Other powertrain problem on the 2002 Chevrolet Avalanche
When other powertrain problem gets reported
Owners of the 2002 Chevrolet Avalanche report other powertrain problem at a median of 20,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 15,000 miles and a quarter after 60,000 miles, from 10 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 92,000 miles. It is the 13th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 15,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 70,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 59,020 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A window that narrow is the signature of a part that fails on its own schedule rather than on how the car is driven — which is usually a design or supplier problem rather than wear and tear.
60% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13,000 miles | 15,000 miles | 18,000 miles | 59,519 miles | 72,020 miles |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Putting it right typically runs $400–$4,500 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 7 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2003, at a median of 15,000 miles, and latest on the 2007 at 90,000 miles.
By volume the 2002 is the worst of them, which makes this a problem of this specific year rather than of the model as a whole.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
2002 avalanche with 81,000 miles at the time of the failure...started a few months ago with a very light hum in the back end. On 12/8/05 made several large clunking noises and died (stopped turning). The garage stated that a main bearing had broken apart sending metal throughout the rear axle and destroyed the drive system. $2000.00 job to replace the entire back axle drive system with a used one. Mechanic said no reason for that to happen with this vehicle and suggested I speak with the dealer before I had the work done. Dealer did nothing except quote me $3000.00 for the same repair and same used part. *nm
I was driving home and all of a sudden it felt like no power was getting to the wheels. I stepped on the gas, the rpms went up, but the truck couldnt get past 30 MPH. My mechanic said that the transmission burnt out. I babied this truck. Their is no reason for a chevy truck with 60000 miles of light road use should blow a tranny. A quick search on the web shows that this is a common problem with this truck. 3200 dollars to fix a part that should have at least lasted 100000 miles.
Also reported on the 2002 Chevrolet Avalanche
ABS module or sensor failure
Liftgate, tailgate or trunk failure
Parking brake failure
Other brake problem
Other wheel or tire problem
Loss of braking
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 11 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does other powertrain problem happen on the 2002 Chevrolet Avalanche?
Across 10 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 20,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 15,000 miles and a quarter after 60,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other powertrain problem on the 2002 Chevrolet Avalanche?
11 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.1 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed