truck. Now I'm getting mail about a speedometer lawsuit, I've always been a Chevy guy but if this is what I can expect from GM maybe its time for a change!
Normal driving. GM tsb 05-07-30-017B talks about an issue they have on several thousand 2004-2006 vehicles that can allow for transmission fluid contamination, leading to failure of the transmission. My experience is that under towing, the vehicle can create a dangerous condition if the transmission fails due to unforeseen circumstances. This also can lead to repair costs over several thousand dollars, that the manufacturer, or warranty companies, will not cover. General Motors knows by the issuance of the technical service bulletin that this condition exists, yet refuses to educate the owners of affected vehicles, and refuses to correct the issue and damages it creates. I have found several other cases where this failure has occurred with no remedy from the manufacturer.
- Jacksonville, FL, USA
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7/13/03 - purchased new 2003 Chevrolet Avalanche vehicle from pierre Chevrolet in lake city, Washington 7/28/03 - reported sporadic loud clunk noises coming from transmission to service center of same dealer. Service center could not find problem and stated clunk noises were normal in this type vehicle. Noise problem continued and was reported but nothing was done and same service center normal clunk noise explanation was provided. 1/12/04 - took vehicle to todayschevrolet service center in bremerton, Washington and insisted that clunk noise be thoroughly checked out. Received same "normal clunk noise explanation" and a manufacturer's bulletin numbered 01-07-30-42A stating the same. Could not complain no more. 4/12/05 - 21 months after the purchased of this new vehicle it had a total transmission breakdown in the middle of an intersection on a rural road. All gears except low gear went kaput. Because the breakdown occurred on a rural road where traffic is light, the breakdown did not caused a fire, property damage, deaths etc., but it had placed us in continual jeopardy. Although the transmission was totally rebuild, sporadic clunk noises do continue.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Nashville, TN, USA